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This article deals with the topic of seismic vulnerability of single-storey industrial buildings, proposing the design of a new system able to support the movement of the load-bearing structure during earthquakes. The targets of this solution at greater resilience, designed with prefabricated elements and innovative structure-cladding junctions, are the improvement of the performances of the industrial buildings in case of earthquake and the structural optimization of their load-bearing system with possible consequences for environmental sustainability, considering the possible reduction of construction material and energy during the production and transport phase.

Churches struck by the earthquake sequence of 2016–2017 in Central Italy confirmed their seismic vulnerability, significantly higher than the one of other unreinforced masonry structures. This resulted in a much wider area affected by significant damages to churches, which were characterised by a rich variability of materials, typologies, dimensions and styles. In the area where significant damages were observed for ordinary buildings, most of the churches exhibited total or partial collapses. The time sequence of the main shocks helped in preventing casualties in churches although the collapse of a bell-gable in Accumoli caused victims in a neighbour house during the first event of August 24th, 2016. Damage surveys to churches were carried out on more than 4000 buildings, in a land area of about 30 000 km2 from September 2016 to May 2017. The data collected during the post-earthquake surveys represent a valuable source of information for better understanding the vulnerability of these structures as well as the effectiveness of past retrofitting interventions. Some examples are reported to show both damage progression due to the cumulated effect of repeated shaking and state-of-the-art strategies for short-term countermeasures.

In this study, the possibility of applying the Life Cycle Thinking approach to structural design, considering all aspects and phases of the structure’s life, is investigated. The idea is to develop a procedure for the analysis of the economic and environmental impacts of structures in their life cycle, including not only ordinary costs along life cycle phases but also the extraordinary costs resulting from damage and anticipated end-of-life caused by unexpected natural hazards. The building performance under extraordinary conditions is calculated according to a time-based Loss Assessment Analysis. Such analysis provides the probable performance of a building and its components over a given period of time, considering all the hazardous events that can occur in that period, the probability of occurrence of each event, and the related effects. The outlined approach is applied to a case study of a single-story steel office building located in Italy. Two LC scenarios, having a duration of 2 years and 50 years, are considered. Results show that contributions of environmental impacts and benefits related to end-of-life management and economic losses for natural hazards are significant and not negligible. It is highlighted that the greatest challenge faced when using such a comprehensive approach is represented by data availability and representativeness that deeply limits the possibility of its implementation.

This study aims to analyze the life-cycle primary energy and climate impacts of structural frames, paying particular attention to the design and prefabrication of different structural materials. The study considers an existing single-story office building with a composite concrete–steel structure and compares it with two functionally equivalent structures, i.e., a conventional reinforced concrete structure and a conventional steel structure. The existing building is located in San Felice sul Panaro, Italy. This study integrates dynamic structural analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA). The study finds that the use of different materials can reduce the life-cycle primary energy use and CO2-eq emissions by up to 12%. Furthermore, the benefits derived from the recovery and recycling of materials can reduce the primary energy use and CO2-eq emissions by up to 47% and 36%, respectively. The prefabrication of structural elements can also reduce the primary energy use and CO2-eq emissions in the construction stage. A sensitivity analysis considers changes in the electricity supply system and shows that the primary energy and CO2-eq emissions due to prefabrication decrease when assuming marginal electricity based on renewable energies. This analysis supports the development of sustainable structural design to meet the standards concerning the whole-life-cycle carbon emissions of buildings.

The present study concerns the structural analysis of the masonry vaulted stairs of the Santa Maria delle Vigne bell tower in Genoa (Italy). The vaulted staircase systems are fully analysed in terms of technological and constructive details. The 3D geometric models are defined from laser scanner data. The structural analyses were carried out by using both the equilibrium limit analysis and a static incremental FEM analysis. Despite the efficacy of classic equilibrium methods in analysing arched and vaulted structures is largely proved in literature, this study demonstrates that vaulted staircase systems often collapse because of compressive failure of masonry before losing stability.

