Experimental and numerical analyses of curvilinear masonry structures exposed to high temperatures

Despite masonry arches and vaults are recurring structural members within architectural heritage, experimental and numerical analyses on these structures exposed to fire are still not much addressed. The present paper deals with ive tests carried out on masonry barrel vaults, made with clay solid bricks, cement-lime mortar, and subjected to tandard fire at intrados and to different load arrangements on the extrados. Two vaults were also insulated with fire rotectives to mitigate the effects of elevated temperatures. In addition, a simplified numerical model, previously ntroduced and herein improved with a more refined thermal analysis, is used to calculate the fire resistance R. As esults, by comparing the test data and the numerical outcomes, more reliable, but still conservative, predictions of R an be obtained in the case of barrel vaults.