From BIM To FEM The Analysis of An Historical Maso

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From BIM to FEM: the analysis of an historical masonry building
Conference Paper · September 2015

DOI: 10.2495/BIM150471
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Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction and Operations 581
From BIM to FEM: the analysis of an

historical masonry building
P. Crespi1, A. Franchi1, P. Ronca1, N. Giordano1,
M. Scamardo1, G. Gusmeroli2 & G. Schiantarelli2
1
ABC Department, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
2
Engineer, Sondrio, Italy
Abstract
The construction design process is starting to change with the advent of Building
Information Modelling technology. Thanks to the high level of BIM
interoperability, it has been possible to transform a BIM model of an historical
building, obtained from a laser scanner survey, into an accurate 3D Finite Element
Model. The model is able to exploit all the geometrical information collected and
organized during the survey phase. The object of the analysis is Castel Masegra, a
XI century masonry historical building on the alpine mountains overlooking to
Sondrio (Italy). The implementation of the BIM model has been carried out by
keeping in mind that the final goal was the construction of a reliable finite element
model with a compatible and regular mesh, reproducing the irregularities and
complexities that could influence the mechanical behaviour of the structure. Once
it has been obtained the 3D finite element model, the historical and diagnostic
information have been integrated into the BIM model and a construction stage
analysis has been studied and then carried out. The huge amount of information
and the large number of finite elements employed introduced some difficulties in
data management and results interpretation. However, thanks to the always
increasing computational capacity of personal computers, it has been possible to
deal with a model composed by more than 700,000 elements, obtaining the results
in terms of stresses and displacements of the whole building.
Keywords: BIM model, historical building, masonry structure, FEM model,
construction stage.
WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 149, © 2015 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line)
doi:10.2495/BIM150471
582 Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction and Operations
1 Introduction
The traditional approach to structural analysis relies on the elaboration of a specific
disciplinary model, more or less sophisticated. With the advent of BIM (Building
Information Modelling) technology, this process is starting to change, at least for
which concerns new buildings. In fact, thanks to the increasing level of BIM
interoperability, the same model can be used for many purposes by exchanging
the information between the different figures involved in a project. In particular,
for the structural field, specific BIM packages exist and can perform finite element
analysis; however they can deal only with simple and regular geometric objects.
On the contrary, for existing buildings, especially historical ones, this procedure
results to be not feasible for many reasons, one of which is the complexity of real
geometry. The transformation of a 3D architectonic model into a finite element
model (FEM) with the meshing procedure may appear to be a trivial operation,
but, in reality, a lot of subtle measures, not trivial at all, have to be taken, in order
to get a compatible and regular mesh. For this reason, it is important that, since the
beginning of the modelling phases, the analyst must take care not only about the
perfect shape reproduction but also to the fulfilment of the requirements needed
for a structural model. Thus, what is really important is a rationalization of the
shapes to be included in the model, being able to distinguish the irregularities and
complexities that can influence the mechanical behaviour of an element, such as
vaults or irregular walls, from the small irregularities not relevant from a structural
point of view.
The object of the analysis is the south wing of Castel Masegra, a XI century
masonry historical building on the alpine mountains overlooking to Sondrio
(figure 1). It is the only remained of the three castles that dominated the city, and
it rises over a cliff to the left of the Mallero River. The actual structure with a
trapezoidal shape is the result of a complex architectonic transformation lasted for
ten centuries.
Figure 1: Castel Masegra (left) and laser scanner points cloud (right).
2 Data collection
The survey of Castel Masegra has been carried out considering the final goal of
the activity that is the creation of a BIM, and successively a 3D finite element
model, able to reproduce as much as possible the geometric irregularities of the
structure [1, 2]. Due to the complexity of the geometry and the large dimension of
the castle it has been decided to perform a laser scanner survey with a robust
