PSI - Issue 78

Marco Peroni et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 2110–2117

2116

with the preparation of the guide-pipe with its smaller lateral pipe required for the concrete casting once the “rejection” depth of the driven-in pile had been reached. The driven post is composed of pipe sections that are driven into the ground by means of a hydraulic press that is rather easy to transport. The guide tube gradually drives a circular bottom plate deep into the ground (the diameter of the plate determines the final diameter of the pile that will be built), which is pushed down as the pipe sections are inserted under pressure. This is done up to the height that is estimated to be suitable to ensure the necessary bearing capacity (in our case 20m). Once the predetermined height has been reached, the liquid cement is injected into the space created at the sides in the ground and the reinforced concrete pile with a central steel pipe (bearing capacity 120t at SLU) is constructed. Once the base apparatus was secured, we were able to focus on the elevated part and in particular on the semi-dome of the chapel, which had lesions in the order of centimeters if not tens of centimeters at some points (particularly in the disconnection between the semi-dome and the arch). We worked from the bottom up, first of all sewing up the most important lesions above the openings with calendared steel lintels, and then tackled the issue of consolidating the semi-dome and the roof, which in the meantime had all been shored up from below, with the possibility of ‘forcing’ some parts of the masonry in order to try and reconstruct the original geometry (although it is very difficult to do this completely given the masses of masonry we are dealing with).

Fig. 6. The steel ring provided at the roof’s level.

As of today, as we write this memoir, the construction site is at a standstill but close to restarting with the goal of delivering the work and being able to reopen the church, safely, in December 2025. The next works in a few months from now will therefore involve the application of carbon fiber wrapping on the ribs of the semi-dome, both on the intrados and extrados, and the application of a basalt fiber consolidating mesh with NHL lime-based mortar on the dome's ribs, between the ribs. The intervention is completed by the fundamental hooping at the base of the dome with a double-thickness carbon fiber band passing through the brakes of the stiffening ribs and anchored to the impost of the arch by means of