Numerical and experimental analysis of a masonry chimney

The Ciminiera del Tannino, located in Tuscany, is a double pipe brickwork chimney about 45 m tall and based on a cylindrical base of 2.25 m, made of brickwork, too. The outer tube has a diameter of 3.5 m at the base and of 1.5 at the crown. The outer tube thickness is 26 cm and the inner tube thickness is 15 cm; the inner tube has a constant diameter of 1.7 m and at 38 m height disappeared penetrating the outer one. The chimney was built in the early twentieth century and has the same signs of degradation as the other brickwork chimneys built in Italy in the same years. The signs are due to the weather and the frost-thaw cycles that are no longer counteracted by the time of disuse, including the mortar washout, exfoliation of the bricks and the deviation from the vertical. This paper presents at first the in-situ experimental campaign carried out in the chimney and afterwards the results of the safety verification performed both in static and dynamic field.