Issue 51

C. Ferrero et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 51 (2020) 92-114; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.51.08 92 Focussed on Fracture and Damage Detection in Masonry Structures Nonlinear modeling of unreinforced masonry structures under seismic actions: validation using a building hit by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake Chiara Ferrero University of Genoa, Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, 16145 Genoa, Italy chiara.ferrero@edu.unige.it Paulo B. Lourenço ISISE, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal pbl@civil.uminho.pt , http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8459-0199 Chiara Calderini University of Genoa, Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, 16145 Genoa, Italy chiara.calderini@unige.it, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1525-5095 A BSTRACT . A prolonged seismic sequence struck the regions of Central Italy between August 2016 and January 2017, causing several fatalities and widespread damage to the built environment. The main objective of this work was to study the structural and seismic behavior of “Pietro Capuzi” school, located in Visso, in the Marche region, which was severely damaged by the 2016-2017 Central Italy Earthquake. A 3D finite element (FE) model of the entire school was prepared, adopting a macro-modeling approach to represent masonry materials. An eigenvalue analysis was initially performed in order to identify the dominant modes of vibration of the structure and to calibrate the numerical model according to the results of the dynamic identification tests. Afterwards, nonlinear static analyses were performed on the calibrated FE model to evaluate the seismic response of the structure. Finally, the numerical results obtained in terms of crack pattern and failure mechanisms were compared with the damage experienced by the building. The numerical model proved to accurately predict the seismic response exhibited by the structure during the past seismic events. K EYWORDS . Unreinforced masonry; FE modeling; Seismic assessment; Nonlinear static analysis. Citation: Ferrero, C., Lourenço, P. B., Calderini. C., Nonlinear modeling of unreinforced masonry structures under seismic actions: validation using a building hit by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 51 (2020) 92-114. Received: 19.05.2019 Accepted: 11.10.2019 Published: 01.01.2020 Copyright: © 2020 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.