Antonio Ferraro

Site Response Analysis of the Monte Po Hill in the City of Catania

The Monte Po Hill is located in the North‐eastern part of the city of Catania; this area is prone to high seismic risk due to the presence of several constructions, including a school, in the vicinity of a toe of a slope, characterized by precarious stability conditions. For site characterization of the soil, deep site investigations have been undertaken. Borings and dynamic in situ tests have been performed. Among them Down‐Hole (D‐H) and Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests (SDMT) have been carried out, with the aim to evaluate the soil profile of shear waves velocity (Vs). The Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests were performed up to a depth of 15 meters. The results show a very detailed and stable shear waves profile. The shear waves profiles obtained by SDMT compare well with other in situ tests. Synthetic seismograms have been drawn for the site long a set of receivers placed at different depths, starting from the surface up to almost 40 m. After evaluating the synthetic accelerograms at the bedrock, ...

Seismic risk: recent developments for the emergency management

he recent advances in cloud computing have opened new opportunities in emergency management issues due to earthquakes. In this context, Geographic Information System (GIS) based solutions have been recently investigated, with the aim of the prevention and the reduction of seismic risk. The paper focuses on the results of the research project PRISMA - cloud PlatfoRms for Interoperable SMArt Government in which an innovative open source GIS system, based on the knowledge in the field of dynamic characterization of soil has been developed in order to assess the local seismic hazard and the seismic zonation of the Enna area in the south of Italy. The paper describes how the application of prospecting and surveying techniques allowed a decisive improvement in the geological knowledge of the area, contributing to define the subsoil model for the purposes of seismic microzonation. The seismic geotechnical characterization has been performed with laboratory tests including the resonant column and cyclic torsional shear test on undisturbed samples. The interpretation of geophysical and geotechnical data and their correlation with geological units are presented as microzonatic map. Finally, a wireless sensor network has been used for structural monitoring at the aim to highlight the significant benefits when the time available for access is limited, by representing an effective way of managing risks. All the data relating to the monitoring of the buildings and to the geological and geotechnical characterization are available on the web GIS platform, representing an important tool for the prevention and reduction of the seismic risk.