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The behaviour of vernacular buildings in the 2012 Emilia earthquakes

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Abstract

Vernacular buildings are a relevant part of the building stock affected by the Emilia, 2012, earthquakes and they contribute to shape the rural landscape of the Po valley. Unfortunately, due to overall layout, constructive details and poor maintenance, they have shown a very poor seismic performance. Because most of these buildings are lightly used or abandoned, the risk that they will be demolished is rather high; this could be the most long-lasting outcome of the seismic sequence, deeply affecting the traditional landscape of this portion of the Po valley. In this paper a brief description of the architectural features of these buildings is given and their typical seismic performances are analysed. Because damage is usually related to local-collapse mechanisms, rocking spectra are computed for the near field accelerograms and they are compared with observed behaviours. Finally, suggestions are given to improve the earthquake response of these structures, with the aim of preserving important testimonies of the civilisation of the area.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially carried out under the program “Dipartimento di Protezione Civile – Consorzio ReLUIS”, signed on 2009-09-24 (no. 823), Thematic Area 1, Research Line 1, Task 1 and Line RS 2. The authors acknowledge the valuable contribution of architects Alessandra Marotta (bibliographical researches, Figs. 7, 11) and Elisabetta Raglione (Figs. 2, 6a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, via Antonio Gramsci 53, 00197 , Rome, Italy

    Luigi Sorrentino, Laura Liberatore, Domenico Liberatore & Renato Masiani

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  1. Luigi Sorrentino
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  2. Laura Liberatore
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  3. Domenico Liberatore
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  4. Renato Masiani
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Correspondence to Luigi Sorrentino.

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Sorrentino, L., Liberatore, L., Liberatore, D. et al. The behaviour of vernacular buildings in the 2012 Emilia earthquakes. Bull Earthquake Eng 12, 2367–2382 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9455-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9455-2

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