Structural analysis as tool of support of heritage constructions assessment

Heritage constructions are structures of high relevance to society due to the fact that they are part of the history and culture of community. Studies concerned with conservation and structural safety of historical buildings using structural analysis as way of to determine the structural tension distribution, and its relationships with damage occurrence, and stability, are very important in to assessment of this type of constructions. Thus, this paper presents a structural analysis of the Nossa Senhora das Dores Church, an important heritage construction from XIX century built with vernacular masonry, basically clay brick masonry. The church is located at Historical Center of Sobral, in the North region of Ceará State. In this purpose, a 3D modeling was performed through CAD software, using geometric data provided by Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN). The model was exported to ANSYS® software, where it was discretized in finite elements and a linear static structural analysis was carried. The results found allowed to identify the main regions of the church with highest directional displacement (in X, Y and Z), deformations and tensile and compression stress.