Numerical and experimental evaluation of site effects at ridges characterized by complex geological setting

The paper presents the results of site effects investigation at two villages,
Castelvecchio Subequo and Castel di Ieri (Central Italy), located about 2 km from each
other, on top of carbonate ridges characterized by complex geological/structural characteristics.
Both villages suffered of an anomalous high damage degree determined by the
Mw = 6.1, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, highlighting the occurrence of significant ground
motion amplification phenomena. Studying seismic response at rock sites characterized by
complex geological setting is a challenging issue, as different factors can alter the expected
ground motion. The difficulties arise from both the reconstruction of a suitable and thorough
geological/geotechnical subsoil model and limitations of geophysical and numerical
methods in such contexts. In order to overcome these difficulties, we here proposed an
approach which integrates numerical modelling, based on the definition of a subsoil setting
built from an accurate geological field analysis, with active and passive geophysical
techniques. In particular, the calibration of numerical models based on transfer functions
computed from Standard Spectral Ratio applied to noise recordings provided encouraging
results.

The study was financially supported by a research agreement between
CNR-IGAG (Director dr. Paolo Messina) and the municipality of Castelvecchio Subequo and Castel di Ieri,
as part of the studies carried out for reconstruction planning after the 2009 earthquake.

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