Seismic microzoning maps for restoration of monuments in Seville: Nuestra Señora de los Reyes Convent

Abstract

Historic buildings are the most difficult structures to repair. Materials used in architectural Heritage are not usually adequate to withstand earthquakes. Furthermore, in Spain, seismic standard does not specify the treatment to be performed in these buildings. Nuestra Señora de los Reyes Convent, placed in Seville (Spain), had been acquired as public building for Autonomic Govemment from the beginning of XXI century. Its new use has required prior inspection and monitoring of the building. Collaborating with official refurbishing works, a series of Seville city ground maps have been performed with a database which contains almost 400 prospectings. In addition, university researchers have elaborated new geotechnical documents. As a result of these tests and inspections, researchers ha ve obtained several suggestions for convent restoration works: reinforcing ground properties with injected concrete; using shallow foundations which must have similar properties as historical foundations; and finally, controlling for characteristics of made-ground used for land movements.