Sensitivity Analysis of the Environmental Effect on the Dynamics of Concrete Historical Architectures with Structural Joints

A large part of the 20th century architectural heritage is approaching the end of its useful service life and issues related to its conservation should be therefore addressed. In that period, the use of concrete as a building material spread considerably, favoring experimentation in geometries and structural schemes. If on one hand the innovativeness and uniqueness of these buildings have made them an essential part of our architectural heritage, on the other hand they make their study challenging. The complexity of these structures’ dynamic behavior results in the uncertainty on the sensitivity to possible damage scenarios and environmental factors, which represent a relevant aspect in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). This paper reports the results of a sensitivity analysis of changing environmental conditions on a concrete historical building, composed by blocks divided by structural joints. The case study is the Pavilion V of Turin Exhibition Center, built by Riccardo Morandi in the late 50s. The research conducted on the pavilion’s Finite Element Model (FEM) allowed to show the effects of the variation of the elastic modulus of the structure’s components on the modal parameters for different temperature sensitivity scenarios and, consequently, to extract useful information for an upcoming permanent monitoring.