A HPFRCC panel for existing industrial buildings retrofitting

The recent earthquake occurred in Emilia Romagna has promoted a large national debate on the structural retrofitting strategies for the industrial building stock; as a matter of fact, many existing factories housing production lines characterized by high technological standards are surprisingly inadequate to meet the structural and energy requirements imposed by recent regulations. In this context, a cost-effective improvement strategy may be represented by the replacement of the existing roof elements with cement-based composite panels characterized by remarkable mechanical and thermal performances. The paper presents a sec-ondary multilayered component developed in the framework of a research project funded by Regional and National authorities. The structural design of such innovative product is followed by a description of the prototyping stages and by the mechanical characterization at the material and at the full scale, with reference to standard and exceptional load combinations.