509691 - SEISMIC DESIGN OF STRUCTURES

courses

ID:

509691

Duration (hours):

56

CFU:

SSD:

TECNICA DELLE COSTRUZIONI

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Primo Semestre (29/09/2025 - 16/01/2026)

Course Objectives

The course aims at introducing and initiating students in the structural design process, starting from the architectural requirements in order to arrive at a structural configuration, then passing on to the design and detailing of structural members, with a particular focus on earthquake resistance.
At the completion of the course it is expected that students will find themselves equipped with the necessary knowledge to independently pre-design a reinforced concrete building, correctly model the latter in a structural analysis software package, undertake the necessary static and dynamic analyses, and then design and detail columns, beams, walls and nodes, all with the explicit consideration of seismic actions.

Course Prerequisites

The course foresees that students will have already successfully followed the courses on Structural Mechanics and Structural Engineering.

Teaching Methods

- Lectures
- Design tutorials

Assessment Methods

- Presentation and submission of the design project developed during the semester
- Oral exam

Texts

Some textbooks pertinent to the course are listed in what follows:

- L. Petrini, R. Pinho, G.M. Calvi. Criteri di Progettazione Antisismica degli Edifici. IUSS Press, 2004.

- E. Cosenza, G. Magliulo, M. Pecce, R. Ramasco. Progetto Antisismico di Edifici in Cemento Armato. IUSS Press, 2004.

- M. Mezzina, D. Raffaele, A. Vitone. Teoria e pratica delle costruzioni in cemento armato (Vol. 1 e 2). Città Studi Edizioni, 2007.

- AICAP. Guida all'uso dell'Eurocodice 2 - con riferimento alle Norme Tecniche D.M. 14.1.2008 (Vol. 1 e 2). AITEC, 2008.

- V. Nunziata. Teoria e pratica delle strutture in cemento armato (Vol. 1 e 2). Dario Flaccovio Editore, 2004.

- F. Angotti, M. Guiglia, P. Marro, M. Orlando. Progetto delle strutture in calcestruzzo armato. Hoepli, 2011.

- E. Giangreco. Teoria e tecnica delle costruzioni (Vol. 1). Liguori Editore, 2003.
- B. Furiozzi, C. Messina, L. Paolini. Prontuario per il calcolo di elementi strutturali. Le Monnier, 2010.

- F. Rossi, F. Salvi. Manuale di ingegneria civile 2 - Scienza delle costruzioni. Tecnica delle costruzioni. Ponti. Zanichelli, 2001.

The course can be considered as structured in four main parts, listed below. In addition, during the course the students will also be asked to undertake a design project in which a building, whose architectural project will have been previously developed by the students, will need to be designed.

STRUCTURAL DESIGN – SOME GENERAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Construction materials (concrete, steel, masonry, timber...); structural configuration (frames, structural walls, cores...); examples of different structural configurations (frames, warehouses, skyscrapers...); actions on structures and their influence on the structural response (vertical loads, wind, thermal variations, explosions, fire, ground settlements...); seismic action (intensity, scales, factors influencing the ground motion, action definition for structural design, response spectrum...).

INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURAL MODELLING
Objective of the numerical analysis; use of structural analysis; selection of appropriate modelling and analysis method; modelling of frames; representation of structural elements (columns, beams, beam-column joints, structural walls...); representation of constraints and restraints (joints, foundations...); introduction to adopted structural analysis program (materials, sections, elements, nodes, constraints, loads, "rigid-ends", "end-releases"); example case-studies.

REVIEW REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN BASICS
Ultimate and Serviceability limit states; material properties (mean and characteristic values); safety coefficients; internal actions (axial, bending, shear); reinforcement design; design of slabs, beams and columns.

DESIGN OF A REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDING
Load combinations, characteristic values, design values, combination factors, etc; load distribution; predesign; choice of slab system; sizing of beams and columns; computer modeling; structural verification; modal analysis; seismic action calculation; design of structural elements and foundations.