SEISMIC VULNERABILTY OF MASONRY CHURCH FACADES

Ancient masonry churches are susceptible to local mechanisms when subjected to seismic actions, since their behaviour at collapse is rarely global due to the presence of large halls coupled to deformable floor diaphragms and to the lack of a proper connection between the walls. In this condition, the churches’ seismic performance is characterized by a limited number of possible failure mechanisms involving the main elements of the church such as the façade, the apse, the naves, the triumphal arch, and the navy walls. The analysis of the damages observed after recent earthquakes demonstrate that the out-of-plane mechanism of the façades is the most recurrent mechanism in ancient masonry churches. Rocking analysis can help understanding the dynamic behaviour of masonry façades and simulating their seismic behaviour. The paper analyses the nonlinear rocking response of typical façades of churches belonging to the Italian Apennine and the achievement of different damage states by means of numerical simulations.