An improvement's project model to foster sustainable continuous improvement

Continuous Improvement programs are constantly applied amongst companies to reach competitive advantages. However, it is known that companies struggle to sustain benefits of continuous improvement projects in long-Term periods. Indeed, there is not a common shared framework assessing which are the managerial variables that can guarantee improvement's projects success. This research presents a model and a pool of improvement's projects could be framed and carried out accordingly. The model and its enabler mechanisms foster the importance that the outstanding literature assign to human focused factors and soft practices to sustain continuous improvement benefits in the long-Term period. This study presents a first assessment analysis of the model, even if not statistically valid, highlighting its enablers and barriers for a correct application. Then, based on the first data collected on a sample of improvement's projects framed with the model described, the study draws some considerations about which are the critical success factors for improvement's projects

How Industry 4.0 and Lean Management Are Interrelated with Green Paradigm

Recently, sustainability has been tackled several times due to the impending climate change the earth is facing. Numerous techniques have been applied to reverse the direction companies were going into. In this paper, it is explained the importance that Lean Manufacturing tools and Industry 4.0 technologies can have on the sustainable side of a company. The aim of this work is to fill the scientific gap related to studies deepening the combination of these different paradigms, Industry 4.0-Lean-Green, which have been scarcely investigated together. Thus, a Systematic Literature Review has been performed to detect which were the key variables of these three fields and then, it was studied what their interaction was. This study is giving the opportunity to understand the main variables of Industry 4.0 and Lean manufacturing on which companies have to act in order to have an impact on green variables and their overall sustainability

An optimization-based rigid block modeling approach to seismic assessment of dry-joint masonry structures subjected to settlements

A rigid block modeling approach is presented for rocking dynamics and nonlinear static analysis of dry-joint masonry structures subjected to settlements and earthquake excitations. For the different types of analysis, a unified optimization-based formulation is adopted, which is equivalent to the system governing the static and dynamic structural response. Sequential solution procedures are used for time integration and for pushover analysis which take into account the effects of large displacements under the combined action of support movements and lateral loads. No-tension elastic contacts with finite shear strength are considered at block in-terfaces for time-history analysis and to obtain the elastic branch of pushover curves in nonlinear static analysis. A unilateral rigid contact behavior is also considered to obtain the descending post-peak branch of pushover curves corresponding to the activation of the rigid-body rocking motion, according to displacement-based assessment methods of failure mechanisms adopted in the standards. Comparisons with numerical models and experimental tests on a rocking block and on a buttressed arch are presented to show the accuracy of the developed approach. Simple tests on dry-joint tuff panels on the tilting table were also carried out to show the effects of imposed movements at support on the response to lateral loads. Finally, an application is presented to a full-scale triumphal arch subjected to the combined action of support movements and earthquake excitation to discuss, on the basis of the developed model, the effects of settlement-induced damage on seismic performance. The numerical analyses showed that the lateral force, the displacement capacity and the rocking response can be significantly affected by support movements, pointing out the relevance of the current building condition in the seismic safety assessment.- The financial support of the research project DPC-ReLUIS 2022-2024: Work Package 5 "Integrated and low-impact strengthening interventions" funded by the Civil Protection Department IT (Grant no. 897-01/04/2022) is acknowledged. The authors are grateful to Prof. Chiara Calderini from the University of Genova for providing data from the experimental tests on the arch-pillars system investigated in the manuscript. The authors are also grateful to Mr. Domenico Imperatrice from the Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture for his assistance and support throughout the experimental investigation on the wall panels subjected to support movement and lateral loads

Cultural Heritage Exposed to Natural Hazards: the Case Study of the Convent of San Domenico in Maiori

Nowadays it is widely recognized that structural interventions on cultural heritage buildings shall comply with the minimum intervention principle. The main goal is to enhance the structural capacity respecting, at the same time, the authenticity of the monument. As such, the correct interpretation of the current damage is a first fundamental step in the design of an efficient structural intervention. Within this framework, the paper presents the results of an in depth investigation carried out to assess the structural capacity of a complex monument affected by several deficiencies. The case study is the convent of Saint Domenico, a seventeenth century’s masonry structure, belonging to the traditional architectural typology of the court building. The building is located in Maiori, a small town in the Amalfi Coast (Italy), included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997 for its great cultural and naturalistic interest. The structure was abandoned during the 80s, and currently presents an extensive and diffuse crack pattern that is the consequence of several causes such as: the natural aging of material, the lack of maintenance, the modifications occurred during the centuries, the seismic events occurred in the past and the poor quality of the foundation soil. In this paper, starting from the knowledge acquisition path of the whole Convent, a special focus on the structural behavior of the East wing is provided. A numerical model of a cross section of the wing has been developed and analyzed considering the effects of lateral loads and settlements. The numerical analyses are carried out using LiaBlock_3D, an in-house software tool for the limit equilibrium analysis of rigid block assemblages. Results of the analyses are discussed in details and a comparison with the actual crack pattern of the structure is provided as well

Cultural Heritage Exposed to Natural Hazards: the Case Study of the Convent of San Domenico in Maiori

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Masonry macro-block analysis

The structural analysis involves the definition of the model and selection of the analysis type. The model should represent the stiffness, the mass and the loads of the structure. The structures can be represented using simplified models, such as the lumped mass models, and advanced models resorting the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Discrete Element Method (DEM). Depending on the characteristics of the structure, different types of analysis can be used such as limit analysis, linear and non-linear static analysis and linear and non-linear dynamic analysis. Unreinforced masonry structures present low tensile strength and the linear analyses seem to not be adequate for assessing their structural behaviour. On the other hand, the static and dynamic non-linear analyses are complex, since they involve large time computational requirements and advanced knowledge of the practitioner. The non-linear analysis requires advanced knowledge on the material properties, analysis tools and interpretation of results. The limit analysis with macro-blocks can be assumed as a more practical method in the estimation of maximum load capacity of structure. Furthermore, the limit analysis require a reduced number of parameters, which is an advantage for the assessment of ancient and historical masonry structures, due to the difficult in obtaining reliable data

Shake-table testing of a stone masonry building aggregate: overview of blind prediction study

City centres of Europe are often composed of unreinforced masonry structural aggregates, whose seismic response is challenging to predict. To advance the state of the art on the seismic response of these aggregates, the Adjacent Interacting Masonry Structures (AIMS) subproject from Horizon 2020 project Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe (SERA) provides shake-table test data of a two-unit, double-leaf stone masonry aggregate subjected to two horizontal components of dynamic excitation. A blind prediction was organized with participants from academia and industry to test modelling approaches and assumptions and to learn about the extent of uncertainty in modelling for such masonry aggregates. The participants were provided with the full set of material and geometrical data, construction details and original seismic input and asked to predict prior to the test the expected seismic response in terms of damage mechanisms, base-shear forces, and roof displacements. The modelling approaches used differ significantly in the level of detail and the modelling assumptions. This paper provides an overview of the adopted modelling approaches and their subsequent predictions. It further discusses the range of assumptions made when modelling masonry walls, floors and connections, and aims at discovering how the common solutions regarding modelling masonry in general, and masonry aggregates in particular, affect the results. The results are evaluated both in terms of damage mechanisms, base shear forces, displacements and interface openings in both directions, and then compared with the experimental results. The modelling approaches featuring Discrete Element Method (DEM) led to the best predictions in terms of displacements, while a submission using rigid block limit analysis led to the best prediction in terms of damage mechanisms. Large coefficients of variation of predicted displacements and general underestimation of displacements in comparison with experimental results, except for DEM models, highlight the need for further consensus building on suitable modelling assumptions for such masonry aggregates