Structuralstabilityis a major item when considering very high masonry buildings made of stones, bricks, etc., that can start sudden structural failures and collapses, often without any obvious signs of warning. A famous example is the collapse of the belfry of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice --the implementation of it began in the ninth century-- which took place in July 1902 a few days after the appearanceof a fissure. This paper discusses the scientific investigation performed on the Torre Civica (Civic Tower) in Ravenna (North-East Italy), in order to characterize its constituent materials, namely bricks and mortar. All this information and relevant data merge in a multimedia database which will help to design appropriate conservation and restoration works, mainly concerning the reconstruction of the apical part of the tower, that was foreshortened ten years ago for safety reasons, starting from the original materials catalogued and preserved up to the present day. © 2013, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
A study of the Civic Tower in Ravenna as an example of medieval towers' preservation problems
Bruni, S.
2013-01-01
Abstract
Structuralstabilityis a major item when considering very high masonry buildings made of stones, bricks, etc., that can start sudden structural failures and collapses, often without any obvious signs of warning. A famous example is the collapse of the belfry of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice --the implementation of it began in the ninth century-- which took place in July 1902 a few days after the appearanceof a fissure. This paper discusses the scientific investigation performed on the Torre Civica (Civic Tower) in Ravenna (North-East Italy), in order to characterize its constituent materials, namely bricks and mortar. All this information and relevant data merge in a multimedia database which will help to design appropriate conservation and restoration works, mainly concerning the reconstruction of the apical part of the tower, that was foreshortened ten years ago for safety reasons, starting from the original materials catalogued and preserved up to the present day. © 2013, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
