Energy consumption and seismic retrofitting interventions in the architectural heritage: building performance simulations of a historical building in Italy

Abstract

This study focuses on retrofit interventions that allow a seismic improvement of the Architectural Heritage whose critical aspects are conservation and enhancement of existing buildings. During the last decades, designers and researchers have invested in the technical development of seismic retrofitting interventions with the aim of improving the structural performances in a cost-effective way without sacrificing the aesthetical aspects of valuable buildings. Moreover, recent research on historical masonry provided important references and data on the advantages of these interventions in the Architectural Heritage protection. Despite the technological progress, seismic interventions in terms of environmental performance still represent a critical issue, so it is essential to assess their effects on energetic behaviour. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effects of most used seismic retrofitting interventions on energy performance of a masonry historical buildings. The Authors present and analyse the hypothesis of seismic interventions applied on the masonry of a historical building located in the town of L’Aquila and severely damaged by an earthquake that in 2009 struck Abruzzo County, in Italy. The study includes results of building performance simulations (BPS) of the entire building, carried out with the software “Design Builder”, which allows the assessment of the seismic interventions from the environmental point of view on the basis of the variation of energy consumption and the internal comfort.