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Title: Vulnerability assessment of medieval civic towers as a tool for retrofitting design

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2963933· OSTI ID:21149072
 [1];  [2]
  1. ASTRA Department, University of Catania, Siracusa (Italy)
  2. Department of Structural Mechanics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Pavia (Italy)

The seismic vulnerability of an ancient civic bell-tower is studied. Rather than seeing it as an intermediate stage toward a risk analysis, the assessment of vulnerability is here pursued for the purpose of optimizing the retrofit design. The vulnerability curves are drawn by carrying out a single time history analysis of a model calibrated on the basis of experimental data. From the results of this analysis, the medians of three selected performance parameters are estimated, and they are used to compute, for each of them, the probability of exceeding or attaining the three corresponding levels of light, moderate and severe damage. The same numerical model is then used to incorporate the effects of several retrofitting solutions and to re-estimate the associated vulnerability curves. The ultimate goal is to provide a numerical tool able to drive the optimization process of a retrofit design by the comparison of the vulnerability estimates associated with the different retrofitting solutions.

OSTI ID:
21149072
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1020, Issue 1; Conference: 2008 seismic engineering conference: Commemorating the 1908 Messina and Reggio Calabria earthquake, Reggio Calabria (Italy), 8-11 Jul 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2963933; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English