Seismic isolation technique of marble sculptures at the Accademia Gallery in Florence: numerical calibration and simulation modelling

Isolation technique based on small-size double concave curved surface sliders was studied and applied to Michelangelo’s sculptures placed at the “Galleria dell’Accademia” in Florence, Italy. Starting from preliminary results carried out by some of the authors on such kind of devices, the effect of an enhanced calibration of friction parameters was presented and a number of numerical simulations of both experimental tests and real sculptures under different dynamic conditions were carried out. In particular the experimental tests results were analysed and compared with those obtained for the statues subjected to sinusoidal inputs. Then the sculptures in isolated conditions were subjected to a set of generated accelerograms, compatible with the design spectrum characterizing the Florence site and the main results of the analyses are presented and compared with the case of non-isolated systems.