Maurizio Piazza

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• Professor
• Professor at University of Trento

This paper presents the highlights of an experimental campaign assessing the effectiveness of a timber-based strengthening technique for the seismic retrofit of existing reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The retrofit method involves using Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels to increase the lateral resistance of the RC frame against earthquake in...

This paper presents an experimental study on an innovative timber‐based retrofit solution for reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings, with or without masonry infills. The intervention aims to enhance seismic resistance through a light, cost‐effective, sustainable, and reversible approach integrating energy efficiency upgrades. The method employs...

The urgent need to reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector has driven the exploration of circular economy practices in the built environment. Nevertheless, the implementation of circular economy principles in projects remains limited. This research contributes to bridging this gap by introducing a project proposal that establishes a typo...

III Congreso Ibero-Latinoamericano MAD de la Madera en la Construcción (CIMAD 24) : Libro de Actas de Resúmenes Extendidos

This paper presents the results from an experimental study on an innovative timber-based seismic retrofit solution for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. The intervention aims at enhancing the overall seismic resistance of RC framed structures with a light, cost-effective, sustainable, and reversible approach, allowing possible integratio...

Long-span structures such as school gyms and sports centres are often used by the Italian Department of Civil Protection as post-catastrophe shelters or headquarters. The Emilia 2012 earthquake drew the attention of the department to this type of structure due to the damage that many of these buildings suffered. In this work, a dataset of 101 timbe...

Over the past decades, the seismic vulnerability assessment and strengthening of existing reinforced concrete buildings with masonry infills have been topics of great interest for engineers worldwide. Often, such buildings have been designed disregarding lateral loads and the influence of masonry infills on the local and global response, resulting...

The paper presents the outcomes of an experimental campaign investigating the in-plane behavior of stone masonry walls reinforced with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels fixed to the masonry by using steel rods and adhesives. Timber panels are intended to be positioned only on the internal side of the building walls, to preserve the integrity of t...

In the present paper, an integrated intervention system applicable to concrete-framed buildings is presented. The purpose of the intervention is to improve both the seismic and the energetic behaviour of such buildings using cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. Two alternative intervention configurations with different levels of invasiveness are de...

This paper discusses a seismic retrofit method that is intended for reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures and that sees the replacement of the existing masonry infills with timber structural panels. The intervention is aimed at enhancing the overall behaviour of the buildings without modifying the original concrete structural system. In the pre...

The motivations for the National Research Project on the Short Wood Supply Chain stem from the recognition of the great importance of the wood-based bio-economy for the future carbon-free society. In addition to the essential ecological benefits provided by forests, natural wood resources are expected to play a significant role due to the increasin...

Italy is located in a very active seismic zone, and many earthquakes have marked the country, some of them in the recent past. In order to take adequate measures of seismic prevention and protection, in the last decades, the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC) initiated a survey and introduced a specific form for the quick and/or post-seismic...

The paper focuses on a retrofit strategy applicable to existing reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures to reduce their seismic vulnerability. The intervention strategy, for the sake of brevity named RC-TP (Reinforced Concrete-Timber Panels), consists in the removal of the existing masonry infills and in their replacements with Cross Laminated Ti...

The effectiveness of a method to strengthen/repair unreinforced masonry (URM) by using timber-based products was investigated through experimental in situ testing. The strategy consists of timber-based panels connected to the masonry by means of screw fasteners. URM piers obtained from a century-old building were subjected to in-plane semi-cyclic q...

The study presented herein proposes a retrofit method aimed at reducing the seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures. The method consists in the replacement of the existing masonry infills with timber structural panels made of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) fixed to the concrete frame by using a timber subframe and dissipati...

The present study proposes a new connection system for Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) structures in earthquake prone areas. The system is suitable for creating wall-floor-wall and wall-foundation connections, where each connection device can transfer both shear and tension forces, thus replacing the role of traditional "hold downs" and "angle bracket...

Italy is located in a very active seismic zone and many events have marked the country also in the recent past. In order to take adequate measures of seismic protection and prevention, in the last decade, the government is intensely working on the assessment of risks, associated to earthquakes, which important resources are devolved to. One of the...

The research work presented herein deals with the analysis of light-frame wood (LFW) buildings under lateral seismic loading. The paper aim was to define the relationship between the global building ductility and the local ductility of the components via non-linear static analyses. Firstly, the different failure mechanisms were isolated and their i...

In view of the development of heavy timber seismic resistant structures, in the context of modern seismic design approach based on the mechanical triad of strength, stiffness and ductility, the dissipative capabilities should be delegated to specific devices, considering that timber mechanical behavior is typically fragile. With reference to the st...

This article studies the use of sound spectral analysis as a possible diagnostic technique for the assessment of existing timber structures. The idea is to analyze the spectrum of the sound that is generated by hitting a wood surface with a hammer (or an equivalent tool) and is recorded by a microphone. The sound spectrum and its relevant indicator...

