Research on composite strengthening of historical housebuilding: retrofitting intervention for masonry arches and vaults

A. Borri & G. Castori

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

ABSTRACT: A Seismic retrofitting of structures belonging to the architectural heritage requires meeting of constraints which are related to preservation of artistic features. Such a philosophy was applied to the design process of the retrofitting intervention of a masonry arch, belonging to a 17th century portico built inside a Roman amphitheatre in the city of Spoleto (Italy), and of two masonry vaults of an ancient building in the city of Foligno (Italy). This led to the opportunity of investigating the efficiency of an innovative composite material, based on fine steel cords embedded in a cementitious matrix (Steel Reinforced Grout). To assure an adequate strength against earthquake, a couple of prestressed SRG strips, in the first case, and a reticular system, made of transversal and longitudinal prestressed SRG laminates, in the second case, have been applied on the extrados of the arch and of the vaults, respectively. 1 INTRODUCTION Among the structural components in monumental buildings, masonry arches and vaults deserve particular attention. They are very widespread in Italian historical centers, and their preservation as part of the cultural heritage is a very topical subject. Because of their ages or for accidental causes (such as earthquakes), these structures can suffer several types of damage, so the contribution of strengthening materials and repair techniques may be required to re-establish their performances and to prevent the brittle collapse of the masonry in possible future hazardous conditions. According to this, strengthening masonry vaults poses serious concerns because the vast majority is of considerable architectural and historical value. Traditional reinforcement techniques may guarantee an adequate increment in strength, stiffness, and ductility, but are often short-lived and laborintensive, and they usually violate aesthetic requirements or conservation or restoration needs. Recent earthquakes have demonstrated how such interventions, based on reinforced concrete and steel rebar, appeared extremely harmful for structures belonging to the architectural heritage. After recognizing damages of those seismic upgrading following the regulations, members of National Committee for Cultural Heritage Seismic Risk Prevention claimed the principle of seismic improvement by techniques respecting the structural system and preserving their integrity. This way of thinking have been clearly claimed by 10.29.1996 decree explaining the mandatory seismic improvement for historically artistically relevant structures as interventions on the structural elements of the building in order to increase the safety margin without changing the main features of global behaviour. The current debate about restoration and consolidation of historical constructions assumes, in fact, that an historical building is the primary source of knowledge, a significant testimony in its full complexity. Thus, it is essential to deal with the individual object as a unique, unrepeatable instance, assigning equal value, dignity, importance, and right to protection to all the components of the building and all the material evidence contained in it. Hence, a strengthening project has to be preceded by a scientific diagnostic approach and has to minimise the impact of the intervention, by choosing the most compatible solution with respect to the buildings current state, with the aim of preserving it as better is possible. Therefore, the actual approach to restoration leads to the requirement of new reinforcement technologies, able to work in parallel and in cooperation with the existing structures, and moreover characterized by the fact to be light, durable and possibly removable. 2 STRENGTHENING OF MASONRY ARCHES AND VAULTS Thanks to their adaptability to the changes of the geometric configuration, masonry arches or vaults

are able to distribute the strain along the mortar joints, avoiding the formation of significant cracks. In this way the collapse mechanism does not depends by the materials limit strength, but it is due to the incapability of the structure to fit the horizontal and vertical displacements of the abutments. As a consequence it is clear that similar displacements should be considered when strengthening masonry arches introducing only systems, which are able to realize an effective reinforcement without changing the constructive features of the structure. Conversely, existing methods of repair often have been based on the idea of working over to make the structure resistant to the seismic actions, changing, in this way, the main features of global behavior. According to this, it has to avoid, for instance, that methods (i.e., concrete slab), which, in order to limit the effects produced by the thrusts, try to eliminate them, changing, as a result, the static behavior of the structure, that is so reduced to a simple ceilings. For the same reasons, the use of removing the spandrel fill should be assess with care, taking into account the geometric configuration and the cracking pattern of the vault. Such problems have led researchers to suggest strengthening masonry vaults with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in the form of bonded surface reinforcements. There are several advantages related to this strengthening technique: very low weight, corrosion immunity, high tensile strength and low thermal expansion coefficient. Moreover the somewhat easiness of execution of the intervention, even in difficult operative conditions, allows a wide range of possible applications in several situations of damage, without considering that the possibility of binding or wrapping structural elements made of brittle materials (like masonry) allows, in most cases, to avoid the collapse of the structure and so assure the pursued safety conditions. Nevertheless, their lack of fire resistance and their relatively high cost may represent an obstacle for a widespread use. According to these difficulties, beside the traditional FRP, the use of a new family of composite materials, based on high strength twisted steel wires embedded within a cementitious grout (Steel Reinforced Grout), is more and more considered. The core of the project is based on the idea to combine, along with the traditional advantages of the composite materials, the performances of a material that, using twisted steel wires, allows the same applications of FRP materials with lesser costs. Without considering that the use of SRG, because of the presence of a cementitious grout, which replaced the polymeric resin of FRP materials, allows to increase the fire resistance as well. The flexural limited resistance of the masonry vaults or arches can be overcome by introducing passive reinforcing steel strip (Borri et al. 2007a), making it able to sustain substantial bending mo-

