Abstract
All around the world, a huge amount of buildings have been built before the enforcement of specific codes for seismic resistance and energy efficiency. Particularly in Italy, over 74% of residential buildings were constructed before 1980, when only 25% of the territory was classified as seismic, and nearly 86% were built before 1991, when the first restrictive regulation on energy efficiency was issued. This means that most buildings need both seismic and energy renovation actions to improve their sustainability level. The proposed combined retrofit strategy for reinforced concrete framed buildings is based on the replacement of the external layer of double-leaf infill walls, made of hollow bricks, with high-performing AAC blocks: this solution can be implemented by operating mainly from the outside of the building, thus reducing occupants’ disruption during retrofitting. The generally neglected structural contribution of masonry infill panels is here considered using a recently developed macro-element modeling approach. The results suggest that, from a structural viewpoint, the proposed intervention involves the highest improvement at the damage limitation limit state, while lower upgrades are recorded at life safety limit state and near-collapse limit state. In regards to the energy issues, the energy demand can be reduced by 10% and 4% for heating and cooling, respectively, just by replacing the outer layer of blocks; further savings can be achieved through the application of a supplementary insulation layer.
Highlights
This paper investigates a seismic and energy retrofit strategy suitable for buildings with a reinforced concrete (RC) structural frame
This paper proposes an integrated seismic and energy retrofitting approach for RC-framed
This approach is based on the replacement of the external layer of double-leaf infill walls
Summary
This paper investigates a seismic and energy retrofit strategy suitable for buildings with a reinforced concrete (RC) structural frame. The aim is to address a problem that affects most of the real estate in Italy and in many other countries, that is to say, the insufficient structural and thermal performance of the existing buildings. This is mainly due to the time lag between the construction of a large part of the current building stock and the introduction of comprehensive and restrictive technical standards. According to this premise, in the last years, the European Union has made huge financial efforts with the aim of increasing the environmental sustainability of our cities. Since existing buildings are responsible for about 38% of the final energy demand, special attention has been paid to their renovation (Figure 1)
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