Influence of Ageing and Deterioration of Masonry on Load Bearing Capacity of Historical Building

Numerous heritage buildings in the former Eastern Europe that were neglected in the past are severely deteriorated due to ageing and moisture problems. The paper summarizes experimental and numerical work carried out on 150 yrs. old Kolizej Palace in Ljubljana (Slovenia) which has recently been demolished, despite the overall opinion among conservators that it should be preserved. Experimental tests proved almost completely saturated conditions in the ground level of the building, while all the stories above were in almost dry condition. The results of tests on masonry revealed that moisture content and state of deterioration affected both strength and stiffness properties of built masonry in that extend so that the previous estimations and calculations regarding the state of the structure and its static load bearing capacity were too optimistic. Both storey and global response non-linear seismic analysis have proved that building in its current condition is far below the current seismic code requirements.