Recent advances in seismic assessment of nonstructural elements: ENRICH project

ENRICH project, namely “Enhancing the Resilience of Italian HealthCare and Hospital facilities”, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research in the framework of the PRIN 2020 call, aimed at assessing and enhancing the resilience of healthcare and hospital facilities, with a focus on nonstructural elements, and accounting for both seismic response and functional adaptivity aspects. The project started in 2022 and was concluded in 2025, it was coordinated by University of Naples Federico II and involved five research units, including University of Naples, University of Salento, University of Sannio, Construction Technologies Institute of National Research Council (ITC-CNR) and National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). The project was carried out in collaboration with hospitals of Caserta and Lecce, and these latter facilities were considered as case studies. The present study summarizes the main advances of the project regarding seismic assessment of nonstructural elements housed in hospitals. The most critical case study elements were identified and characterized by hospital inspections. A wide range of elements was considered, including architectural systems, hydraulic networks, and building contents. Numerical and experimental methods were implemented to identify critical response features and seismic response and capacity measures. The study provides guidance for assessing seismic behavior of hospital components and provides representative quantitative measures associated with their seismic capacity and safety.