Author(s)

S. Hernández, L. E. Romera & J. Díaz

Abstract

In this paper some of the studies developed by the authors in the last twenty years in the field of numerical analysis and restoration of historical constructions are presented, with the objective of having a temporal perspective. In all cases the origin of every work was the appearance of several pathologies, that led to structural studies in order to find out the causes of these pathologies and once the way the structure worked and the origin of its problems was understood, the consideration of the necessary restoration. According to our experience, the best way to take into account this difficult and complex process, complementing the engineer’s knowledge, is the use of numerical tools like the finite element method. In each of the cases presented, a set of structural models was developed and validated with the aim of simulating the current structural state, their security level and the relationship between the structural behaviour and the damage observed. Comparison of the cases analyzed allows us to obtain several general conclusions. 1 Introduction Three cases of study are presented; they have been selected for being in our opinion the most interesting. In the first one, from 1987, the computer aided repair of the Pignatelli Church was presented. This was the first work, developed by our group, in which numerical models are used. After that one appears the identification of structural pathologies of San Martín Tower, the first work that we did combining 3D CAD and visualization models as a previous step to developing a finite element model. And finally the structural study of the Basilica of Pilar in Zaragoza (Spain) is presented.

Keywords