DYNAMIC TESTING AND MONITORING OF HISTORIC TOWERS FOR SEISMIC DAMAGE DETECTION

Abstract eng:
Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems represent an acknowledged low-invasiveness and low-cost solution enabling real time condition assessment of civil structures, providing useful information for preventive conservation and maintenance activities. The various documented successful applications of SHM systems to bridges and large infrastructural systems has recently led many researchers to investigate their effectiveness in the case of monumental and historical buildings, often vulnerable to both anthropogenic a natural (e.g. seismic) hazards. The countries in the Mediterranean Basin are especially committed to this kind of research, being, at the same time, rich of built cultural heritage and highly exposed to seismic and other natural hazards. Among the various types of historic buildings, Italian Cities are especially characterized by an extensive presence of bell and civic masonry towers, which also deserve a special attention because of their slenderness, making them suitably monitored via vibration-based systems, and because of their seismic vulnerability. Framing in the afore-depicted scenario, the authors have started in the last years a research activity on vibration-based permanent SHM of slender historic towers, finalized at the implementation of new approaches for the optimal management of the limited available budgets for conservation and restoration activities. In the present paper the results concerning this activity are presented with specific reference to two study cases in the city of Perugia, Italy: the bell tower of the Basilica of San Pietro and the civic tower called “Torre degli Sciri”. The two considered monuments present completely different characteristics and complexities from both structural and architectural points of view, making them worth interesting investigating as typological benchmarks. The work discusses both ambient vibration testing and permanent mon-itoring applications, including considerations regarding the adopted sensing hardware. The feasibility of a rapid post-earthquake damage detection via SHM is finally explored with reference to the study case of the San Pietro bell tower, with particular attention to the recent seismic events. 1

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