Mechanical study of a support system for cupping control of panel paintings combining crossbars and springs

Spring mechanisms have been developed, since late 1970s, to provide some freedom of deformation to the wooden supports of paintings; however, no scientific method is up to now available for optimizing their design parameters. This article deals with theoretical and experimental work on the replica of an actual wooden support restored in a Florentine laboratory. A model is developed to describe its deformational behaviour after an auxiliary support has been applied by means of springs. The main outcome of such a research, still on-going, is a numerical model verified experimentally, enabling a restorer to choose the most appropriate mechanical parameters for springs in order to obtain the desired control of deformations and stresses produced by the expected environmental conditions.