This paper focuses on the possibility of using sound spectral analysis as a diagnostic technique for the assessment of existing timber structures. The basic idea is to perform a spectral analysis, through the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm, of the sound (recorded by a smartphone microphone) that is produced by hitting the wood surface of th...

Traditional un-reinforced masonry (URM) buildings often comprise flexible wooden floor diaphragms where a layer of floorboards is laid perpendicularly over the timber joists and fixed by means of nails. It is not rare that such floor structures need to be improved in order to satisfy serviceability and ultimate limit states criteria, as concerns th...

Double-shear tests are reported on beech LVL-concrete composite connections based on coach screw connectors singly inclined at either 45° or 90°. On different specimens with the same screw orientation the longitudinal shear force was applied either in forward or reverse, because in practice concrete shrinkage, moisture-induced timber expansion and...

The paper presents the results of an extensive survey on timber structures that were subjected to significant ground shaking during the earthquake events that struck Italy over the last decade (L'Aquila earthquake in 2009, the Emilia earthquake in 2012 and Central Italy earthquakes in 2016). Both large roof structures and timber buildings were addr...

This paper presents the results of the ongoing work on the revision of the provisions for the seismic design of timber buildings in Europe included within Chapter 8 of Eurocode 8. The most recent research results and technical developments regarding both wood-based materials and structural systems have been implemented into the proposed new version...

The assessment of the dynamic properties and vibration performance of two full-scale timber floor specimens is presented. The specimen set comprised a Timber-Concrete Composite floor and a Cross Laminated Timber floor. The floors, which are characterized by the same length and mass, are located in two separate five-storey timber buildings construct...

This paper presents the results of an extensive experimental study on the short-term mechanical performance of timber screw connections comprising different types of fasteners (inserted at 45° and 90° to the grain) and different timber products (solid sawn timber, glued laminated timber, cross laminated timber and laminated veneer lumber) made from...

The paper presents a new connection system for cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures, named X-RAD. This innovative connection system is characterised by the use of a single connector type that is positioned at the corners of the CLT panels. X-RAD is formed by a metal part surrounding a hardwood insert that is fixed to the panels by means of all-t...

The Italian wood packaging industry occupies a leading role in Europe and focuses its production on a collection of reference standards that describe the fundamental principles for designing industrial packaging made with lumber, plywood and OSB. The national standard framework, mainly based on UNI 9151 and UNI 10858, has been developed from the ne...

The vulnerability assessment of heritage buildings in earthquake prone areas is greatly depend-ent on the quality of the diaphragms. Inefficient wall-to-diaphragm connection and/or insuffi-cient in-plane strength and stiffness of the diaphragms often lead to extremely ruinous failures characterized by entire building-portions losing their stability...

The paper focuses on possibility of using timber based panels in seismic strengthening of existing masonry structures. The overall idea is to improve the performance of historical residential buildings under lateral loading, by fixing timber panels to the internal side of the masonry walls. This means a sustainable retrofit solution that permits to...

Nowadays, the construction industry is undergoing major transformations. On the one hand, it is partly due to the current international social-economic uncertainty, while on the other hand this is strongly related to the changing housing needs, which respond to the uninterrupted population growth of the last few years. For this reason, buildings ar...

This work concerns modern buildings with a highly prefabricated hybrid steel-timber construction system. The paper shows in detail an innovative modular structure built using standardized construction components. The floors consist of an assembly of composite steel-timber elements with flat CLT slabs, while the main structural framework is an ensem...

Förord Avsikten med Limträhandbok Del 2 är att hjälpa konstruktören att dimensionera limträkonstruktioner. I synnerhet betonas förståelsen av: • Bakgrunden för dimensionering av konstruktionssystem utförda med limträ, särskilt konstruktioner med lång spännvidd. • Bakgrunden för dimensionering av förband i konstruktionssystem utförda med limträ. Den...

This paper presents tests on beech LVL-concrete slab composite connections and externally indeterminate beams using connectors comprising fully threaded (FT), small-headed screws or partially threaded (PT), large-headed screws in X-formation. A test was devised to quantify connection characteristics in fully cracked concrete (applicable to hog zone...

This paper describes a shaking-table experimental programme performed on four different multi-storey timber houses within the transnational Seismic Engineering Research Infrastructures for European Synergies (Series) project at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering in Lisbon, Portugal. The aim of the Series project was to promote cooperation...

The construction technologies which address the residential market are being constantly updated, not only for the arrival of new construction materials and products, but also in response to the novel housing needs. Particularly, the construction industry is pushing to the use of efficient structural systems in terms of energy and environmental sust...

