Browsing by Author "Alvarado, Rolando"

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    Intervenciones estructurales en la Basílica de la Recoleta Dominica en Santiago de Chile. Una revisión histórica y crítica
    (2024) Barrientos, Marco; Palazzi, Nuria Chiara; Alvarado, Rolando; Sandoval Mandujano, Cristián Eliseo
    Unreinforced masonry (URM) historic churches are highly seismic vulnerable buildings due to its structural and material features. This condition partially explains the irreversible cultural heritage loss in Chile. After earthquakes, many URM churches have been strengthened with reinforced concrete (RC) elements as a seismic proof strategy. In this context, this paper aims to exam-ine the Recoleta Dominica basilica, as a prominent building with architectural, historical, and constructive attributes with efficient seismic performance along years as well, as reported after the 1985 and 2010 megathrust earthquakes. Its seismic performance can be explained by the RC strengthening elements added after the 1927 earthquake, and later 1981-1982 and 2000 structural interventions, avoiding local collapses as serving its conservation. The paper concludes by highlighting the 1927 RC project impact, its early technique reflected on its structural design criteria and following the original building nature. Some other studies in this research line may contribute to a better understanding of the inherited scopes involved in any structural RC project, its impact on the architectural features, the seismic-resistant improvements, and its cultural preservation.
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    Non-destructive testing and kinematic limit analysis applied to a historic masonry church early intervened with RC elements
    (2025) Alvarado, Rolando; Barrientos, Marco; Suazo, Antonio; Menanno, Giovanni; Pérez Pinedo, Luis Elías; Palazzi, Nuria Chiara; Sandoval Mandujano, Cristián
    This article assesses the structural condition of a historic unreinforced masonry (URM) church whose original earthquake-resistant system was strengthened with reinforced concrete (RC) elements after the 1927 Mendoza earthquake. This early intervention, which took place between 1927 and 1930, consisted of RC frames formed by beams and columns embedded in the existing masonry. Since then, the church's seismic performance has been satisfactory, presenting minor damage after significant earthquakes. Despite its successful seismic performance, this church-and its strengthening strategy- has not been studied in depth. Due to the limited structural information available, a multidisciplinary study involving several non-destructive tests (NDT) in the church was conducted to understand its current structural state and reduce information gaps derived from historical sources and visual on-site inspection surveys. NDTs included the use of Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), among others. To assess the effectiveness of RC interventions, seismic behavior before and after the different retrofitting interventions was compared through linear kinematic analyses of the main failure mechanisms observed. The research results show that RC interventions increased the spectral accelerations required to activate overturning mechanisms in the macro-elements identified in the church, with safety indexes exceeding 1.0 for most RC-intervened macro-elements. The latter indicates that these elements are safe under the seismic loads specified by the Chilean code for heritage structures.