The Use of Composites in Architectural Restoration: Some Critical Considerations on the Theoretical Implications

Abstract:

The use of composites in the field of architectural restoration is becoming more and more widespread, because of the great technical advantages they convey in many cases. But applying these materials to the Cultural Heritage poses not only technical issues, common to all the applications on the same materials, but also artistic, historical and, more generally, cultural ones. The present paper faces these issues, starting with some considerations on how they were dealt with in history, when the “new” materials were iron, steel and reinforced concrete. Then, the specific problems posed by the composite materials are discussed and some examples are shown in order to identify the correct approach to the many different cases that can arouse in the field of architectural restoration. There isn’t a single right solution for each problem, but there is a right approach that starts from the comprehension of the building’s behavior, passes through a comparison of all the possible solutions and aims at finding the best equilibrium among the technical and theoretical issues for the single case study.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 624)
• Pages: 11-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.624.11
• Online since: September 2014
• Authors: Eva Coïsson*, Federica Ottoni
• Keywords: Durability, Historical Building, Principles of Restoration, Reversibility

References

[1] J. Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, The Waverley Book Company, London, 1849. Reference to a chapter in an edited book.

[2] The Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historic Monuments, Athens, (1931).

[3] The Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, Venice, (1964).

[4] M. Miegge, Developing Structures, in: Ananke, n°31, pgs. 90-95, (2001).

[5] P.L. Nervi, Scienza o arte del costruire? Caratteristiche e possibilità del cemento armato, Edizioni della Bussola, Roma, (1945).

[6] A cura di F. Galloni, Il restauro delle costruzioni in muratura - Problemi metodologici e tecniche di consolidamento, Atti del II Corso di Informazione ASSIRCO, Venezia 21-23 maggio (1980).

[7] C. Brandi, La teoria del restauro, Einaudi, Torino, (1963).

[8] Linee Guida per la valutazione e riduzione del rischio sismico del patrimonio culturale allineate alle nuove Norme tecniche per le costruzioni (D.M. 14 gennaio 2008).

[9] B. Belletti, E. Coïsson, Structural jacketing of brick masonry columns: a comparison among different solutions. In: Computational Modeling on Concrete, Masonry and Fiber-reinforced Composites. Delft, The Netherlands, 17/18 June (2009).