Abstract
The response of the San Pietro monumental bell-tower located in Perugia, Italy, to the 2016 Central Italy seismic sequence is investigated, taking advantage of the availability of field data recorded by a vibration-based SHM system installed in December 2014 to detect earthquake-induced damages. The tower is located about 85 km in the NW direction from the epicenter of the first major shock of the sequence, the Accumoli Mw6.0 earthquake of August 24th, resulting in a small local PGA of about 30 cm/s2, whereby near-field PGA was measured as 915.97 cm/s2 (E–W component) and 445.59 cm/s2 (N–S component). Similar PGA values also characterized the two other major shocks of the sequence (Ussita Mw5.9 and Norcia Mw6.5 earthquakes of October 26th and 30th, respectively). Despite the relatively low intensity of such earthquakes in Perugia, the analysis of long-term monitoring data clearly highlights that small permanent changes in the structural behavior of the bell-tower have occurred after the earthquakes, with decreases in all identified natural frequencies. Such natural frequency decays are fully consistent with what predicted by non-linear finite element simulations and, in particular, with the development of microcracks at the base of the columns of the belfry. Microcracks in these regions, and in the rest of tower, are however hardly distinguishable from pre-existing ones and from the physiological cracking of a masonry structure, what validates the effectiveness of the SHM system in detecting earthquake-induced damage at a stage where this is not yet detectable by visual inspections.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvandi A, Cremona C (2006) Assessment of vibration-based damage identification techniques. J Sound Vib 292:179–202
Aras F, Krstevska L, Altay G, Tashkov L (2011) Experimental and numerical modal analyses of a historical masonry palace. Constr Build Mater 25:81–91
Bellino A, Fasana A, Garibaldi L, Marchesiello S (2010) PCA-based detection of damage in time-varying systems. Mech Syst Signal Process 24:2250–2260
Benedettini F, De Sortis A, Milana G (2017) In field data to correctly characterize the seismic response of buildings and bridges. Bull Earthq Eng 15(2):643–666
Bennati S, Nardini L, Salvatore W (2005) Dynamic behaviour of a medieval masonry bell tower. II. Measurement and modelling of the tower motion. J Struct Eng 131:1656–1664
Betti M, Facchini L, Biagini P (2015) Damage detection on a three-storey steel frame using artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. Meccanica 50(2015):875–886
Bindi D, Luzi L, Pacor F, Sabetta F, Massa M (2009) Towards a new reference ground motion prediction equation for Italy: update of the Sabetta–Pugliese (1996). Bull Earthq Eng 7(3):591–608
Bindi D, Iervolino I, Parolai S (2016) On-site structure-specific real-time risk assessment: perspectives from the REAKT project. Bull Earthq Eng 14(9):2471–2493
Bodeux J, Golinval JC (2001) Application of ARMAV models to the identification and damage detection of mechanical and civil engineering structures. Smart Mater Struct 10(3):479
Brencich A, Sabia D (2008) Experimental identification of a multi-span masonry bridge: the Tanaro Bridge. Constr Build Mater 22:2087–2099
Casarin F, Modena C (2008) Seismic assessment of complex historical buildings: application to Reggio Emilia Cathedral, Italy. Int J Archit Herit 2(3):304–327
Cattaneo M, Augliera P, De Luca G, Gorini A, Govoni A, Marcucci S, Michelini A, Monachesi G, Spallarossa D, Trojani L, XGUMS (2000) The 1997 Umbria–Marche (Italy) earthquake sequence: analysis of the data recorded by the local and temporary networks. J Seismol 4(4):401–414
Cavalagli N, Comanducci G, Ubertini F (2017) Earthquake-induced damage detection in a monumental masonry bell-tower using long-term dynamic monitoring data. J Earthq Eng. doi:10.1080/13632469.2017.1323048
Comanducci G, Ubertini F, Materazzi AL (2015) Structural health monitoring of suspension bridges with features affected by changing wind speed. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 141:12–26
Comanducci G, Magalhães F, Ubertini F, Cunha A (2016) On vibration-based damage detection by multivariate statistical techniques: application to a long-span arch bridge. Struct Health Monit 15(5):505–524
Cross EJ, Worden K (2012) Cointegration and why it works for SHM. J Phys Conf Ser 382(1):012046
Cross E, Worden K, Chen Q (2011) Cointegration: a novel approach for the removal of environmental trends in structural health monitoring data. Proc R Soc Lond A Math Phys Eng Sci 467(2133):2717–2732
Cross E, Koo K, Brownjohn J, Worden K (2013) Long-term monitoring and data analysis of the Tamar Bridge. Mech Syst Signal Process 35(1–2):16–34
