Alessandra Meschini

An integrated Survey Experience for Assessing the Seismic Vulnerability of Senigallia’s Fortress (Italy): Documentation for Conservation and FEM Modeling

The paper presents the results of research carried out by an interdisciplinary team at the SAD in Ascoli Piceno in collaboration with MiBACT to verify the seismic safety of national museums. The object of study was the Rocca Roveresca Fortress complex in Senigallia (Marche, Italy), a unique example of a small 14th-century fortress shaped by a series of successive modifications. It currently houses a national museum. An integrated survey based on the acquisition of 3D laser-scanner data and endoscopic investigation was necessary to outline the traces of the stratifications and therefore to obtain different high- and low-poly 3D models useful for different purposes. The main objective was to propose an ideal workflow in developing 3D models that are useful for finite element method (FEM) analysis to detect hidden vulnerabilities in the fortress by evaluating the behaviour of several substructures in the walls.

Assessment of seismic vulnerability of historical defensive walls

Abstract. This paper presents a study on the behaviour of the walls of the Rocca Roveresca of Senigallia in Italy built in the XIV century on the ruins of a former Roman defensive struc-ture. This is a peculiar example of a small fortress that had undergone in the XV century im-portant modifications of the plant in order to enhance its defensive performances. A linear finite element model is first developed in order to understand the dynamic behaviour of a ge-neric portion of the wall and to detect the probable incipient failure mechanisms. A subse-quent static nonlinear analysis is carried out, with the same finite element model, to investigate the formation of the cracking layout and to detect the position of plastic hinges. The last analysis level is carried out with a tailored macro-element constituted by three bod-ies, namely the two external curtains and the inner fill for which a degradation of the behav-iour is considered. The results obtained demonstrates the efficiency of the wall against earthquakes characterized by return times typical for ultimate limit states. Same issues that deserve further investigation are highlighted.