Far field damage on RC buildings: the case study of Navelli during the L��Aquila (Italy) seismic sequence, 2009

After the recent Central Italy Earthquake of the 6th April 2009 (Mw = 6.3), the Italian and German engineer and geophysicist Task Force carried out a wide characterization of sites, buildings and damages. In Navelli, a town about 35 km far from epicentre, heavy damage occurred on a reinforced concrete (RC) building that represent an anomalous case of damage, when compared with those occurred in the neighbouring area. In this paper, characterization of the site and damage of the Navelli RC Building is reported and discussed. We performed ambient noise and strong motion measurements, installing one three-directional accelerometer on each floor of the structure and two in free-field, and we have carried out repeated measurements using a couple of three-directional tromometers. In the mean time, a geological survey was carried out and the site response was investigated, with the aid of down-hole measurements. It was thus possible to investigate the structural response and damage taking into account site condition. One of the main results of this work is that repeating analyses using ambient noise measurements show that the main structural frequencies reached after the first damaging shock are constant over time, and then the structural behaviour appears stationary at long term. On the other hand, the strong motion recordings show that the building exhibits a transient non-stationary behaviour as the fundamental frequency changes during each aftershock, then returning to the starting value after each event.     

A class-oriented mechanical approach for seismic damage assessment of RC buildings subjected to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake

The simplified mechanical method POST (PushOver on Shear Type models) for seismic vulnerability assessment of RC buildings is used in this study to derive damage scenarios for a database of 7597 RC buildings subjected to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. POST allows the evaluation of fragility curves through the determination of the non-linear static response of RC buildings in closed form, assuming the hypothesis of shear type behaviour, and considering the influence of infill panels both in the derivation of structural response and in assessment of building damage, which is defined according to the European Macroseismic Scale EMS-98. The aim of the present study is to provide a much more significant and reliable validation of the methodology, thanks to a much wider database compared to previous studies, and based on a different application of the methodology, i.e. at building class-level instead of single building-level. To this aim, the main geometrical-typological characteristics of the analysed buildings (number of storeys, age of construction, building area) have been statistically characterized based on data collected from post-earthquake AeDES survey forms, considering both the variability of each single parameter and the correlation that exists between one parameter and the other. This also allows to analyse the effectiveness of the adopted analytical procedure in predicting the general trends of observed damage with these parameters, showing a good agreement between observed and predicted trends. The overall predicted damage scenarios are compared with the corresponding observed ones, collected from AeDES survey forms, highlighting, again, a good agreement. Finally, the assumed mechanical interpretation of damage classification of EMS-98 is validated through the comparison between the distributions of damage to vertical structures and infill panels and the corresponding observed post-earthquake damage data.     

Performance of the Italian strong motion network during the 2009, L��Aquila seismic sequence (central Italy)

On April 6, 2009, the town of L’Aquila in the Abruzzo region (central Italy) was struck by a seismic event at 01:32 (UTC), of magnitude M_W = 6.3. The mainshock was followed by a long period of intense seismic activity and within seven days after the mainshock there were seven events of magnitude M_W ≥ 5 that occurred from April 6 to April 13. This long seismic sequence was characterized by a complex rupture mechanism that involved two major normal faults of the central Apennines: the Paganica and the Gorzano faults. The strong-motions of the mainshock were recorded by 64 stations of the Italian Strong-motion Network (RAN) operated by the National Civil Protection Department (DPC). Six stations of a local strong-motion array were working in NW L’Aquila suburb area. One of them, located at about 6 km from the Paganica fault surface tip-line, set up in trigger mode, recorded continuously for more than 20 min the mainshock and the aftershocks. Besides the mainshock, the RAN stations recorded in total 78 foreshocks and aftershocks of M_L ≥ 3.5, during the period from January to December 2009. The corresponding waveforms provide the most extensive digital strong ground motion data set ever recorded in Italy. Moreover, the 48 three-component observations of events of magnitude M_W ≥ 5, recorded at a distance less than 15 km from each of the major involved faults, provide a significant increasing of near-field records available for the Italian territory. Six days after the mainshock, the strong-motion dataset, referred to preliminary locations of the events with M_L ≥ 4.0, was made available on the DPC web site () and at the same time it was delivered to the ITACA database (). This dataset has been used by many authors in scientific papers and by engineers, geophysicists and geologists for professional technical works. In this paper, the present-day available strong-motion signals from the L’Aquila sequence and the performance of the Italian strong-motion network in terms of the number and quality of recorded data, the geometry and data transmission system are described. In addition the role of the temporary network that represents an extension of the permanent Italian strong-motion network, supporting the emergency response by civil protection authorities and improving the network coverage has been evaluated.     

