Structural performance of riveted connections in historical metal structures

Nowadays, in Italy historical metal structures represent a significant and important part of national architectural heritage. In fact, their intrinsic architectural and technological value represents a milestone in the history of constructions, being an attestation of great advance of technology and innovations reached more than two centuries ago. These structures usually show a spread damaging mainly due to the corrosion and the structural inadequacy. In particular, among the structural deficiencies the insufficiency of riveted connections can be easily recognized. Hence, in order to characterize the mechanical behaviour of riveted connections, an experimental and numerical research campaign has been planned. In this activity, riveted joint specimens have been designed to be representative of the connections of the Italian existing structures, such as roofing structure and steel railways bridges. This paper briefly summarizes the whole research activity and underlines the crucial themes to be deeply investigated.