structural and seismic monitoring of the cardarelli hospital in campobasso

Abstract Recent earthquakes occurred in Italy and throughout the world have once again emphasized the critical role of health facilities for post-earthquake emergency management. Due to earthquake, several hospitals (L'Aquila 2009, Amatrice 2016) have lost their functionality because of damage to structural as well as non-structural members, equipment and installations. The primary role of hospitals after hazardous events requires the development of specific analysis and monitoring strategies aimed at quickly assessing their health conditions. Turning a hospital into a "Smart Health Facility" (SHF) allows remote assessment of the structural health; moreover, it can effectively support the mitigation of administrative and organizational vulnerability by acting on preparedness of the medical staff and supporting management and maintenance of structural as well as non-structural subsystems over time. Continuous monitoring of health and performance of hospitals can support the formulation of disaster mitigation plans and the definition of investment priorities to ensure the overall safety. In the present paper, some results of an on-going monitoring project for the main hospital in Campobasso (Southern Italy) are presented, focusing the attention on the response of the structure in operational conditions and after seismic events. Moreover, the results of experimental as well as operational modal analysis tests on a drug dispenser are discussed in order to assess their applicative perspectives for qualification of medical equipment in view of their seismic vulnerability assessment as non-structural elements

Vibration-Based Monitoring of Tensile Loads: System Development and Application

International audienceThe in-situ evaluation of the tensile load in cables and tie-rods plays a primary role in the continuous monitoring and health assessment of strategic as well as historic structures. The main advantage of the indirect determination of cable forces from dynamic tests in operational conditions is the opportunity to achieve accurate, cheap and fast quality checks in the construction phase (after pre-stressing), and safety checks and structural maintenance over the structure lifespan. Based on the most recent developments in the field of operational modal analysis, an automated system for continuous monitoring of axial loads based on dynamic measurements has been developed. The system consists of a distributed measurement system based on programmable hardware and wireless modules, and of a centralized data processing server for the estimation of the tensile loads in the monitored cable from records of its dynamic response to ambient vibrations. The experimental identification of the flexural modes in terms of natural frequencies and mode shapes is used to solve an inverse problem for the identification of the axial loads. A prototype of the SHM system has been installed to monitor the tensile load in one of the cables of a sample steel arch. Preliminary experimental results from continuous monitoring of the cable are discussed pointing out the effect of environmental factors