Prof. Stefano Galassi

Ancient masonry constructions in archaeological sites are often ruins or remains of wider portions. Therefore, archaeological artifacts generally occur as a discontinuous set of walls or columns detached from the original context. The absence of most of the original structural portions makes them much more vulnerable. Indeed, even if their current existing condition is an indicator of their equilibrium condition under gravitational loads, this condition is not sufficient to guarantee their preservation in the case of an unexpected earthquake. Furthermore, the cracking patterns and collapses make them even more vulnerable. For these reasons, the vulnerability of ruins should be addressed as regard to the possible failure mechanisms that can be activated by seismic actions. Accordingly, in this article a novel and targeted numerical tool for seismic vulnerability assessment of remains in archaeological sites, that considers collapse mechanisms occurrence as the main cause of masonry constructions being lost, is presented. Results of the numerical procedure proposed are compared with the results obtained by the canonical formulation of virtual works. Finally, the seismic vulnerability level of selected masonry constructions in the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Arpino (Italy) has been assessed by the use of this procedure.

1 November 2021 in Engineering Failure Analysis

Journal Article

Capacity assessment of masonry arches on moving supports in large displacements: Numerical model and experimental validation

Stefano Galassi

GIULIA MISSERI

Luisa Rovero

17 January 2018 in International Journal of Architectural Heritage

Journal Article

Pompeii’s Stabian Baths. Mechanical behavior assessment of selected masonry structures during the 1st century seismic events

Nicola Ruggieri

Stefano Galassi

Giacomo Tempesta

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD buried and preserved the Stabian Baths building in the exact configuration which the archaeological excavations carried out in the second half of the 19th century recovered. By combining archeologists’ studies with the analysis of deformations and cracking pattern due to the 1st century seismic events, in this article numerical models have been formulated which allowed the formation of some hypotheses coherent on the timeline of the events, the damage to as well as the change of the shape and stylistic language of the thermal building. Specifically, through global seismic analyses and kinematic analyses of masonry portions of the “destrictarium” block, it is proven that during the 1st century not only a sole catastrophic earthquake occurred but, at least, two important seismic events took place. The purpose of this article is to identify and parameterize the responsible earthquake by the analysis of seismic effects detectable in the damages and archaeological remains of the masonry walls of the Stabian Baths. The identification of the earthquake and the grading of provoked damages represent a useful knowledge tool that provides information about the vulnerability of ancient buildings and can be suitably used also to safeguard architectural heritage from seismic risk.

About Me

Dr. Galassi is associate professor in Mechanics of Solids and Structures in the Department of Architecture at the University of Florence (Italy) with the task of teaching the courses of “Mechanics of Structures 1 and 2” at the Euro-Mediterranean School of Architecture in Fès (Morocco) and “Mechanics of Structures” at the Catholic University Nostra Signora del Buon Consiglio in Tirana (Albania). His research deals with the analysis of architectural heritage buildings, ancient masonry and timber structures and ruins in archaeological sites. His primary research interest is related to numerical modeling of structures and software development for structural analysis. In the context of safeguarding architectural heritage, he has also studied composite materials (FRPs and FRCMs) and the technique of Reticolatus both mechanically and computationally. The main research topics can be briefly summarized as follows: mechanical modeling of masonry constructions, timber-masonry constructions, rigid-block analysis, FEM analysis, seismic vulnerability assessment, foundation settlement-structure effect, strengthening interventions, structural software development. In 2012 he was a co-founder and is currently a member of DiaCon s.r.l., Spin-off Society of the University of Florence for the Preservation of Italian Architectural Heritage. Since 2018 he has also been a member of the research unit Dar|Med on Mediterranean Heritage and Design.

Prof. Stefano Galassi

Prof. Stefano Galassi

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

Publication Type Breakdown

Representative Publications

About Me