EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON A MONUMENTAL MASONRY BUILDING DAMAGED BY THE ABRUZZO EARTHQUAKE

In the present paper the experimental and numerical activities related to in-situ ambient vibration tests performed on a monumental masonry building placed in Castelnuovo of San Pio (AQ) are presented. The tests were carried out in May 2010 within the scientific cooperation between the University of Naples "Federico II" and the University St. "Cyril and Methodius" of Skopje established in the framework of the COST C26 Action project "Urban Habitat Constructions under Catastrophic Events". The purpose of these experimental tests was the identification of the dynamic characteristics of the building, called Sidoni palace, which have been expressed in terms of natural frequencies, vibration shapes and damping coefficients. The obtained experimental results have been used for a numerical investigation of the palace. To this aim, a FEM model of the building has been implemented by means of the ABAQUS non linear code. A good agreement between the achieved numerical results and the experimental ones in terms of natural frequencies and mode vibration shapes has been noticed. Frequency analysis has been also carried out considering an undamaged FEM model based on the building structural configuration before the earthquake. This investigation has permitted to evaluate the reduction in stiffness of the damaged palace with reference to the original one due to earthquake. Finally, appropriate retrofitting interventions have been proposed, their effectiveness being proved by performing numerical analyses on an improved FEM model of the palace.