Seismic protection of Heritage structures through Vibrating Barriers

Historic structures in seismic prone areas are extremely vulnerable. The main reason is that such structures have not been properly designed to withstand earthquakes and also because the construction materials deteriorate with the time. The most recent earthquakes, such as the one in Norcia 2016 are clear examples manifesting the necessity to act promptly to protect heritage structures from such natural disaster. Seismic protection of heritage structures is an unresolved research problem that not only is a public safety issue but also adds to the constraints for preserve the artistic value of heritage buildings. In this regard, there is a clear gap in the knowledge that leads to the research question on how it is possible to protect a structure without modifying it. Previous research suggests that protecting structures by seismic action is managed using localised solutions such as isolators and dampers. Research also shows that one main reason is that the introduction of control devices in existing structures is too invasive, costly and requires the demolishing of some structural and/or non-structural component. For heritage structures clearly such technologies cannot be applied and therefore no seismic protection actions are currently taken to protect such artistic treasures. Research has yet to examine the potential of non-invasive devices for protecting heritage structures. The proposed research will investigate for the first time the use of the novel vibrating barriers (ViBa) to reduce seismic vibrations of heritage structures. Vibrating barriers (ViBa) are massive structures hosted in the soil and tuned to reduce the vibrations of neighbourhood structures through a structure-soil-structure interaction mechanism. As the ViBa is detached from the structure it is particularly suitable for heritage structures so to entirely preserve their original structure without any alteration. The proposed research will aim to establish a general methodology to protect heritage structures through a project that tests the role of ViBa and unknown design parameters. Technical details will be developed through a case study recommended by the cultural partners. In particular the design of the ViBa will require first the numerical modelling of the heritage structure and the soil underneath through a finite element approach. In this regard the cultural partners will provide the data to establish a realistic model of the heritage structure. The ViBa will be then designed through an equivalent discrete model based on the traditional Winkler approach. Moreover, the optimization of the installation of ViBa will be explored with the industrial partner to make this technology cost-efficient.

Research questions
1) What are optimal ViBa design parameters and how are determined?
2) What is the sensitivity of the ViBa design parameters to the model uncertainties?
3) Will the ViBa be a cost-effective solution?

1. Academic beneficiaries: The CDT will develop scientific and engineering excellence in the domain of cultural heritage scientific and engineering research and more fundamentally in the enabling domains of imaging and sensing, visualisation, modelling, computational analysis and digital technology. While the CDT focusses on the complex materials and environments of the arts, heritage and archaeology, it will be broadly influential due to the range of novel methods and approaches to be developed in collaboration with the Diamond Light Source and the National Physical Laboratory. The establishment of a student and alumni-managed 'Heritage Science Research Network', will enable CDT's cross-disciplinarity to bridge EPSRC subject boundaries impacting scholarly research in the arts and humanities and social sciences.
2. Heritage beneficiaries: The CDT will have a transformational effect on public heritage institutions by dovetailing 'Data creation', 'Data to knowledge' and 'Knowledge to enterprise' research strands. The resulting advances in understanding, interpretation, conservation, presentation, management, communication, visualisation of heritage, and improved visitor participation and engagement will lead to significantly improved public service and value creation in this sector. This will sustainably boost the cultural heritage tourism sector which requires significant heritage science capacity to maintain the UK's cultural assets, i.e. museum, library, archive and gallery collections and historic buildings. 15 globally leading heritage Partner institutions (both national and international) will contribute to dissemination through established and new heritage networks e.g. the EU Heritage Portal (http://www.heritageportal.eu/).
3. Industry, particularly three crucial sectors: (i) sensors and instrumentation, which underpin a wide range of industrial activity despite the small size (UK Sales £3Bn), and are a key enabling technology for successful economic growth: 70% of the revenues of FTSE 100 companies (sales of £120Bn) are in sectors that are highly dependent on instrumentation; (ii) creative industries, increasingly vital to the UK with 2M employees in creative jobs and the sector contributing £60Bn a year (7.3%) to the UK economy. Over the past decade, the creative sector has grown at twice the rate of the economy as a whole; (iii) heritage tourism sector contributing £7.4Bn p.a. to the UK economy and supporting 466,000 equivalent jobs. Without the CDT, this crucially important economy sector will experience an unsustainable loss of capacity. The impact will be achieved in collaboration with our Partners: Electronics, Sensors, Photonics KTN, TIGA and Qi3, a technology commercialisation, business development and knowledge transfer company.
4. Public: The intensive public engagement activities are built into CDT including dissemination and engagement events at heritage institutions, popular science conferences and fora, e.g. Cheltenham Science Festival, European Science Open Forum and British Science Festival, as well as events organised by the HEIs' Beacon projects (e.g. UCL Bright Club). Cross-cohort encouragement to engage in these events will realise the substantial potential for the CDT to popularise science and engineering. More widely, visitors and users of heritage will benefit from the development of new and more engaging presentation tools, and pervasive and mobile computing.
5. Policy: SEAHA will engage with policy makers, by contributing evidence to policies and research agendas (the PI is actively involved in the EU JPI Cultural Heritage and Global Change, in which she advised on the development of the EU Cultural Heritage Research Agenda endorsed on 22/03/2013) and develop policy briefings for governmental and parliamentary bodies. The CDT is also a strategically important development of the AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme ensuring continued global UK leadership in the SEAHA domain.