Convent of Christ In Tomar - Safety assessment of the Charola roof

Abstract

The Convent of Christ with its buildings and rural domains, spreading to an area of forty-five acres, is one of the largest monumental complexes in Europe. It is located in the city of Tomar at the center of Portugal. With its construction that began in the second half of the 12th century, the complex has undergone several construction phases and features structures of significantly dif-ferent natures. The Convent was classified as UNESCO Heritage of Mankind and was included in its list of World Heritage. However, with the advent of time, the structure has undergone sev-eral degradation processes. The different roofs of the convent, which are mainly made of timber present different conservation states and require a proper safety analysis. This study focuses on one specific roof, situated above the Charola, one of the most peculiar parts of the convent in terms of architecture and cultural heritage, and thus the significance of a proper safety assessment. The present work presents the results from an onsite survey comprising geometrical survey using traditional methods and laser scanning, as well as non-destructive test results from pin penetra-tion and drilling resistance tests. The state of conservation of the structure is discussed and a damage map is presented. Aiming at a proper definition of the onsite mechanical properties of the timber roof elements, the non-destructive tests were correlated with tests made on laboratory conditions. Reduction factors were assumed to account for the conservation state of the elements. The results of the tests were considered as input data for different finite element model assump-tions. A final model was able to represent the deformation level of the structure and to provide information on the safety level of the structure.