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Introspection on improper seismic retrofit of Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio after 2009 Italian earthquake

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Abstract

The 2009 L’Aquila, Italy earthquake highlighted the seismic vulnerability of historic masonry building structures due to improper “strengthening” retrofit work that has been done in the last 50 years. Italian seismic standards recommend the use of traditional reinforcement techniques such as replacing the original wooden roof structure with new reinforced concrete (RC) or steel elements, inserting RC tie-beams in the masonry and new RC floors, and using RC jacketing on the shear walls. The L’Aquila earthquake revealed the numerous limitations of these interventions, because they led to increased seismic forces (due to greater additional weight) and to deformation incompatibilities of the incorporated elements with the existing masonry walls. This paper provides a discussion of technical issues pertaining to the seismic retrofit of the Santa Maria di Collemaggio Basilica and in particular, the limitations of the last (2000) retrofit intervention. Considerable damage was caused to the church because of questionable actions and incorrect and improper technical choices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural & Geotechnical Engineering (DISTR) Politecnico di Torino, 10129, Turin, Italy

    Gian Paolo Cimellaro & Alessandro De Stefano

  2. Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Andrei M. Reinhorn

  3. Department of Structural & Geotechnical Engineering (DISTR), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy

    Gian Paolo Cimellaro

Authors
  1. Gian Paolo Cimellaro
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  2. Andrei M. Reinhorn
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  3. Alessandro De Stefano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gian Paolo Cimellaro.

Additional information

Supported by: European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (Marie Curie International Reintegration Actions — FP7/2007-2013) under Grant No. PIRG06-GA-2009-256316 of the project ICRED — Integrated European Disaster Community Resilience

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Cimellaro, G.P., Reinhorn, A.M. & De Stefano, A. Introspection on improper seismic retrofit of Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio after 2009 Italian earthquake. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 10, 153–161 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-011-0054-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-011-0054-4

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