Numerical investigation of the behaviour of the church of Agia Triada, Drakotrypa, Greece

This paper includes the most important findings of a series of linear analyses focusing on the development of failure that is identified through different failure criteria. The historic monument which was selected for this investigation is the church of Agia Triada, in the District of Karditsa, Greece. The numerical simulation for the church of Agia Triada includes all parts of the super-structure and considers the effects of vertical and earthquake loads. The main objective of this paper is to predict the initiation of failure at various structural elements considering a) a Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion with a limit on tension strength and b) modified Von Misses failure criterion. These two failure criteria are applied for the same structure and for the same load combinations. The predicted by the two failure criteria initiation of failure and the corresponding failure areas are compared and discussed.