Structural identification of an historical building in a masonry aggregate

The historical masonry buildings are usually complex structures with strong peculiarity that in many cases have been also rehashed with local demolitions, enlargement, strengthening interventions. Among the various uncertainties that afflict the historical buildings there is the constraint influence of adjacent constructions weekly connected. Typical examples are bell towers connected to churches, a single cell housing in a masonry aggregate, the parts of a building connected only in few points. In these cases the structural identification through a dynamic test and model updating could be a promising procedure to define a reliable structural model. In this paper the efficiency of ambient vibration tests in situ in evaluating the degree of interactions between two parts of an historical building is verified; in particular a part of a masonry building has been tested and modelled calibrating the restraints on one side to take into account the part of the building not tested.