ment in addition to axial loads, but a better application of the method is the use of pre-stressed strips. Loading the vault in radial direction, the SRG reinforcement increase its compression and improve its resistance to pressure-flexure induced by incidental loads. The consolidation effect is realised by simply placing one or more strips alongside the extrados surface of the vault. The strips are fixed to the masonry of the supporting walls and then pre-tensioned (Figure 1). This fact implies the transmission of radial self-equilibrated forces between the curved strips and the arch.

Figure 1. Prestressing device (courtesy Eng. Giannantoni).

As the compression resistance of the masonry is usually high, it is possible, and not risky, to strongly rise the axial internal load in the masonry, avoiding the formation of the four-hinges collapse mechanism. All the structural section of the masonry will be more compressed as in the original state, thus postponing the formation of the cracks. Using this technique, the reinforcement does not interfere with the in situ material and respect the structural behaviour of the existing building. The method permits a recognisable sign of contemporary interventions. The reinforcement so applied works as an active system, which allows calibrating the actions as it needs and, if loss of prestress takes places, allows re-tensioning. Even in case of variation of curvature along the arch ring, the reinforcement strips act in a beneficial way, as the mutual forces applied by the cords perpendicularly to the surface are maximal exactly in the zones where the radius of curvature is minimal. It has to be noticed that the proposed consolidation technique works well only if the piers are able to sustain the lateral thrust induced by the arch (or vault). If they were too weak, the structure would break in a section somewhere between the springing and the keystone. This means that, in this case, the reinforcement have to be prolonged till the base of the piers. They have to help balancing load across the spans and thus they have to be placed up to the spans. In some case shear failure may take place in the structure and a sliding failure mechanism can occur. The reinforcement, although less efficient

than in the flexural induced collapse case, still bring to an increase of ultimate load. 3 CASE OF STUDY: CLOISTER PORTICO 3.1 Investigation and field survey The focused structure is a cloister portico, dated from the late 18th century, affected by the UmbriaMarche earthquake (1997). Such portico is constituted by seven masonry arches and is built on the elliptical plan of an old Roman amphitheatre (II B.C.) in the city of Spoleto (Italy). All arches have a semi-circular shape and are built with natural stone bricks arranged in two layers bonded together by mortar joints only. The bottom layer, 155 mm thick, is built with 70x155x310 mm bricks laid on edge, whereas the upper layer, 35 mm thick, consists of 35x155x310 mm bricks laid flat. All arches have exactly the same span length (3000 mm) and depth (480 mm), with the exception of the fourth arch that has a span of 3310 mm. The arch piers are also made of natural stone bricks (70x155x310 mm) and are 480x480 mm square. Each pier includes a Doric capital, 270 mm high, whereas only the first three columns have a base (210 mm high).

realized at the top of the abovementioned cloister portico. The consolidation effect is realized by simply placing two SRG sheets alongside the extrados surface of the arch. The sheets are fixed to the masonry of the supporting piers and then tensioned. This fact implies the transmission of radial selfequilibrated forces between the curved sheets and the arch. The masonry of the arch will be consequently compressed and the distinct blocks will be helped to better support flexion, especially originated by asymmetrical conditions. Actually, the designed prestressing stress is quite low (5% of SRG strip ultimate strength) because the main goal is to obtain a reinforcement able to work as an active system, so that composites start working even for low intensity seismic activity. The prestressing device, used in such applications, consists of three regions, comprising of two anchoring and one loading regions, respectively (Figure 3). The anchorage regions consists of: removable steel plates, to anchor the SRG sheets, and a fixed steel plate, anchored to the arch abutment, to hold the removable steel plates and bonded sheets through steel bolts and nuts. The loading regions consist of: two inequal angles and a winding axis, to prestress the SRG sheets manually with a dynamometric wrench, and two fixed and as many removable plates to bond sheets through steel bolts and nuts.
ANCHORAGE REGION FIXED PLATE + REMOVABLE PLATES LOADING REGION INEQUAL ANGLES + WINDING AXIS + ANCHORS PLATE