The application of 3D motion capture systems to shaking table testing provides a unique tool for recording relative displacements of a large number of measurement points of the tested structure. The analysis of 3D relative displacements during dynamic tests allows us to evaluate the structure deformations and to monitor the cracks formation and evolution. The present paper focuses on the processing and analysis of 3D motion capture data to extract accurate displacements between markers positioned on a full-scale model of a masonry cross vault representing a vault of the mosque of Dey, Algiers, tested at the ENEA Casaccia Research Centre. The management and processing of the data acquired through 67 markers located on the vault are described, showing the potentialities of the methodology. Moreover, the possible formulation of damage indices based on the structure deformations and cracks aperture detected from markers relative displacements (MRDs) was explored. In particular, cracks could be counted and classified as a function of the detected apertures, following damage thresholds indicated in the Italian regulations. Moreover, the failure mechanism could be easily visualized and analysed by monitoring the cumulative MRDs. In addition, in-plane and out-of-plane deformations of walls could be monitored during each seismic test, providing accurate information on the torsional and bending effects.

PurposeIn seismic-prone areas, post-event operability is an important issue for steel warehouses. Even if surviving earthquakes with minimal probability of collapse, these structures might suffer so much damage, that their repair costs would be prohibitive. Strategies for limiting the building's damaged zones to specific parts (or “fuses”) can reduce repair costs. However, the replaceable part is limited to a small portion of the structure, whereas the rest cannot be disassembled. This is an issue for structures whose life span depends more likely on economics rather than on structural performances. Therefore, making them easily disassembled would be an advantage not only in seismic areas but also in any industrialized area. The purpose of this paper is to explore the “Design for Disassembly” (DfD) approach to complement seismic design and find a compromise between them. Design/methodology/approachIn this work, one single type of structures was analysed (the moment-resisting frame), focusing on the design of a “disassemblable” seismic-resistant steel connection. The design process involved several iterations until an “optimum” compromise between seismic design and DfD was met. FindingsThis study shows that a compromise between seismic design and DfD is possible. In this case, the compromise was achieved at the expenses of more complex design calculations and a greater number of components than standard connections. However, this would be compensated for by a higher residual value for the entire structure. Originality/valueEventually, it was proved that a metric for assessing DfD steel connections is possible, but structural analyses are needed to validate it.

[...]the failure of the connections can be caused by a too rigid connection of the panels to the main structure, modifying the static scheme and leading to situations during the seismic action different from those planned during the design phase (Bournas, 2014). [...]we focused on a different approach, by examining a second category of solutions in which we tried to make the elements independent from the structural frame (Fig. 1). First calculation checks have been carried out to size the profiles and to assess the technological feasibility of the proposed solution. The study has been carried out by imagining solutions with different materials; actually, it shows that the problem can be overcome easily by marking the joints of the elements that constitute the covering to make the vertical joint indistinguishable between the different panels (Fig. 5-7). [...]we have verified that it is possible to guarantee the realization of the necessary openings, entrance portals and load points, in according with the flexibility of the cladding required by the studied system.

In the paper, possibilities of correlation of structural damage and damage of attached artistic assets on multi-leaf stone masonry walls by means of destructive and non-destructive testing (NDT) methods are investigated. Results from two testing campaigns carried out at the University of Genoa and University of Ljubljana are briefly presented. In particular, diagonal tests with different levels of pre-compression and shear tests under different boundary conditions were carried out in Genoa and Ljubljana, respectively. During the tests, different damage limit states (DL) of both masonry walls (SE) and attached plasters (AA) were investigated by means of NDT’s. Two different types of rubble stone masonry were considered (uncoursed random rubble vs. coursed squared rubble). For AA the results are presented in relative form in dependence from the DL of SE. Obtained results are influenced both by the type of test and tested masonry. Results of NDT revealed strong potential and a need for data fusing of both investigated methods for the evaluation of the state of the degradation behind the plaster.

Che il grattacielo più alto di Europa sia il sessantaseiesimo al mondo è un segno. Non è chiaro se di stile (in fondo noi europei preferiamo le scarpe basse al tacco 12) o di declino.