Modern buildings are generally constructed by paying a particular attention to the use of materials and building technologies that foster the building sustainability and ensure an adequate seismic-resistant behaviour to the structure. The cross laminated timber panel, in short CLT, is one of the most widely used timber products within the residenti...

This paper deals with the static and dynamic seismic analysis of light timber-frame buildings. Through the use of the UNITN-model proposed in a previous work, the study is here extended to full-scale buildings. An iterative procedure to properly distribute a horizontal load to the shear-walls, considering the coupled action of the vertical-load and...

This paper deals with a contemporary integrated and sustainable construction technology for new residential buildings. Specifically, this research aims at developing innovative steel-timber hybrid structures which allow a rapid assembly of the individual prefabricated components, minimizing the construction times and limiting the costs of the work....

Methods and devices for in situ establishment of mechanical properties of wood have been recently developed in cooperation with European, US and Japanese researchers. The development of these new methods was motivated by requirements from engineers who need highly accurate data of mechanical properties of specific elements to plan renovations of hi...

In European seismic areas timber structures are found as building frames, in combination with masonry infills, in bridges, but most frequently in roof structures and floor slabs of traditional buildings. Seismic strengthening of existing structures should provide a well-defined and simple path to seismic forces, maintain timber members elastic, and...

Shake table tests were carried out on a 7 m × 5 m three-story, timber light-frame building (7.5 m height) at the TreesLab laboratory (Eucentre) in Pavia. The aim of the research was to evaluate the seismic behavior of a typical Italian prefabricated timber building and to study the interaction between the individual structural components tested in...

Hybrid structural systems assembled connecting steel elements and cross-laminated timber panels (CLT) can be a valid alternative to traditional systems in the construction of residential buildings. Such systems can combine the industrialized construction technology typical of steel systems with the advantages offered by CLT panels, namely lightness...

This paper summarizes the test recommendations for selected semi-destructive testing techniques as developed by members of the RILEM Technical Committee AST 215 “In-situ assessment of structural timber”. The recommendations cover resistance drilling, core drilling, glue line test, tension micro-specimens, screw withdrawal, and several hardness test...

The present disclosure relates to a method for automatically assessing structural characteristics of a supporting pole sunk in the ground, including the operational steps of detecting data regarding a pole being assessed, striking at least one blow against said pole, detecting pole oscillations generated by said struck blow(s), analyzing detected o...

Carpentry joints, transmitting forces between timber members by direct contact and friction, were the key-elements of traditional timber construction. Often, such joints were reinforced with metal devices with the aim at avoiding disassembly under exceptional, but undefined and not quantified, loading conditions. Currently, interventions performed...

This paper presents an experimental study aimed at collecting information on the response of knee connections to high amplitude fully-reversed rotational deformations, and compares the findings with seismic performance requirements in Eurocode 8. The connections investigated attached twinned outer glulam members to a single glulam member sandwiched...

This paper aims at applying a direct displacement-based method to assess the seismic vulnerability of existing multi-storey wooden buildings. This procedure is consistent with Priestley’s direct methodology firstly developed for reinforced concrete structures. The distinctive characteristic of the proposed method is that the system response is quan...

In refurbishment operation of existing timber floors could prove of some interest the possibility of hogging the existing timber beams, in case of the presence of excessive permanent midspan deflections. In the case of sagged timber floors which cannot be buttressed due to heritage issues, the possibility of cambering a timber beam by simply puttin...

An analytical model is proposed to estimate the seismic displacement capacity, at serviceability and ultimate limit states, of timber portal frame structures with dowelled joints. The predictions from the simplified formula are compared with the results of numerical analyses carried out on a sample of representative cases. These cases result from a...

Modern seismic design procedures are widely represented by the concept of Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD). Direct Displacement-Based Design (DDBD) procedure for PBSD of buildings is considered a very promising method which uses displacement as an input design parameter. The DDBD procedure first codified by Priestley requires an a priori est...

In the Italian housing market, the wood frame construction still represents a widespread technology in the construction of wood residential buildings. The dynamic characterization of buildings, especially their seismic response, is a problem of great relevance, mainly if we consider the seismic hazard of Italy. This investigation will present the s...

The applicability of the Direct Displacement-Based Design (DBD) procedure is strictly related to a priori evaluation of the design displacement and the matching Equivalent Viscous Damping (EVD) of the structure. In this paper we propose analytical models of these design parameters, at the ultimate limit state, for wooden structures built with engin...

The Equivalent Viscous Damping (EVD) parameter is used to simplify the dynamic problem, passing from a non-linear solution of the system to a simple linear-elastic one. In the case of Direct Displacement-Based seismic Design (DDBD) methods, the EVD value allows direct design of structures, without an iterative computational process. This paper prop...

In this paper the combined use of high resolution images of wood texture and non destructive imaging of internal defects of wood is proposed for the characterization of structural timber on site. Experimental results are presented, based on the integrated use of digital photogrammetry, ultrasonic tomography and image analysis techniques. The implem...