geodetic network associated, in order to have the best possible mapping in terms
of precision, completeness and reliability.
The laser scanner survey has been performed using a laser scanner Faro Focus
3D and is made up of 182 scans, 44 millions of points for each scan (roughly 7.7
billion points) registered by means of 269 checkerboards measured also by the
Total Station Leica TS30. The point clouds obtained from the laser scanner survey,
after the alignment and georeferencing operations, give an incredible 3D definition
of the geometry of the analysed object: using appropriate software (e.g. SCENE
or Leica Cyclone), it is possible to navigate across it, having a realistic rendering
of the building with all its features (figure 1).
However, all this amount of information have to be converted in a more
efficient and usable way, keeping the desired information, integrating the missing
one and discarding all the amount of useless data. The first step of this procedure
is the creation of the usual 2D drawings of a building: plans, sections, and façades.
In this phase, the great database of pictures made during the survey results to be
very useful, allowing the interpretation of eventual lack of information in the
clouds. Fortunately, the software AutoCAD, in its last versions, has introduced the
possibility of importing and managing the point clouds, with apposite tools for
cutting slices or isolating some zones, both natively or using third parts plugin
(e.g. Leica Cloudworks), making simpler and simpler the production of plans and
sections. Six plans representing the four floors and the roof have been produced,
with a covered planar area of about 2700 m2. It has been noticed the great
differences with the old plans owned by the Municipality of Sondrio: this
underlines the benefits of an accurate laser scanner survey for the reconstruction
of such a complex building.
Once the plans were drawn, it has been decided to focus the attention on a
particular area of the castle: the south wing. This has been done for specific
reasons, i.e. the presence, at the first floor, of the dovecote tower, of the “camera
picta”, with its very particular umbrella vault, the out of plumb of the dovecote
tower and the presence, at the first floor, of a bearing wall resting on the barrel
vault.
3 BIM creation
BIM software was initially used only to manage new building constructions [3, 4].
Today it represents an opportunity also for heritage documentation and
conservation management, but it still requires a methodological discussion and
practical experimentation in order to obtain detailed models of irregular historical
buildings, really useful for their preservation and maintenance activities [2, 5]. For
the implementation of a rational parametric BIM model it is necessary to
distinguish the zones of the building where only simple elements are present from
the others with complex or irregular ones; this is necessary because there is a lack
of parametric model software for the management of complex and irregular
shapes. For this reason, the drafting of 2D drawings before the 3D model
construction could be useful.
Starting from the section drawings, it has been possible to individuate the out-
of plumb and the wall tapering of the external faces of the walls, while the internal
ones appears to be reasonably vertical. To overcome the lack of such an element
in the BIM software, it has been decided to combine two walls (figure 2): the
external façades has been modelled with a “Wall by Face” tool in Revit, while the
internal face has been simplified with a normal straight wall for each floor. The
two parts of the wall are then joined, with all the irregularities and wall tapering
correctly shaped in the BIM model, without losing the possibility to insert the wall
stratigraphy.
Figure 2: BIM model: external wall (left), umbrella vault (right).
The “Wall by Face” tool has been chosen also for the vault modelling (figure
2) because it allows considering the thickness as a parameter. This can be useful
in all the cases where the thickness is unknown or difficult to be determined by
inspection, allowing the possibility to inquire different hypothesis without re-
modelling the shape, by simply changing the thickness value and automatically
updating the model.
The modelling of irregular and complex surfaces cannot be made directly in
Revit. The general procedure adopted in present situations is the following: (i)
individuation of the generative profiles of the surfaces; (ii) extraction of the
generative profiles from the points cloud in AutoCAD; (iii) modelling of the
surfaces in Rhino. Based on the different shapes and irregularities to be modelled,
the generative profiles are chosen accordingly. Particular care must be paid in the
definition of the generative profiles of the vault wedges. Based on these rules, the
whole model of the castle has been made (figure 3).
Figure 3: Cross section (left) and whole BIM model (right).
4 From BIM to 3D finite element model

