Numerical modelling of a timber retrofit solution for unreinforced masonry buildings

Seismic events have been endangering human lives for centuries. Trend of collapse has reduced through this last years thanks to the improvements made in seismic design rules. But widespread presence of existing unreinforced masonry building, which characterize Italian and European’s cities, is still today cause of research. In this framework can be contextualized my work in which an alternative reinforcing solution system is investigate. The timeliness of the concept of environmental sustainability, pushed to research and evaluate solutions increasingly geared to embrace this issue. The retrofitting system analysed in this thesis fits into this scenario thanks to the use of renewable materials and positive potential in terms of improvement of energy efficiency of building. Solution consists of timber-based frame and panels fixed to the internal side of walls. On the basis of experimental data of behaviour of the retrofit solution applied on calcium silicate brick masonry piers, conducted in EUCENTRE Laboratory of Pavia, the behaviour of the system on stone masonry piers has been numerically processed. These results have been used to elaborate a numerical modelling of a stone masonry building located in Coimbra, Portugal.

Modellazione numerica di un sistema di consolidamento in legno per edifici in muratura ordinaria