29.03.2021
Notre Dame Fire
An impressive fire devastated the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of the symbols of European architecture. The flames spread from the scaffolding embracing the base of the spire on the cathedral roof. The fire enveloped abruptly the roof and the spire erected by Viollet-le-Duc in 1860. The collapse took place about 80 minutes around 8 p.m. Cantene and Amedeo Manuello Bertetto, professor at Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering of Politecnico di Torino, presented a paper with a study of a computer-based fire simulation model used to determine the spread of fire and smokes into the structure of the roof and, at the same time, an original evaluation of the residual strength taking into account the fire effect and the water saturation in the limestone after the extinguishing was estimated. The residual strength ratio (RSR) and the compressive strength (CS) evolution are carefully evaluated for the injured structures. An estimation of the residual effective strength of the masonry walls of the Cathedral has been proposed.
An impressive fire devastated the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of the symbols of European architecture. The flames spread from the scaffolding embracing the base of the spire on the cathedral roof. The fire enveloped abruptly the roof and the spire erected by Viollet-le-Duc in 1860. The collapse took place about 80 minutes around 8 p.m. Cantene and Amedeo Manuello Bertetto, professor at Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering of Politecnico di Torino, presented a paper with a study of a computer-based fire simulation model used to determine the spread of fire and smokes into the structure of the roof and, at the same time, an original evaluation of the residual strength taking into account the fire effect and the water saturation in the limestone after the extinguishing was estimated. The residual strength ratio (RSR) and the compressive strength (CS) evolution are carefully evaluated for the injured structures. An estimation of the residual effective strength of the masonry walls of the Cathedral has been proposed.