ANCHORAGE REGION FIXED PLATE + REMOVABLE PLATES SRG STRIP

Figure 3. Layout of the intervention. Figure 2. Cloister Portico: plan view.

At the current state of the design process, the retrofitting intervention involves only one of the seven arches of the cloister portico (label 04 of Figure 2).
Table 1. Geometric properties of ARCH 04. ARCH 04 Span (mm) 3310 Rise (mm) 1660 Section (mm x mm) 200x480 Height of the left pier (mm) 1800 Height of the right pier (mm) 1780

The strips used are 100 mm in width and 0.89 mm in thickness. Manufacturers mechanical properties (Hardwire 2002) of the strengthening material are reported in Table 2.
Table 2. Properties of the laminate. 3SX-12 Tensile load (N/mm) 635 Elastic modulus (N/mm2) 210000 Ultimate strain (%) 1.2

A deflectometer has been used to register deflections. Thus it has been possible to monitor the arch crown deflection during and after the intervention.

3.2 Retrofitting design To increase the structural seismic strength and, consequently, the safety of the structure, SRG strips, pretensioned through an innovative prestressing device, has been designed. Such strips will be reused in the final intervention, when a new floor will be

Figure 4. Deflectometer used to register arch crown deflection.

3.3 Installation In order to ensure the safety of the structure, the arch rehabilitation started with the installation of scaffolding on the intrados both of the above mentioned arch and of the two adjacent arches. This action is necessary to supply, after the removal of the filling material, the horizontal thrust of such arches and to bear tensile stresses generated by the prestressing of the SRG sheets. After surface cleaning by sanding and water based solvents and then levelling the surface of the outer arch area, bedding bands were created using suitable cementitious grout. The first step in the assemblage of the prestressing device consist of fastening the anchoring steel plates to the arch abutment through the use of two 16 anchoring rods, inserted vertically, long enough (1000 mm) to reach the height of the pier. Each anchoring plate consist of three parts: a central plate (4403006 mm) with two round holes for the anchoring rods and two lateral plates (4401506 mm) joined to the central plate by a butt hinge. Anchorage of the SRG sheets is created by bonding the ends of the sheets on the aforesaid lateral plates with a polymeric resin and by fastening two removable steel plates (4401506 mm) through the use of steel bolts. The removable plates are fixed to the lateral plates by the tightening of the nuts in the anchorage region. High pressure must be applied to the SRG sheets through steel plates and ten bolts at each end to prevent slipping of the SRG sheets, which would result in a loss of prestressing force. Test results (Borri et al. 2007b) show that the friction resulting from the pressure was sufficient to anchor the sheets during prestressing.

The next step consist of creating the anchorage of the SRG sheets in the loading region. At one end, anchorage of the SRG sheets is created by using the same anchoring steel plates as the anchorage region (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Anchorage region.

Figure 6. Bonding SRG sheets to the anchoring steel plate of the loading region.

Conversely, at the other end, the reinforcement is fixed directly to the winding axis of the loading device. Because of the dimensions of such element, which should not permit prestressing of the two sheets simultaneously, it becomes necessary to use an intermediate steel plate (4401506 mm), placed at a position 250 mm distant from the loading device. Using such a steel plate (Figure 7), it is possible to fasten the two SRG sheets, fixed to the arch abutment, to the SRG sheet, fixed to the loading device. As in the previous cases, the anchorage is created by fixing a removable steel plate (4401506

mm) to the intermediate steel plate through the use of steel bolts.

Figure 8. Arch after intervention.

4 CASE OF STUDY: JACOBILLI BUILDING

Figure 7. Fixing SRG sheets to the loading device.

