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This paper analyses the observational damage from post-earthquake investigations carried out on churches of the Marche Region struck by the 2016 Central Italy seismic sequence. Such seismic activity seriously damaged many historical buildings and particularly churches, due to their intrinsic inability to develop an efficient box-like resisting mechanism. After the mainshocks, teams of structural engineers were involved in the assessment of damage of churches and in the evaluation of their usability. Collected data are processed in this work to give insight into the occurred damage and to evaluate the vulnerability of the religious buildings of the Region. To this purpose, an architectural background is firstly provided to allow for a classification of the sample, then, the most recurring damage mechanisms are identified, and a global damage index of each church is computed. The distribution of the damage over the Region is commented, as a function of the macro-seismic intensity and other important factors affecting the seismic response. Finally, the overall damage of the sample is compared to that estimated through empirical models available in the literature and comparisons with the results of previous studies are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings designed to be conforming with the Italian building code, as illustrated in the companion paper, were analyzed by performing time-history analyses on models realized using an equivalent frame approach and by adopting two different constitutive laws. Both the effect of record-to-record variability and of epistemic and aleatory uncertainties in modelling were explored. The achieved results constitute the basis for the evaluation of the risk level implicit in Italian code-conforming buildings. Two main performance conditions are considered, namely usability-preventing damage and global collapse limit states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a general overview of the structural analyses and the consolidation procedures applied in the consolidation of a railway bridge. It cites the verification of the Campasso bridge in Italy which has been conducted in stages such as the characterisation of materials, steel and nails. It is stated that the verification of the bridge has looked the definitive closure to downstream track traffic and nearest the most corroded girder.

The main activities and the relevant results of an experimental program aimed at evaluating the dynamic characteristics of a large seismically isolated building are described. The building is situated in Potenza (Italy) and is the largest of five seismically isolated blocks of the University of Basilicata. Cyclic shear tests on scaled isolators and some small amplitude free vibration tests were preliminarily carried out. The latter ones were aimed at getting a preliminary linear characterisation of the structure. Finally, many in situ release tests on the isolated structure were carried out, using a mechanical device purposely designed to statically move the building and then suddenly release it, thus making it vibrate freely. The variations of the dynamic characteristics of the system while the oscillation amplitude decreases have been evaluated by using the "Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT)". The results were elaborated in terms of stiffness and equivalent damping and compared to the results of the laboratory tests on scaled isolators, finding an excellent agreement. The main activities and the relevant results of an experimental program aimed at evaluating the dynamic characteristics of a large seismically isolated building are described. The building is situated in Potenza (Italy) and is the largest of five seismically isolated blocks of the University of Basilicata. Cyclic shear tests on scaled isolators and some small amplitude free vibration tests were preliminarily carried out. The latter ones were aimed at getting a preliminary linear characterisation of the structure. Finally, many in situ release tests on the isolated structure were carried out, using a mechanical device purposely designed to statically move the building and then suddenly release it, thus making it vibrate freely. The variations of the dynamic characteristics of the system while the oscillation amplitude decreases have been evaluated by using the "Short Time Fourier Transform... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the European School for Advanced Studies in Reduction of Seismic Risk (ROSE School) in Italy. The ROSE school offers higher-level education in the discipline of earthquake engineering, providing several courses including applied mechanics, structural engineering, engineering seismology, and soil dynamics. An international seminar is organized every year as a part of ROSE program, in which students discuss their research work.