Site effects “on the rock”: the case of Castelvecchio Subequo (L’Aquila, central Italy)

The April 6, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was responsible for an “anomalous”, relatively high degree of damage (i.e. Is 7 MCS scale) at Castelvecchio Subequo (CS). Indeed, the village is located at source-to-site distance of about 40 km, and it is surrounded by other inhabited centres to which considerably lower intensities, i.e. Is 5–6, have been attributed. Moreover, the damage was irregularly distributed within CS, being mainly concentrated in the uppermost portion of the old village. Geophysical investigations (ambient seismic noise and weak ground motions analyses) revealed that site effects occurred at CS. Amplifications of the ground motion, mainly striking NE–SW, have been detected at the uppermost portion of the carbonate ridge on which the village is built. Geological/structural and geomechanical field surveys defined that the CS ridge is affected by sets of fractures, joints and shear planes—mainly roughly NW–SE and N–S trending—that are related to the deformation zone of the Subequana valley fault system and to transfer faults linking northward the mentioned tectonic feature with the Middle Aterno Valley fault system. In particular, our investigations highlight that seismic amplifications occur where joints set NW–SE trending are open. On the other hand, no amplification is seen in portions of the ridge where the bedrock is densely fractured but no open joints occur. The fracture opening seems related to the toppling tendency of the bedrock slabs, owing to the local geomorphic setting. These investigations suggest that the detected amplification of the ground motion is probably related to the polarization of the seismic waves along the Castelvecchio Subequo ridge, with the consequent oscillation of the rock slabs perpendicularly to the fractures azimuth.     

2D site response analysis of a cultural heritage: the case study of the site of Santa Maria di Collemaggio Basilica (L’Aquila,Italy)

The Santa Maria di Collemaggio Basilica is an important cultural heritage site and exemplifies Romanesque-Gothic art in the Abruzzo region (central Italy). Erected in the second half of the XII century, the Basilica was severely damaged during the April 6, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (M_W 6.1). In particular, the area of the transept collapsed causing the dome to fall. A refined two-dimensional (2D) geotechnical model was built representing a section that includes the Basilica, in order to better understand the soil response of the Basilica site. The subsoil model was constrained using the geophysical and geotechnical data collected from the seismic microzonation studies, the reconstruction of private damaged buildings and other technical and scientific studies realized in the L’Aquila basin and in the area of the Basilica before and after L’Aquila earthquake. 2D site response analyses were performed to verify the presence of local site effects by comparing simulated versus experimental transfer functions. Moreover, a frequency–wavenumber (f–k) analysis was executed with the aim of evaluating the occurrence of surface waves generated within the basin. 2D seismic effects involve significant amplification in the period range of engineering interest, therein providing an appropriate elastic response spectrum for the restoration of the Basilica.     

Ionospheric precursor of a destructive earthquake that occurred on April 6, 2009 at L’Aquila (Italy)

On the basis of the 15-min data from a series of ground-based vertical ionospheric sounding stations, a study of variations of the foF2 critical frequency before the strong earthquake (M = 6.3) that occurred on April 6, 2009 at L’Aquila (Italy) was carried out. The earthquake epicenter was located 85 km north-eastward from Rome. Approximately 20 h prior to the earthquake, a well-pronounced statistically significant effect of foF2 increase relative to the average background for magnetically quiet days was observed for almost 1.5 h at the Rome ionospheric station. In this case, at control stations distanced from the earthquake epicenter, no statistically significant deviations of foF2 from the background values were detected during the same observations period. This fact provides grounds for consideration of the foF2 increase observed at Rome station as a possible ionospheric precursor of this earthquake.     

Predicted ground motion after the L��Aquila 2009 earthquake (Italy, M w 6.3): input spectra for seismic microzoning

After the April 6th 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (M _w 6.3), where 306 people died and a further 60,000 were displaced, seismic microzoning investigations have been carried out for towns affected by a macroseismic intensity equal to or greater than 7 MCS. Based upon seismotectonic data, historical seismicity and strong motion records, we defined input spectra to be used in the numerical simulations of seismic microzoning in four key municipalities, including the town of L’Aquila. We adopted two main approaches: uniform hazard response spectra are obtained by a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment introducing some time-dependency for individual faults on the study area; a deterministic design spectrum is computed from magnitude/distance pairs extracted by a stationary probabilistic analysis of historical intensities. The uniform hazard spectrum of the present Italian building code represents the third, less restrictive, response spectrum to be used for the numerical simulations in seismic microzoning. Strong motions recordings of the main shock of the L’Aquila sequence enlighten the critical role played by both the local response and distances metric for sites located above a seismogenic fault; however, these time-histories are compatible with the uncertainties of a deterministic utilization of ground motion predictive equations. As recordings at very near field are rare, they cannot be neglected while defining the seismic input. Disaggregation on the non-Possonian seismotectonic analysis and on the stationary site-intensity estimates reach very similar results in magnitude-distance pairs identification; we interpret this convergence as a validation of the geology-based model by historical observations.     

