STRUCTURAL AND PIPING STRESS ANALYSIS

We develop the mathematical model of the object and subsequently process it to identify issues related to structural behavior, fluid dynamics, and complex multiphysics interactions.

From the Greek analuo (to loosen, dissolve, break down), the term literally refers to decomposition, and therefore to the understanding of a phenomenon through the breakdown of its constituent parts and elements. Applied to structures, it represents the fundamental phase in which characteristics are identified and interpreted, enabling their resolution through the governing physical laws.

Structural analysis—often used interchangeably with structural calculation—encompasses a variety of tools and techniques developed over centuries to interpret and solve problems in structural mechanics. The preliminary study phase of any analytical approach, regardless of the interpretative model adopted, involves simplifying the geometry of the structure and simulating the behavior of the materials from which it is made.

For interpreting the behavior of ancient structures, rigid‑body statics is often sufficient. By approximating materials with very low deformability as infinitely rigid (and therefore undeformable), the problem of stability can be reduced to one of equilibrium, and thus to the balance of forces acting on the body.

The equilibrium of a structure is derived from the fundamental laws of statics (cardinal equations), representing the specific condition in which both the resultant force and the resultant moment are equal to zero. This reduction of the stability problem to an equilibrium condition remains valid as long as the material’s characteristic failure thresholds are not approached (in ancient structures, stresses typically remain far below material strength limits). This approach provides a reliable estimation of the structural quantities involved and constitutes a first‑level structural assessment for marginally stable systems, which maintain equilibrium only under specific loading conditions, independently of the intrinsic strength of their constituent materials.