Fast Limit Analysis of Domes Belonging to the Architectural Heritage Under Different Hypotheses on Masonry Strength

The load-bearing capacity of selected case studies of domes belonging to the architectural heritage is evaluated by means of two different semi-analytical approaches framed in the context of limit analysis. The first method is a static approach known as the “Durand-Claye method” or “stability area method”, and the second is a kinematic approach that combines the virtual power principle with the upper bound theorem of limit analysis. The fundamentals of these two methods were presented in previous works by the authors, under different hypotheses about the strength of masonry. Building on this theoretical background, the current study introduces novel analytical solutions for domes of varying shapes, specifically ogival domes and segmental domes with nonuniform thickness. These solutions are applied to real case studies of significant architectural importance: the ogival dome of the Church of Anime Sante in L’Aquila (Italy); the ogival dome of Escuelas Pías in Valencia (Spain), and the main segmental dome of the Global Vipassana Pagoda in Mumbai (India). The varying sizes of the examined domes allow for an analysis of the impact of limited tensile and compressive strength on collapse behavior, by comparing the results obtained through the static and kinematic methods with those derived from Heyman’s simplified assumptions.