Enhancing Seismic Resilience and Energy Efficiency in Historic Masonry Buildings: The MIL15.s Retrofit System

In Italy, a significant portion of the existing building stock consists of masonry structures that are often in poor condition due to inadequate maintenance over time. Consequently, it is crucial to intervene in order to prevent further loss of life during seismic events, which have already caused substantial damage to these buildings. Additionally, these older masonry structures tend to have thermal inefficiencies, with high energy dispersions from indoor environments caused by various factors. The current research proposes an integrated retrofit system designed to simultaneously enhance both the seismic and energy performance of existing structures. This system comprises metal exoskeletons made of an aluminium alloy, complemented by the insertion of sandwich panels. The investigated solution, known as MIL15.s and developed by the Italian company TM Group S.r.l., was also subjected to experimental tests during my Ph.D. studies at the Polytechnic University of Timişoara. Specifically, a preliminary test was conducted on a masonry panel both before and after consolidation using the proposed retrofit technique, demonstrating its effectiveness against out-of-plane mechanisms. Future research will involve a second phase of experimental tests incorporating additional components of the system, as the preliminary phase only evaluated the contribution of the base profiles. Furthermore, numerical simulations of various case studies will be conducted to assess the overall impact of the seismic—energy retrofit on the performance of existing structures.