This book discusses the main mechanical features of masonry buildings and the peculiarities that affect their structural behaviour. It also examines technical information regarding accidents that have occurred in recent years in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, along with the historical records of these events, followed by indications of the causes for the collapse. The book offers extensive experimental results that make it possible to identify the contribution of several mortar rendering layers to the load capacity of the tested specimens. Lastly, it explores the factors that influenced the load capacity of the tested specimens.

This book presents a critical review of a criterion of risk, created to assess the flood risk to heritage buildings, and evaluates this criterion by applying it to the sample Portuguese heritage buildings. In a first approach, the total number of potential parameters is effectively reduced and the selected criteria are divided into two different groups: the monument's location in relation to a waterway, and the behaviour of its construction material in contact with water. Above all, the book discusses the importance of architectural heritage and argues for the need to safeguard it from extreme climatic phenomena such as floods. As such, the book vividly reminds the scientific community that the intensification of the global warming and climate change will worsen throughout the 21st century, and that it is therefore necessary to adopt preventive measures to minimize, mitigate and control these adverse effects if we hope to avoid catastrophic consequences. At the same time, the book takes into account a broad range of scientific and engineering disciplines, such as civil engineering and architecture, offering a synthesis of the current state of knowledge to benefit and guide experts and practitioners in related fields.

Rising Damp coming from the ground that, by capillarity, rises through porous materials is one of the main degradation causes of historical and ancient buildings, essentially, of its thick walls with heterogeneous composition. In the last few years, the Building Physics Laboratory - LFC of Porto University, Faculty of Engineering - FEUP, validated and analyzed the operating principle of a technique called "Wall Base Ventilation System" for the treatment of rising damp problems in historical and ancient buildings, consisting in enforce the circulation of air in the base of the walls of buildings with a relative humidity far from the saturation. This work presents the most common rising damp treatment techniques and the system's idea, develops a complex and complete systems design model, using a numerical simulation program and making some laboratory tests to get its validation and, finally, presents the implementation of a hygro-regulated system in a real building, a Portuguese historical Church.