New Activities Performed in Italy on Innovative Anti-Seismic Techniques for Civil and Industrial Structures

Summarized in this paper are some of the most recent studies performed in Italy on innovative anti-seismic techniques, partly funded by the European Commission (EC) or sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The paper is divided into two parts. The first part mainly deals with seismic isolation (SI) and more precisely, with the following topics: (1) progress of detailed numerical analyses of elastomeric isolators, performed in the framework of a IAEA Co-ordination Research Program; (2) development of design guidelines for isolated nuclear plants applicable in the EC countries and Russian Federation; (3) analysis of the benefits of floor SI of strategic civil buildings with modular steel-frame structure; (4) records of an aftershock of the 1997 Marche & Umbria earthquake on a seismically isolated building; (5) promotion of demonstration applications of innovative anti-seismic techniques to both new constructions and existing buildings; and (6) evaluation of the benefits of applying SI to chemical plant components. The second part deals with the progress of studies performed in the framework of the EC-funded REEDS project, namely with the main features and results of detailed numerical analyses carried out for viscous, viscoelastic and elastic-plastic energy dissipators, as well as for an innovative rolling isolation system and structure mock-ups provided with the aforesaid dissipators.