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Politecnico di Bari | Poliba · Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ingegneria Civile e dell'Architettura (DICAR)

This work presents a numerical model that simulates the mechanical response of prestressed concrete beams subjected to high temperature. The model was calibrated through several thermal and thermo-mechanical tests over the beams. To reproduce the thermal and the mechanical behavior the nonstationary behavior was taken account. This model could be u...

Due to their reduced emissions and environmental benefits, electric vehicles (EVs) have grown in popularity over the past few years. However, EV fires can be a serious threat to nearby buildings, especially in garages where they are parked and charged. In this work, the behavior of the steel structural components in garages during electric car fire...

The research aims at studying the mechanical behavior of a monumental structure to preserve the historical-architectural heritage as recommended by the Sustainable Development Goal 11.4 to “strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”. This research focuses on multi‐drums classical columns, a very common ty...

This paper reports on a series of experimental tests and a numerical study carried out on the historic masonry bridge of Santa Teresa of Bitonto, located in Bari (Southern Italy). A systematic working technique was planned and carried out with the final objective of defining the dynamic properties of the bridge and verifying the seismic repose by m...

In this paper, recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was used to produce eco-innovative engineering materials with optimized performance, minimizing the environmental impact deriving from plastic consumption activity and limiting the continuous consumption of raw materials. The recycled PET obtained from waste bottles, commonly used to improve...

Flexible roofs are sensitive to wind actions because they are light, and their deformability can induce local or global instability. In most cases, their design requires experimental wind tunnel testing to investigate the aeroelastic phenomena and the structural response under the wind. However, the reduced scale necessary in wind tunnels makes the...

The use of generated waste is one of the main current objectives worldwide to reduce pollution. Over the last decades, the construction field has worked on incorporating recycled materials inside the concrete matrix. Some of the recycled products that have been incorporated are recycled aggregates and waste fibers. Fiber-reinforced concrete with ma...

This paper presents the experimental analysis on the “Municipal Headquarters” of Palagianello Town. This is a strategic building with a high complexity at planimetric and altimetric level, so it is interesting the evaluation of its structural dynamic performance in case of seismic emergency management. To this aim, environmental vibrations have bee...

The seismic design of industrial flat-bottom ground-supported silos filled with granular material still presents several challenges to be addressed. They are related to the main aspects which differentiate silo structures containing granular material from other civil structural typologies: 1) the relatively low silo structure mass as compared to th...

The Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry is a remote sensing technique to acquire deformation velocity and displacement time-series of large territorial areas. The aim of this work is to develop operational methodologies that allow to assess the structures conservation state by integrating information from traditional monitoring sys...

In the present paper the optimal design of an energy dissipating shear panel made of aluminium and steel and the results of a nonlinear dynamic analysis of a frame equipped with the designed device are discussed. The geometrical configuration of the device is chosen in accordance with a parametric analysis performed to optimise the hysteretic behav...

Raw earth is one of the oldest building materials, which is suitable for various uses: from the construction of load-bearing walls to use for plasters and finishes. The presence of straw fibers can give different behavior to this material. The present paper illustrates preliminary sensory and qualitative analyses, and subsequent laboratory tests th...

Psychophysiological measures have become increasingly accessible to researchers and many have properties that indicate their use as individual difference indicators. For example, the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential (ERP) thought to reflect error-monitoring processes, has been related to individual differences, such as Neu...

In the last decades, several researchers have proposed procedures for the evaluation of the seismic risk of buildings with different structural typologies. The main aim of these studies is the possibility of giving a tool to engineers and Authorities for assessing the seismic vulnerability of the existing building patrimony and, thus, planning the...

Nanoparticles are used in innovative mortars in order to improve their engineering properties. In this paper, recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) nanoparticles were used as a substitute for sand in mortars. PET aggregates were obtained cutting water bottles wastes into many small sized pieces and the plastic fibres were treated through chemic...

In the present paper a new and innovative way to approach the regeneration of public buildings and public housing is proposed. It consists in a dissipative steel frame to reduce the displacement demand and to improve the energy efficiency of a real existing structure, inserting buckling-restrained axial dampers (BRAD) type dissipative braces. This...

In this paper, a non-destructive technique based on the monitoring of the environmental vibrations of two strategic buildings by positioning accelerometers in well-defined points was used for fixing their dynamic behavior. The accelerometers measurements were elaborated through Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) techniques, in order to identify natur...

Sustainability of buildings and constructions is almost a mandatory feature nowadays. New low-cost solutions are quite often pursued for increasing the structural and aesthetic quality of the manufactured units. This paper discusses a new idea of a modular component easy-to-assemble for low-cost structural arches on site, mainly for civil building...

