FANALE, LORENZO1; GALEOTA, DANTE2; AVOLA, STEFANO3

1) Assistant researcher, University of L’Aquila, Department of Civil Engineering, fanalelorenzo@yahoo.it

2) Full professor, University of L’Aquila, Department of Civil Engineering, dante.galeota@univaq.it

3) Phd student, University of L’Aquila, Department of Civil Engineering, stefanoavola.83@gmail.com

On 6th of April 2009 a catastrophic earthquake struck the city of L’Aquila causing extensive damage to many masonry buildings and putting at imminent risk the valuable historical and architectural heritage of the city.

The present paper approaches the multi-faced task of evaluating the seismic performance of an ancient masonry tower located in the centre of the city. The paper includes preliminary activities such as historical analysis, 3D metric survey, in-situ experimental tests and damage observation.

In order to understand structural behaviour of tower both linear static rigid-body models and a modal analysis of 3D finite element model were developed.

The results of numerical analysis were used to design a complex retrofitting system based on several techniques, finalized to obtain a right compromise between safety and conservation of the building’s historical characteristics, according to Italian codes.

Keywords: seismic analysis, tower, retrofitting system