Developing masonry vault models for global assessment

The development of a model for a masonry vault involves a complex series of interrelated decisions on geometry, modeling, material selection, meshing, and boundary conditions. It is necessary from the outset to decide the level of simplification that will be applied to the actual geometry of the structure. This decision takes account of the information desired from the model, the quantity and accuracy of the geometric information available. The use of shell or solid elements dictates both the constraints on meshing the model and the subsequent performance of the model. The boundary conditions are both critical to the results of the model and extremely difficult to assess. In this article, we present the process of working from a large amount of survey information to develop first a viable geometrical model, then the process of meshing used to make this into a working finite element model, and finally the process of using field-acquired vibration data to update the model as necessary.