What approaches for the prediction of seismic response of rigid structures?

摘要

In the paper one addresses the problem of forecasting the dynamic response of structures behaving according to a rocking mode. The rocking response is often exhibited by structures and facilities during earthquakes acting like rigid bodies or rigid bodies assemblies, both in the form of single mode or coupled to other dynamic modes. Rocking dynamics, thus, usually interests a wide variety of structures and objects, also including historical and monumental constructions or ancient art items, usually made of large-dimension monolithic stone blocks. Nevertheless, the high non-linearity and complexity affecting the rocking dynamics of rigid bodies make hard to perform some reliable forecasts about their response, and push towards the adoption of alternative strategies.