Beach management is based on administering technical, environmental, social and political issues to solve coastal problems. To assist coastal management, quality systems have evolved from Beach Certifications Schemes to indicator systems that take into account the three beach functions —natural, protection and recreation—. This study analyses: i) T...

This paper presents the analysis of the dynamic performances of a simple model related to a squat masonry tower situated in the Swabian Castle of Trani (Italy). The main objective of this paper is to introduce a novel strategy based on a simple model validated by experimental data for defining the influence of the excitation frequency on the struct...

The paper shows the results of an experimental tests campaign carried out on concretes with recycled aggregates added in substitution of sand. Sand, in fact, has been totally replaced once by blast-furnace slag and fly ashes, once by blast-furnace slag and microsilica. The aim is both to utilize industrial by-products and to reduce the use of artif...

The present study shows a cheap and simple methodology to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a reinforced concrete bell tower built in 1974 made of concrete structural elements and brick masonry walls. The bell swinging vibrations on the tower are evident and they can be visually observed even without the use of any equipment. In this case a possible...

The present paper shows the results of an experimental study on new rolling seismic isolators made with steel cylindrical elements arranged on two levels, interposed between flat rubber layers, and rolling in the same direction. It is a rather simplified version of an isolator designed to have the cylinders disposed on two levels, according to two...

This paper presents the dynamic experimental campaign carried out on a stocky masonry clock tower situated in the Swabian Castle of Trani (Italy). The main objective of this paper is, after estimating the main frequencies and vibration modes of the considered structure, defining the transmission of vibrations along the height of the tower by varyin...

The aim of the paper is to perform a preliminary assessment of the dynamic behavior of the bell tower of Basilica Church “S.S. Medici”, one of the most important church in the town of Bitonto, Bari, Italy. The tower is 55 m tall and it is made in reinforced concrete. It is totally disconnected from the main structure of the Church. The structural b...

Masonry is a composite material largely used in construction. It exhibits several advantages, including significant compressive strength, thermal inertia, and aesthetic beauty. A disadvantage of masonry is mainly related to the inadequate shear strength due to the poor capacity and ductility of the adopted mortar. This aspect is crucial in seismic...

In this work the performance of plain concrete added with mussel shells of Mytilus galloprovincialis has been studied. In the Mediterranean Basin, this variety is among the most common wild and farming mussels. The type of mussel shell used comes from Italian shellfish farming, which generates 100,000 tons per year of mussel shell waste. The mussel...

In this paper, a new free online seismic database is presented. The database has 15 seismological and 26 deducted engineering parameters to search for available records for structural seismic analysis. As known, the selection and scaling of seismic records acquire primary importance in seismic analysis. Moreover, the application and development of...

The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamic and static three-dimensional behavior of a dry-assembled masonry cross vault, through the comparison of Distinct Element Modeling results and laboratory tests’ results on a physical model obtained by mean of 3D printing. The work consists of two phases: the first one compares two numerical models of...

This paper examines the structural behavior to vertical and horizontal loads (static equivalent by horizontal forces) of a structure typical of Apulia, in Italy. The structure is in masonry and is called “trullo”. It is very famous and is found only in Apulia. This structure, in fact, known as one of the “wonders of the world”, was built in the pre...

The new cable-stayed bridge built for the North-South axis road of Bari in order to overpass the railway of RFI and Ferrotramviaria s.p.a. has been recently built and opened to the traffic. The bridge is 626 m long and the central cable-stayed bays have a total length of 225 m. They are supported by cables connected to a central upside down Y-shape...

This document analyses the resistant behaviour to diagonal compression and direct compression of brick masonry specimens, reinforced with textile reinforced mortars (TRM) and without them. The numerical models have been calibrated with experimental results in order to have a suitable technique to reinforce masonry historic constructions where extra...

The sanctuary of Santa Maria di Loreto (Mola di Bari, Italy) was built in in the sixteen century and it is constituted by a church with a simple hut façade characterized by a fine calcareous rose window and on its left side a high bell tower with heavy bells. In the present study, a non-destructive dynamic identification of the modal characteristic...

The present paper deals with the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of slender historical buildings; these structures, in fact, may manifest a high risk with respect to seismic actions as usually they have been designed to resist to gravitational loads only, and are characterized by a high flexibility. To evaluate this behavior, the bell tower...

This paper investigates the dynamic behaviour of the simplest structural element, the classical column, considered as a monolithic multiblock. In particular, we studied the behaviour of these structures under harmonic pulses of variable amplitude and frequency, tracing the rocking curves that represent the “dynamic identity card” of such structures...

This paper deals with the behavior of a rubber-layer roller bearing (RLRB) isolation system. This system consists of steel cylinders rolling on with high damping rubber pads connected to supporting steel plates. The device uncouples the ground motion when the cylinders start to move, exceeding the rolling friction between rubber and steel. The pres...

