Computations on historic masonry structures

Abstract Is modelling and analysis of historical masonry structures necessary? Is the experimental behaviour of historical masonry constructions known? The answers seem to be ‘yes’, and substantial developments have occurred in recent decades in the challenging issues of conservation and restoration. A key issue is what type of analysis should be used. It seems that all methods are of interest, depending on the actual constraints of the engineering problem. In this paper, the possibilities of analysis of historic structures are addressed and a set of guidelines is proposed.