Rafael Guastavino refined the technique of erecting thin terra-cotta tile, a thousand year old building system of ‘Catalan Vaulting.’  His company was involved with more than 1000 buildings in North America between the 1880s and the 1960s. Although Guastavino tile vaulting contributed to many prestigious buildings of that time, the structural behavior of this construction system has received little or almost no attention in the literature.  It is the intention of this thesis to study this empirically designed system by using tools of modern engineering: experimental modal analysis, thin elastic shell theory and finite element analysis.

With this study, the applicability of the techniques of experimental modal analysis to large-scale masonry structures is confirmed. Provided that the variables of modal testing are adequately arranged, acquiring high quality data is possible even when dealing with a challenging material like masonry.  The techniques of modal analysis are utilized to identify the dynamic parameters of the domed structures as well as to verify the main assumptions established prior to this study.  It is observed that the Guastavino domes without cracks exhibit linearly elastic behavior under the applied impact excitations levels, whereas existing cracks promote nonlinear and inelastic behavior.  It is also shown in this thesis that the use of experimental modal analysis can be extended to the investigation of the dynamic interaction between adjacent components of the structure.  In addition, promising results are also gained from the application of the impact-echo procedure to determine the thickness of a multi-layer masonry shell.

The findings of this study also confirm the applicability of the analytical formulations of thin elastic shell theory to obtain mode shapes of large-scale domes.  It is also concluded that the theory of thin elastic shells delivers reasonably accurate solutions provided that the masonry domes are free from severe cracks.

Where historic masonry structures are of primary concern, the techniques of finite element modeling can be used with confidence only when the analytical model is calibrated.  To verify the correct representation of the actual system behavior by the finite element model, the boundary conditions and material properties are tuned through an iterative procedure of comparing the dynamic parameter estimates of the finite element model to those of the thin elastic shell theory and experimental modal analysis.  The finite element model is validated when an overall agreement is achieved by means of visual comparisons of mode shapes and numeric comparisons of natural frequencies.  Some of the uncertainties challenging the finite element modeling of historic domes are eliminated by utilizing the techniques of impact-echo to obtain the dome web thickness and by employing the techniques of experimental stress analysis to obtain the material properties of the tile and mortar samples.  For these purposes, two existing Guastavino domes are analytically modeled and experimentally tested to make inferences about the structural behavior of these domes.

The results obtained from the validated finite element model are then used to provide a basis in assessing the structural behavior of Guastavino tile domes.  Through this study, the elastic thin shell behavior of the Guastavino tile domes as well as the existence of significant horizontal thrust exerted to the supports by these domes is verified.  Having this information in hand, the dissimilar attitudes of the two Guastavinos, father and son, on the horizontal thrust issue are investigated.  The further knowledge of Guastavino II on the topic is demonstrated, while the level of understanding of Guastavino I remains unknown.  Although the extent of Guastavino’s influence on the final architectural design is unclear, it is noted that his system played a role in the changes that took place between the architectural and construction drawings and the development of the solution for the final dome.