LOAD TESTS |  DISPLACEMENT RISK ASSESSMENT | DYNAMIC INVESTIGATIONS | STRUCTURAL MONITORING | MATERIAL SURVEYS | FOUNDATION INVESTIGATIONS

Supervised and coordinated by:

Eng. Vincenzo Giannetto (*)

Administrator of Indagini Strutturali Ltd. Company

(*) SPECIALIZING IN MORE THAN 35 YEARS OF ACTIVITY IN THE FIELD OF INSPECTIONS AND VERIFICATIONS OF ARTIFACTS OF ALL TYPES, VULNERABILITY ANALYSES, STATIC AND DYNAMIC MONITORING, STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE STATIC CONDITION OF STRUCTURES WITH PARTICULAR REGARD TO STATIC SUITABILITY.

Load Test

Among the most accredited services, for the purpose of testing structures, are Load Tests, which are necessary to verify the correspondence between the theoretical and actual behavior of structures. The assessment regarding the safety of existing constructions is to be carried out through the use of load tests.

  • Load test design
  • Determinazione della posizione e della tipologia di solaio,
  • Identifying the warp of a floor under investigation
  • Determining the magnitude of the load
  • Determining the behavior and on-site performance of the investigated structures.
  • Testing the behavior of the structure subjected to working loads
  • Testing with distributed loads
  • Testing with concentrated loads
  • Positioning of measurement instrumentation
  • Defining load steps and load/unload cycles
  • Measurement in hundredths of a mm of the deformation at maximum load
  • Measurement in hundredths of mm of maximum residual at full unloading
  • Comparison of theoretical and experimental deflections

Displacement Risk Assessment

The failure of brick blocks sandwiched between joists is referred to as displacement and is a common occurrence, usually, in a horizontal structures. In general, the occurrence of structural failure produces cracking of soffit bottoms and significant falling of portions of brick and plaster.

  • Global and structural geometry survey
  • Crack  survey
  • Experimental investigations
  • Load tests
  • Survey by thermographic investigation
  • Protocol aimed at detecting phenomena of cracking
  • Beating of soffit intrados
  • Inspectional assays to determine the nature of the slab
  • Mapping with risk assessment zones
  • Mapping with risk level assessment zones

Dynamic Investigations

Dynamic surveys, also called dynamic tests, are based on the measurement of vibrations in buildings. The sources of vibration are many. These, may be related to environmental or natural forcings. In fact, wind, traffic and operating machinery, acting in the surroundings of buildings, produce vibrational effects capable of stressing structural components.

  • Ability to describe the dynamic behavior of the structure
  • Obtain the fundamental parameters that describe the behavior of a structure in response to external stresses
  • Experimental Modal Analysis
  • Operational Modal Analysis
  • Known stress modulated to the artifact
  • Modal input-output analysis
  • Determining frequency response functions
  • Defining a model with dynamic behavior
  • Determining the dynamic properties of the structure under actual operating conditions
  • Dynamic tests at regular intervals
  • Calibration of FEM model

Structural Monitoring

Structural monitoring are services required to keep the structure of an artifact under observation for the period necessary for the detection of the presence of more or less severe structural damage. Instrumental monitoring covers both quantities directly related to the structure (displacements, stresses, accelerations) and those not directly related but related to the structural behavior of the artifact under investigation (wind, traffic, temperature, humidity).

  • Structural monitoring design
  • Installation of the instrumentation
  • Testing of the entire system.
  • Use of an appropriately arranged network of sensors.
  • Collection of site data provided by structural monitoring.
  • Data storage
  • Sending data to various device clients (desktop or mobile)
  • Interpretation of the data, creating 3D models describing the ongoing phenomenon.
  • Observation of the quantities being monitored at any instant and from any remote location connected to the Internet.

Material Surveys

The purpose of materials investigations is to determine the chemical, physical and mechanical characteristics of the constituent materials of civil constructions; through this kind of meticulous study, it is possible to derive all information about the "health status" of both existing and new constructions.

  • Specific materials investigation is determined by progressive degradation
  • Structural survey campaigns
  • Definition of the state of the building by 360° surveys
  • Thermographic survey for definition of structural elements
  • Pacometric survey for knowledge of reinforcement in reinforced concrete elements
  • Core drilling to define the mechanical properties of concrete
  • Extraction of reinforcing bars to assess their tensile strength
  • Flat jacks for defining the compressive strength of a masonry wall
  • Non-destructive testing for estimating the compressive strength of reinforced concrete

Foundation Investigations

The design and verification of existing and new constructions cannot disregard the need to acquire data through Geognostic Investigation and Foundation Investigation, as was highlighted with the updated Technical Standards for Construction Ministerial Decree of January 17, 2018 (NTD 2018), which can be found in "G.U. No. 42, Feb. 20, 2018 - Ordinary Suppl. No. 8" (CAP 6).

  • Geognostic investigations
  • Stratigraphic profile definition
  • Static penetrometric (C.P.T.), dynamic (S.P.T.) and seismic (S.C.P.T.U.) testing
  • Determination of the structural behavior of a foundation pile