Title: Report 2: Graphic Statics

Author(s): Sonia Guerra Pinto.

Unit: SA1

Institution: UNIVERSITAT POLITCNICA DE CATALUNYA

Date: October 26, 2016

Erasmus Mundus ADVANCED MASTERS IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MONUMENTS

Programme: AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS
Consortium Institutions: UNIVERSITY OF MINHO, PORTUGAL
CZECH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA, ITALY
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA, SPAIN
Satellite Participant: INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED MECHANICS, CZECH REPUBLIC
SA1 Report 2

Content
For the section of the nave of a church, you must do the following exercises.

Exercise 1.
Calculate graphically the resultant force of the weight of the sole structural arch and its
overload. Indicate its total magnitude and point of application.

Exercise 2.
Analyse both the maximum and minimum thrust conditions for the structural arch. Calculate
graphically the minimum and maximum horizontal forces transmitted to the buttresses. Draw
the two thrust lines and discuss the results.

Exercise 3.
Evaluate if it is possible to have a solution with the thrust line wholly inside the arch and the
buttresses, for the entire church section. Draw the resulting thrust line and discuss the solution.

Exercise 4.
Calculate the maximum compressive stresses at the base of the buttresses corresponding to
the solution considered in the previous point.

Exercise 5. Present different possible solutions to strengthen the structure.

The specific weight of the material of arch and buttresses is equal to 18 kN/m3 (brick masonry),
whereas the specific weight of the roof is equal to 5 kN/m2

1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10

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Exercise 1.
We will work with half part of the arch described in the introduction. The arch will be divided into five
voissers (named from i to v). The the length of these sections is determined arbitrarily as we can see in
Figure 1. After determining the sections we must establish the centroid of each section (See table 1.)

Centroid Volume (m3) Weight (kg)

x y
i 2.47 5.17 0.14 2.52
v iv iii ii i v iv iii ii i ii 2.02 5.07 0.2 3.6
iii 1.62 4.93 0.21 3.78
iv 1.31 4.78 0.23 4.14
v 1.09 4.72 0.14 2.52

Figure 1. Voissers of the half arch. Table 1. Centroid, Volume and Weight of Voissers.

The weight of the total arch (masontry + mortar) will be applied in the centroid of each voisser in the
masonry arch. The resultant weight of all forces is established as R1 with a force of 14 kN (Figure 2) that
is equivalent of the addition of all partial vector from i to v and. Its point of application is showed in Figure
3 and is established by the sumatory of vectors.

a i v iv iii ii i
b
ii
1 m = 50 kN
c
0 1 2 3 4 5 10
O d iii R
a
e
f iv
f b
v e
d c
1 m = 50 kN

0 1 2 3 4 5
1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10

Figure 2. Resultant Force of Weight of Arch Figure 3. Point of Application of Resultant Force R

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Exercise 2.
To establish the maximum and minimum trust line, we will establish the point in which the forces must go
through for each case (see Figure 4). The application force of the Resultant R1 (Exercise 1) is positioned
in the top of the horizontal line for the maximum and minimum thrust conditions (Figure 5) and the
resultant Hmax and Hmin that will be used for the thrust line is established in Figure 6. The magnitude of
each vector is described in Table 2.

v iv iii ii i v iv iii ii i

1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10
Figure 4. Point of Application of Mnimum (Left) and Mximum (Right) Thrust Conditions.

v iv iii
v iv ii iii i ii i v iv iii
v iv ii iii i ii i
R2 R1
R3 R1

H min H max

1 m = 500 kN

0 1 2 3 4 5

1 m = 500 kN
1 m = 500 kN
0 1 2 3 4 50 1 2 3 4105 10

Figure 5. Establishing the direction of Vector R3 y R4 Figure 6. Resultant Hmax & Hmin for Thrust conditions.

Vector Magnitude (kN)

R2 21
R3 17
Hmin 9
Hmax 15,5

Table 2. Magnitude of Resultant Vectors of Figure 6.

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In order to calculate the maximum and minimum thrust line we must position Hmax and Hmin calculated
in the previous step and extend the forces till the center of the voissers (i to v). The addition of the vector
H and the weight of each voisser has a resultant for each section as we can see in figure 7. Consider that
the addition of each weight is accumulative while H is a constant. The resultant of each section is
prolonged to the next center of each voisser. Finally in Figure 8 we can see the resultant for each trust
line in the arch.

v iv iii ii i
v iv iii ii i
H min
H max

Figure 7. Calculation of Max and Min Thrust Line.

v iv iii ii i v iv iii ii i
H max

H max

R3
R2

1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10
Figure 8. Resultant Thrust Line

Once we have calculated the trust line for the arch, we must trasmit it to the butress. In order to do this,
we will calculate the centers, volume and weight (table 3) of each portion as shown in figure 9.

centroid
x y volume fuerza (kN)
a 0.37 5.6 0.04 0.72
b 11.05
c 0.67 5.46 0.28 5.04
d 0.73 4.74 0.45 8.1
e 0.77 4.06 0.35 6.3
f 0.66 3.2 0.63 11.34
g 0.55 2.32 0.85 15.3
h 0.5 0.93 1.86 33.48
Table 3. Center, Volume and Weight of the Butress

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a
c

1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10

Figure 9. Aplication of Weight of the Butress Sections and transmition of Arch Forces (Min Thrust Line)

We will to the adition of all vectors (weights) of sections a to f in order to calculate the resultant of the
arch and the top part of the butress. The force of the roof (b) is calculated with information given in
content (lenght * 5 kN /m2 * width). The thrust line results can be seen in figures 11 and 12. As we can
see the thrust line goes outside the butress so we can not assure that this is a safe structure.

Figure 10. Adition of Weight forces of Top part of Butress.

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Hm ax

R3

Pad

1 m = 50 kN
0 1 2 3 4 5 10

Figure 11. Minimun Thrust Line in Butress Figure 12. Maximun Thrust line in butress

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Exercise 3.

In order to have a safe structure in mnimum and mximum thrust lines it is possible to propose the
solutions in Figures 13 and 14. In The mnimun thrust line (Figure 13) in order to have a safe structure,
the butress can be thickened so this way the thrust line will fall inside the structure. Meanwhile in the
maximun thrust line (Figure 14) the weight of the butress in the top part of the structure can be increased
in order to get the thrust line inside the structure.

Figure 13 (left). solution for mnimum trust line; Figure 14 (right). Solution for maximun thrust line.

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Exercise 4.

The solution proposed in order for the structure to be safe with the minimum thrust line is to thicken the
bottom part of the buttress to the trust line will be inside the structure (from 1m to 1,43m). The resultant
force of the structure is 130 kN (See Figure 15). The resultant force for the proposed solution for the
maximum thrust line is 198 kN, in order to obtain a safe structure, the forces in the buttress must add a
magnitude over 181,5 kN. Of both proposed solutions, the solution in Figure 15 can be applied to both
cases.

Pag:
181,5 kN

1 m = 50 kN
Paf
0 1 2 3 4 5 10

Pg

Ph

Figure 15. Solution for Minimun Thrust Line (Safe Structure) Figure 16. Solution for Maximun Thrust Line (Safe Structure)

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Exercise 5.

The final solution for a safe structure is shown in Figure 17 and has been established by explanation in
Exercise 4.

0,56 m 0,56 m
3,78 m

3,78 m
1,43 m

1,43 m

1,43 m 1,43 m
Figure 17. Proposed Solution for safe structure.

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