Innovative Multifunctional Reinforcement Technology for Masonry Buildings: Numerical Validation and Damage Detection Investigation

Abstract eng:
This paper reports the outcomes of an experimental test campaign for the validation of the performance of a seismic reinforcing strategy of masonry buildings based on the full covering of the building by means of an innovative multifunctional technical textile. This innovative solution, the “Composite Seismic Wallpaper” is made of glass and polymeric fibres in a multiaxial textile structure featuring embedded fiber optics sensors which is connected to the substrate using a special cementitius matrix. The composite obtained is multifunctional in the sense that on one side it reinforces the structure, increasing its capacity to resist to seismic events, and on the other side, it provides localized and distributed static and dynamic measurements before, during and after a seismic event, by means of the integrated sensors. Recently “Seismic Wallpaper” has been full-scale tested as reinforcement of a twostory stone building. The reinforced building has been tested in shaking table tests campaign to prove the feasibility of the distributed and passive reinforcing solution and to investigate the reliability, in detecting the building dynamics, of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors embedded in the textile fabric. Sensors measurements recorded during hammer shock tests and shaking tables have been analyzed towards a modal identification of the building modal parameters. This paper first presents the building modelling by means of finite elements analyses, then describes the buildings dynamics as characterized from experimental tests, finally proposes a methodology for damage detection by means of an inverse problem approach that combines an evolutionary method (Genetic Algorithms) and a plain FEM simulation based model for the localization of damage.

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