Cury A, Cremona C (2012) Assignment of structural behaviours in long-term monitoring: application to a strengthened railway bridge. Struct Health Monit 11(4):422–441
Deraemaeker A, Reynders E, De Roeck G, Kullaa J (2008) Vibration-based structural health monitoring using output-only measurements under changing environment. Mech Syst Signal Process 22(1):34–56
Dervilis N, Choi M, Taylor S, Barthorpe R, Park G, Farrar C, Worden K (2014) On damage diagnosis for a wind turbine blade using pattern recognition. J Sound Vib 333(6):1833–1850
Dervilis N, Worden K, Cross E (2015) On robust regression analysis as a means of exploring environmental and operational conditions for SHM data. J Sound Vib 347:279–296
Ditommaso R, Mucciarelli M, Parolai S, Picozzi M (2012) Monitoring the structural dynamic response of a masonry tower: comparing classical and time-frequency analyses. Bull Earthq Eng 10(4):1221–1235
Dolce M, Nicoletti M, De Sortis A, Marchesini S, Spina D, Talanas F (2017) Osservatorio sismico delle strutture: the Italian structural seismic monitoring network. Bull Earthq Eng 15(2):621–641
Farrar CR, Beck JL (2015) Special Issue of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics on earthquake engineering applications of structural health monitoring. Earthq Eng Struct Dyn 44(4):499–500
Farrar CR, Worden K (2012) Structural health monitoring: a machine learning Perspective. Wiley, Hoboken
Foti D, Diaferio M, Giannoccaro N, Mongelli M (2012) Ambient vibration testing, dynamic identification and model updating of a historic tower. NDT E Int 47:88–95
Fugate ML, Sohn H, Farrar CR (2001) Vibration-based damage detection using statistical process control. Mech Syst Signal Process 15(4):707–721
Fuller WA (2009) Introduction to statistical time series, vol 428. Wiley, Hoboken
Gentile C, Gallino N (2008) Ambient vibration testing and structural evaluation of a historic suspension footbridge. Adv Eng Softw 39:356–366
Gentile C, Saisi A (2007) Ambient vibration testing of historic masonry towers for structural identification and damage assessment. Constr Build Mater 21:1311–1321
Gentile C, Saisi A (2013) Operational modal testing of historic structures at different levels of excitation. Constr Build Mater 48:1273–1285
Gentile C, Saisi A, Cabboi A (2015) Structural identification of a masonry tower based on operational modal analysis. Int J Archit Herit 9(2):98–110
Gentile C, Guidobaldi M, Saisi A (2016) One-year dynamic monitoring of a historic tower: damage detection under changing environment. Meccanica 51(11):2873–2889
Gorini A, Nicoletti M, Marsan P, Bianconi R, De Nardis R, Filippi L, Marcucci S, Palma F, Zambonelli E (2010) The Italian strong motion network. Bull Earthq Eng 8(5):1075–1090
Goulet J, Michel C, Kiureghian AD (2015) Data-driven post-earthquake rapid structural safety assessment. Earthq Eng Struct Dyn 44(4):549–562
Ivorra S, Pallars FJ (2006) Dynamic investigations on a masonry bell tower. Eng Struct 28(5):660–667
Jaishi B, Ren W, Zong Z, Maskey P (2003) Dynamic and seismic performance of old multitiered temples in Nepal. Eng Struct 25:1829–1839
Kambhatla N, Leen TK (1997) Dimension reduction by local principal component analysis. Neural Comput 9(7):1493–1516
Kaya Y, Safak E (2015) Real-time analysis and interpretation of continuous data from structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. Bull Earthq Eng 13(3):917–934
Lee J, Fenves G (1998) Plastic-damage model for cyclic loading of concrete structures. J Eng Mech 124:892–900
Lubliner J, Oliver J, Oller S, Onate E (1989) A plastic-damage model for concrete. Int J Solids Struct 25(3):229–326
Magalhães F, Cunha A, Caetano E (2009) Online automatic identification of the modal parameters of a long span arch bridge. Mech Syst Signal Process 23(2):316–329
Magalhães F, Cunha A, Caetano E (2012) Vibration based structural health monitoring of an arch bridge: from automated OMA to damage detection. Mech Syst Signal Process 28:212–228
Mosavi A, Dickey D, Seracino R, Rizkalla S (2012) Identifying damage locations under ambient vibrations utilizing vector autoregressive models and Mahalanobis distances. Mech Syst Signal Process 26:254–267
NTC08 (2008) Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni (in Italian). Italian Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport
Ntotsios E, Papadimitriou C, Panetsos P, Karaiskos G, Perros K, Perdikaris PC (2008) Bridge health monitoring system based on vibration measurements. Bull Earthq Eng 7(2):469
Oh CK, Sohn H (2009) Damage diagnosis under environmental and operational variations using unsupervised support vector machine. J Sound Vib 325(1–2):224–239