Improving ShakeMap performance by integrating real with synthetic data: tests on the 2009 M w?=?6.3 L’Aquila earthquake (Italy)

The ShakeMap software automatically generates maps of the peak ground motion parameters (shakemaps) and of instrumental intensity soon after an earthquake. Recorded data are fundamental to obtaining accurate results. In case observations are not available, ShakeMap relies on ground motion predictive equations, but due to unmodelled site conditions or finite fault effects, large uncertainties may appear, mainly in the near-source area where damage is relevant. In this paper, we aim to account for source effects in ShakeMap by computing synthetics to be used for integrating observations and ground motion predictive equations when near-source data are not available. To be effective, the computation of synthetics, as well as of the finite fault, should be done in near real time. Therefore, we computed rapid synthetic seismograms, by a stochastic approach, including the main fault features that were obtained through inversion of regional and teleseismic data. The rapidity of calculation is linked to a number of assumptions, and simplifications that need testing before the procedure can run in automatic mode. To assess the performance of our procedure, we performed a retrospective validation analysis considered as case study of the M _w = 6.3 earthquake, which occurred in central Italy on April 6, 2009. In that case, the first shakemaps, generated a few minutes after the earthquake, suffered large uncertainties on ground motion estimates in an area closer to the epicenter due to the lack of near-field data. To verify our approach, we recomputed shakemaps for the L’Aquila earthquake, integrating data available soon after the earthquake at different elapse times with synthetics, and we compared our shaking map with the final shakemap, obtained when all the data were available. Our analysis evidences that (1) when near-source data are missing, the integration of real data with synthetics reduces discrepancies between computed and actual ground shaking maps, mainly in the near-field zone where the damage is relevant and (2) the approach that we adopted is promising in trying to reduce such discrepancies and could be easily implemented in ShakeMap, but some a priori calibration is necessary before running in an automatic mode.     

Topographic versus stratigraphic amplification: mismatch between code provisions and observations during the L’Aquila (Italy, 2009) sequence

During the L’Aquila seismic sequence (Italy, 2009) we had the opportunity to install temporary accelerometric stations to study the role of seismic site amplification in damage enhancement. Two of the monitored sites, Castelnuovo and Navelli were also a good test for the recently introduced Italian seismic code (NTC08 2008) that prescribes an aggravation factor for slopes and ridges. Castelnuovo was an ideal situation to check the rule proposed for the distribution of amplification as a function of the position along a slope, while Navelli provided the possibility to test the almost equivalent factors that NTC08 sets for stratigraphic and topographic amplification (respectively up to 40 and 60 %). In neither case the observation matches code provisions. For Castelnuovo, there is a frequency dependence that shows as the code is over-conservative for short periods but fails to predict amplification in the intermediate range. For Navelli, the code provision is verified for long periods, but in the range around the site resonance frequency the stratigraphic amplification proves to be three times more important than the topographic one.     

Observed and predicted earthquake damage scenarios: the case study of Pettino (L’Aquila) after the 6th April 2009 event

A damage scenario based on observational data collected in L’Aquila Municipality after the 6th April 2009 earthquake is compared with a predicted damage scenario derived from the application of a simplified analytical method for seismic vulnerability assessment of Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings at large scale. The observational damage scenario is derived from a database of 131 RC buildings located in the Municipality of L’Aquila, which after the 2009 earthquake were subjected to post-earthquake usability assessment procedure. The simplified analytical approach adopted is based on the Capacity Spectrum Method to evaluate seismic capacity at different Damage States (DSs) based on the displacement capacity of structural and non-structural elements. DSs and the corresponding displacement capacity are defined through the interpretation of the observational-based DSs provided by the European Macroseismic Scale EMS-98. Data predicted by the adopted methodology are in good agreement with the observed damage distribution. The observed damage scenario is also compared with predicted scenarios derived from other methodologies from literature.     

An application of EMS98 in a medium-sized city: The case of L��Aquila (Central Italy) after the April 6, 2009 Mw 6.3 earthquake

This paper describes the damage survey in the city of L??Aquila after the 6 April 2009 earthquake. The earthquake, whose magnitude and intensity reached Mw?=?6.3 and Imax?=?9?C10 MCS, struck the Abruzzi region of Central Italy producing severe damage in L??Aquila and in many villages along the Middle Aterno River valley. After the event, a building-to-building survey was performed in L??Aquila downtown aiming to collect data in order to perform a strict evaluation of the damage. The survey was carried out under the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS98) to evaluate the local macroseismic intensity. This damage survey represents the most complex application of the EMS98 in Italy since it became effective. More than 1,700 buildings (99% of the building stock) were taken into account during the survey at L??Aquila downtown, highlighting the difficult application of the macroseismic scale in a large urban context. The EMS98 revealed itself to be the best tool to perform such kind of analysis in urban settings. The complete survey displayed evidence of peculiar features in the damage distribution. Results revealed that the highest rate of collapses occurred within a delimited area of the historical centre and along the SW border of the fluvial terrace on which the city is settled. Intensity assessed for L??Aquila downtown was 8?C9 EMS.     

