Damages to masonry churches after 2016–2017 Central Italy seismic sequence and definition of fragility curves

This paper presents a detailed study of the damages and collapses suffered by various masonry churches in the aftermath of the seismic sequence of Central Italy in 2016. The damages will first be analyzed and then compared with the numerical data obtained through 3D simulations with eigenfrequency and then nonlinear static analyses (i.e., pushover). The main purposes of this study are: (i) to create an adequately consistent sensitivity study on several definite case studies to obtain an insight into the role played by geometry—which is always unique when referred to churches—and by irregularities; (ii) validate or address the applicability limits of the more widespread nonlinear approach, widely recommended by the Italian Technical Regulations. Pushover analyses are conducted assuming that the masonry behaves as a nonlinear material with different tensile and compressive strengths. The consistent number of case studies investigated will show how conventional static approaches can identify, albeit in a qualitative way, the most critical macro-elements that usually trigger both global and local collapses, underlining once again how the phenomena are affected by the geometry of stones and bricks, the texture of the wall face, and irregularities in the plan and elevation and in addition to hypotheses made on the continuity between orthogonal walls.

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Historic City Centers After Destructive Seismic Events, The Case of Finale Emilia During the 2012 Emilia-Romagna Earthquake: Advanced Numerical Modelling on Four Case Studies

The Open Civil Engineering Journal ◽

10.2174/1874149501711011059 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 1059-1078 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Simone Tiberti ◽

Gabriele Milani

Keyword(s):

Seismic Vulnerability ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Central Italy ◽

Actual Condition ◽

Actual State ◽

Seismic Events ◽

Seismic Sequence ◽

Masonry Churches ◽

Historic City ◽

The Village

Introduction:The recent wave of seismic shocks in Central Italy (2016) had once more disastrous consequences for the local monuments, which consisted of old masonry churches and towers. The permanent, seismic-induced damage to cultural heritage has become a serious issue that can no longer be downsized, and questions have been raised about how to satisfactorily assess the vulnerability of such heritage in advance. This paper deals with the investigations into the actual condition of a historic city center partially destroyed by the seismic sequence occurred in May 2012 in Emilia-Romagna. Namely, the case of Finale Emilia – a small to medium-sized village located at the very center of the stricken area – is considered.Methods:Three important heritage masterpieces were numerically analyzed using Finite Element meshes to deepen the knowledge of their seismic vulnerability and try to avoid similar disasters in the future. The first structure is a masonry castle known as “Castello delle Rocche”, which underwent severe damages during the seismic sequence. The second and third examples deal with the structural analysis of two towers, both collapsed due to the quakes: the Fortified Tower of the castle and the Clock Tower of the village. The last analysis is devoted to study the seismic behavior of a medium-sized masonry church (Santa Maria del Rosario), heavily damaged by the seismic sequence and whose bell tower collapsed due to the formation of a hinge at mid-height.Results and Conclusion:Numerical models were created for all the buildings involved, and a variety of advanced analyses were carried out, including nonlinear static and dynamic ones, to have a deep insight into their expected vulnerability, also finding reasonable correspondence between the numerical results and the actual state of damage observed during the surveys made in the aftermath of the seismic events.

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Development of parametric seismic fragility curves for historical churches

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.1007/s10518-021-01174-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alessandra Marotta ◽

Domenico Liberatore ◽

Luigi Sorrentino

Keyword(s):

Seismic Performance ◽

Structural Damage ◽

Seismic Vulnerability ◽

Failure Modes ◽

Fragility Curves ◽

Central Italy ◽

Ratio Test ◽

Main Shocks ◽

Structural Details ◽

Masonry Churches

AbstractFor both spiritual and cultural reasons, churches are an essential part of the historical heritage of several countries worldwide, including Europe, Americas and Australasia. The extreme damage that occurred during the 2016–2017 Central Italy seismic swarm highlighted once again the noteworthy seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry churches, which exhibited several collapses and caused uncountable losses to the Italian artistic heritage. The seismic performance of 158 affected buildings was analyzed in the aftermath of the main shocks. The failure modes activated by the earthquakes were identified making reference to the local mechanisms currently considered in Italy for post-seismic assessment of churches. The structural damage of the investigated buildings, related to 21 mechanisms rather than to an overall global response, was explained resorting to empirical statistical procedures taking into account ground motion intensity and structural details that can worsen or improve the seismic performance. Finally, parametric fragility curves were derived selecting those structural details that mostly influence the damage by means of the likelihood-ratio test. Developed models can be used in future territorial-scale scenario or risk analyses.

