A novel approach for modelling a historic timber roof

ABSTRACT Værnes church is one of the oldest mediaeval stone churches with the original wooden roof in Norway. The roof is made of several crossed layers of wooden boards connected with a large number of wooden dowels and has stood for centuries, but there are visible deformations in the lower parts of the structure. In this work, finite element models of the roof are presented in an attempt to characterise the behaviour of the wooden connections in the diaphragm. Two main scenarios are discussed: a first scenario that takes into consideration only the frame with line loads, considering the wooden boards merely as loads and a second scenario where the wooden boards are considered collaborating planks that influence the behaviour of the structure. As result of the work, it is possible to state that the wooden planks provide a stiffening effect, distributing the load on the gable walls. .