Rehabilitation of Timber Structures and Seismic Vulnerability: a Case Study

Synthetic methods for the diagnosis of structures and particularly for their vulnerability assessment rely on simplified calculations and visual inspection. Their effectiveness strongly depends on an accurate calibration of the procedure by which data are collected. A recent methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of timber roofs in historical buildings has been applied to the Thun Castle during a study for its rehabilitation. The purpose was twofold: testing and calibrating the procedure on a heritage structure and estimating the capability of the roof structure to resist seismic action, as required in a zone of low but not negligible seismicity.