The paper proposes the integration of structural monitoring with Building Management Systems for electricity and gas distributions. To assess the state of damage of existing buildings the technics of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is adopted. SHM as well as to record the occurrence of sudden structural damage resulting from exceptional events (...

The paper proposes the integration of structural monitoring with Building Management Systems for electricity and gas distributions. To assess the state of damage of existing buildings the technics of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is adopted. SHM as well as to record the occurrence of sudden structural damage resulting from exceptional events (...

This paper presents the research concerning the analysis of accelerometer data and the post-processing in order to monitor artistic and historical buildings. In particular, the case of interest was to consider the data acquired from a set of accelerometers suitably placed on the walls of a building, the “San Giacomo” structure, that is in renaissan...

This article analyses the response of steel-moment resisting frames subjected to near-field ground motions. In near-field areas high damage and a relevant number of collapsed steel buildings arose even when both design and detailing had been performed in perfect accordance with the code provisions. These circumstances are related to the characteris...

In the present chapter the theoretical basis of different methods developed for the calibration of FEMs are discussed. In general, Model Updating techniques are based on the use of appropriate functions that iteratively update selected physical properties (characteristics of the materials, stiffness of a link, etc.). In this way the correlation bet...

An accurate knowledge of the dynamical parameters of structures is definitely useful for seismic assessment and for the design of risk mitigation interventions. In this paper, the opportunities provided by dynamic identification techniques for the non-destructive evaluation of heritage structures are discussed with focus on the bell tower of Announ...

According to Eurocode 8, the seismic design of flat-bottom circular silos containing grain-like material is based on a rough estimate of the inertial force imposed on the structure by the ensiled content during an earthquake: 80% of the mass of the content multiplied by the peak ground acceleration. A recent analytical consideration of the horizont...

It is well known that ancient buildings suffer a high vulnerability to hazards, which may induce unpredictable damages. For this purpose, a main objective to be pursued concerns with the development of techniques for monitoring historical buildings and immediately alerting in case of early vulnerability warnings. This paper proposes a noninvasive N...

The paper describes the application of conventional accelerometers and innovative microwave remote sensing to operational modal testing of a historical slender structure: the bell tower of the Cathedral of Trani. In more details, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the investigated tower are identified by applying different output-only techn...

The results of the ambient-vibration based investigations carried out to assess the structural behaviour of masonry are presented. The chimney, dating back to 1950, and about 24 m high, is characterised by the presence of major cracks on the northeast facade. The assessment procedure includes full-scale ambient vibration testing, modal identificati...

This paper presents the work developed to design a shaking-table test at the EUCENTRE Lab, for the evaluation of the maximum capacity of a 3-storey building subjected to earthquake loading. The structural system of the building is composed of cast-in-situ sandwich squat reinforced concrete walls using polystyrene as a support for the concrete. The...

This paper reports the outcomes of a series of shaking table tests performed at the EQUALS lab of Bristol University in the framework of the project entitled “ASESGRAM”, carried out within the Transnational Access Activities of the SERIES Project. The experimental test campaign was devoted to the evaluation of the effective behaviour of flat-bottom...

The Performance-based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) concept implies the definition of multiple target performance levels of damage which are expected to be achieved (or not exceeded), when the structure is subjected to earthquake ground motion of specified intensity. These levels are associates to different return period (RP) of earthquakes and str...

In this paper the model of an Innovative Monitoring Network involving properly connected nodes to develop an Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) solution for preventive maintenance of historical centres from early warnings is proposed. It is well known that the protection of historical centres generally goes from a large-scale monitorin...

In the present chapter the theoretical basis of different methods developed for the calibration of finite element models (FEMs) are discussed. In general, Model Updating techniques are based on the use of appropriate coefficients (sensitivity coefficients) that iteratively update selected physical properties (properties of materials, stiffness of a...

The paper describes the application of conventional accelerometers and innovative microwave remote sensing to operational modal testing of a historical slender structure: the bell tower of the Cathedral of Trani. In more details, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the investigated tower are identified by applying different output-only techn...

This work describes the modalities of non-destructive tests performed on the clock tower of Trani Castle (Bari, Italy) by using accelerometers installed in different points of the structure. The acquired data have been analysed to identify the modal parameters of the structure that may be used for the calibration of a Finite Element (FE) model. Aft...

The paper shows the results of a nonlinear dynamic analysis performed on a fixed base reinforced concrete 2D frame subject to near-field earthquakes, i.e. seismic motions close to the epicentral area of the fault rupture. In these areas both the acceleration and velocity signals are impulsive-type and, consequently, the response of the structures r...