Construction process numerical simulation and seismic assessment of Mallorca Cathedral

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of Mallorca Cathedral carried out by means of a FE approach devised for the study of this complex historical construction. Previous studies, including inspection and historical research, have shown that part of the existing damage and deformation might have been experienced during the construction process itself, while later historical processes causing long-term deformation, may also have contributed significantly to the final deformation. In order to analyse the possible influence of the construction process and long term deformation on the deformation of the structure, a numerical tool has been developed to carry out sequential-evolutionary analyses, involving the superposition of consecutive construction stages. A constitutive model has been implemented accounting for both viscoelasticity and mechanical damage by means of an enhanced continuum damage model. This tool has been used to carry out the sequential FE analysis of a typical bay structure of the main nave of the building. The proposed numerical tool has been also used to assess the seismic performance of the typical bay, in the transverse direction, through a nonlinear static analysis. The proposed numerical strategy seems effective to describe deformation and damage and could be applied to other similar historical masonry constructions.