Analysis of the state of conservation of Pierluigi Nervi's ferrocement structures: numerical and experimental study

Ferrocement, pioneered and perfected by Pierluigi Nervi, remains a subject of great interest in the field of structural engineering due to its remarkable mechanical properties, durability, and adaptability to complex architectural forms. In order to accurately assess its behaviour under load, both from a conservation and engineering point of view, reliable experimental methodologies and monitoring tools are essential. This research focuses on the design of a four-point bending test to evaluate the mechanical response of a full-scale (1:1) mock-up of the undulated ferrocement corner beam from "Torino Esposizioni Hall C", with particular emphasis on the preliminary structural analysis of the mock-up's response under bending and the calibration and optimization of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) as a surface deformation measurement technique. The calibration of the DIC system was carried out through preliminary tests on simpler specimens under basic loading conditions, enabling a detailed analysis of key parameters, optimization of measurement accuracy, and minimization of experimental errors. The findings from this phase of the study led to the development of a robust experimental protocol, ready for implementation in the main test. Furthermore, potential future improvements were identified, including enhanced image acquisition under dynamic loading conditions, integration with predictive numerical models, and the extension of this methodology to innovative ferrocement-inspired materials. This work provides a fundamental contribution to the experimental characterization of ferrocement, both with and without corrosion, while also linking to previous researches conducted on smaller mock-ups.