Capacity Design Criteria of 3D Steel Lattice Beams for Applications into Cultural Heritage Constructions and Archaeological Sites

Abstract

Three-dimensional lattice beams are highly efficient technical solutions to cover large spans, especially when the single members do not have intermediate restraints able to prevent lateral-torsional buckling phenomena. Hence, lattice structures are widely applied in any field of civil and industrial engineering. In the present paper, in the framework of a research project funded by both the Campania Region and the European Community, a compound structure made of welded lattice beams and structural glass slabs is proposed as a structural system for valorisation and protection of monumental constructions and archaeological sites. Due to both the risk exposure of monumental heritage to be protected and the use of structural glass, the definition of an appropriate design criterion is mandatory in order to avoid development of brittle collapse mechanisms, mainly under static and dynamic vertical loads. The attention is herein paid to the design procedure, with a brief description of basic ideas behind the project itself and the main focus on the parametric capacity design of structural members. The proposed procedure, whose validity is quite general, has been subsequently verified by linear and non-linear numerical analyses calibrated on the basis of experimental investigations carried out on both the beam material and full-scale beam prototypes.