THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA:

THE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTION

TAJAMUL ISLAM
CE-10-51

CONTENTS
THE PROBLEM
Introduction
History and characteristics
Structure
Foundation soil profile

Motion of foundation
THE SOLUTION
Temporary foundation stabilisation measures
Permanent foundation stabilisation measures
Additional foundation stabilisation works
A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
It is the bell tower of the cathedral.
Construction began in 1173.
Known world over for its tilt.
Efforts to fix the tower have been going on for 800

years.

HISTORY AND
CHARACTERISTICS
Work on the foundation began on 9 August 1173.
The Tower was constructed in the course of about 200 years.
The third cornice had only just been completed when, in c. 1178, the

building works were suspended.

Around 1272 the construction was recommenced, only to be interrupted
again, at the level of the 7th cornice, in 1278.
The differential subsidence is 1.89m; this means that the extreme north and
south have subsided by 1.86m and 3.75m respectively.
The height of the building is 55.86m from the ground on the low side and
56.67m on the high side(a difference of 0.81m).
The ring shaped foundation has an external diameter of 19.6m.
Prior to the restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower
leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99
degrees.

CONSTRUCTION
TIMELINE

CHARACTERISTICS

STRUCTURE
Hollow cylinder.
Whole weight supported
by walls.
Walls are made from
stone, lime and mortar
covered with a marble
faade.
Due to the tilt there was an
inequality of pressure on the
masonry walls.

FOUNDATION SOIL
PROFILE
Plain of Pisa is composed of geologically recent lagoon marsh

deposits.
Between ground level and a depth of about 10 m (horizon A): sands
and silts with irregular stratifications, but with a prevalence of clayey
silts under the southern part of the Tower (it is maintained that this is
the cause which led to the inclination of the monument).
Between 10 and 40 m depth (horizon B): soil composed primarily of
soft clays with an interlaying layer of sand. The upper surface of the
clay, more or less horizontal over the entire square, is depressed by
more than two metres underneath the Tower; this is a deformation
induced over the centuries by the weight of the Tower. This fact leads
to the estimation that the overall subsidence of the Tower is between
2.5 and 3 metres.
Below 40m depth (horizon C): Dense sands.

FOUNDATION SOIL
PROFILE

MOTION OF
FOUNDATION
Precise measurements began in 1911.
There has been a progressive increase in the inclination, usually

attributed to the creep in underlying soft clay.

Study revealed a most surprising form of motion of the foundation.
Measurements showed that the first cornice had not moved
horizontally apart from two occasions when man intervened. Also
the centre of the foundation had not displaced vertically relative to
the surrounding ground. Therefore, the rigid body motion of the
Tower could only be as shown in Fig. 5, with an instantaneous centre
of rotation at the level of the first cornice vertically above the centre
of the foundation. The direction of motion of points FN and FS are
shown by vectors and it is clear that the foundation has been moving
northwards with FN rising and FS sinking.

MOTION CONTD...
1. Leaning instability.
2. North side steadily rising,
counterweights could be
used.
3. Seat of continuing longterm rotation lies in the
horizon A.
4. In addition to creep, the
most likely cause of the
progressive seasonal
rotation was the fluctuating
ground water level.

TEMPORARY
SOLUTION
Lead counter-weights(600t increased to 900t)

were added to the north side via a posttensioned removable concrete ring.

PERMANENT
SOLUTION
Reducing the inclination by means
of controlled ground extraction.
Large scale trails were
commenced, primarily to develop a
specialised drilling technology for
the job.
Soil extraction was continued at a
slow pace.
After the start of extraction it was
completed in 3 years. The tower
had rotated by about 1800 arc
seconds northwards during this
period.

ADDITIONAL
MEASURES
An ancient ring detected in the bottom of the catino, was

connected to the masonry foundation of the tower by means

of steel reinforcement an has been strengthened by
circumferential post-tensioning.

ADDITIONAL MEASURES
CONTD...
Studies showed that the seasonal fluctuating water table

in horizon A during intense periods of rain was the main

factor responsible for the continuing movement. Also,
apart from these intense periods of rain, the ground water
levels close to the south side of the tower in horizon A are
200 to 300mm higher than those to north. This difference
in the piezometric level produces southward rotations of
the tower.
To minimise this effect a drainage system was installed
consisting of three wells sunk on the north side. The
installation of this drainage system induced further
northward rotation of the tower.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

FUTURE
Experts envisage the following two scenario's :
Optimistic scenario: Continuing rotation has been
stopped, except for minor movements caused by
ground water level fluctuations. This scenario implies
that the dominant mechanism driving the leaning
instability was fluctuations of the ground water level.
Pessimistic scenario: This scenario assumes that
the leaning instability was caused due to the
combined effects of foundation soil creep and ground
water fluctuations. Accordingly the rotation of the
tower may resume after sometime (to return to its
1993 inclination 200 years).

CONCLUSION
Most of the ideas to save the tower were

centred on the idea of supporting the weak

side, lifting the south side. But the novel idea
of lowering the north side proved to be
effective. Also the assumption that the ground
water fluctuations effect the towers tilt seems
to have been right. The advantage of the
method used over other methods, is its noninvasive nature to the fabric of the tower and
the high degree of day to day control that can
be exerted.

THANK YOU
(GRAZIE)