Seismic-volcanic vulnerability and retrofitting of a cultural heritage masonry palace in the Vesuvius area

Abstract

In this paper, the seismic and volcanic vulnerability of a monumental masonry building in the Vesuvius area is assessed in order to set up maintenance and retrofitting measures for upgrading its structural safety. First, the construction seismic behaviour is investigated through modal dynamic and pushover analyses developed by two different computer programs, namely AEDES and SAP 2000, aiming at better understanding the most probable response under earthquake. Later on, volcanic analyses under quake and tephra loading conditions have been performed through static non-linear and linear analyses, respectively, with the purpose to implement a building multi-risk investigation. Finally, aiming at removing the detected seismic and volcanic deficiencies, retrofitting and energetic interventions have been designed and applied to the inspected building. The effectiveness of such interventions has been proved by numerical analyses on the retrofitted building, whose behaviour is resulted to be considerably improved from environmental and seismic points of view.