Increasing interest on preservation of historical buildings in seismic areas is observed all over Europe due to extended regions exposed to such natural hazard. This is the background of the activity herein reported that refers to the development of an experimental campaign aiming at vulnerability and damage assessment of an historical masonry building located in Lecce (Southern Italy). The structure is rather complex and this circumstance makes accurate structural analyses difficult. Several uncertainties, in fact, affect materials and structural scheme. Thus, some dynamic tests have been carried out in order to evaluate the possibility to pursue a macro-element approach for the evaluation of seismic safety, according to the suggestions of the current Italian Code. Since the star vault is a recurrent element in the structural configuration of the building, an experimental campaign based on output-only dynamic tests has been started in order to investigate its dynamic behaviour. Moreover, the presence of a number of vaults characterized by similar geometry but different levels of damage can provide a useful benchmark to improve the knowledge about the effects of damage on the dynamic behaviour and, in particular, on modal parameters of structures. Preliminary activities have been carried out – such as historical research, geometric survey and in-situ material property characterization – in order to obtain important informations for a preliminary numerical model of the vault. In the present paper, the main results of some dynamic tests carried out on a vault will be extensively described. Structural assessment actions and the main issues related to basic model assumptions will be also reported. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results point out the need of a model optimization. This is due to material, geometrical complexity and uncertainties of ancient masonry buildings but it can be also related to dynamic interaction effects with the adjacent structural elements.
Dynamic characterization of masonry edge vaults
AIELLO, Maria Antonietta;
2009-01-01
Abstract
Increasing interest on preservation of historical buildings in seismic areas is observed all over Europe due to extended regions exposed to such natural hazard. This is the background of the activity herein reported that refers to the development of an experimental campaign aiming at vulnerability and damage assessment of an historical masonry building located in Lecce (Southern Italy). The structure is rather complex and this circumstance makes accurate structural analyses difficult. Several uncertainties, in fact, affect materials and structural scheme. Thus, some dynamic tests have been carried out in order to evaluate the possibility to pursue a macro-element approach for the evaluation of seismic safety, according to the suggestions of the current Italian Code. Since the star vault is a recurrent element in the structural configuration of the building, an experimental campaign based on output-only dynamic tests has been started in order to investigate its dynamic behaviour. Moreover, the presence of a number of vaults characterized by similar geometry but different levels of damage can provide a useful benchmark to improve the knowledge about the effects of damage on the dynamic behaviour and, in particular, on modal parameters of structures. Preliminary activities have been carried out – such as historical research, geometric survey and in-situ material property characterization – in order to obtain important informations for a preliminary numerical model of the vault. In the present paper, the main results of some dynamic tests carried out on a vault will be extensively described. Structural assessment actions and the main issues related to basic model assumptions will be also reported. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results point out the need of a model optimization. This is due to material, geometrical complexity and uncertainties of ancient masonry buildings but it can be also related to dynamic interaction effects with the adjacent structural elements.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
