CESI performed seismic assessment for the Fiastrone Dam

Due to its expertise in the sector, CESI was commissioned by Enel Green Power to perform seismic structural safety assessment for a group of secondary facilities, mainly surface outlets and walkways, located in Italy.

The activities in charge of CESI’s Consulting Division included a complete 3D laser scanning of structures, the withdrawal of concrete and reinforcing of bar specimens, and subsequent tests to identify ultimate loads, the set-up of structural Finite Element Models (FEM), using data from the laser scan data, in order to simulate the structural behavior and evaluate the structural capacity, the evaluation of maximum structural loads to be applied to the FEM models (static and seismic) and, finally, the assessment of the structural capacity.  

Data acquired through laser-scanning was translated into geo referenced point-cloud and therefore used to implement the geometry of the FEM models. These were subsequently loaded with static and seismic loads, and the resultant internal actions (forces, stresses) were compared with material properties coming from load tests. The result is the overall structural assessment of the surface outlet.

This project is an example of CESI’s expertise in setting up the complete set of different activities, from on-site relief to dynamic FEM analysis, required to assess the structural ‘health’ of infrastructural facilities.