4.1 Investigation and field survey Jacobilli building is a clustered complex that takes almost half of a single-standing block in the historical centre of Foligno (Italy). The building, that includes various different structural nuclei affected by changes and modifications during centuries, gained almost stable configuration around the XVIII century as a noble house. The building was seriously damaged by the Umbria-Marche earthquake (1997) and may of its structures were repaired including some composite strengthenings. The present paper deals, in particular, with the design process of the retrofitting intervention of two masonry vaults of the building. Both vaults are located in the buildings first level and, more in detail, in the Music and Sacrifice room.

After the anchorage was created, the desired prestressing stress can be smoothly achieved in the SRG sheets by tightening the winding axis manually with a dynamometric wrench. As said, since the main goal is to obtain a reinforcement able to work as an active system and not to increase arch compression, the sheet was prestressed only up to 5% of its ultimate strength (3000 N). After the reinforcement was prestressed and fixed to the anchoring plate through the use of a removable plate, the sheet was cut and the loading device was removed. Test results showed that the mechanical device proved to be practical and safe for prestressing SRG sheets. In particular the deflectometer used during the intervention has not register deflection, confirming that the prestress load has been very low. Figure 8 shows the details of the anchoring and loading regions after the assemblage is fully completed.

Figure 9. First floor: longitudinal section and plan view (courtesy Eng. Menest).

Both vaults are cloister vaults built with solid clay bricks arranged in a single layer. Based on the survey, it was determined that the length of the vault

in the Music room is 7.90 m, width is 6.75 m, while its average thickness is 120 mm. Conversely, as for the vault in the Sacrifice room, the length is 7.14 m, width is 4.74 m and its average thickness is 120 mm.
E N W S

GROIN REBUILT IN 1713

VAULT BUILT IN 1670

GROIN DEMOLISHED IN 1712

FACADE WALL DEMOLISHED IN 1712

FACADE WALL REBUILT IN 1713

Figure 11. Enlargement of the Music room (1712 1713).

CRACKS

a)

4.2 Retrofitting design Both vaults were reinforced with SRG tapes at the extrados intended to lock-out some of the most probable failure mechanisms. As above mentioned, the collapse mechanism does not depends by the materials limit strength, but it is due to the incapability of the faade wall to supply the horizontal thrust of the vault. As a consequence, it is clear that such a thrust should be considered introducing only systems, which are able to realize an effective reinforcement without changing the constructive features of the vault. A traditional solution could be the substitution of filling material with hollow brick walls, which has positive effects thanks to the dead load decrease. Conversely, as the reinforcement can bear the stresses occurring at the tensed edges, the application of composite laminates, as externally bonded strengthening materials, can modify the failure mode of the masonry vault and significantly increase the load carrying capacity (Figure 12a). Therefore, the brittle failure of such structures, typically caused by the formation of four (or three) hinges, can be avoided. Depending on the position of the laminate, in fact, the formation of the forth hinge can be prevented (Foraboschi 2004). When the connection between vault abutment and reinforcement is effective, their use also prevents the formation of cylindrical hinges in the piers and it causes high increases of inducing mechanism activation loads (Figure 12b).

E N W S

CRACKS LOSS OF CURVATURE

b)

In both cases, the analysis of the cracking pattern reveals an asymmetric distribution of the cracks (Figure 10). The main cracks are in fact concentrated along the faade wall (west side of the Sacrifice room and east side of the Music room). Also, both vaults are affected by large cracks distributed along the ribs. According to this, it would seem reasonable to assume that the cause of such a collapse mechanism is due to the incapability of the faade wall to supply the horizontal thrust of the vault. Also, at the extrados of the vault in the Music room a significant loss of curvature near the faade wall has been found during filling material removal. It is very likely that such permanent deformation was caused by the changes and modifications that affected the building during centuries. In particular, it can be noted that from 1712 to 1724 Giuseppe Jacobilli enlarged the mansion reaching wath is today Via Antonietti, incorporating other buildings in the process. As a consequence, the peripheral masonry facing of the Music room and a portion of the vault were demolished and rebuilt (Figure 11). It seems reasonable to assume that such an intervention modified the static behaviour of the vault, reducing the curvature and therefore the bearing capacity.

Figure 10. Cracking pattern: a) Sacrifice room; b) Music room.

Figure 12. Collapse mechanism: a) extrados reinforcement; b) extrados reinforcement + anchoring.

The consolidation effect is realized by simply placing a reticular system, made of transversal and

longitudinal prestressed SRG strips on the extrados of the vaults. Where the transversal strips are used to resist the horizontal thrust acting on the faade wall, whereas the longitudinal strips are used as a connection element between the transversal strips.

