Author(s)

A. Anzani, L. Binda & G.M. Robert

Abstract

Several times during the centuries, and in different sites, the collapse of a tower took place a few months or even a few years after a low intensity shock occurred, which did not provoke immediate damage to the structure. Furthermore, in some other cases no evident modifications of the loading conditions were even observed before the collapse, yet a wide diffusion of cracks had were sometimes detected on the walls. A time-dependent behaviour has therefore to be assumed in order to explain the phenomenon. An experimental and a numerical analysis is presented in order to study long-term behaviour of masonry materials under persistent loads. 1 Introduction The sudden collapse of the Civic Tower of Pavia (March 1989), happened without any signal which might have ma

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