Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i.
(Advanced Research Centre for Cultural Heritage
Interdisciplinary Projects)

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Safeguarding of architectural heritage
Important European Issue
Science
Engineering
Social & Political Matter
Environment & Sustainability

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Structural heritage values
Failure of a Gothic vault of
St.Francesco church in Assisi (I)
Diamond vault in
Franciscan Monastery in Kada ň (CZ)

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Integrated qualities
Aesthetic
Functional
Technological

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
National Theatre in Prague St.Trinity
Column
Olomouc
Testing of stress distribution in bronze sculpture & inner iron frame

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Structural craft lessons
Carpentry door frame with locked corner stiffeners
(rigid corner)
Forged hinges with distributed nails & screws
(distributed & reduced reaction forces)

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Traces by left handed carpenter worked above the waist level on a horizontally oriented hewn log
Log squaring traces left handed carpenter right handed
Transparent plastic sheet for trace analysis (below)
Origin of traces
High work
Broad axe
Examples of carpentry technological traces
Low work
Long felling axe

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Proof load tests of timber crane replicas
Two way moveable crane for lifting sculptures
Rotating crane for roof repair on medieval castle

Imager plate
Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Diagnostics & Damage Analysis sound wood
Resistance drilling
X-ray source cracks decayed area
X-ray
Discovered wood decay
& nails, hidden details & fasteners
Videoscopy
Driven rod penetration
Ultrasonics

Wood
Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Non-standard specimen small sample testing of material characteristics
Cutting out wood strands
Tension test
7x7mm rect. triangle
4.5 mm
Core drilling
Compression test
Bending test - mortar
Compression test
Stone &
Mortar
Splitting test
Shear test

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
X-ray Micro-tomography
Medipix detector
X-ray source
Calibration carousel
Concrete specimen
(2x7x13 mm)
Turntable with loading device
Principle & set up

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Modeling & testing of climate effects
Environmental fatigue
Failure analysis
Stresses in St. Vitus tracery during warming
Simplified FEM Model
Process of warming from 5 °C to 15°C – surface temperature after 2 hours of heating
Temperature differences on wet surface during cycling wind rain
SP01
SP02
SP03
SP04
3D laser scanning

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Lessons from historic materials & development of compatible restoration materials
Mortars with fibres Study of effective stresses in noncompatible filling & original material exposed to real temperature changes
Pozzolanic mortars
Distribution of stresses inside and around filling shaped as truncated pyramid & truncated cone 75 mm thick (above) and as truncated pyramid
15 mm thick (left)

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Testing & modeling of air flow around complex architectural forms
Wind tunnel test models & CFD computed velocity streamlines around the tower

Civil Engineering VSU “Lyuben Karavelov”, Sofia, May 15, 2007
Thank you for your attention