Dynamic characterization of a heritage construction from 19th century

Abstract Heritage constructions presents high significance and importance for society. As way of contribution for the preservation of the heritage constructions, this paper presents a study on the dynamic behavior of a heritage construction, part of the historic center of Sobral city, located at the north region of Ceará State, namely the Nossa Senhora das Dores Church, a church from the beginning of the 19th century, built in clay brick walls. In this study, ambient vibration tests were performed aiming to obtainment of the natural frequencies of the building focusing the calibration of the numerical model and, from it, proceeding with modal analysis by Finite Element Method (FEM) with recurrence to software Ansys®. The results allowed the analysis of the structural dynamic behavior taking into account natural frequencies, modal shapes and directional displacements.