Failure mechanisms as a method for the assessment of structural damage

摘要

Many historical buildings show signs of structural damage. For an adequate approach it is necessary to establish the cause of this damage. However, there is insufficient knowledge of how causes and signs of damage cohere. This paper presents an overview of the methodology used in the Ph.D. research project on structural defects in masonry church buildings in The Netherlands. The aim of this project is to gain better insight into the relation between signs of structural damage and their causes. This insight will be attained by defining the underlying damaging processes, including the factors that influence them, and describing these processes systematically in structural failure mechanisms. These mechanisms can then be translated into a diagnostic instrument, which can offer support in the search for the cause of a structural defect - and which could help in avoiding new structural damage in the future.