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Exceedance of design actions in epicentral areas: insights from the ShakeMap envelopes for the 2016–2017 central Italy sequence

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.1007/s10518-021-01192-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Iunio Iervolino ◽

Pasquale Cito ◽

Chiara Felicetta ◽

Giovanni Lanzano ◽

Antonio Vitale

Keyword(s):

Earthquake Engineering ◽

Structural Damage ◽

Structural Engineering ◽

Central Italy ◽

Civil Defense ◽

Point Of View ◽

Seismic Sequence ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Motion Effect ◽

Observed Damage

AbstractShakeMap is the tool to evaluate the ground motion effect of earthquakes in vast areas. It is useful to delimit the zones where the shaking is expected to have been most significant, for civil defense rapid response. From the earthquake engineering point of view, it can be used to infer the seismic actions on the built environment to calibrate vulnerability models or to define the reconstruction policies based on observed damage vs shaking. In the case of long-lasting seismic sequences, it can be useful to develop ShakeMap envelopes, that is, maps of the largest ground intensity among those from the ShakeMap of (selected) events of a seismic sequence, to delimit areas where the effects of the whole sequence have been of structural engineering relevance. This study introduces ShakeMap envelopes and discusses them for the central Italy 2016–2017 seismic sequence. The specific goals of the study are: (i) to compare the envelopes and the ShakeMap of the main events of the sequence to make the case for sequence-based maps; (ii) to quantify the exceedance of design seismic actions based on the envelopes; (iii) to make envelopes available for further studies and the reconstruction planning; (iv) to gather insights on the (repeated) exceedance of design seismic actions at some sites. Results, which include considerations of uncertainty in ShakeMap, show that the sequence caused exceedance of design hazard in thousands of square kilometers. The most relevant effects of the sequence are, as expected, due to the mainshock, yet seismic actions larger than those enforced by the code for structural design are found also around the epicenters of the smaller magnitude events. At some locations, the succession of ground-shaking that has excited structures, provides insights on structural damage accumulation that has likely taken place; something that is not accounted for explicitly in modern seismic design. The envelopes developed are available as supplemental material.

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Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings due to Land Subsidence Using InSAR Data in the Ancient Historical City of Pistoia (Italy)

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20102749 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (10) ◽

pp. 2749 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Pablo Ezquerro ◽

Matteo Del Soldato ◽

Lorenzo Solari ◽

Roberto Tomás ◽

Federico Raspini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fragility Curves ◽

Central Italy ◽

Sar Interferometry ◽

Ground Subsidence ◽

Public And Private ◽

Radar Images ◽

Spatial Deformation ◽

Damage Probability ◽

Medium Resolution ◽

Vertical Displacements

The launch of the medium resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 constellation in 2014 has allowed public and private organizations to introduce SAR interferometry (InSAR) products as a valuable option in their monitoring systems. The massive stacks of displacement data resulting from the processing of large C-B and radar images can be used to highlight temporal and spatial deformation anomalies, and their detailed analysis and postprocessing to generate operative products for final users. In this work, the wide-area mapping capability of Sentinel-1 was used in synergy with the COSMO-SkyMed high resolution SAR data to characterize ground subsidence affecting the urban fabric of the city of Pistoia (Tuscany Region, central Italy). Line of sight velocities were decomposed on vertical and E–W components, observing slight horizontal movements towards the center of the subsidence area. Vertical displacements and damage field surveys allowed for the calculation of the probability of damage depending on the displacement velocity by means of fragility curves. Finally, these data were translated to damage probability and potential loss maps. These products are useful for urban planning and geohazard management, focusing on the identification of the most hazardous areas on which to concentrate efforts and resources.

