Progress of Activities Performed in Italy by ENEA and ENEL on Seismic Isolation and Passive Energy Dissipation

Presented in this paper are the most recent studies performed in Italy by ENEA and ENEL on the innovative antiseismic techniques, in the framework of ongoing projects, partly funded by the European Commission (EC) or sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). More precisely, after summarizing the general objectives, programmes and achievements of such projects, this paper deals with the main features and results of detailed numerical analyses carried out for (a) viscous, viscoelastic and elastic-plastic energy dissipators, innovative rolling systems and a structure mock-up provided with viscous and viscoelastic dissipators (EC-funded REEDS project); (b) the Bell Tower of the San Giorgio in Trignano Church (Reggio Emilia, Italy), which is being seismically retrofitted using shape memory alloy devices (EC-funded ISTECH project); (c) U.S. high damping rubber bearings and Japanese low damping rubber bearings (IAEA Coordinated Research Programme on Intercomparison of Analysis Methods for Seismically Isolated Nuclear Structures). Finally, presented are (d) the main features and results of a wide self-funded ENEL project aimed at the enhancement of seismic protection of eleciric equipment using innovative antiseismic devices (high damping rubber bearings, helical springs in parallel with viscous dampers, wire ropes), which included both experiments at ISMES and numerical analyses.