Från ståtlig befästning till vittrande världsarv : En jämförelse av byggnadstekniska metoder för sammanbindning av skalmurar

Sammanfattning: This is a final year project considering constructional techniques for joining cavity walls. The project is related to an ongoing scientific programme about the restoration of The City wall of Visby located on Gotland. The programme was set by Riksantikvarieämbetet as a reaction to a collapse of the outer masonry wall shell which took place in February 2012. The City wall of Visby is a medieval fortification built out of limestone during the 13th century. The wall is constructed as a cavity wall with two separate masonry shells connected to each other through an intermediate core. During the 14th century the wall was heightened which lead to a higher stress, especially in the outer wall face. This occurrence in combination with repeated frost bursts is most likely two of the reasons to why a part of the wall collapsed in 2012. The investigated techniques in this report are reconstructional masonry work using “through-stones”, wall ties out of steel and supportive buttresses. These techniques are investigated regarding their constructive actions and suitability for The City wall of Visby. Masonry work using “through-stones” consists of placing occasional masonry stones perpendicular to the remaining stones. In this way the two wall faces can be joined together. As well as “through-stones”, wall ties also provide a binding between the two wall faces. These ties can be made out of steel bars which ends are connected to each wall face. In this report wall ties are calculated considering tension in interaction with bending moment. A desirable quality for wall ties in this case is that they have the ability to follow the natural movements of the masonry wall without losing their binding capacity. Finally masonry buttresses are investigated, these are masonry units placed against the wall to support horizontal loadings. Buttresses vary in appearance; in this case they consist of limestone blocks laid against the wall face in a certain angle. Considering the state of equilibrium, adequate dimensions of the buttresses are defined. Calculations in this report are based on a number of assumptions regarding loading conditions of the wall combined with the specific constructional technique. Existing theories based on Eurocode’s are not always possible to apply on medieval constructions such as The City wall of Visby. The results in this report show that all mentioned techniques could be applied on The City wall of Visby if they are constructed with the right dimensions in combination with other preventive measures against problems due to water and frost. However, considering the fact that The City wall of Visby is a cultural heritage the suitability differs between the constructional techniques.