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The structural control of concrete gravity dams is of primary importance. In this context, numerical models play a fundamental role both to assess the vulnerability of gravity dams and to control their behaviour during normal operativity and after extreme events. In this regard, data monitoring represents an important source of information for numerical model calibrations. This study proposes a novel probabilistic procedure, defined in the Bayesian framework, to calibrate the parameters of finite elements models of dams. To this aim, monitoring data and the results of material tests are used as reference information. The computational burden is reduced by using a new hybridpredictive model of the dam displacements. An application on an Italian dam shows the feasibility of the proposed procedure.

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In the paper are discussed the likely causes of the collapse and the temporary safety features adopted to secure a collapsed portion of the Historic Walls of the city of Pistoia (Italy). The walls of medieval origin, affected by various subsequent modifications and alterations, have been subjected to a sudden collapse, after a period of heavy rain, for a length of about 25 meters. Hereby are described the probable causes of the collapse, due to a poor quality of the walls (external façades with external layer made up of river pebbles and inner filling material in-coherent), height of building is not modest (approximately eleven meters), a significant differential in height between the two faces (about four meters) and a not unlikely rotation of the base. It is proposed a technique of temporary reinforcement with a system of steel tie-beams and braces with a view to the work of reconstruction of the partially collapsed and consolidation of the lateral parts of wall.

This work concerns the stability of rectangular cross-sectional piles made of a no-tension material and subjected to an axial load acting at the extremities within the middle third of the cross section. The resulting differential equations are solved, and an explicit relation between the load and a suitable deformability parameter obtained.

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This paper addresses the structural damage to the main buildings of the cities of Reggiolo and Carpi after the primary earthquake shocks on May 20th and 29th, 2012, in Emilia Romagna. The damage survey, performed via form-based methods, highlights the different seismic behaviour of several types of buildings, especially those having historical\ud features, and the consequences of the damage in terms of costs.Moreover, an analysis of some failure mechanisms activated in Reggiolo enables the evaluation of the local peak ground acceleration, due to the soil amplification