Local dissipative solutions for the seismic retrofitting of RC buildings: results of the experimental tests carried out within the SAFER – REBUILT project

The integrated and sustainable renovation of vulnerable building stock is a priority to achieve global targets for both greenhouse gas emission reduction and seismic risk mitigation. Sustainable retrofit interventions require innovative solutions able to align with new performance objectives, aiming to minimize environmental, social, and economic impacts throughout a building’s life cycle. The SAFER-REBUILT project, aligned with the scientific objectives of the Extended Partnership “Multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changiNg climate” (PE RETURN), aims to define new performance objectives based on Life Cycle Thinking principles and develop integrated techniques for the sustainable refurbishment of common building types. In this context, the present paper focuses on a sustainable, low-impact local solution for strengthening the beam-column joints of RC buildings, named SPAED (Steel Plate Energy Absorption Device), able to improve both local and global seismic performance also relying on energy dissipation features. To validate its effectiveness, a proper methodology has been defined including both numerical simulations and experimental tests on standalone devices and retrofitted sub-assemblages. In the paper, the cyclic quasi-static tests on standalone devices, carried out at the Laboratory of Structures of the University of Basilicata, are described and the results are analyzed in terms of maximum force and deformation, cyclic response and equivalent viscous damping due to hysteresis. These results, together with those from complementary numerical/experimental analyses, will enable the definition of a moment-rotation relationship in the lumped modelling approach to assess pre-code RC building types under seismic actions and possible foundation settlements.