THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE IN SEISMIC ISOLATION AND ENERGY DISSIPATION

Seismic isolation and energy dissipation devices have been used in Italy since the seventies for the seismic protection of different structures, and in particular bridges and viaducts. The first application of seismic isolation in Italy was in the Somplago Viaduct of the Udine-Tarvisio Highway, who was subjected to the 1976 Friuli earthquake while under construction. Its very good behavior, despite the vicinity to the epicenter, induced a quick development of technologies for passive control and of related applications in bridges and viaducts. Applications in buildings started only a few years later, but did not have the same development than those in bridges; they still are not so numerous as in other countries, but the trend is now changing due to the new Italian seismic code. Since the end of the eighties the Italian seismic devices are applied in other countries too, from all European seismic-prone countries to Bangladesh, from USA to Turkey, from to Azerbaijan, from South Korea to Taiwan. In the last five years seismic South-America devices started to be used for the seismic protection of cultural heritage buildings. Some of the seismic devices developed in Italy are described in this paper, with pertinent examples of structures where they have been applied, in Italy and all over the world. Particular attention is focused in the energy dissipation devices, such as steel hysteretic dampers and fluid viscous dampers that are very often a fundamental component of the seismic isolation systems. Some of the outstanding projects in which Italian seismic devices have been used are the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece, the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, Italy, the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, the Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna river in Bangladesh, the Chirag I Offshore Platform in Azerbaijan, the Marquam Bridge in Oregon, USA, the new shelter of Akrotiri antiquities in Greece, the Caracas-Tuy Medio Railway in Venezuela, the Seohae Bridge in South-Korea, etc.