C. Cennamo¹, C. Cusano², and M. Angelillo²
1)  Dept. of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa (Italy),
e-mail: claudia.cennamo@unicampania.it
2)  Dept. of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa (Italy),
Dept. of Civil Engineering / DICIV, Fisciano (Italy)
{concetta.cusano}@unicampania.it
{mangelillo}@unisa.it

Keywords: Architectural heritage; Domes; Statics; Kinematics; Masonry architecture.

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to establish a general methodology of approach to assess the safety of the architectural heritage. Starting to a “case study”, the problem of the behaviour analysis of masonry buildings has been developed on the basis of some simple hypotheses about the material and on the basis of theoretical concepts. The Elastic Theory, used to check modern structures, is not suitable for masonry, material much more heterogeneous and complex. As demonstrated by the ancient builders, the most appropriate theory to study historical constructions is the Limit Analysis [1]: a better understanding of the mechanics for these structures is needed, since it is not the stress the most important parameter for masonry, but it is the stability [2]. The case approached deals with the dome of the Basilica of San Francesco di Paola in Naples, designed and built by the Swiss architect Pietro Bianchi in the nineteenth century, for the royal will of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon [3,4]. In order to assess this structure, the limit analysis approaches are here compared and, on the basis of classical limit analysis, local mechanisms are considered. A static (safe theorem) and a kinematic approach are applied to the structure by means of equilibrium limit conditions and kinematically admissible collapse mechanisms.