On the Assessment of Masonry Structures

Abstract

The conservation of existing masonry buildings has reached a greater attention especially in the Southern Europe, where such structures are widespread, and need a periodic check also because they are the testimony of the history and the architectural progress of these areas. However, the assessment of the earthquake performance level of these structures is rather difficult for many reasons: the lack of information, the high variability of adopted materials and construction techniques, the existence of several interventions occurred during their service life, etc. These circumstances make difficult to define an accurate numerical model of these structures, by which assess their safety level and design possible strengthening and retrofitting. The present research deals with these issues by discussing the non-destructive tests performed on a masonry building in Bari, which in the 1977 was converted in a church and dedicated to San Marco. The San Marco church is an isolated building, whose plan dimensions are 16 m × 23 m, and with a maximum height equal to 10.50m. The church stands in a seismic prone zone and is characterized at the ground level by barrel vaults in some parts and by wooden roofs in the remaining parts, and by a gable roof realized by wood. The experimental investigations are utilized to validate a numerical model of the structure.