Seismic signals in geothermal areas of active volcanism: a case study from ‘La Fossa’, Vulcano (Italy)

Since the last eruption (1888–1890) volcanism at Vulcano, Aeolian Archipelago, southern Tyrrhenian Sea, has taken the form of persistent fumarolic activity. The gas-vapour phases of the geothermal systems are mainly discharged within two restricted areas about 1 km apart from each other, in the northern part of the island. These areas are La Fossa crater, and the beach fumaroles of the Baia di Levante. Fluids released at the two main fumarolic fields display quite different chemical and temperature characteristics, implying different origins. The local seismicity essentially takes the form of discrete shocks of shallow origin (depth1 km) at La Fossa, usually with energy < 10¹³ ergs. They are thought to be related to the uprise of pressurized hot gases and vapours discharged at the crater fumaroles. The present investigation points to the existence of two principal categories of seismic events (called M-shocks and N-shocks). These are short events (normally < 10 s). M-type shocks are thought to be due to resonance vibrations within the interior of the volcano, probably driven by the excitation of shock-waves within cavities deeply affected by deposition and alteration of self-sealant hydrothermal minerals. N-type events display features that resemble those of volcano-tectonic earthquakes, but have no recognizable S-phases. Here they are tentatively attributed to microfracturing of rocks which have been extensively hydrothermally altered. Results of the present study permit a preliminary conceptual model of the local shallow seismic processes in the framework of geochemical modelling of fumarolic activity and geological inferences from geothermal drilling.     

Site effects in the Aterno River Valley (L’Aquila,Italy): comparison between empirical and 2D numerical modelling starting from April 6th 2009 Mw 6.3 earthquake

In this paper, we focused our attention on a cross-section of the Aterno River Valley where a good quality geological and geophysical dataset allowed to reconstruct accurately the geometry and the Vs profiles along all the plane of the section. Its trace is deliberately aligned close to the strong motion stations that recorded the Mw 6.3 (April 6th 2009) L’Aquila earthquake. We analysed strong and weak motion data available at these latter stations as well as at one of the temporary stations installed during the Microzonation activities and located on outcropping bedrock, in proximity of the cross-section. We used the H/V technique to select a reliable reference site and once we found it, we applied the SSR technique to compute amplification functions in correspondence of two strong motion stations. In turn, for both sites we performed a site response numerical modelling with two different 2D codes and we compared simulated versus experimental transfer functions. We found that the cross-section is well constrained based on the very reasonable agreement between results of numerical modelling and earthquake data analysis. We pointed out also a strong amplification of the deposit at the centre of the valley due to the constructive interference of S and surface waves, not predictable by means of 1D numerical modelling. We also compared the H/V as well as the SSR obtained from strong motion data with the ones computed from weak motion finding evidences of non-linearity in soil behaviour.     

Local variability of the ground shaking during the 2009 L��Aquila earthquake (April 6, 2009��Mw 6.3): the case study of Onna and Monticchio villages

The 2009 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila event caused extensive damage in the city of L’Aquila and in some small towns in its vicinity. The most severe damage was recognized SE of L’Aquila town along the Aterno river valley. Although building vulnerability and near-source effects are strongly responsible for the high level of destruction, site effects have been invoked to explain the damage heterogeneities and the similarities between the 2009 macroseismic field with the intensities of historical earthquakes. The small village of Onna is settled on quaternary alluvium and suffered during the L’Aquila event an extremely heavy damage in the masonry structures with intensity IX–X on the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg (MCS) scale. The village of Monticchio, far less than 1.3 km from Onna, is mostly situated on Mesozoic limestone and suffered a smaller level of damaging (VI MCS). In the present paper, we analyze the aftershock recordings at seismic stations deployed in a small area of the middle-Aterno valley including Onna and Monticchio. The aim is to investigate local amplification effects caused by the near-surface geology. Because the seismological stations are close together, vulnerability and near-source effects are assumed to be constant. The waveform analysis shows that the ground motion at Onna is systematically characterized by large high-frequency content. The frequency resonance is varying from 2 to 3 Hz and it is related to alluvial sediments with a thickness of about 40 m that overlay a stiffer Pleistocene substrate. The ground motion recordings of Onna are well reproduced by the predictive equation for the Italian territory.