Application of DEM to Historic Masonries, Two Case-Studies in Portugal and Italy: Aguas Livres Aqueduct and Arch-Tympana of a Church

Two engineering applications of the Distinct Element Method to the analysis of historic masonries are presented. In particular, the commercial software UDEC, which implements DEM in a variety of engineering problems, is here used to analyze the Águas Livres aqueduct in Lisbon (Portugal) and multi-leaf masonry arch-tympana carrying systems of a basilica in Como (Italy). When dealing with the aqueduct, the most important portion of the structure is modeled and loaded with some accelerograms to evaluate its seismic vulnerability as well as the most critical zones. The second example analyzes the arch-tympana carrying system of a church in Italy. They present an unusual building technology, relying into a multiple-leaf arch, and a tympanum, made by a mixture of bad quality mortar and small stones. Again the structure is discretized into distinct elements and the load carrying capacity under dynamic excitation is evaluated, discussing the role played by the infill.