Ricerc@Sapienza

An overview of some simplified methods for assessing the seismic performance of ancient churches is presented in this paper. In particular, the simplified methods proposed by the current Italian directive containing the guidelines for assessment and reduction of cultural heritage seismic risk are analyzed. These methods have an increasing precision level and they may be applied as well in sequence at a different scale for screening and identifying the present priorities and, consequently, for designing the required interventions.

The protection of cultural heritage from seismic risk is an open issue due to the difficulties in finding technical solutions allowing a balance between their effectiveness and invasiveness. Among the available protection techniques, seismic isolation is one of the most suitable obtaining a significant performance improvement by acting on a limited portion of the structure. In this paper, it is shown an application of such technique on a reinforced concrete frame building cataloged as of historical interest by Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.