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Along-strike rupture directivity of earthquakes of the 2009 L'Aquila, central Italy, seismic sequence

Geophysical Journal International ◽

10.1093/gji/ggv275 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 203 (1) ◽

pp. 399-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

G. Calderoni ◽

A. Rovelli ◽

Y. Ben-Zion ◽

R. Di Giovambattista

Keyword(s):

Central Italy ◽

Seismic Sequence ◽

Rupture Directivity

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Sustainability of sunflower cultivation for biodiesel production in central Italy according to the Renewable Energy Directive methodology

Journal of Agricultural Engineering ◽

10.4081/jae.2013.222 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 175 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniele Duca ◽

Giuseppe Toscano ◽

Ester Foppa Pedretti ◽

Giovanni Riva

Keyword(s):

Fossil Fuels ◽

Central Italy ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Biodiesel Production ◽

European Level ◽

Minimum Threshold ◽

Irrigated Crops ◽

Standard Value ◽

Points Of View ◽

Definition Of

The use of renewable energies as alternative to fossil fuels has value from different points of view and has effects at environmental, social and economic level. These aspects are often connected to each other and together define the overall sustainability of bioenergy. At European level, the Directive 2009/28/EC gives the basic criteria for the estimation of sustainability of biofuels and indicates a minimum threshold of 35% of greenhouse gas saving for a biofuel in order to be considered sustainable. The Directive gives the possibility to identify standard regional values for the cultivation steps that could be utilized for the certification. This paper aims to give a contribution to the definition of these values considering the RED methodology applied to the sunflower cropped in central Italy which is characterized by a hilly landscape and not-irrigated crops. To determine input and output of sunflower cultivation in the central Italy, the results of PROBIO project, carried out by the Authors, were used. The sustainability of biodiesel produced from sunflower grown in central Italy is variable and depends on the nitrogen input and seasonal climatic conditions that affect the yields. The greenhouse gases savings of the Italian chain is 40% in average, greater than the required 35% and would be possible to assign this value as standard to the biofuel chain biodiesel from sunflower cultivated in central Italy. Using an averaged regional standard value guards against the possibility of considering unsustainable harvesting in unfavourable years and seeing it overestimated in the favourable ones.

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Iconic crumbling of the clock tower in Amatrice after 2016 central Italy seismic sequence: advanced numerical insight

Procedia Structural Integrity ◽

10.1016/j.prostr.2018.11.041 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 314-321 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

M. Poiani ◽

V. Gazzani ◽

F. Clementi ◽

G. Milani ◽

M. Valente ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Italy ◽

Seismic Sequence

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The first month of the 2016 central Italy seismic sequence: fast determination of time domain moment tensors and finite fault model analysis of the ML 5.4 aftershock

Annals of Geophysics ◽

10.4401/ag-7246 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 59 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Scognamiglio ◽

Elisa Tinti ◽

Matteo Quintiliani

Keyword(s):

Time Domain ◽

Moment Tensor ◽

Central Italy ◽

Model Analysis ◽

Fault Model ◽

Normal Faults ◽

Seismic Sequence ◽

Moment Tensors ◽

Finite Fault ◽

Finite Fault Model

We present the revised Time Domain Moment Tensor (TDMT) catalogue for earthquakes with M_L larger than 3.6 of the first month of the ongoing Amatrice seismic sequence (August 24th - September 25th). Most of the retrieved focal mechanisms show NNW–SSE striking normal faults in agreement with the main NE-SW extensional deformation of Central Apennines. We also report a preliminary finite fault model analysis performed on the larger aftershock of this period of the sequence (M_w 5.4) and discuss the obtained results in the framework of aftershocks distribution.

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Assessing soil-structure interaction during the 2016 Central Italy seismic sequence (Italy): preliminary results

Annals of Geophysics ◽

10.4401/ag-7250 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 59 ◽

Author(s):

Arrigo Caserta ◽

Fawzi Doumaz ◽

Antonio Costanzo ◽

Anna Gervasi ◽

William Thorossian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Structure ◽

Central Italy ◽

Seismic Energy ◽

Soil Structure Interaction ◽

Seismic Sequence ◽

Structure Interaction ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

The Church ◽

Moderate Magnitude

We used the moderate-magnitude aftershocks succeeding to the 2016 August 24th, Mw = 6.0, Amatrice (Italy) mainshok to asses, specially during an ongoing seismic sequence, the soil-structure interaction where cultural Heritage is involved. We have chosen as case study the San Giovanni Battista church (A.D. 1039) in Acquasanta Terme town, about 20 Km northeast of Amatrice. First of all we studied the soil shaking features in order to characterize the input to the monument. Then, using the recordings in the church, we tried to figure out how the input seismic energy is distributed over the different monument parts. Some preliminary results are shown and discussed.

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