Investigating causes of damages to historical timber structures by use of FEM

Paper in proceeding, 2005

Historical timber structures are often complex, their static behaviour being difficult to grasp. Such structures are usually statically indeterminate. To determine how a statically indeterminate structure carries the load it supports, the stiffness of its separate parts needs to be taken into account. Knowledge of the static behaviour and of the factors that influence it is important when investigating the causes of damages. The damage analyses suggested involve several steps. First, a thorough investigation of the structure is needed, aimed at collecting the basic facts required for obtaining sufficient background information for creating the computational model. The next step is to create a computational model based on the Finite Elements Method. Having access to an appropriate computational model allows possible causes of damages to readily be simu-lated. The roof structure of the medieval Swedish castle of Glimmingehus was selected as an example of how such an analysis can be performed.