Evaluation of Seismic Vulnerability of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona by an Integrated Approach Based on Terrestrial Laser Scanner and Finite Element Modelling

Structural assessment of historical constructions is a particular issue as these structures were built with technical knowledge and construction methods based on in-field experience and on the observation of previous failures and successes of similar buildings. Their structural behavior is influenced by numerous aspects, sometimes not completely known (geometry, structural schemes and details, material mechanical properties), which often results in historical structures inadequate to achieve the safety level required for new constructions. In the case of earthquakes, these structures can suffer heavy local or global damages that sometimes lead to collapse. Thus static and seismic vulnerability assessment of historical buildings should therefore be performed by proper methodologies that differ from those used for new constructions. In Italy, an official document (Direttiva del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri [DPCM] 2007, revised in 2011) was released, defining a step-by-step procedure for data acquisition and vulnerability assessment of Cultural Heritage buildings. Such procedures can be coupled with new survey technologies such as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), which, for performing a high-detailed three-dimensional geometrical survey, can provide detailed structural models refining the assessment results. In this study, the DPCM procedure is applied to Santa Maria del Mar Church in Barcelona (Spain) for seismic vulnerability assessment, using TLS three-dimensional survey and finite element analysis.