PUBLICATIONS

The Grancia of Cuna is located along the ancient Via Francigena (Via Cassia), a few hundred meters north of the town of Monteroni d’Arbia. The Grancia, notablefor its size, complexity and very good state of preservation, is one of thefi nest and rarest examples of a fortifi ed farm from the European Middle Ages.The brick complex consists of a small village surrounded by walls with gatesand towers. Within the walls is the actual farm and four storey granaries near the Palazzalti structure, which are accessed by a monumental partly covered ramp.

This paper outlines the response of the healthcare system in the area mainly affected by the 2012 Emilia earthquake by drawing on specific surveys and information from local health authorities. A description of the damage suffered and characteristics of the healthcare system as a whole is offered initially, followed by a detailed description of the effects which took place at the Santa Maria Bianca hospital of Mirandola. The focus has been on damage to non structural elements and content, whose integrity is of primary importance for healthcare structures performance during and after a seismic event. Some instruments for the acquisition of accelerometric data were installed after the May 20 event both outside and inside a building which is part of the hospital complex. The seismic behavior of this building has also been analysed by means of a purposely made finite element model and on the basis of the recorded data. The contribution of undamaged and damaged masonry infills to the global seismic response has also been estimated thus providing some hints on the observed building performance.

The final publication is available at link.springer.com

 The performance of masonry walls reinforced using polymeric grid embedded into plaster layers as a tools for the seismic enhancement of brick masonry buildings has been investigated by experimental tests. The results of the experimental campaigns are presented and discussed.

Based on the experimental data and on the results of detailed numerical simulations, simplified models to be used as tools for the design of the retrofitting intervention are proposed. The models properly consider the so called “first mode” and “second mode” collapse mechanisms as well as the grid effect in the evolution of the above mentioned mechanisms.

Restoration and conservation issues relevant to the application of the proposed methodology to historical building and cultural heritage are also presented and discussed.

Reinforcing brick masonry walls with a structural polymer grid embedded in the plaster can be an effective alternative to change its traditionally brittle seismic behaviour into an energy dissipation system that would allow masonry buildings to successfully stand earthquake forces.

This report describes the work performed to investigate the post elastic effect of reinforcing masonry brick walls with a structural polymer grid applied on its surface and embedded in a sand cement plaster. Twelve 1.20 x 1.20m panels were built and tested to cyclic shear force with constant vertical compression load; another twelve 0.80 x 1.60 brick panels were built and subjected to transverse flexural monotonic loading and unloading test. Solid clay bricks were used for the construction of walls with different type of mortar for the layers and for the plaster, in an attempt to better simulate retrofitting conditions. For the shear-compression tests, four walls were tested without plaster, four with sand cement plaster and the last four with the grid reinforcement embedded in the plaster on both sides. For the flexural tests, the variables studied were the effect of plaster alone, the effect of the polymer grid applied on the tension and compression side and the effect of the vertical load. The results of the shearcompression tests indicated a small increment in the in-plane wall shear resistance due to the grid presence, and that there is almost no evidence of any increment in stiffness, the grid deformability, being much higher than that of the plaster, practically does not contribute significantly to the masonry strength, they showed however, a substantial increase of energy dissipation with respect to the unreinforced panels. Important results have been obtained from the out-of-plane load tests. They have clearly demonstrated the positive effects of the grid presence on the ultimate load, ultimate displacement and energy dissipation. These results have allowed developing an initial mathematical expression for the ultimate moment capacity of masonry walls reinforced with polymer grids.