Static and Dynamic Testing on a Brick Masonry Pavilion Vault of the San Francesco di Paola Convent, in Roccabernarda (KR), Italy

The work describes the static and dynamic experimentation carried out on a pavilion vault, reconstructed in brick masonry with traditional techniques in an old partially collapsed convent. The vault was instrumented by using special bricks in some points, equipped with strain gauges inside them, in order to measure the stress state under static and dynamic conditions. The static tests were carried out through vertical loads at the extrados, uniformly distributed over the entire plan or, asymmetrically, only on a quarter of the vault plan. The dynamic tests were carried out by inducing the vibration to the entire convent through explosive charges, placed at a short distance and calibrated in such a way as to induce an excitation that is as similar as possible to an impulsive earthquake motion of low intensity. The results have shown the good behavior of this structural element under dynamic conditions, even if the level of excitation was rather low. Moreover, a first calibration of this type of experimental investigation was made, useful also for other type of tests (e.g. out-of-plane).