First Applications and Results of the SHM of Residential Buildings in Italy

The structural health assessment of buildings during their life is a very actual and important topic to monitor effects of ageing and, more importantly, to exclude risks for users after exceptional events. This evaluation, periodically carried out, provides important information about the structural health condition and may be crucial to evaluate the need of interventions after exceptional events, or simply to schedule the building maintenance. In this framework, a monitoring system should be installed not only on strategic constructions and infrastructures, but also on residential buildings. The paper discusses about the dynamic structural health monitoring of a considerably number of residential buildings located in Central Italy (Marche Region). The framework adopted to design the structural health monitoring systems and to post-process the acquired data, as well as the adopted instruments, are described, starting from the preliminary dynamic identification of the building to the monitoring system design and installation. The architecture for data acquisition, transfer and storage are also discussed. Moreover, some results of the monitoring are presented, and their relevance in the context of structural assessment after exceptional events (e.g., earthquakes) is addressed.