Author(s)

L. A. Van Gulick & C. A. Stenman

Abstract

Major French Romanesque churches built during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries often feature axially oriented masonry barrel vaults over central nave spaces. Nave side aisles and, when present, galleries are also usually vaulted. Construction sequences can play an important role in determining stresses and displacements for these churches. The feasibility of using an element \“birth/death” capability to include the effects of the construction sequence in their finite element stress analysis is demonstrated. The potential importance of construction sequence effects is also demonstrated Keywords: Romanesque, barrel vault, construction sequence, finite element analysis, stress, displacement, element \“birth/death”. 1 Introduction Major French Romanesque churches built during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries often feature thick axially oriented masonry barrel vaults over central nave spaces. Nave side aisles and, when present galleries, are typically covered by thick masonry groin, axial half-barrel (quadrant), or transverse barrel vaults. Church construction took place in a sequential fashion. Lower levels were built before levels above them that they would ultimately support. Vaulting of the central space was almost invariably the last step in the construction sequence. Deformations of the other portions of buildings due to self-weight occurred before this last step. Undeformed configurations for central vaults as they were erected included the effects of these deformations. Failure to reflect these effects can introduce undesirable error in finite element stress analysis of Romanesque churches with central barrel vaults.

Keywords

Romanesque, barrel vault, construction sequence, finite element analysis, stress, displacement, element \“birth/death”.