Monitoring of a strengthened barrel vault

Structural monitoring and vibration-based identification methods are fundamental tools to help assessing the conditions of the structural state, in particular as it concern the conservation of historical buildings and the support to civil protection strategies. Although a large part of the Italian and European historical heritage is composed by masonry and vaulted structures, in the literature, comparatively few papers are targeted to the study of the dynamic behaviour of vaulted systems. The present work originates by a spontaneous collaboration between the Chieti/Pescara University and the Italian Civil Protection Department and focuses on the study of the dynamic behaviour of a barrel vault of the Bussi Castel located in Province of Pescara. The barrel vault suffered some damage as a consequence of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. Environmental vibration tests were carried out both in the damaged state and after repair and strengthening. In either conditions, the modal parameters of the vault were identified using operational modal analysis techniques. The comparison of the dynamic behaviour in the two states clearly indicates an improvement in the seismic behaviour of the consolidated vault. The results confirm the validity of structural monitoring for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the structural conditions of vaulted masonry systems.