Seismic vulnerability assessment of an Italian historical masonry dry dock

• Published in: Case studies in structural engineering 2017-01, Vol.7, p.1-23
• Main Authors: Zucca, Marco, Crespi, Pietro Giuseppe, Longarini, Nicola
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dry dock; Earthquake; Finite element analysis; Seismic vulnerability
• ISSN: 2214-3998; 2214-3998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.csse.2016.11.001

•Historical description of dry dock.•Geotechnical and geological analysis are performed.•FEM modelling of dry dock with construction stage analysis.•Results of modal, response spectrum and time history analyses (with soil-structure interaction effects) are shown. The paper presents the seismic vulnerability analysis of the military dry dock built in 1861 inside the Messina’s harbor. The study appears very important not only for the relevance of the dry dock itself, but also for its social, military and symbolic role. As a first step, the historical documentation about the dry dock delivered by the Military Technical Office, in charge of its maintenance, was thoroughly examined. This activity was fundamental to understand the construction methods, the rehabilitation works executed after the severe earthquake of 1908 and, finally, the works carried out to increase the size of the dry dock in 1950. After this first step, numerical seismic analyses were done with some implemented finite element models (FEM) of the structure. In each FEM, the vertical loads were applied according to the “construction stages” analysis technique, in order to achieve an appropriate representation of the soil stresses around the structure. The analysis results were evaluated according to the Italian design code (NTC 2008) in order to determine the seismic vulnerability of the dry dock.