E N W S

ANCHORING REGION ANCHORING REGION

TRANSVERSAL STRIPS

LONGITUDINAL STRIPS

LOADING REGION ANCHORING REGION

ANCHORING REGION

LOADING REGION LOADING REGION

TRANSVERSAL STRIPS

despite careful preparation, areas with abrupt variations in curvature may occur. In these cases experimental tests showed high degree of weakness of traditional FRP sheets. Conversely, because of their higher shear strength, the use of steel fibers may overcome such shortcomings. Even in this cases, the first step in the assemblage of the prestressing device consist of fastening the anchoring steel plates (2201506) to the vault abutment through the use of two 16 anchoring rods inserted diagonally, long enough to reach the height of the springer. High pressure has been applied to the SRG sheets through steel plates and three bolts at each end to prevent slipping of the sheets.

ANCHORING REGION ANCHORING REGION

ANCHORING REGION

E N W S

LOADING REGION

ANCHORING REGION

LONGITUDINAL STRIP TRANSVERSAL STRIP

Figure 14. Anchoring of the SRG sheets.

ANCHORING REGION

Figure 13. Layout of the interventions.

As in the previous case of study, by using the same prestressing device, the sheets are fixed to the masonry of the supporting piers and then tensioned. The strips used are 100 mm in width and 0.89 mm in thickness. Manufacturers mechanical properties of the strengthening material are reported in Table 2. Even in this case, a series of deflectometers have been used to register deflections. Thus it has been possible to monitor the vaults deflection during and after the intervention. 4.3 Installation The rehabilitation of the two vaults started with removal of the filling material up to the haunches, where the solid clay bricks of the structure are inserted into the outer wall. In both cases, at the vault extrados a horizontal wooden ring have been found during filling material removal. This ring served to provide structural support for the vault thrust. After surface cleaning by sanding and water based solvents and then levelling the surface of the outer vault area, bedding bands were created using suitable cementitious grout. It should be noted that,

After the SRG sheets have been fixed, the anchorage of the sheets in the loading region was created. More in detail, at one end the sheet was anchored through the use of the same steel plates as the anchorage region; whereas at the other end, the sheet was fixed directly to the winding axis of the loading device.

Figure 15. Loading region.

Finally, the desired prestressing stress has been achieved in the SRG sheets by tightening the winding axis manually with a dynamometric wrench. Even in this cases the prestressing load was quite low. The sheets were prestressed only up to 6% of their ultimate strength (4000 N). After the reinforcement was prestressed and fixed to the anchoring plate through the use of a removable plate, the sheet was cut and the loading device was removed.

Figure 18. Application of steel flat plates.

Figure 19 shows the details of the extrados of the vaults after the assemblage is fully completed.

Figure 16. Prestressing of the SRG sheets.

Also, it can be noticed that prestressing SRG strips permits the reinforcement to follow a regular curve parallel to the original ideal surface of the undeformed vault. According to this, in the Music room, connected with the loss of curvature (near the faade wall) in addiction to the reinforcement, steel flat plates, bolted to the bricks, were used to secure the ply to the vault extrados. This fact implies the transmission of radial selfequilibrated forces between the strips and the vault, allowing to reduce deformation and to re-stabilish, therefore, an adequate curvature.
STEEL FLAT PLATES SRG STRIP VAULT

F F

F F

Figure 17. Stress state generated by the prestressing SRG strips.

Also, as it regards the Music room, because of the low value of the prestress load, the deflectometers used during the intervention have been register a reduction of deformation of only 20% (11 mm) of the original value. It would seem reasonable to assume that an increase of the prestressing load should re-stabilish the original curvature. 5 CONCLUSIONS The operations carried out, firstly to save and then to consolidate and restore the masonry arch of the cloister portico built inside a Roman amphitheatre in the city of Spoleto (Italy), and of two masonry vaults of the Jacobilli building in the city of Foligno (Italy) have all followed the same philosophy. To place the most up-to-date techniques and technolo-

Figure 19. Vaults after intervention: Sacrifice and Music room.

gies at the service of culture, in order to respect the historic value of the ancient buildings and to obtain adequate safety levels, whilst changing as little as possible the original structural conception. These technologies, never applied before in the field of restoration, have been studied specifically for this occasion, offering new and interesting possibilities for the safeguard of the World architectural heritage. 6 REFERENCES
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