D.  Lamblin¹, L. Deléhouzée², L. Van Parys³, T. Descamps⁴

1. Professor, Dept of Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Faculty of Mons, Rue de Houdain 9 – B-7000 MONS, daniel.lamblin@fpms.ac.be
2. Archeologist, Cellule de Recherches en Histoire et Archéologie du Bâtiment, CRHAB, Rue Vigneroulle 49 – B-5100 JAMBES, lfgenicot@skynet.be
3. Assistant Professor, Dept of Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Faculty of Mons, laurent.vanparys@fpms.ac.be
4. Assistant Professor, Dept of Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Faculty of Mons, thierry.descamps@fpms.ac.be

ABSTRACT

The gothic choir of the Notre-Dame cathedral of Tournai (World Heritage – UNESCO) has suffered several structural pathologies for a very long time. In order to prepare for a future restoration project, the civil authorities decided to launch an interdisciplinary research campaign aimed at understanding the behaviour of the building and the origin of the problems encountered.

After studying documents of the episcopal archives, historians have presented evidence that the problems affecting the choir are not recent: the signs of weakness were visible very soon after construction. From on-site (underground and above ground) investigations, archaeologists have confirmed the conclusions of the historians. Moreover, they succeeded in providing precise morpho-chronological information about the history of the gothic choir.

This paper presents the related FEM study, performed by the department of Civil Engineering & Structural Mechanics of the Polytechnic Faculty of Mons, on the basis of the historical and archaeological conclusions of the CRHAB. Thanks to the interdisciplinary approach of the cathedral, it is possible to study the building at each major step of its life. Observation of situations the engineers of the past were facing, helps us to understand or justify the (sometimes bad) solutions they proposed.

KEYWORDS: historical buildings, interdisciplinary research, FEM, flying-buttress

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