The aim of this work is the elaboration of a 3D FEM model capable to catch the
complex shapes characterizing the load-bearing elements of an historical building
(mainly vaults and irregular walls) into a structural analysis. Actually this is not
yet possible to be made in a BIM perspective, because BIM software do not deal
with 3D solid elements. So, the aim is to find a way to transform the 3D BIM
model, already made for architectonic purposes, into a FEM model by exploiting
the complex model.
The software Midas FEA has been chosen for this work because it allows
dealing with 3D elements and it gives the possibility to import advanced 3D
geometry to be meshed. A lot of time can be saved in the phase of development of
the FEM model, starting from the 3D architectonic BIM model, also taking the
advantage of having a much more detailed model with respect to the usual
simplified models adopted for these purposes. Previous works [2, 6] have found
that, among the different formats that can be imported in Midas FEA, the format
STEP is particularly suitable for maintaining the complex shapes during the
exchange of information. The FEM model has been generated by using the
automatic 3D meshing algorithm provided by Midas FEA. After some preliminary
tests involving two different meshing (tetrahedral and hexa-dominant) algorithms,
it has been decided to use tetrahedral elements which have been resulted in a better
quality mesh. In order to limit the overall number of elements of the model, while
maintaining a good quality of the results, a mesh size of 0.2 m has been set. This
allows having at least 3–4 elements across the thickness of the load-bearing walls.
The meshing process has requested a continuous modification of the BIM
model, based on a trial and error procedure, because the most suitable drawings
rules in order to achieve a good FEM were not defined a-priori owing to the
originality of the work. The major aspects to be corrected were: simplification of
the openings drawing, joining of the different parts of the walls and edges offset
of the vaults resulting in incompatible meshes. Some of these operations were
made by using the classical Boolean operations (union, subtraction and division),
but for the great part of the procedure it has been necessary to make the required
adjustments working on the single surfaces of the various solids. An overview of
the resulting FEM model is depicted in figure 4.
Figure 4: Mesh of the FEM (a), detail of the vaults mesh (b) and roof (c).
5 The diagnostic analysis

