Structural behavior of civil engineering structures: highlight in historical and masonry structures

Construction history is full of examples of lack of success. The importance of ancient constructions has been for long exclusively associated with the use of the building, meaning that successive changes were made to the building in order to fulfill its new function. Presently, modern societies understand built cultural heritage as a landmark of culture and diversity, which should last forever, being the task of the current generation to deliver the heritage in good shape for the generations to come. This act of culture poses high demands to engineers because deterioration is intrinsic to life (as an example the expected life of a modern building is fifty years). European countries have developed throughout the years a valuable experience and knowledge in the field of conservation and restoration. In recent years, large investments have been concentrated in this field, leading to impressive developments in the areas of inspection, non-destructive testing, monitoring and structural analysis of historical constructions. These developments, and the recent guidelines for future reuse and conservation projects, allow for safer, economical and more adequate remedial measures. These issues and emblematic applications in case studies are addressed in the present paper