PSI - Issue 39

A. Curto et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 39 (2022) 671–676

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Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

1. Introduction Whereas people refer often to Catalan vault as a type of structure, they are ordinary vaults constructed with a particular technique that does not require a formwork or center (Benfratello et al., 2012). The idea of constructing vaults without center is very ancient (El-Derby & Elyamani, 2016). The adobe masonry barrel vaults in Ancient Egypt were constructed with mud-bricks laid slightly tilted to the vertical such that center was not necessary (see figure 1).

Fig. 1. Mud-bricks laid tilted in an Ancient Egyptian barrel vault (in the storerooms of the Ramesseum temple). from (El-Derby & Elyamani, 2016)

The cunning idea of constructing vaults without a center of ancient masons was modified in the centuries and one of the most interesting examples is the Brunelleschi’s vault of Santa Maria Del Fiore in Florence (Paris et al., 2020). The Catalan technique was popularized all over the world by Gaudi and by Guastavino that introduced the idea of using standardized thin tiles and layers of Portland cement mortar. Vaults are structures that, due to their form, are essentially compressed. Small traction stresses might arise and, whereas in recent decades these structures were less popular, researches have demonstrated that they can be adapted in seismic regions and that they can be constructed with sustainable materials (Nanayakkara, 2020). In the present times, Catalan vaults are still constructed by firstly building the first self-supporting layer without center or formwork (see figure 1), and, on the top of this layer other two layers of bricks with the intermediate (second) layer having the joints rotated of 45° with respect to the others. The third layer is often made with thicker tiles in order to have a larger cross section, if the structural engineer requires a larger capacity of the vault to sustain compression loads. Often, between the second and the third layer a grid is placed in the mortar connecting the layers. This grid is as thin as possible and has the purpose of reinforcing the mortar rather than distributing the concentrated loads that are rare in vaults.