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JIMENEZ RIOS, ALEJANDRO, Conservation of Earthen Vernacular  Architecture in Ireland Study of the Mechanical Properties and the  Structural Behaviour of Cob, Trinity College Dublin.School of  Engineering, 2020AbstractCultural heritage is increasingly threatened not only by traditional  causes of decay, but also by changing social, economic and environmental  conditions. The deterioration or disappearance of any cultural item  constitutes a harmful impoverishment of our heritage. Besides, culture  has been recognized as an enabler and driver of sustainable development,  peace and economic progress, which highlights the necessity of  fostering its documentation, protection, and promotion. For all these  reasons, working in the conservation of our cultural heritage should not  only be justified but encouraged. The general objective of this PhD  thesis is to contribute with the efforts to achieve Target 11.4 of the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), adopted by the United Nations (UN)  in 2015, by strengthening the efforts to protect and safeguard the  world's cultural and natural heritage. The aim of the research is to  increase awareness regarding the importance of vernacular architecture  and its intrinsic values, as identified on the International Council of  Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Action Plan for the Future. It specifically  focuses on the improvement of earthen architectural heritage  conservation, as this group of structures is particularly vulnerable to  environmental and anthropologic threats. The thesis presents a  summarized and concise picture of the present situation of the remaining  earthen buildings in Ireland, identifies their main characteristics,  the values that make such buildings important, evaluates their  vulnerability as vernacular architectural style and therefore, allows to  understand and better approach any future intervention on such kinds of  structures. Within the context of current conservation practice, which  is based on a scientific approach and implements a cyclic method of  research, diagnosis, intervention and control activities, the thesis  contributes to the development of quantitative research methods. A first  contribution is presented on the structural analysis of cob by  evaluating the suitability of available constitutive material to model  its non-linear structural behaviour using two of the most commonly used  Finite Element Method (FEM) software in the market, ANSYS and ABAQUS. A  second contribution is concerned with the experimental testing of cob. A  Minor Destructive Test (MDT) known as the flat jack test, has been  experimentally validated by testing it in a series of cob wallettes  built in the laboratory of Civil, Structural and Environmental  Engineering (CSEE) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). The purpose of the  experimental campaign was to assess the feasibility of the technique to  measure the average compressive levels of stress in existent cob walls  and estimate their mechanical properties. The principal results show  that effectively the test can be applied in cob walls but it tends to  overestimate the stress values by a factor of approximately two. As  conclusion, it is advised to correct the average compressive stress, fm,  by using a value for the dimensionless geometrical efficiency constant,  Ke, of 0.51. The use of a more realistic value would prevent the design  and application of over invasive interventions that may place in danger  the value of the historical fabric. The double flat jack tests allowed  to estimate the mechanical parameters of the material to a good degree  of certainty. Finally, a parametric analysis of cob walls is presented  with the aim of providing conservation practitioners with rule of thumb  guidance to assess the safety of existent cob buildings under seismic  actions. The methodology presented in this regard is not limited to the  Irish context but could as well be implemented in different countries  where the seismic hazard represents an actual threat for the structural  safety of remaining vernacular cob buildings .Download: http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/91547