Dionysos marble beams under bending: A contribution towards understanding the fracture of the Parthenon architraves

The response of either intact or fractured and restored marble architraves under bending is the object of the present paper. The study is motivated by the needs of the scientists, working for the extensive restoration program of the Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis of Athens, for an in-depth knowledge of the stress and strain fields developed in restored structural elements when they are placed back in their initial position. A recently introduced procedure is employed for the calculation of the reinforcement required for the restoration. A numerical model with contact elements is developed for the simulation of a prismatic architrave (epistyle) resting on marble supports (capitals, abacuses) and subjected to various types of bending. The points most prone to fail are located for both the intact and the restored architraves and it is concluded that the reproduction of actual bending conditions in the laboratory may lead to erroneous conclusions if the results are not interpreted carefully taking into account the exact way of applying the external loads. The most important findings of the numerical analysis are compared to those of previous experimental studies and are juxtaposed to the conclusions drawn from the study of the present state of the monument.