Two Recent Collapses in Historical Building Aggregates: Forensic Investigations and Lessons Learned
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31, Issue 4
Abstract
Italian historical city centers are often composed of buildings built one adjacent to the other. This is why the present Italian technical standards introduce the concept of the building aggregate that consists of a set of adjacent buildings that is the result of an articulated and not unitary genesis owing to multiple factors. Some recent collapses highlighted the many factors that can influence the structural behavior of an aggregate even if the intervention is limited to a part of a single building. Hence, the design approach to this kind of intervention is not as obvious and simple as shown in the previous Italian standards. This paper analyzes two recent aggregate collapses that occurred in Italy to highlight not only the relevant difficulties in the forensic investigations but also the main aspects that have to be considered during the design and the site supervision of interventions in historical building aggregates.
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Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31 • Issue 4 • August 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 23, 2016
Accepted: Nov 14, 2016
Published ahead of print: Feb 12, 2017
Published online: Feb 13, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 13, 2017
Published in print: Aug 1, 2017
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