Identification of Sensitive Parameters to Calibrate a Model Updating of a Doubly Curved Masonry Catalan Vault

Abstract

The masonry vaults represent one of the most widespread structural and constructional typologies in Catalonia. Catalan vault is a type of masonry vault formed by several ceramic thin tile layers with mortar between them. This type of structure optimizes the use of material covering the largest possible surface. Like all masonry structures, it is designed to work under compressive forces but its performance against tensile stresses is rather poor. For this reason, among others, many heritage structures often exhibit pathologies in the form of geometric imperfections or cracks. Analysing these structures and extracting material, geometry and boundary conditions properties from them without resorting to destructive tests or theoretical approaches can become an inextricable task. At this point, a system based on model updating is proposed to determine properties of the structure that are initially unknown. Model updating is the process of ensuring that finite element analysis results in models that better reflect the measured data than the initial models. This is achieved by adjusting parameters until the numerical model matches the experimental acquisition behaviour. Non-destructive dynamic tests are useful to avoid more complex testing. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.