The Impact of Timber Roof Framework Over Historical Masonry Structures. Issue 4 (September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Onescu, Eugen; Onescu, Iasmina; Mosoarca, Marius
• Is Part Of: IOP conference series. Volume 603:Issue 4(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Subjects: Materials science -- Periodicals; 620.1105
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/603/4/042030
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-8981

Abstract

Abstract: Romania is a European country, crossed by Carpathian Mountains and Danube River, with two important seismic zones. First and most dangerous one is Vrancea zone, near the capital of the country, Bucharest. The second most important seismic area is Banat, characterized by shallow earthquakes and a peak ground acceleration of 0.2. The most important city located in the second seismic zone is Timisoara, a city known in the past as Castrum Regium Themes which dates from 1212. Timisoara has been influenced by many cultures, such as Ottoman, Hungarian and Austrian, influence that can be seen also through the architecture of the city, especially in the historical zones, characterized by 1-4 storey masonry buildings with very complex and elegant timber roof framework. The dominant architectural styles are Secession and Art Nouveau. During the life period of the historical buildings, there were registered few seismic events, but the actual state of the buildings is a good one, with small problems caused by lack of proper maintenance or time-passing over construction materials. The global good behaviour of the buildings from the historical areas of Timisoara, despite the small seismic site-source distance and epicentral depth, remained a subject of interest for years. This article studies if and how the existence of such a complex timber roof framework influence the seismic behaviour of the masonry structure and entire building. The study was made based on non-linear analysis obtained with Tremuri software, determining the seismic vulnerability of the case study buildings with and without considering the timber roof. In the context of Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2021, the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of the most important buildings of the city is highly relevant. In the same time, considering the actual trend of replacing the historical timber roof framework with more modern structures, there is mandatory to understand how this specific timber structure contributes to the structural integrity of the historical masonry buildings.