Historic city centers after destructive seismic events, the case of finale Emilia during the 2012 Emilia-Romagna earthquake: Advanced numerical modelling on four case studies

Introduction: The recent wave of seismic shocks in Central Italy (2016) had once more disastrous consequences for the local monuments, which consisted of old masonry churches and towers. The permanent, seismic-induced damage to cultural heritage has become a serious issue that can no longer be downsized, and questions have been raised about how to satisfactorily assess the vulnerability of such heritage in advance. This paper deals with the investigations into the actual condition of a historic city center partially destroyed by the seismic sequence occurred in May 2012 in Emilia-Romagna. Namely, the case of Finale Emilia – a small to medium-sized village located at the very center of the stricken area – is considered. Methods: Three important heritage masterpieces were numerically analyzed using Finite Element meshes to deepen the knowledge of their seismic vulnerability and try to avoid similar disasters in the future. The first structure is a masonry castle known as “Castello delle Rocche”, which underwent severe damages during the seismic sequence. The second and third examples deal with the structural analysis of two towers, both collapsed due to the quakes: the Fortified Tower of the castle and the Clock Tower of the village. The last analysis is devoted to study the seismic behavior of a medium-sized masonry church (Santa Maria del Rosario), heavily damaged by the seismic sequence and whose bell tower collapsed due to the formation of a hinge at mid-height. Results and Conclusion: Numerical models were created for all the buildings involved, and a variety of advanced analyses were carried out, including nonlinear static and dynamic ones, to have a deep insight into their expected vulnerability, also finding reasonable correspondence between the numerical results and the actual state of damage observed during the surveys made in the aftermath of the seismic events.