Environmental and Economic Impact of Retrofitting Techniques to Prevent Out-of-Plane Failure Modes of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings

Linda Giresini, Claudia Casapulla and Pietro Croce
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Linda Giresini: Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, 56122 Pisa, Italy
Claudia Casapulla: Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Napoli Federico II, 80134 Napoli, Italy
Pietro Croce: Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, 56122 Pisa, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-26

Abstract: This paper presents an innovative methodology to assess the economic and environmental impact of integrated interventions, namely solutions that improve both structural and energy performance of existing masonry buildings, preventing out-of-plane modes and increasing their energy efficiency. The procedure allows the assessment of the environmental and the economic normalized costs of each integrated intervention, considering seismic and energy-saving indicators. In addition, the work introduces in relative or absolute terms two original indicators, associated with seismic displacement and thermal transmittance. The iso-cost curves so derived are thus a powerful tool to compare alternative solutions, aiming to identify the most advantageous one. In fact, iso-cost curves can be used with a twofold objective: to determine the optimal integrated intervention associated with a given economic/environmental impact, or, as an alternative, to derive the pairs of seismic and energy performance indicators associated with a given budget. The analysis of a somehow relevant case study reveals that small energy savings could imply excessive environmental impacts, disproportionally increasing the carbon footprint characterizing each intervention. Iso-cost curves in terms of absolute indicators are more suitable for assessing the effects of varying acceleration demands on a given building, while iso-cost curves in terms of relative indicators are more readable to consider a plurality of cases, located in different sites. The promising results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, stimulating further studies.

Keywords: CO 2 emissions; carbon footprint; sustainable buildings; climate change; out-of-plane mechanisms; economic impact; environmental impact; CFRP; tie-rods; kinematic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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