Preliminary considerations on coupled pin-supported walls as a strengthening solution for existing buildings

Abstract

In the last years, attention to the seismic strengthening of existing buildings has increasingly grown, especially since a huge number of national incentives has been allocated for a deep renovation of the existing building stock. Various research has pushed toward new solutions suitable to account for the entire life cycle of the retrofit solution and that would overcome the main barriers to the renovation, which are, for example, the need to relocate the inhabitants. In this work, a strengthening system that involves the use of coupled pin-supported walls is proposed. The solution could be carried out from outside of the building thus not requiring the inhabitants’ relocation. In particular, two pin-supported walls are coupled through horizontal beams connected to the walls by unbounded post-tensioning cables. The effectiveness of the proposed solution has been evaluated through the application to a reference case.