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• The procedure can be used for the identification of historical steelworks. • A database of material properties was setup from literature and standard documents. • The material data can be used for structures with limited knowledge level. • An identification method has been proposed for cast iron, wrought iron and steel. • The procedure can be improved by using non-destructive testing (NDT) method. Mechanical properties of materials, as provided by current design standards, are the pre-requisites for the proper identification and structural assessment of existing buildings and civil engineering works. For mechanical characterisation, in case of "Limited Knowledge" (KL1) without direct information on the material properties, the usual features according to the standards at the construction time are considered. This is the case, for example, of structural metalworks characterised by historical and artistic interest (bridges, roof galleries, covered markets, railway stations, etc.) or industrial archaeology buildings where, because of the constraints imposed by the National Authorities of Cultural Heritage Preservation, extensive or exhaustive in-situ tests cannot be performed. This paper focuses chronologically, from the XIX century until today, on the evolution process of ferrous alloys, namely cast iron, wrought iron and steel, for structural applications. After a description and classification of the aforementioned materials and their production processes, the main mechanical properties and design stresses for bending and compression elements are briefly analysed and collected in a chronological order. Reference is made to the product specifications and design codes, integrated with data from extensive experimental testing. The resulting database can support realistic assumptions about materials and their properties, used over a range time of over 100 years, once the age of building is known. Finally, a methodology for identifying existing metal carpentry structures, which combines the database with fast non-destructive testing methods, is proposed. Such an approach can be effectively used not only for historical steelworks, but also for the mechanical characterization of structural subsystems or elements (e.g. beams, columns, lintels, tie rods) in common existing buildings made of either steel or steel-rc composite structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• AVTs are performed on eight historical masonry mosques. • Natural periods of the mosques are calculated and numerical models are calibrated. • Fundamental frequency and dynamic characteristics of the ground are identified. • Empirical relation is presented for the natural periods of the mosques. Eight historical mosques of Kermanshah constructed in 18th or 19th century CE are investigated with ambient vibration tests on their sites and buildings. Conventional peak picking technique is used for determination of structures' fundamental frequencies and spectral ratio of horizontal to vertical components along with ellipticity inversion of Rayleigh waves are considered to identify the natural frequency of ground and shear wave velocity profile to define the site conditions according to the national codes of Iran and Italy. The recorded motions on the buildings are used to calculate the fundamental frequencies of the structure. Afterward, buildings are modeled by macro-element method and material properties are tuned in the way that the fundamental frequencies from the modal analyses match with the measured values from AVTs. Finally, more modal analyses are performed by the calibrated models to present an empirical relation between the natural period of the mosques, the geometrical characteristics of the buildings, and the mechanical properties of the construction materials. The results show that the natural periods of the masonry buildings of the mosques are different from the values of empirical relations in the national codes. Meanwhile, the proposed empirical relation presents the natural periods of the buildings of this study reasonably well and can be used for other masonry buildings of similar architecture and materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]