Combining Numerical Methods with Experimental Data toward the Structural Rehabilitation Assessment of Ancient Masonry Landmarks

During the design phase of a retrofit, its cost efficiency must be evaluated with respect to the achieved benefits. The same structural amelioration can be obtained at a lower cost by optimizing the number and locations of the retrofitting devices. For this purpose, a numerical tool which enables the comparison of the effects of different retrofit solutions on a structure is needed. The easiness of interpretation of the numerical results is fundamental to clearly identify the consequences of each retrofit solution with respect to the others. Therefore, any nonlinearity is excluded from the analyses which rely on an equivalent linear elastic model where the geometry and material properties of the damaged areas are assigned to obtain a structural response in agreement with the experimental data. In this paper, the validation of such a model is discussed with reference to a specific case-study concerning the Soncino civic tower, in Northern Italy.