The new vibration-based Structural Health Monitoring system of the School of Engineering Main Building in Naples, Italy

The Main Building of the School of Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II” has been for years the core of an experimental program focused on structural and seismic monitoring for risk mitigation and management. The relevance of the case study is dictated by the architectural value of the building and its location in the active volcanic area of Campi Flegrei, which has been recently hit by several earthquakes associated with bradyseism. During some renovation interventions on the building, the former monitoring system installed in 2006 was removed and it has been recently replaced by a new up-to-date vibration based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system. The new SHM system has been implemented within the RETURN research project focused on multi-risk science to create resilient communities under changing climate. In that context, vibration-based SHM plays a pivotal role as a technology to enhance resilience in environments exposed to natural hazards. The present paper describes the SHM system in detail, reports some results, and remarks the role of OMA in the development of effective SHM technologies.