Análisis paramétrico para determinar el comportamiento estructural de fachadas de adobe

Abstract

The historic center of Cuenca has become a tourist attraction, especially for its heritage facades built with earth, this has led the owners of these buildings to modify them for different uses such as restaurants, parking lots, etc., there are modifications such as openings for doors, windows and vehicular entrances, as well as changes and renovations in their roofs, causing variations in the vertical loads supported by the adobe walls. Therefore, the present work takes these changes as parameters to be varied in order to determine the structural behavior of these facades. For this purpose, 3D CAD models with different geometric configurations have been made, which using finite element methods have been simulated through a software in which micro-models are analyzed. These methods require physical and mechanical data of the elements that make up the walls, which have been determined in the laboratory and calibrated in the software starting with an analysis of individual blocks, then walls until reaching the walls composed of mortar and adobe, in addition to wooden elements such as lintels and beams. The results of the software indicate damage in areas such as corners of doors and windows, as well as damage in the centers of the openings as the loads increase. Finally, it has been determined that the constructions that comply with the recommendations of the standard, regardless of the parameter studied, tend to perform better than the other modifications made.