PSI - Issue 78

Fabio Micozzi et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1451–1458

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The shape of the school desk was designed considering numerical simulations of the structural performance under vertically distributed and concentrated loads, both symmetric and non-symmetric, in addition to ergonomic and functional considerations as well as production requirements. However, it was clear from the very beginning that these numerical simulations could only provide initial indications, and deeper insight could only be based on experimental tests. Accordingly, a large testing campaign including both static loading and impact tests were conducted during the SAFE project in the structural laboratory of the University of L’Aquila, as documented in Gioiella et al. 2022 and Sciomenta et al. 2025. Impact tests were performed using assemblies of different sizes of clay bricks tied together (total mass 300 kg, 450 kg, and 600 kg) having base dimensions approximately the same size as the tabletop. These tests provided valuable information for optimizing the design of the proposed dual frame school desk. However, performing such tests was a complex and time-consuming task given that the mass once dropped was damaged and could not be used for additional tests, with few exceptions, and was not easy to precisely impact the tabletop due to inevitable rotations and eccentricities. The research activities on this topic were further developed after the SAFE project within a new funding by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, Mission 4, Component 2, under the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the 2022-2025 National Innovation Ecosystem VITALITY, Spoke 6, WP3 “Sustainable design of smart furniture system with life-saving function in conditions of emergency for community settings”. In the VITALITY research project, a revised and optimized version of the school desk was designed, produced and installed in two classrooms in a high school in the municipality of Ascoli Piceno, Italy, in the area hit by the 2016 Central Italy Earthquakes, as a pilot demonstration and real-life testing of their everyday use. Fig. 2 shows one of the two classrooms (that also benefited from the installation of other life-saving furniture not discussed in this article) and the latest version of the proposed school desk (tabletop 900 mm × 600 mm and height 760 mm).

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Fig. 2. (a) Classroom of a high-school institute in Ascoli Piceno equipped with SAFE furniture; (b) view of the SAFE school desks.

Among the objectives of the VITALITY research project there is the definition of a methodology for assessing the capacity of tables to work as protective shelters in case of earthquakes. Impact tests are inevitably a critical part of such a methodology. This article discusses the rationale behind a proposal for an impact test procedure that is easily replicable and useful for predicting how the table could work under extreme vertical loading. 2. Assessment of the structural behaviour of dual frame desks 2.1. Normative requirements In Europe the normative requirements for school desk safety are reported in EN 1729-2 (CEN 2023), where, among various tests, the resistance to vertical loads is assessed through a repeated static load test. In the case of school desks having width less than 1000 mm, as is the case of the considered desk, a 1kN vertical load is applied in the symmetry plane perpendicular to the wider horizontal side at 100 mm from the edge. Load application is