Experimental analysis of "bovedas tabicadas"

A particular type of vaulted structures, known as bóvedas tabicadas (Catalan vaults), made with alternate layers of bricks and mortar and characterized by a very low thickness in comparison to the other two dimensions, are studied. The research has been faced under the historical aspect as well as under the mechanical one, developing experimental and numerical analysis regarding real existing structures. In particular, the experimental analysis, performed by effecting compression and bending tests on samples taken from a real structure, has been devoted to the constitutive material identification and the characterization is made by considering the material as an ideal homogeneous; further experimental tests have been made on a real vault and the related numerical analyses have been developed by utilizing a suitable FEM discretization.