PSI - Issue 78

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

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4. Conclusions This article presented an impact test on a school desk designed to withstand vertical loads much higher than those foreseen in normal conditions, as might be experience if damage in the hosting school building is determined by an earthquake. Attention was given to the definition of a testing methodology that could be an extension of current prescriptions for testing conventional school desk and that could be easily replicable in a structural engineering laboratory. For this reason, the mass was selected to have a spheric shape providing an impact area equivalent to the loading area of the static testing requirements of the current European safety code for school desks that would not be influenced by possible rotations in the drop phase. While much work is planned for the definition of a testing procedure for the qualification of school desks as adequate to work as safe shelters in case of seismic damage, the performed laboratory test represents a valuable step towards this objective. In addition, the experimental measurements highlighted the important role that computer-vision methodologies for displacement tracking have, considering that the use of other sensors for monitoring the structural response poses concerns regarding their damage except for strain gauges that, however, require long installation time. Acknowledgements This work has been funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, Mission 4, Component 2, under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041 - VITALITY - CUPJ13C22000430001. References CEN, 2023. Furniture - Chairs and tables for educational institutions - Part 2: Safety requirements and test methods. EN 1729-2:2023. Gioiella L., Micozzi F., Zona A., Dall'Asta A., Sciomenta M., Tamagnone G., Fragiacomo M. 2022. Preliminary results in the design and testing of earthquake-resistant school furniture. Proceeding of the 17th World Conference on Seismic Isolation (ASSISI), Turin, Italy, 12-15 September 2022. Micozzi F., Morici M., Zona A., Dall'Asta A. 2023. Vision-based structural monitoring: application to a medium-span post-tensioned concrete bridge under vehicular traffic. Infrastructures 8(10):152. Sciomenta M., Tamagnone G., Gioiella L., Micozzi F., Zona A., Dall'Asta A., Fragiacomo M. 2025. Experimental testing of school furniture designed with life-saving functions in case of earthquakes. Engineering Structures, 336(1):120389. Università di Camerino, Università dell'Aquila, Vastarredo Industrie SRL, Camillo Sirianni SAS. 2021. Combined dual frame system for life saving desks against seismic-induced collapses. Patent EP4059378A1. Università di Camerino, Università dell'Aquila, Vastarredo Industrie SRL, Camillo Sirianni SAS. 2022. Piedino protettivo per aumentare le prestazioni strutturali delle scrivanie contro i crolli indotti dal sisma. Patent IT202200003099U1.