Large-Scale Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Method for Urban Centres. An Application to the City of Florence

Abstract

The seismic vulnerability assessment of a building requires a comprehensive knowledge of both building structural features and soils geophysical parameters. To achieve a vulnerability assessment at the urban scale a large amount of data would be necessary, with a consequent involvement of time and economical resources. The aim of this paper is hence to propose a simplified procedure to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of urban centres and possible seismic damage scenarios in order to identify critical areas and/or building typologies to plan future actions of seismic risk mitigation and prevention. The procedure is applied to the outstanding case study of the city of Florence. The research is based on the definition of major building typologies related to construction periods and type of the structural system (masonry or reinforced concrete), the identification of a set of sample buildings, the analysis of the dynamic behaviour and the evaluation of a vulnerability index with an expeditious approach. The obtained results allow to define potential vulnerability and post-event damage scenarios related to the expected levels of peak ground acceleration.

Multi-risk assessment in a historical city

“…For its elevation characteristics, the most affected area in 1966 was the Santa Croce neighbourhood (outside the study area), with flood depths of the order of 4-5 m. The ancient nucleus of the city (the study area) was also affected with water depths lower than 2 m, according to the elevation of historical marble plates. Although the seismic and flood risks in the city of Florence have been separately investigated in the past, they have been carried out at different spatial scales or excluded this portion of the historical city (D'Agostino et al, 2019;Arrighi et al 2018;Ripepe et al 2018Ripepe et al , 2015Matassoni et al 2017;SISMED 2016, Lacanna et al 2016.…”

Geodatabase per la valutazione speditiva a larga scala della vulnerabilità sismica di un’area urbana complessa: applicazione alla città di Firenze

“…Il presente studio propone una metodologia per la valutazione della vulnerabilità sismica urbana della città di Firenze attraverso l'uso della tecnologia GIS allo scopo di creare un sistema informativo del patrimonio edilizio (residenziale, pubblico e produttivo) e sulla popolazione (residente o turistica). I dati sono stati ottenuti da studi precedenti sulla geologia e la sismologia dell'area , da ISTAT e altri strati informativi messi a disposizione dal Comune di Firenze oltre che da rilievi sismici in-situ su un campione rappresentativo dell'edificato fiorentino al fine di definirne il periodo naturale di oscillazione (Ripepe et al 2015).…”

Active Tectonics in Tuscany (Central Italy): Ten Years of Seismicity (2009-2019)

“…The recent seismic activity in the northern Apennines, and the destructive earthquakes that affected Tuscany in the previous millennium, would suggest to shed light on its seismotectonic pattern. Moreover, one should also consider the potentially involved population (over 3.7 million inhabitants) and the vulnerability of the huge cultural heritage housed in cities such as Florence, Pisa, Siena and many other smaller towns [7].…”