Conservation: what should the structural engineer contribute? [Viewpoint]

The application of fracture mechanics to predict the cracking damage in masonry buildings subjected to ground movement by tunnelling activity is presented in this paper. It describes the computational approach employed to capture the failure mechanism of a selected historical masonry facade. Both uncoupled and coupled soil-structure analyses are performed. Various continuum crack models are tested in largescale fracture analyses. The results indicate the need for reliable numerical techniques for large-scale fracture analysis of highly brittle material. M. Boonpichetvong Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands J.G. Rots Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands