Assessing the seismic vulnerability of a historical building

Gaia Barbieri, Luigi Biolzi, Massimiliano Bocciarelli

, Luigi Fregonese, Aronne Frigeri

Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering ABC, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 October 2012
Revised 5 August 2013
Accepted 30 September 2013
Available online 8 November 2013
Keywords:
Masonry
Seismic vulnerability
Finite element modeling
Restoration
a b s t r a c t
The work deals with the structural analysis of an historic masonry building, Palazzo del Capitano in Man-
tua, subject to signicant static instabilities due to an overturning of the longitudinal faades, probably
related to ground settlements.
The exact geometry of the structure is acquired by means of the laser scanning technique and thanks to
previous investigations, the main mechanical properties of the materials are reasonably well dened.
Based on these information a three-dimensional nite element model of the entire structure is imple-
mented, taking into consideration all the geometrical (contact between not connected panels and large
displacement effects) and material (elasto plastic damage behavior of the masonry) nonlinearities, in
order to investigate the seismic behavior of the structure by means of nonlinear dynamic analysis.
The outcome of the analysis points out that the longitudinal faade, overlooking Piazza Sordello, is
poorly constrained both to the oors and to the transverse bracing elements, therefore not able to coun-
teract its deformation when a seismic event occurs.
Finally suggestions to reduce the seismic vulnerability of the building are critically assessed by the
implemented nite element model.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The conservation and the restoration of ancient buildings
belonging to the culture heritage, preserving their main architec-
tural features, are becoming a very sensitive problem in Italy as
in other Countries. In fact, many historically interesting structures
in most of the Italian cities are currently used with different func-
tions, such as residential areas, ofces, and museum centers; and
hence they require a sufcient level of safety against to both the
vertical and horizontal loads. In particular, the seismic vulnerabil-
ity of such structures is a point of extremely high concern since
these buildings usually posses a very low seismic resistance.
Italy is one of the countries with the highest seismic risk in the
Mediterranean area. This is primarily due to the high frequency
and intensity with which earthquakes occur. These seismic phe-
nomena are a consequence of the geographical position of the
country in the area where the African plate and the Eurasian one
converge.
The seismic risk of a structure is a measure of the expected
future damage caused by the earthquake which is expected to
occur in the site of construction. It depends on three factors: haz-
ard, the intensity of the expected seismic action; vulnerability, a
measure of the inadequacy of the structure to resist to seismic
actions; and exposure, which is related to the architectural value
of the building and to the possible consequences of any structural
damage in terms of loss of human lives.
In this paper we investigate the structural response of Palazzo
del Capitano in Mantua, in relation to both static and seismic
conditions. This building is located in the northern part of Italy
in the Lombardia region, classied by the Italian code as an area
of low seismic hazard, but where on May 29th, 2012, a 5.2 Richter
scale earthquake occurred. This building, whose construction dates
back to the thirteenth century, is part of the Palazzo Ducale com-
plex and represents, for its position and for the majesty of its size,
one of the most spectacular creations of the Italian architectural
landscape, see Fig. 1. The building has had signicant static
problems related to the inclination of the longitudinal faades,
probably due to ground settlements, for many centuries. The rst
documents describing these problems date back to the early years
of the eighteenth century. This deformation scenario appears to be
accentuated especially at the level of the second oor, where the
great hall, called Salone dellArmeria, takes up the whole storey. Be-
tween the end of the eighteenth century and the early years of the
twentieth one provisions were taken to contain these out of plane
displacements, such as the inclusion in the Salone dellArmeria of
some tie-rods and bracing walls.
The seismic behavior of old masonry structures is particularly
difcult to be investigated, see e.g. [1]. It depends on many factors
such as material properties, to be characterized by direct inspec-
tion, see e.g. [2]; geometry of the structure, to be dened by proper
surveys; stiffness of the oors (diaphragm effect) and connection
0141-0296/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2013.09.045

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 02 2399 4320; fax: +39 02 2399 4369.
E-mail address: massimiliano.bocciarelli@polimi.it (M. Bocciarelli).
Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
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between orthogonal walls and structural and nonstructural ele-
ments. In particular the key point is the material behavior model-
ing. In fact experience shows that masonry mechanical behavior is
dominated by the nonlinear phase, characterized by cracks open-
ing, dissipative and brittle behavior with a softening branch. The
modeling of these materials still represents a challenge in the
scientic community. Many efforts were made in the last years
to improve the modeling techniques for masonry structures, see
e.g. [36]. Elasto-plastic analysis may be used to simulate masonry
nonlinear behavior, however they fail to simulate crack formation
and the brittle behavior when the material enters the softening
regime. Limit analysis methods have been frequently applied in or-
der to investigate the collapse mechanism of masonry structures
subjected to given load distributions, see e.g. [710]; however,
these approaches fail to consider the actual dynamic nature of
the load condition under seismic excitation, which represents the
major concern for this type of buildings. Smeared crack approaches
or damage models may be used to simulate the local loss of
strength masonry material suffers when it enters the nonlinear
behavior, see e.g. [1113]. However, the numerical analysis itself
is still a very difcult task especially when dealing with large
and complex structures. As an alternative to modeling masonry
as a homogenized continuum, discrete element approaches may
be applied to model the structure as an assembly of blocks with
suitable interface laws, see e.g. [14,15].
In the present paper the importance of considering the exact
nonlinear and three dimensional behavior of the masonry struc-
ture is shown, in order to put in evidence all the structural de-
ciencies of the palace when an earthquake occurs. To this
purpose the exact geometry of the structure is reconstructed by
means of a laser scanning technique, while information regarding
the mechanical properties on masonry material are derived by pre-
vious investigations and literature search. Based on these informa-
tion a three dimensional nite element model, endowed with an
elastic plastic damage constitutive law, is adopted to determine
the seismic vulnerability of the building by means of nonlinear dy-
namic analyses.
After a careful diagnosis and evaluation of the safety of the
structure in its current state, suggestions for retrotting the build-
ing, without altering its original conception and historical value,
and reduce its seismic vulnerability are critically assessed by the
above implemented nite element model.
2. History of the building
Some parts of the historical background of Palazzo del Capitano
are still unknown, especially those referring to the ancient period,
until the eighteenth century and the Austrian domination.
The Palace construction can be placed at the same living time of
the rst Lords of Mantua, possibly between the last years of the
thirteenth century and the rst decade of the fourteenth century.
It was originally used as the residence of the Lords until the second
half of the fteenth century, when St. Giorgios Castle was built.
During the bonacolsiano period the building was lower with one
single oor, narrower without the front arcade, and shorter be-
cause the northern part originally coincided with an alley (located
where the entrance to the palace currently is) that separated it
from the adjacent Magna Domus.
Subsequently, probably around 1328, the Gonzaga family came
into possession of the original nucleus, expanded it with the crea-
tion of the new front of Piazza Sordello and with the extension be-
yond the alley that separated the Magna Domus and nally raised
an upper oor, consisting of the great hall called Salone dellArmeria.
The new faade of Palazzo del Capitano, overlooking Piazza Sor-
dello, was built following the model of the adjacent Magna Domus.
It was proposed indeed a partition of the front: at the ground oor
a marble arcade, at the rst oor a series of single lancet windows
and at the second oor double lancet ones with round arches, built
always along the lines of those of the adjacent building.
The rear front of Piazza Pallone conformed differently from the
front one. The ground oor had no arcade and on the whole faade
it is difcult to reconstruct the original openings, owing to the lim-
ited evidence and the numerous reconstructions.
As far as the conguration of the faades is concerned, it is re-
ported that in the second decade of the fteenth century, Gian
Francesco Gonzaga closed the double lancet windows with round
arches on the second oor and opened others with pointed arches.
With regard to the original conguration of the interior spaces
of the building, it is believed that the environment preserving more
traces of the past is the original gallery on the rst oor, Corridoio
del Passerino. It was originally subdivided into various rooms by
means of wooden partitions, then removed between 1902 and
1906, to reduce the load on the underlying arcade. The Salone
dellArmeria was conceived as a great open space initially used as
a representation room and then as a weapon depot. It held its ori-
ginal features until interventions were made in the twentieth
century.
The beginning of the eighteenth century sanctioned the end of
almost four hundred years of Gonzaga domain. Between 1708
and 1866 there was a period of transition characterized by foreign
domination starting from the Austrian Government then passing to
the French one. Throughout the course of the eighteenth century
various restoration works were made to the roof and to the timber
beams in the Salone dellArmeria, as shown in various ofcial sur-
veys and reports from the Austrian Government. In particular,
the rst documents stating the presence of inclination of the longi-
tudinal faades and of some tie-rods in the great hall date back to
the rst half of the eighteenth century.
In 1866 Mantua entered the Reign of Italy, which in 1946 be-
came the Italian Republic. This was more specically between
1898 and 1937 the period of greatest activity around Palazzo
Ducale. While works of recovery of the Renaissance appearance
of the front faade of the Palazzo del Capitano began and were com-
pleted, the fears for the stability of the structure of the palace were
becoming stronger and stronger. In 1906, to reduce the inclination
of both longitudinal walls (the one over Piazza Sordello leaning
toward the interior of the hall and the one over Piazza Pallone lean-
ing toward the outside) the decision of building in the Salone
dellArmeria a bracing system consisting of tie-rods and three
masonry partitions walls was reached. In particular two walls
overlapping with the transverse walls of the rooms below were
Fig. 1. Picture of Palazzo del Capitano in its current state taken from Piazza Sordello.
524 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
built and the third one, abutment shaped, not relying on the pres-
ence of a bearing wall below, limited to the portion above the Cor-
ridoio del Passerino.
3. Description of the building in its current conguration
3.1. Geometrical survey
Palazzo del Capitano has a rectangular plan (6768.5 m
16.5 m), with three oors above ground and is characterized by
a saddle roof (construction is 22 m high at the eaves line and
24.5 m high at the ridge line). Thickness of the bearing walls varies
between 100 cm and 80 cm at the ground and at the rst oor and
between 80 cm and 70 cm at the second oor, see Figs. 25. All
oors maintained the original structure of the fourteenth century
except in some points where restoration actions were performed.
In particular the structure of the rst oor is made up with both
timber beams (with single, double or triple warping) and masonry
vaults (barrel or cloister); while the second oor consists of timber
beams only. The roof structure is made up of wooden Palladian
trusses and timber beams, supported by the longitudinal walls.
In 1993 the geometrical survey of the entire Palazzo del Capitano
was performed [private communication from Magistrato delle Ac-
que - Mantua]. It reproduced, with 1:100 scale of details, plans of
all oors, the two fronts and a cross section that includes the rep-
resentation of the inclination, see Fig. 2. Plans of the oors and sec-
tion were obtained by direct measurements while the survey of the
faades were performed by photogrammetric techniques.
The technological progress achieved in the meantime allowed
us to perform new measurements with much more advanced
instruments such as 3D laser scanning which enables the auto-
matic detection of the object of study through the acquisition of
a large number of scattered points in three-dimensional space,
see for instance [1619].
Between 2005 and 2007 some measurement campaigns were
carried out with laser scanner Leica HDS3000 (range up to
300 m, scan rate up to 4000 points/s and modeled surface preci-
sion/noise of 2.0 mm) and Leica HDS6000 (range up to 79 m, scan
rate up to 500,000 points/s, modeled surface precision/noise at
25 m between 2.03.0 mm and at 50 m between 4.07.0 mm and
40,000 points/360 detected in ultra high scan resolution),
mainly to investigate the magnitude of the inclination of the longi-
tudinal walls very thoroughly. Substantially, the surveys concerned
the external front of Piazza Sordello, part of the front of Piazza
Pallone, the passage between the two squares, part of the front ar-
cade, the interior space of the Salone dellArmeria with the roof
structure, the upper part of the underlying rooms of the rst oor
and the timber beams of the oor above these. Finally, between
2011 and 2012, the movements of the main faade were monitored
Fig. 2. Cross section of the building visualizing the current permanent out of plane displacements.
Fig. 3. Ground oor plan.
G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535 525
by laser scanner Leica HDS7000 (range up to 187 m, scan rate up to
1,016,727 points/s, range noise at 25 m between 0.51.0 mm and
at 50 m between 0.82.7 mm and until 100,000 points/360 de-
tected in extremely high scan resolution). Currently, the geomet-
rical survey of the building is the result of the integration of laser
data with measurements obtained with traditional methods (direct
measurement and photogrammetric techniques), but the future
digital acquisition of the parts of the palace not yet detected with
laser technique will allow a complete and accurate geometrical
survey of the entire building.
The survey with the laser scanner over the entire surface under
investigation allows to determine very precisely and continuously
the state of permanent out of plane displacement of the longitudi-
nal faades, on both external and internal surfaces of the walls. To
have an immediate idea of the degree of lack of stability, the laser
data are extrapolated to represent some signicant cross-sections,
see Fig. 5. Data show that the inclination begins in correspondence
of the upper part of the rst oor and increases more or less line-
arly as a function of the height. Such permanent displacements,
probably due to uneven ground settlement and nonuniform distri-
bution of soil properties, are further caused by the fact that at the
level of the Salone dellArmeria the two longitudinal faades extend
along their entire length of the building without any constraint,
(tie-rods and bracing walls were indeed inserted after the detec-
tion of such permanent displacements settlements). The major
deformations are found in the central part. From the analysis of
data provided by the laser survey we can see that at roof level
the walls overlooking Piazza Sordello and Piazza Pallone present
an out of plane displacement ranging from 0.36 m to 0.38 m (from
4.4% to 4.6% of the last storey height) and from 0.32 m to 0.40 m
(from 3.9% to 4.9% of the last storey height), respectively. Finally
it has been measured an inclination of the oor structure at the le-
vel of the Salone dellArmeria of about 0.8% from Piazza Sordello
(upper level) to Piazza Pallone (lower level).
According to a visual inspection, no signicant structural cracks
are present in the longitudinal faades, but only a surface crack
pattern quite common for masonry structures dating back to the
thirteenth century and which is believed not to play a signicant
role in the seismic behavior of the structure. Besides works of
recovery of the front faade of the Palazzo del Capitano began and
were completed between 1898 and 1937.
The surfaces of the 3D model obtained by the digital laser-scan-
ner survey are processed by other graphics utilities and then im-
ported into a suitable pre-processor. In this way we were able to
obtain a solid model particularly accurate in reproducing the main
geometrical features of the building. The exact determination of
such existing permanent deformations in the geometry is indeed
of primary importance in assessing the current stability of the
building and especially its seismic vulnerability.
3.2. Material properties
According to experimental measurements carried out at various
points of the masonry structure in previous experimental cam-
paigns [private communication from Magistrato delle Acque Man-
tua] by means of single and double at jacks, the average elastic
modulus of the ancient masonry and of the one added at the
beginning of the twentieth century are 1640 MPa and 2795 MPa,
respectively, while the value of the cracking stress is always
around 2.052.10 MPa.
The compressive strength of the material is dened on the basis
of what suggested by the Italian Code [20] in Annex C8A.2. Assum-
ing a knowledge level of 2, an average value of the compressive
strength equal to 3.2 MPa is assumed, based on table C8A.2.1, for
solid brick and lime mortar. Applying then a condence factor CF
equal to 1.20, and the additional correction factors, according to
the table C8A.2.2 in [21], of 0.7 for the presence of an inner core
with poor mechanical properties and 1.5 for a mortar of good qual-
ity, we obtain a nal design compressive strength equal to
f
mcd

3:20:71:5
1:2
2:8 MPa. The tensile strength of the masonry is
generally negligible; it can be estimated as 1/30 of the compressive
resistance and therefore equal to f
mtd

2:8
30
0:09 MPa.
The material properties of the Veronese stone forming the col-
umns of the front arcade are dened according to the technical
sheets available on the website of the Italian Civil Protection,
which are based on experimental tests performed according to
EN standards. Since detailed information on the marble forming
the front arcade were not available, the minimum values proposed
were adopted. The elastic modulus is equal to 30,000 MPa while
compressive and tensile strengths are assumed equal to 60 MPa
and 5.7 MPa, respectively. Applying then the condence factor CF
we obtain the following design values: f
mcd

60
1:2
50:0 MPa and
f
mtd

5:7
1:2
4:75 MPa. However these values are not very signicant
since these stress limits are never achieved either in the static nor
in the seismic analysis.
4. Finite element modelling and structural analysys
The 3D cad geometrical model (i.e. .sat format) of the existing
deformed conguration, including also the permanent out of plane
displacements, is imported into the nite element program Abaqus
Fig. 4. Section BB.
Fig. 5. Sections CC and DD.
526 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
[22], see Fig. 6. As a compromise between the conicting require-
ments of reasonable computing time and accuracy of the solution
a nite element discretization, based on four nodes tetrahedral ele-
ments, with the following features was adopted: (i) the front and
back faades, where the main failure mechanisms are located, were
discretized with elements having an average size of 0.4 m on the
surface and 0.2 m in the perpendicular direction, in order to have
at least four elements through the thickness to catch the exural
behavior of the masonry wall under seismic action, see Fig. 6 and
(ii) the rest of the structure, which works primarily under mem-
brane actions, was discretized with an average size of 0.70 m.
The total number of elements is equal to 465,490 for a total num-
ber of 327,027 degrees of freedom. Since not negligible out of plane
displacement may occur during a seismic event large displacement
effects are considered. Perfect connection is assumed between per-
pendicular walls.
At the Salone dellArmeria level the bracing walls built in the
twentieth century are not connected to the longitudinal faades,
therefore a monolateral contact is assumed between them. The
steel tie-rods, present both at the rst and second oor, are
modeled as linear springs having a negligible stiffness in compres-
sion and a stiffness in tension equal to k = EA/L, E, A being modulus
of elasticity and sectional area, respectively and L the length, see
Table 1 for details.
Three different materials can be recognized: Mat. (1) ancient
masonry dating back to the original construction of the building;
Mat. (2) masonry of the bracing walls added in the twentieth cen-
tury in the Salone dellArmeria; and Mat. (3) Veronese stone used to
build the columns of the arcade in the front faade.
It is worth observing that in the nite element analysis the ef-
fects of the adjacent building in Piazza Pallone are not considered
since a careful examination shows that the respective faades are
Fig. 6. Geometrical model and nite element discretization of the building in its current state. Different colors refer to the different materials and the black lines represent the
steel tie-rods.
Table 1
Stiffness properties of steel tie-rods in tension.
Tie rods E (MPa) A (mm
2
) L (m) k (kN/m)
1st Floor 206,000 1000 6.10 33,770
2st Floor 206,000 1000 16.07 12,795
G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535 527
not well connected to act as a reciprocal continuous restraint and
therefore the structural analysis is performed considering Palazzo
del Capitano as an isolated building.
There are different methodologies to account for seismic ac-
tion: static and dynamic both with a linear or nonlinear approach.
It is shown that in order to capture all possible failure mecha-
nisms the effect of the earthquake has to be considered by a non-
linear dynamic analysis, namely, by applying at the base of the
building an acceleration history whose shape and intensity will
be determined hereinafter. Such kind of analysis is very time con-
suming. However, it is much more accurate and reliable than
other approaches for its capability to evidence both in plane
and out of plane, both local and global failure mechanisms, see
[23].
4.1. Constitutive law for masonry
For all the materials involved in the analysis a macroscopic non-
linear model is adopted. The main features of the model are the fol-
lowing ones: (1) linear and isotropic behavior in the elastic regime
and (2) elastic plastic damageable behavior in the nonlinear range,
taking into account the difference of compressive and tensile
strengths and the softening brittle behavior once the strength of
the material is reached.
The plasticity-based damage model adopted assumes that the
main two failure mechanisms are tensile cracking and compres-
sive crushing. Under uniaxial tension the stressstrain response
is linear elastic up to the value of the failure stress, f
mtd
, corre-
sponding to the onset of micro-cracking in the material. Beyond
the failure stress the formation of micro-cracks is represented
macroscopically with a softening stressstrain relationship, which
induces strain localization, see Fig. 7. Under uniaxial compression
stressstrain relationship is linear until the value of the ultimate
stress in compression, f
mcd
, is reached then the response is
assumed to be plastic followed by a strain softening regime, see
Fig. 7.
It is assumed that when the material is unloaded from any point
on the softening branch, the response is characterized by a reduced
elastic stiffness (damage): namely E = (1 d)E
0
, E
0
being the initial
undamaged modulus of elasticity.
The degradation d of the elastic stiffness is governed by two
damage variables, d
c
and d
t
, which are assumed to be function of
the plastic strains. These variables may assume values from zero
(undamaged material) to one, which represents total loss of
stiffness.
Under cyclic loading conditions the degradation mechanisms
are quite complex, involving the opening and closing of previously
formed cracks. Experimentally it is observed that there is some
recovery of the elastic stiffness as the stress changes sign. The stiff-
ness recovery effect, also known as unilateral effect, is usually
more pronounced as the stress state changes from tension to com-
pression, causing tensile cracks to close, which results in the recov-
ery of the compressive stiffness.
In uniaxial stress conditions the loss of elastic stiffness is com-
puted according to:
1 d 1 s
t
d
c
1 s
c
d
t
1
where s
t
and s
c
are functions of the stress state and are introduced
to model stiffness recovery effects due to stress reversal. They are
dened according to:
s
t
1 w
t
Hr 0 6 w
t
6 1
s
c
1 w
c
1 Hr 0 6 w
c
6 1

2
Fig. 7. Stress strain behavior in the nonlinear regime: tensile behavior (above) and
compressive behavior (below).
Table 2
Material properties adopted in the analysis.
E
0
(MPa) m f
mtd
(MPa) e
tu
f
mcd
(MPa) e
c1
e
cu
w
t
w
c
c (kN/m
3
)
Mat. 1 1640 0.10 0.09 0.0015 2.80 0.005 0.015 0.0 1.0 1800
Mat. 2 2795 0.10 0.09 0.0015 2.80 0.005 0.015 0.0 1.0 1800
Mat. 3 30,000 0.15 4.75 0.0015 50.0 0.005 0.015 0.0 1.0 2900
Table 3
Load combinations adopted in the analysis.
Load combinations P A SY SX
LC1 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0
LC2 1.0 0.3 1.0 1.0
Fig. 8. Picture of a oor whose structure is made by a double system of timber
beams.
528 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
where H(r) is the Heaviside function:
Hr
1 if r > 0
0 if r < 0

3
The weight factors w
t
and w
c
, control the amount of recovery of
tensile and compressive stiffness associated to stress state reversal.
Material model exhibiting softening and brittle behavior com-
bined to a damage evolution often involves severe problems of
convergence especially when implicit analyses are performed, as
in the present case. In order to avoid these difculties a visco-plas-
tic regularization term is used according to the approach proposed
in [22], which causes the tangent consistent matrix to be positive
even in a softening regime for sufciently small time increments.
A visco-plastic strain rate component
_
e
pl
v
and a viscous stiffness
degradation variable are introduced according to:
_
e
pl
v

1
l
e
pl
e
pl
v

4
_
d
v

1
l
d d
v
5
where l is a viscosity parameter assumed in the current analysis
equal to 0.002 and e
pl
is the plastic strain component.
The stressstrain relation reads:
r 1 d
v
E
0
e e
pl
v

6
Details about the extension of the above introduced damage
model to three-dimensional multiaxial conditions and about the
denition of yield function and ow rule of the plastic part of the
model can be found in [22].
Material properties adopted in the analysis are reported in
Table 2.
4.2. Load cases and boundary conditions
In the current analysis vertical loads, namely self weight (P),
live loads (A) and seismic horizontal actions along the transversal
(SY) and longitudinal (SX) directions are considered. Two different
load combinations are taken into account: the rst one (LC1) con-
siders the vertical loads only, i.e. it examines the building in its cur-
rent state; the second one combines the vertical loads with the
seismic action. Table 3 visualizes the two load combinations
Fig. 9. Timber beams distribution for each oor (1 refers to the rst oor, 2 to the second oor and 3 to the roof).
Table 4
Permanent and live loads (expressed in (kN/m
2
)) at each oor represented in Fig. 9.
1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 1G 2A 2B 2C 3A
P 2.58 9.46 4.48 4.49 5.07 5.88 1.42 0.49 1.18 0.92 1.61
A 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
Table 5
Parameters adopted to determine the design seismic action at the ultimate limit state
SLV.
Latitude Longitude V
R
S T
R
45.1603653 10.7976976 30 1.5 = 45 years 1.50 427 years
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
0 5 10 15 20 25
A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

[
m
/
s
2
]
Time [s]
Fig. 10. Acceleration history articially generated representing the design seismic
action at the ultimate limit state SLV.
G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535 529
adopted with the multiplicative coefcient of the characteristic va-
lue of each single load.
Self weight of the masonry walls and vaults is applied as gravity
load, function of the corresponding specic weight. Floors at the
rst and second level are made by a system of timber beams sup-
ported by the bearing walls to which they transfer the vertical
loads, see e.g. Fig. 8. Their in plane stiffness is not considered suf-
cient to assume the hypothesis of rigid diaphragm and therefore
oors are not inserted into the nite element model and their con-
tribution consist only of vertical loads applied directly to the bear-
ing walls. The same simplication is assumed for the timber roof.
Fig. 9 and Table 4 visualize and report, for each oor, the timber
beams distribution and the corresponding self weight and live load
if any (for the roof live load corresponds to the snow action).
Vertical degree of freedom of the nodes at the base of the build-
ing is restrained both for the static and dynamic analysis.
According to [20], the seismic analysis is performed at the
Ultimate Limit State of Life Safety (SLV) and is motivated by the
Table 6
Values of the base shear coefcient for the present and the strengthened conguration, with reference to the Ultimate limit state (SLV) and the Damage limit state (SLD), being: q
the behavior factor estimated according to [21], T
1
the rst natural period, W the total weight of the structure, s the base shear coefcient and F the total base shear force (F = sW).
q T
1
(s) W (V) s F (N)
Present conguration SLV 2.7 0.57 7.73 10
7
0.130 1.00 10
7
SLD 1.0 0.57 7.73 10
7
0.133 1.03 10
7
Strengthened conguration SLV 2.7 0.57 7.60 10
7
0.130 0.99 10
7
SLD 1.0 0.57 7.60 10
7
0.133 1.01 10
7
Fig. 11. Vertical stress state (expressed in (N/m
2
)) in the longitudinal (a) and transversal (b) faades induced by the static load combination LCI; and position of the performed
at jack tests. The red numbers indicate tests on internal walls, the black ones indicate tests on external walls.
Table 7
Comparison in terms of vertical stress component between the measurements of
single at jacks and the corresponding numerical predictions.
Flat jack Experimental (MPa) Numerical (MPa) Error (%)
1 0.18 0.19 2.8
2 0.21 0.23 9.5
3 0.26 0.20 23.1
4 0.25 0.13 8.0
5 0.18 0.18 2.8
6 1.14 1.08 5.3
7 0.17 0.20 17.7
8 0.17 0.15 14.7
9 0.21 0.21 0.0
10 0.23 0.17 28.3
11 0.23 0.16 30.4
12 0.14 0.18 25.0
13 0.40 0.26 35.0
14 0.51 0.50 2.0
15 0.45 0.45 0.0
16 0.41 0.42 1.2
530 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
desire to safeguard the preservation of the building and the safety
of the occupants in the event of rare and intense earthquakes. In
particular, in order to not overcome this limit state it is required
that as a result of an earthquake the construction may suffer cracks
and collapses in non-structural components and signicant dam-
age to structural components which is associated with a signicant
loss of stiffness against horizontal actions; however the construc-
tion has to retain its structural integrity and a residual load bearing
capacity for vertical actions and a margin of safety against collapse
due to horizontal seismic actions.
Nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out using an articial
accelerogram compatible with the elastic response spectrum of
the Italian Seismic Code, see [20]. The intensity of the seismic
action depends on the site of construction (latitude and longitude),
the return period T
R
of the design earthquake, the reference life of
the building V
R
and the type of soil foundation expressed by
parameter S. Assuming the parameters contained in Table 5, the
corresponding acceleration history applied at the basis of the
building, having a total duration of 25 s, is visualized in Fig. 10.
This means that the structural safety of the building is veried
against an earthquake with return period of 427 years and 10%
probability of exceedance in 45 years.
Values of the base shear coefcient for the actual and the
strengthened conguration, with reference to the Ultimate limit
state (SLV) and the Damage limit state (SLD), are reported in
Table 6.
Fig. 12. Deformed conguration and compressive damage distribution due to the articial earthquake accelerogram applied. Frames are returned at the instants 0.0 s, 1.0 s,
2.0 s, 3.0 s, 4.0 s, 5.0 s, 6.0 s and 7.0 s. Scaling factor = 1x.
G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535 531
4.3. Static analysis
Fig. 11 visualizes the vertical stress component relatively to
load combination LC1. The structure is almost everywhere com-
pressed and only in a few points the analysis detects the presence
of tensile stresses, which however are small enough not to lead to
the partition of the section. Differently from other Italian masonry
historical buildings, the static stress state due to the vertical loads
only is large and close in some points to the material resistance, as-
sumed equal to 2.80 MPa. The highest compressive stress in the
masonry walls is registered on the front of Piazza Sordello, near
the springers of the arches, due to the strong reduction of the resis-
tant section. The absolute highest value of the compressive stress
state is reached in the stone columns (11.5 MPa), however, this va-
lue is not of any concern considering the large compressive
strength of this material.
Table 7 reports the comparison in terms of vertical stress com-
ponent between the measurements of single at jack tests, whose
positions are visualized in Fig. 11, and the corresponding numerical
predictions. An average error of 12.9% and a maximum error as
high as 35% are registered. Taking into account the intrinsic error
in at jack test measurements, we may conclude that the nite
element model is able to represent the static stress state quite
accurately.
Fig. 13. Example of connections between timber beams and bearing walls (a) and
between beams of adjacent rooms (b).
Fig. 14. Scheme of the bracing system designed at the roof level.
Fig. 15. Picture of Salone dellArmeria in its current state (a) and render of the
bracing system designed at the roof level (b).
532 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
4.4. Seismic analysis
Similarly to the results of the static analysis, in case of an earth-
quake the front faade overlooking Piazza Sordello exhibits major
problems of stability, reaching a collapse mechanism after a few
seconds from the beginning of the seismic action for excessive
damage and consequent exhaustion of the material strength. Dif-
ferently, the rear faade does not show any damage as severe if
not at the level of the second oor. The evolution of the damage
of the structure starts, as usual, at the openings and near the
springers of the arches and in particular in correspondence of the
left archway passage from Piazza Sordello to Piazza Pallone. After
entering in the nonlinear softening regime material exhausts its
compressive resistance in about 6 s, consequently the front faade
starts to collapse due to its own weight, see Fig. 12 (where the
compressive damage variable d
c
is visualized). The section of the
faade that collapses rst is the one close to the Magna Domus be-
tween the north transverse wall and the rst partition. Indeed, in
its actual state the front faade does not possess at the level of
the Salone dellArmeria any effective connection either to the parti-
tions walls of the twentieth century nor to any tie-rod system.
This lack of box behavior, with the consequent impossibility to
redistribute the seismic loads and the possible occurrence of local
mechanisms of partial collapse, is typical of many masonry histor-
ical structures which exhibited poor performance in many past
earthquakes, see [23].
5. Suggestions for restoration
Conservation and restoration should be taken into consider-
ation after a careful diagnosis and evaluation of the safety of the
structure in its current state and of the techniques and materials
used in the construction of the monument. The extent and nature
of the actions must then be balanced between the conicting
requirements of achieving a new required safety level and regard-
ing for the original conception and historical value, see [24]. How-
ever, it must be paid attention to the fact that in some cases a too
strict application of this approach may lead to erroneously accept
higher risks to avoid or limit works that are recommended from
a structural point of view, see e.g. [25]. The philosophy followed
in the restoration process tends to prefer measures that comply
with the concepts of reversibility, recognizability, minimum
impact and compatibility of the intervention with the existing
structure, considering the possibility that in the future a better
intervention can be carried out, as a result of more accurate studies
or the evolution of technologies.
The results emerged from the seismic analysis of the building
show that at present the main structural deciencies are: (1) the
lack of connection of the front faade to the rest of the structure
and (2) the high stress level masonry in subjected to in the arches
of the front faade already in static conditions. Therefore, the res-
toration actions should affect the entire structure to restore a box-
like behavior, able to transfer the horizontal actions to all bearing
walls and should consider the possibility of increasing the material
resistance in the most stressed regions. However to purse the latter
effect, it would be necessary to implement actions (such as inltra-
tion of epoxy resin) which are in contrast with the concept of
reversibility of the intervention and therefore only the former will
be investigated in the following.
Hence, we suggest that oors have to be stiffened in their plane
in order to be considered as rigid diaphragms and the timber
beams have to be anchored to the bearing walls. In its current state
the connections to the vertical structural elements rely exclusively
on friction between them. Such connection improvement can be
achieved by means of metal bars xed through end anchored
plates of various types to the bearing walls, see Fig. 13(a). Other
connections should be also established between the beams of adja-
cent rooms, as in Fig. 13(b).
Generally, a rigid diaphragm behavior can be achieved by oper-
ating both at the intrados, e.g., with metal rods, steel elements and
other reinforcement systems of the beams; or at the extrados by
implementing a second timber panel over the original one, insert-
ing metal rods into the top light concrete layer or metal plates to be
xed to the timber beams or adding a new reinforced concrete thin
slab properly connected to the walls. Interventions at the extrados
present the advantage of being less invasive since they are hidden
inside the oor and does not alter the architectural identity of the
building.
Differently from the rst two oors, the rigid diagraph behavior
at the roof level cannot be easily achieved with noninvasive
actions.
In view of a possible reuse of the Salone dellArmeria for civic or
cultural events (such as exhibitions, museums, conference room)
and in order to restore its original majestic conguration charac-
terized by an open space, the three bracing walls positioned in
the twentieth century are removed and a composite steel truss,
working as diaphragm element positioned in an horizontal plane
under the roof structure, is designed to counteract the deforma-
tions of the longitudinal faades.
The system is formed by two plates of section 500 30 mm
positioned along the longitudinal walls, to which the system of
struts and tie-rods is connected, see Figs. 14 and 15. Struts consist
of hollow tubular of 250 250 16 mm square section and are
suitable to react to both compressive and tensile forces. The 18
steel ties, suitably post-tensioned and having a circular section
with diameter = 30 mm, work for traction forces only and are
placed diagonally, to counteract also the parallel sliding between
the two opposite walls.
The suggested solution respects the principles mentioned in the
introduction: it is reversible, recognizable and does not affect in
any way the elements of the roof, thus leaving open to the possibil-
ity that in the future a better intervention can be carried out, as a
result of more accurate studies or the evolution of technologies.
At the rst and second oor the concept of rigid diaphragm has
been implemented into the model as kinematic constrains on the
degrees of freedom of the nodes, while the designed bracing
system at the roof level has been modeled by a system of truss
elements, see Fig. 16.
Fig. 17 visualizes the performance of the restored masonry
building subjected to the same acceleration history previously
Fig. 16. Geometrical model of the building implementing the restoration actions.
The different colors refer to the different materials and the black lines represent the
old tie rods preserved and the new elements added as bracing system under the
roof.
G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535 533
analysed. We observe that now the structure does not overcome
the ultimate limit state SLV.
As a proof that a box-like behavior has been now achieved, the
damage pattern involves the entire structure and is particularly
concentrated in the front faade at the second oor level.
6. Conclusions
Usually, historic buildings are retrotted as a result of damage
induced by past earthquake and only seldom such buildings are
systematically strengthened, in order to avoid possible future
damage.
However costs to recover a building severely damaged by an
earthquake are greater than those needed to strengthen it and
prevent future damage. Furthermore, sometimes it is not even pos-
sible to recover the building since it collapsed, and this results in
an unrecoverable loss of the cultural heritage of a Country.
Restoration means repeating the design of an existent structure
in order to meet, if possible, the requirements of the present stan-
dards. Therefore, even in case of heritage buildings, which were not
designed according to technical standards but by considering
handcraft rules, restoration implies to calculate the structural
resistance twice: rst to point out structural deciencies and then
after the retrotting operations to evaluate the new load bearing
capacity.
To this purpose the use of advanced numerical tools to perform
nonlinear three dimensional dynamic analyses is shown to be
necessary in order to investigate all possible failure mechanisms,
both local and global, of a masonry structure, when subjected to
Fig. 17. Deformed conguration and tensile damage distribution due to the articial earthquake accelerogram applied. Frames are returned at the instants 0.0 s, 4.0 s, 8.0 s,
12 s, 16 s, 20 s, 24 s and 28 s. Scaling factor = 1x.
534 G. Barbieri et al. / Engineering Structures 57 (2013) 523535
an earthquake. The complexity of this type of analysis requires to
validate accurately the implemented model. We believe that the
model we adopted to study the seismic response of Palazzo del
Capitano is sufciently accurate to estimate the actual seismic vul-
nerability of the structure. We also believe that the estimation of
the benecial effects of the proposed restoration actions is even
more precise, since such estimation is based on the difference be-
tween the seismic vulnerability of the structure in the current state
and in the restored one, both of them analyzed with the same nite
element model.
Our analysis points out that Palazzo del Capitano in Mantua
results to be very vulnerable to seismic actions and therefore we
suggest some restoration actions to reach a certain level of struc-
tural safety but at the same time to remain in line with the require-
ments of preservation of the historic and architectural value of the
building. In particular the following restoration actions should be
implemented to provide to the building a box-like behavior and
consequently reduce its seismic vulnerability: oors should be
stiffened in their plane and anchored to the bearing walls and a
new ad hoc designed bracing system should be added under the
roof. After these operations the bracing walls present in the Salone
dellArmeria may be removed in view of a possible reuse of this
room for civic or cultural events (such as exhibitions or conference
room, and museums).
Thanks to these actions it was shown that the building pos-
sesses a seismic resistance sufcient for an earthquake having re-
turn period of 427 years. In order to further decrease its seismic
vulnerability it would be necessary to increase the material
strength in correspondence of the arches of the front faade, but
this operation is not here considered since in contrast with the
requirement of reversibility of the intervention.
Acknowledgements
The authors express their thanks to Dr. LOccaso Stefano and to
Dr. Paolozzi Strozzi Giovanna Soprintendente BSAE di Mantova,
Brescia e Cremona for having contributed to this work by making
available all the information and data at their disposal.
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