Statical analysis of earthen corbelled domes in the Aleppo’s region

In this paper are reported some preliminary results of a study aimed to understand the mechanical behaviour of earthen corbelled domes, used as roofs of houses in several villages, still inhabited, in the region of Aleppo. The study of materials (brick, mortar and type of texture) and shape (intrados and extrados curves) suggested the hypothesis of monolithic behaviour, justified by the adherence between bricks and mortar and by the thinness of the profiles, which would otherwise lead to collapse in construction phase. The “monolithic” behaviour of the system and the thin profile of the structure allowed us to use the membrane theory as a first approach to the study of the stress of a dome (which was chosen as a case of study) both for the analytical solution in closed form and for the approximate graphic solution. The results of this analysis were compared with those obtained by FEM analysis (Finite Elements Method) under linear elastic regime and shell elements.