The urgency of a National Plan for an 'Integrated' - Seismic & Energy Efficiency - Rehabilitation of the existing building stock is being recognized as a critical socio-political priority at national and international level (e.g. PNIEC 2020). The European Green Deal Action Plan, explicitly targeting building energy efficiency, and the new Horizon Europe Program, with the Climate and Energy and Mobility Clusters (Gabriel 2020), are tangible evidences of strong commitments towards these ambitious goals. The recent Italian regulations providing financial incentives for the improvement of the seismic safety/performance (Sisma-Bonus) and/or the energy-performance (Eco-Bonus, Super-Bonus 110%) of buildings, represent a remarkable opportunity for a long-term investment for the entire country and community. Yet, the technical complexity and invasiveness associated with a structural/seismic retrofitting scheme currently hinder and discourage the implementation of an integrated intervention.
Aligning with the European strategic goal, the Project "QuakeSAFE-EcoShield" intends to address this technical-knowledge gap focusing on the development of tailored seismic-energy cost-efficient and low-invasive (exoskeleton-type) solutions for existing Reinforced Concrete School Buildings and Condominiums.
To achieve this goal, the project brings together a unique interdisciplinary team with strong expertise and practical experience in Structural, Earthquake and Facade Engineering, Building Physics and Architecture. Analytical/theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations will be carried out at both local (non-structural or structural elements, connection details) and/or global level (frame system, building prototype).
The final outputs and key deliverables will take the form of practical and end-user oriented Guidelines and a Technical Handbook, including design examples, structural/construction details to assist the various decision makers and stakeholders/shareholders.
In recent years, 'green incentives' for the improvement of the energy efficiency of the built environment, encouraging the upgrade of the building envelopes and the use of renewable energy sources and eco-friendly materials, have been attracting increasing interest and investments. However, in seismic hazard zones, the sole energy upgrade can lead to unsafe interventions. On one hand, existing older buildings can be inherently vulnerable to seismic actions, considering that most of the structures and infrastructures are designed based on pre-modern seismic codes not accounting for appropriate seismic detailing. On the other hand, the building envelope can lose functionality even for low-intensity earthquakes and be seriously damaged or destroyed after moderate-to-high intensity earthquakes, leading to potential life-safety threat for building occupants and pedestrians, to substantial socio-economic losses and market disruption.
Therefore, the potential of negative impacts due to the seismic risk should be reduced by the development of integrated seismic-energy refurbishment/retrofit interventions ensuring acceptable levels of safety as well as of serviceability/functionality for the overall building system.
Moreover, as further highlighted by recent seismic disasters, the severe socio-economic post-earthquake impacts have led to an increased seismic-risk awareness among the community, that is demanding higher levels of earthquake protection for buildings.
The new challenge is thus defining cost-affordable resilient-enhancing technologies, providing high levels of energy-efficiency, sustainability, fire safety, etc. whilst capable of sustaining a design-level earthquake with limited damage, minimum disruption of business, controllable socio-economic losses.
The Project "QuakeSAFE-EcoShield" intends to create a leveraging bridge of knowledge and leverage between the specific disciplines of Structural/Seismic Engineering, Facade Engineering, Architecture and Building Physics, merging, and leveraging on the latest knowledge and various expertise/skills, with the aim to develop:
- practical, cost-effective - damage-control & energy efficiency retrofit solutions, based on the implementation of tailored high-performance exoskeletons (Figure 3), and of innovative (or advanced) multi-criteria
- performance-based tools/frameworks, including structural/seismic safety, energy efficiency, sustainability, etc., to support the design and selection of refurbishment/retrofit solutions.
In this context, the research project intends to act as a catalyst and facilitator of an interdisciplinary effort within the Italian/European environment for the wider up-take of resilience-enhancing retrofit interventions.
Focusing, but not limiting to, Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings, which represent the largest share for residential occupancy (in Italy 48% of the buildings constructed after 1971 ISTAT 2011).
Significant research effort will be dedicated to the development of low-invasive, externally mountable and replaceable, exoskeletons (a sort of special add-on `mask', acting for both seismic and energy efficiency functions/performance targets), consisting of:
1) a damage-control (rocking-dissipative laminated timber or timber/concrete) structural skeleton (either frame and/or wall systems), coupled with
2) high multi-performance facades/envelopes panels (infills or claddings), based on prefabricated modular and easily-(de) mountable and replaceable components.
Key features of the proposed technological system and multi-performance design approach will be:
a) the possibility to carry out the intervention mostly from the outside of a building, thus significantly minimizing downtime and inhabitants¿ relocation;
b) its adaptability/flexibility, as the ¿tailored¿ exoskeleton will be adaptable to different, yet specific, typologies of RC buildings (e.g. Schools, Condominiums) depending on the various (multi-performance and multi-criteria-based design) targeted objectives and combined/joint (seismic, thermal, fire, etc.) performance level to be accomplished.
It is envisaged that the final output of the project, in the form of practical and end-user oriented Guidelines and a Technical Handbook - including design examples, structural/construction details - will provide a significant knowledge improvement in the national and international arena, supporting a significant step change in the technical awareness and knowledge of private and/or public technical and non-technical stakeholders involved in the decision-making and/or implementation process of building stock refurbishment.