Impact of Pyrotechnics over the Architectonic Heritage

Abstract

The use of pyrotechnics near to the historical heritage such as walls, facades, church, or fortifications of a city is nowadays a topic of discussion. There is not a clear legislation about the use of pyrotechnics near to these buildings and how they can be affected by the expansive wave generated by the use of harquebusiers, fireworks, and cannons during the simulation of a battle. For this reason, this paper presents some practical tests that measure the vibroacoustic effect when these types of pyrotechnics are used near to the architectonical heritage. In order to collect these data, we have used several sound level meters and accelerometers placed on two different scenarios. The first one was placed near to the beach and the other one was placed in a building of a narrow alley. The tests were carried out during the festival of Moors and Christians of Villajoyosa (Spain) which is a famous festival. Along these tests, we reproduce the worse cases that may affect the building, using harquebusiers shots, fireworks, and cannons shots. Results show that the house placed near to the beach does not suffer important vibroacoustic impacts. However, the old building placed in the alley is very affected.