Strengthening of a Historic Unreinforced Masonry Church Tower

Abstract

This paper is an overview of the characterization, analyses, design, and retrofit construction for the seismic upgrade and retrofit of a historic (circa 1860) unreinforced masonry church tower. The methodology utilized for this project was developed by the late Dr. Fernando Lizzi and is known in the United States as the internal reinforcement method, with micropiles for the additional foundation elements. The strengthening objectives were to correct the environmental mode of material degradation, upgrade the average compressive strength of the masonry tower piers and limit further axial deformation, and provide necessary internal reinforcement and foundation retrofit to resist probable seismic attack.