The strengthening and stiffening of traditional timber floors with the addition of timber planks and the use of dry connections falls into the category of “traditional” repair methods. Nevertheless, a high degree of innovation and scientific/industrial research is implicit in some modern applications of this type of intervention. If newly-developed...

Old timber floors often need strengthening and stiffening as they were designed to bear moderate loads and may suffer from excessive deflections with respect to current requirements. In the past, the stiffening and strengthening of wooden floors has been often achieved by using a reinforced concrete slab over the timber decking with a steel mesh co...

The hardness of materials is commonly characterized using indentation techniques. The hardness values depend on the tool employed and the measured parameter, for wood, the anisotropy, heterogeneity and hygroscopicity also influence the measurements. In this chapter, different methods used for hardness testing of wood are presented. Possible correla...

A series of monotonic and cyclic tests were performed on unstrengthened specimens, in order to characterize the original behavior of connections, representative of traditional timber trusses. Subsequently, connections strengthened with metal devices were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading. Test data of original connections has been gathered...

This paper investigates the mechanical characterisation of a joint, suitable for different configurations within a heavy timber frame, consisting of a wooden element connected to a steel stub by means of an end-plate and glued-in steel rods. This connection system has some interesting properties in terms of mechanical performance, versatility and p...

The paper illustrates recent research on timber joints assembled with traditional and innovative dowel-type connectors. The experimental results are presented in terms of force-displacement relationships for specimens tested under a monotonic procedure and hysteretic diagrams for specimens tested under the cyclic procedure. The aim is to determine...

We introduce a direct Displacement-Based Design methodology for glued laminated timber portal frames with moment-resisting doweled joints. We propose practical expressions to estimate ultimate target displacement and equivalent viscous damping, and we demonstrate that these expressions provide prior values that are close to those obtained a posteri...

This paper presents a non-invasive technique that can extract an accurate geometrical description of growth layer surfaces in wood. The method has been validated for sawn spruce elements (Picea Abies Karst.). The aim is to implement a procedure to model domain geometry in the numerical analysis of wooden elements, taking into account the intrinsic...

Synthetic methods for the diagnosis of structures and particularly for their vulnerability assessment rely on simplified calculations and visual inspection. Their effectiveness strongly depends on an accurate calibration of the procedure by which data are collected. A recent methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of timber roofs in hi...

In this paper an investigation campaign, carried out in occasion of the restoration of a timber floor in the Belasi Castle (Trentino, Italy), is reported. In order to validate a testing procedure for the calibration and control of an innovative wood-wood strengthening technique, results of tests performed in situ on the structural elements, in both...

Synthetic methods for the diagnosis of structures and particularly for their vulnerability assessment rely on simplified calculations and visual inspection. Their effectiveness strongly depends on an accurate calibration of the procedure by which data are collected. A recent methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of timber roofs in hi...

The aim of this paper is to propose a method for calculating the load-bearing capacity and stiffness of screws placed in an inclined position with respect to the shear plane and subjected to shear–compression load, to shear–tension load or to a combination due to their crossed X-position. At the same time, the authors also wish to highlight how the...

The misunderstanding of the overall behaviour of traditional timber trusses can result in incorrect strengthening interventions or, frequently, on their replacement. Timber roof structures need a more concise knowledge of the real behaviour to determine internal loads and control the load transfer. For that, laboratory tests on scaled or full-scale...

Ductility is a fundamental component in the design of robust structures. For timber structures, the unfavorable material characteristics pose particular problems to its realization. Two approaches for improving the post-elastic behavior of glued-laminated timber beams have been investigated by testing and numerical analysis. The first is based on f...

In this work we propose and calibrate a formulation for evaluating the ultimate displacement of glued laminated timber portals, in view of application of a direct Displacement Based Design (DBD) method. The case study investigated is an industrial wood-framed warehouse with two-hinged frames where the post-beam connections are semi-rigid moment-res...

History of structures has been the theme of three successive IASS (International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures) Symposia held in Istanbul from 1988 to 2000. In the first one the development of the dome as a structural form from antiquity to modern times was the main subject. The second symposium held in 1993 focused on structures hav...

The assessment of the seismic vulnerability of structures is the first step in the decision process toward conservative strengthening interventions.Amethodology for assessing the seismic vulnerability of timber roof structures is proposed here. Among the elements considered in the process are the conceptual design of the structure, the type and sta...

SUMÁRIO Apresentam-se os principais resultados de uma campanha experimental sobre ligações tradicionais de madeira. Através de ensaios monotónicos e cíclicos, analisaram-se ligações originais (não reforçadas) e estudaram-se três soluções típicas de reforço, nomeadamente, soluções com recurso a: braçadeira, esquadro e varões. Com base nestes resulta...