Pacor F, Paolucci R, Luzi L, Sabetta F, Spinelli A, Gorini A, Nicoletti M, Marcucci S, Filippi L, Dolce M (2011) Overview of the Italian strong motion database ITACA 1.0. Bull Earthq Eng 9(6):1723–1739
Pea F, Lourenço PB, Mendes N, Oliveira DV (2010) Numerical models for the seismic assessment of an old masonry tower. Eng Struct 32(5):1466–1478
Peeters B, De Roeck G (2001) One-year monitoring of the Z 24-Bridge: environmental effects versus damage events. Earthq Eng Struct 30(2):149–171
Pitilakis K, Karapetrou S, Bindi D, Manakou M, Petrovic B, Roumelioti Z, Boxberger T, Parolai S (2016) Structural monitoring and earthquake early warning systems for the AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki. Bull Earthq Eng 14(9):2543–2563
Ponzo FC, Ditommaso R, Auletta G, Mossucca A (2010) A fast method for structural health monitoring of Italian reinforced concrete strategic buildings. Bull Earthq Eng 8(6):1421–1434
Rainieri C, Fabbrocino G (2010) Automated output-only dynamic identification of civil engineering structures. Mech Syst Signal Process 24(3):678–695
Ramos L, Marques L, Lourenço P, DeRoeck G, Campos-Costa A, Roque J (2010) Monitoring historical masonry structures with operational modal analysis: two case studies. Mech Syst Signal Process 24:1291–1305
Ramos L, Aguilar R, Lourenço P (2011) Operational modal analysis of historical constructions using commercial wireless platforms. Struct Health Monit 10:511–521
Ren W, De Roeck G (2002a) Structural damage identification using modal data. I: simulation verification. J Struct Eng 128:87–95
Ren W, De Roeck G (2002b) Structural damage identification using modal data. II: test verification. J Struct Eng 2002128:96–104
Reynders E, Houbrechts J, Roeck GD (2012) Fully automated (operational) modal analysis. Mech Syst Signal Process 29:228–250
Saisi A, Gentile C, Guidobaldi M (2015) Post-earthquake continuous dynamic monitoring of the Gabbia Tower in Mantua, Italy. Constr Build Mater 81:101–112
Salawu OS (1997) Detection of structural damage through changes in frequency: a review. Eng Struct 19(9):718–723
Simulia (2010) Abaqus analysis user’s Manual. Volume III: Materials. Dessault Systemes, USA
Sohn H, Worden K, Farrar CR (2002) Statistical damage classification under changing environmental and operational conditions. J Intell Mater Syst Struct 13(9):561–574
Spina D, Lamonaca BG, Nicoletti M, Dolce M (2011) Structural monitoring by the Italian Department of Civil Protection and the case of 2009 Abruzzo seismic sequence. Bull Earthq Eng 9(1):325–346
Ubertini F, Gentile C, Materazzi AL (2013) Automated modal identification in operational conditions and its application to bridges. Eng Struct 46:264–278
Ubertini F, Comanducci G, Cavalagli N (2016) Vibration-based structural health monitoring of a historic bell-tower using output-only measurements and multivariate statistical analysis. Struct Health Monit 15(4):438–457
Ubertini F, Comanducci G, Cavalagli N, Pisello AL, Materazzi AL, Cotana F (2017) Environmental effects on natural frequencies of the San Pietro bell tower in Perugia, Italy, and their removal for structural performance assessment. Mech Syst Signal Process 82:307–322
Valente M, Milani G (2016) Seismic assessment of historical masonry towers by means of simplified approaches and standard (FEM). Constr Build Mater 108:74–104
Vidal F, Navarro M, Aranda C, Enomoto T (2014) Changes in dynamic characteristics of Lorca RC buildings from pre- and post-earthquake ambient vibration data. Bull Earthq Eng 12(5):2095–2110
Worden K, Manson G, Fieller N (2000) Damage detection using outlier analysis. J Sound Vib 229(3):647–667
Worden K, Sohn H, Farrar C (2002) Novelty detection in a changing environment: regression and interpolation approaches. J Sound Vib 258(4):741–761
Yan A, Kerschen G, De Boe P, Golinval J (2005a) Structural damage diagnosis under varying environmental conditions part I: a linear analysis. Mech Syst Signal Process 19(4):847–864
Yan A, Kerschen G, De Boe P, Golinval J (2005b) Structural damage diagnosis under varying environmental conditions part II: local pca for non-linear cases. Mech Syst Signal Process 19(4):865–880
Yong L, Feng G (2005) A novel time-domain auto-regressive model for structural damage diagnosis. J Sound Vib 283(3):1031–1049
Acknowledgements
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020 under Grant Agreement No. 700395.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ubertini, F., Cavalagli, N., Kita, A. et al. Assessment of a monumental masonry bell-tower after 2016 Central Italy seismic sequence by long-term SHM. Bull Earthquake Eng 16, 775–801 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-017-0222-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-017-0222-7