FE modelling for seismic assessment of an ancient tower from ambient vibration survey

The paper exemplifies the application of the methodology involving historical and architectural research complemented by ambient vibration survey in the structural assessment of the so-called Zuccaro's tower in Mantua, Italy. The tower is about 43.0 m high and built in solid brick masonry. The good knowledge of the structural geometry and the large number of identified vibration modes allowed to establish a 3D numerical model of the tower for the quantitative assessment of its seismic vulnerability. It is worth underlining that: (a) the elastic parameters of the model, which were identified by minimizing the difference between numerical and experimental resonant frequencies, exhibited an excellent agreement with the available characterization of the masonry material (which was found in the archives and dates back to the '90s); (b) the proposed methodology involves only non-destructive tests and might allow relatively quick seismic assessment of ancient towers at the territorial level.