Assessment of seismic resistance of a basilica-type church under earthquake loading: modelling and analysis

In this paper a finite element methodology for the static and dynamic non-linear analysis of historical masonry structures is described and applied to a case study. A basilica-type masonry church is analysed in order to assess its structural behaviour and its seismic vulnerability with respect to the actual state of conservation. Moreover the actual efficiency of current techniques for repairing and strengthening are analyzed in order to evaluated their benefits. A quasi-static approach (the seismic coefficient method) for the evaluation of the seismic loads have been used (as indeed common in many analyses of the seismic behaviour of masonry structures). This paper addresses the concern of seismic analysis and vulnerability of a basilica-type church with a specific case study: the Farneta abbey. The comparison demand vs. capacity confirms the susceptibility of this type of buildings to extensive damage and possibly to collapse, as frequently observed. The analysis of repairing and strengthening techniques show the effectiveness of the usual structural reinforcement in term of increased seismic capacity. It is believed that the conclusions obtained with respect to the seismic assessment of masonry church can be extrapolated for the wide variety of historical basilica-type church.