Numerical Study on the Application of Hemp-FRP for Seismic Retrofitting of a RC School Building

The Italian private and public building stock was proven to be highly vulnerable from recent seismic events. When assessing retrofitting techniques for existing buildings, it is also important to take energy aspects into account, as construction field is one of the sectors with the greatest impact on the environment. In this framework, the use of natural fibers, such as hemp, instead of artificial ones, for retrofit purpose represents a convincing alternative to combine the need of reducing seismic vulnerability with environmental sustainability. In this work a numerical study on a RC structure reinforced with a Hemp-FRP system having characteristics derived from the literature is performed. The comparison between the structures before and after retrofit demonstrated the effectiveness of natural fibers in enabling the seismic upgrading of the inspected RC building.