Abstract

The technology of the Bourbonic casa Baraccata is one of the earliest earthquake resisting systems, used since the 18th century across Southern Italy in response to the disastrous earthquakes that hit the region frequently. The church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Casamicciola Terme, Ischia Island, Italy, represents one of the very rare examples, with a unicity lying on the combination of materials adopted. It presents the regular Bourbonic Baraccato walls in the back portion, and tuff-masonry walls embraced in iron frames in the main body. The paper aims at presenting the development of a 3D Finite Element Model (FEM) calibrated taking advantage of ambient vibration tests performed under operational conditions. Sensitivity analyses allowed to inspect and validate several modeling strategies and explore the relevance of the data still unknown to define a reliable numerical model to perform the study on the seismic behavior of the church of Santa Maria Maddalena.

Abstract

The aim of the contribution is to illustrate strengthening design in regard to the conservation of Palazzo Murena in Perugia, designed in the eighteenth century by the prominent Architect Luigi Vanvitelli. Starting from an accurate historical analysis and taking into account experimental campaign and results of numerical analysis, the vulnerable elements of the construction have been highlighted. A local reinforcement intervention is proposed with the aim of retain the historical value of the architectural characteristics; this consists of the application of plaster with Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix, F.R.C.M., to achieve an adequate strength, without adding supplemental weight to the masonry structure and therefore avoiding an increase of the seismic vulnerability. The benefits of the application of F.R.C.M. materials, also with respect to different reinforcement techniques are broaden.