Constructive Characterization of Pombaline Buildings and Simplified Pushover Analysis of Frontal Walls

Lisbon’s downtown is the proof of the profound rehabilitation effort done by Sebastião José Carvalho e Melo, Marquês de Pombal, in the 18th century. The main objective was to prepare Lisbon for another event like the 1st November, 1755, preventing a massive destruction from happening again in a up growth European city. However, and despite the imperious demand to rehabilitate these downtown historical buildings, the level of structural knowledge is not yet considerably solid. It was with the purpose of expanding the structural behaviour knowledge in these structures, that the present research was based. It started with a historical overview of Lisbon before 1755 earthquake followed by a brief description of the tragedy and its consequences. Coupled with, was the description of the actions taken by Marquês de Pombal and his engineer’s team. Here, not only the laws to re-establish the order were described but also the major measures implemented in the building’s reconstruction process. The description of the typical Pombaline building from its foundation to the roof followed the initial part, with special attention to the gaiola pombalina and its connections, introducing therefore the ensuing structural analysis of a common frontal wall. Considering a typical Pombaline building as an interconnection of numerous structural individual members, it was considered that the most relevant one is the wall, thus proceeding for a wall structural model. At last and following the previous analysis, it was presented a methodology for a fast obtaining process of the structural behaviour of this type of walls. Thus, obtaining the response of these walls when submitted to horizontal forces is far more prompt, simplifying in the future the seismic analysis of an entire Pombaline building