Masonry buildings, unlike the concrete or steel ones, present a lot of difficulties
about the determination of the material properties. This is mainly due to the fact
that masonry is a material not homogeneous at all, constituted by various types of
materials (stones, bricks), generally kept together by layers of mortar or other
bonding agents [7, 8]. Moreover, especially in the case of stone masonry, also the
texture is frequently irregular, with alternation of stones having different
dimensions. All these issues lead to the fact that the physical and mechanical
properties of masonry can have a lot of variability, not only between different
buildings, but also among different parts of the same building, or even within the
same structural element. For this reason it is very difficult, if not impossible, to
resume all these complexities into a single characteristic value, representative of
the structural behaviour of the whole bearing structure of a masonry building.
In the case of historical buildings, such as Castel Masegra, it is necessary to
consider also the degradation of the structural materials used (in particular
mortars) and the historical evolution of the building, with all the adjustments and
restorations made during the years (e.g. infills, new openings, restoration or
substitution of damaged elements with new materials), that can have heavily
modified the original masonry and its structural behaviour.
In order to better understand the analysed structure, both in terms of
composition and structural behaviour, some non-destructive tests (NDT) and
minor destructive tests were made. In particular, a thermographic inspection has
been performed by the staff of the ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano with
the aim to investigate the structure of the castle, to localize not visible degradation
phenomena and to check the conditions of temperature and humidity of the
superficial masonry layers [9, 10]. Other diagnostic analysis were executed by the
engineering society Foppoli Moretta e Associati s.r.l. to characterize the
mechanical properties of the masonry structure of the castle.
In particular, single and double flat jack tests have been performed respectively
to evaluate the actual state of stress in the masonry and its real strength and
stiffness. Furthermore, horizontal and vertical cores have been made in order to
better understand the masonry texture and the foundation depth and typology. The
obtained results show a great heterogeneity both in the masonry characteristics and
foundation typology, due to the complex historical evolution of the castle and site
topography. Finally, in order to discover the vault thickness, a simple inspection
has been made by removing a part of the pavement above some selected vaults.
6 The structural analysis of Castel Masegra

Once the FEM model was ready, it has been decided to make a linear elastic
analysis. To do so, the FEM has to be completed by adding the material properties,
boundary conditions and applied loads.
6.1 Material properties
For the aim of this work, the mechanical properties of the masonry to be
considered are the elastic modulus, the Poisson coefficient and the specific weight.
The Poisson coefficient has set to the common value of 0.2 while for the specific
weight, considering the typology and the dimensions of the stones, a conservative
value of 22 kN/m3 has been considered.
Regarding the elastic modulus, different hypothesis have been considered in
order to have a sensitivity analysis about this parameter. In particular, a first
analysis has been carried out considering the characteristic values for a good stone
masonry of 3000 N/mm2, given by the Italian design code [11], for the entire
masonry structure. In the second case, the results given by the flat jack in-situ tests
have been included in the analysis (elastic modulus range 1600–7220 MPa); in
particular it has been decided to consider the elastic modulus calculated from the
loading-unloading cycles.
These material properties have been assigned by subdividing the castle in
zones, based both on historical evolution and state of conservation of the materials.
The stiffness obtained from each flat jack test has been extended to its surrounding
area.
6.2 Loads
The self-weight of the load-bearing elements is automatically computed by the

FEM software given the geometry of the model. On the contrary, the dead loads,
due to the weight of the elements that have not been modelled, have been applied
to the structure as distributed pressure loads. The main elements to be converted
into dead loads, not included in the model, are the infilling materials on the vaults
and the wooden slabs.
Regarding the vault infilling, the main problem was the possibility to reproduce
the variability of its thickness along the surface of the vaults. This has been
effectively possible by the definition of a linear function of the infilling thickness
in order to assign to each vault element face the appropriate infilling weight load.
The weight of the wooden slabs has been calculated and appropriately
distributed directly on the walls, according to the span direction. In particular, the
dead load applied on each wall has been redistributed on the first strip of finite
elements along the thickness (i.e. over the first 20 cm of wall), at the appropriate
height. All the finishes have been included into the distributed dead load applied
on the relative vault or slab.
Moreover, also the active lateral soil pressure has been taken into account
among the dead loads; its linear variability with depth has been considered. The
soil properties have been hypothesized considering the absence of clay and
assuming a granular soil as reference.
6.3 Boundary conditions
The setting of boundary conditions is one of the most important issues to be solved.
In fact, the castle rises on a cliff: its different parts have different foundation levels
and rest on different materials. Some walls are directly founded on the outcropping
rock while others have shallow foundations on soil. The information regarding the
foundation typologies have been obtained in part from the coring made during the
diagnostic analysis, in part directly observing the wall base, and in part referring
to the advices given by the Municipality of Sondrio, based on some maintenance
works made in the castle. However in some cases, the information was completely
missed and some hypotheses have been made considering the conditions of the
surrounding area.
As a first assumption, fixed restraints have been applied to the lower end of
each wall, at the corresponding foundation depth. However, in a case like this,
where the different parts of the castle are founded in heterogeneous conditions and
at different levels, the structural behaviour can be strongly influenced by the
boundary conditions set. For this reason, a second hypothesis has been made by
assuming the soil and the rock as a Winkler elastic subgrade. The moduli of
subgrade reaction have been assigned to the different walls on the basis of
literature values due to the lack of specific in-situ experimental data.
6.4 Construction stages
Since the castle has not been built in a single step, but it is the result of a lot of
complex historical transformation, it has been decided to reproduce the historical
evolution also in the structural analysis, by making a construction stage analysis.
The different parts of the castle are gradually added to the model; for each stage
the analysis under self-weight is performed, and the parts of the castle belonging
to the successive stage are added on the deformed configuration of the previous
stage.
This way of proceeding has been undertaken for tree different reasons:
 to reproduce the historical evolution of the architectonic complex, that can
influence the load redistribution;
 to try to reduce the resulting stress concentrations at the different foundation
levels, because of the model hypothesis of fixed restraints that doesn’t allow
any settlement;
 to avoid strange load redistribution with stress concentration between parts
with different material properties: in fact, in case of very different elastic
modulus among different parts, such as in this case, the weaker part tends to
hang to the stronger one, following in unrealistic stress patterns.
Obviously this approach presents the drawback that the computational cost
increases proportionally with the number of stages: if a one-step analysis takes
about 5 minutes to be completed, a 7 stages analysis takes almost 40 minutes.
6.5 Model calibration: comparison with single flat jack results
In order to test the model reliability, and to calibrate the hypotheses made, the
vertical stresses obtained in correspondence of the location of the single flat jack
tests have been compared with the test results themselves.
Figure 5: Sequence of the construction stages.
A good correspondence has been obtained for the tests M3 and M9, located
respectively on the south wall in the partially buried barrel vaulted room and on
the north wall in the corridor at the first floor. In particular, better results have been
obtained from the model with mechanical properties determined from the in-situ
tests compared to the corresponding one with standard mechanical properties.
Instead, when the boundary conditions have been changed, position M3 shows a
further improvement, while position M9 gets worse.
For what concern the other two tests, M2 located on the north wall in the
partially buried barrel vaulted room, and M4, located on the west wall of the
dovecote tower, the model isn’t able to catch the state of stress measured in these
zones. The bad results obtained for the test M4 can be explained considering that
it has been observed that the dovecote tower has suffered a rotation in the east
direction, due to the settlement of the very superficial foundation of the east wall.
For this reason, the west wall, deeply founded in the soil, is subjected to a bending
moment, and the west part of it results to be in tension. For the test M2, the problem
is more or less the same. The conditions here are less complicated, but the depth
of the foundations and the subgrade materials are unknown in this zone. This is
the zone in which the bedrock starts to degrade from the courtyard level; for this
reason, more accurate investigations should be carried out in order to better
understand the behaviour of this zone.
In conclusion, we can say that the accurate model gives good results in the
zones in which the boundary conditions are simpler and quite well known, while
problems arises in the zones in which the boundary conditions are complicated
and not sufficiently supported by adequate investigations. So, the model results to
be reliable from the structural point of view, but it can be improved for what
concern the geotechnical aspects.
6.6 Results
The stresses fields obtained from the performed analysis generally show lower
values of stresses than the ultimate strength of masonry estimated by flat jack tests.
In particular, the tensile stresses due to the lateral load of the vaults, especially of
the barrel vault, are highlighted plotting the principal stress (figure 6). It can be
observed the presence of stress concentrations near the anchorage of tie-rods.
Figure 6: Principal stress: north side (left), south side (right).
Another interesting result is the different deforming behaviour of the different

