ABSTRACT
The conservation of the historical heritage is one of the great challenges in Italy. The mitigation of the seismic risk is a crucial aspect for most of the Italian cities, characterized by high seismic hazard.
Meeting these challenges, the Catania University Central Palace, located in the historical centre of Catania, was recently chosen as a “target” building for the evaluation of the seismic risk of monumental buildings in the framework of the European Research Project eWAS “An Early Warning System for Cultural Heritage”.
This paper deals with the FEM modelling of one section of this building. Three models were developed, based on two different geotechnical characterizations, and performed by an equivalent linear elastic approach and by a non-linear one. Their comparison allows us to highlight the important role of DSSI and adequate soil modelling for a realistic estimate of the seismic vulnerability of a building.
