GUARDIAGRELE – ITALY, 2007
Client – Parish of Santa Maria Maggiore
The study of historical buildings goes beyond the modern principles of earthquake engineering and requires not only good knowledge of the building techniques used at the time of construction, and the building’s transformations over the centuries, but also an in-depth survey of the building.
The aim of this project was the static and seismic vulnerability assessment of an ancient 19m high bell tower erected in the XIII century and located in Guardiagrele, Abruzzo, Italy.
An extensive in situ experimental campaign was conducted to identify the material properties and the exact geometry of the tower, as well as the stratigraphy of the supporting soil. The onsite investigation results were used to calibrate a 3D finite element model of the tower and the soil.