material parts. Thus, the advisability to make a construction stages analysis is
evident in order to follow the construction sequence avoiding unreal hanging
phenomena of the weakest parts on the strongest ones.
A further confirmation of the reliability of the model follows from the
comparison of the tensile stressed regions and the crack pattern detected on site.
A first example is the presence of an unloading arch on the east wall of the
dovecote tower. The first principal stress matches with the crack pattern
individuated on site. This behaviour can be explained considering that on the other
side of the wall there is the umbrella vault. The unloading arch is due to the
presence of two openings, now partially infilled, which weaken the wall itself,
exactly below the vault corbels (figure 7). A stress concentration at the top of the
two openings can be noticed where two repaired cracks can be seen.
(a) (b)
Figure 7: Tensile stresses in the dovecote tower wall (a) and cracks (b).
Another interesting example is located in the partially underground southwest

room, at the top of one of the lunettes of the north side of the barrel vault (figure
8(a)), where the results matches the cracking position and its direction of
propagation. In the same room, a similar example can be found around the opening
in the west wall (figure 8(b)).
7 Conclusions
A detailed BIM model of Masegra Castle has been implemented starting from the
points cloud obtained with a laser scanner survey. The BIM model of the castle
was then transformed into an accurate 3D finite element model taking into account
(a) (b)
Figure 8: Tensile stresses – underground room: north (a) and west (b) walls.
all the geometric information together with the historical and diagnostic analysis.
This procedure has implied a significant effort for its great interdisciplinarity,
required to deal with all the aspects of the problem when trying to consider
different fields by using the same model for many purposes. This necessity has
become evident especially in the modelling phase, where a lot of specific
procedures have been checked in order to find the best way to convert the BIM
model into a finite element model.
The selected conversion procedure between BIM and FEM models can be very
useful to study the structural behaviour of historical buildings, especially when
very pronounced irregularities are present. In particular, such an accurate
geometric model can be a precious tool to better understand the behaviour of
particular elements such as vaults or irregular walls. A possible drawback of
employing a fully three-dimensional model for a structural analysis is that a great
number of finite elements is required for the discretization of the problem. In this
case, a total of 720,393 continuum finite elements were considered in the mesh of
the castle.
The construction stage analysis performed with the FEM model has allowed to
check the stress level in the castle structures, which is a preliminary information
for the detailing of the restoration works to be planned.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thanks Eng. Francesco Barri and all the Municipality of
Sondrio for the on-site support. Furthermore, many thanks are also due to prof.
Raffaella Brumana and the survey team of ABC Department of Politecnico di
Milano.
References
[1] Brumana, R., Oreni, D., Cuca, B., Binda, L., Condoleo, P. & Triggiani, M.,
Strategy for integrated surveying techniques finalized to interpretative
models in a byzantine church, Mesopotam, Albania. International Journal
of Architectural Heritage, 8, pp. 886-924, 2014.
[2] Oreni, D., Brumana, R., Della Torre, S., Banfi, F., Barazzetti, L. & Previtali,
M., Survey turned into HBIM: the restoration and the work involved
concerning the Basilica di Collemaggio after the earthquake (L’Aquila).
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial
Information Sciences, vol. II, pp. 267-273, 2014.
[3] Eastman, C., Teicholz, P., Sacks, R. & Liston, K., BIM Handbook – A guide
to Building Information Modeling for owners, managers, designers and
contractors, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008.
[4] Lee, G., Sacks, R. & Eastman, C. M., Specifying Parametric Building
Object Behavior (BOB) for a Building Information Modeling System.
Automation in Construction, 15(6), pp. 758-776, 2006.
[5] Oreni, D., Brumana, R., Cuca, B. & Georgopoulos, A., HBIM for
conservation and management of built heritage: Towards a library of vaults
and wooden bean floors. ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote
Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, (II-5/W1), pp. 215-221, 2013.
[6] Arrighetti, S., Bertola, L. & Livetti, A., Restituire Collemaggio. Master’s
thesis, Politecnico di Milano, 2014.
[7] Binda, L. & Tiraboschi, C., Flat-Jack Test: a slightly destructive technique
for the diagnosis of brick and stone masonry structures. International journal
for restoration of buildings and monuments, 5, pp. 449-472, 1999.
[8] Maierhofer, C., Combination of Non-Destructive testing methods for the
assessment of masonry structures. Proceedings of the 1st International
SACoMaTiS Symposium, 2, pp. 715-726, 2008.
[9] Rosina, E. & Grinzato, E., Infrared and Thermal Testing for Conservation
of Historic Building. Material Evaluation, 59(8), pp. 942-954, 2001.
[10] Rosina, E., Ludwig, N. & Redaelli, V., Metodi per la misura dell’umidità
nei materiali dell’edilizia storica: legno e intonaci. X Congresso Nazionale
AIPnD, pp. 165-173, 2003.
[11] Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni, Italian Ministerial Decree, 2008.
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From BIM to FEM: the analysis of an historical masonry building

Conference Paper · September 2015

Pietro Crespi Alberto Franchi

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Paola Ronca Nicola Giordano

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

From BIM to FEM: the analysis of an

Figure 2: BIM model: external wall (left), umbrella vault (right).

Figure 3: Cross section (left) and whole BIM model (right).

4 From BIM to 3D finite element model

5 The diagnostic analysis

6 The structural analysis of Castel Masegra

6.1 Material properties

The self-weight of the load-bearing elements is automatically computed by the

6.3 Boundary conditions

6.4 Construction stages

6.5 Model calibration: comparison with single flat jack results

Figure 5: Sequence of the construction stages.

Figure 6: Principal stress: north side (left), south side (right).

Another interesting result is the diﬀerent deforming behaviour of the diﬀerent

Another interesting example is located in the partially underground southwest

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