Liquefaction potential evaluation at Catania Harbour (Italy)

Abstract

According to the frequency and the importance of the seismic effects suffered in past times, Eastern Sicily must be considered one of the highest seismic risk areas in Italy. The area to the south of Volcano Etna, on the east of the IbleoMaltese escarpment, known as Iblean Area, is therefore a seismogenic area. The harbour of the city of Catania, located on the eastern zone of Sicily, is an area subjected to high seismic hazards, as well as the whole city of Catania. The city of Catania in South-Eastern Sicily has been affected by several destructive earthquakes of about magnitude 7.0+ in past times; a repetition of events with similar characteristics would provide the additional risk of a damaging tsunami, as well as liquefaction phenomena around the coast.In situ investigations of sandy harbour soil were carried out in order to determine the soil profile and the geotechnical characteristics for the site under consideration, with special attention paid for the variation of shear modulus and damping with depth. Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests (SDMT) have also been carried out, with the aim of evaluating the soil profile of shear wave velocity (Vs), as well as the profile of the horizontal stress index K D . Moreover, the following investigations in the laboratory were carried out on undisturbed samples: Resonant Column tests; Direct shear tests; and Triaxial tests. The available data obtained from the Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Test results enabled us to evaluate the correct shear modulus profile. In addition, using some synthetic seismograms of historical scenario earthquakes at the bedrock, ground response analysis at the surface, in terms of time history and response spectra, has been performed by the 1-D non-linear code EERA. The results of the site response analyses have been used for the evaluation of liquefaction hazard of the investigated area.

New Stress Reduction Factor for Evaluating Soil Liquefaction in the Coastal Area of Catania (Italy)

“…In particular the events of February 1169, December 1542, January 1693, February 1818 and January 1848 produced relevant damages [22]. A repetition of events with similar characteristics would provide the additional risk of a damaging tsunami, as well as liquefaction phenomena around the coast [9][10][11].…”

“…The city of Catania, in South-Eastern Sicily, was affected by several destructive earthquakes of about magnitude 7.0 in past times. Extensive liquefaction effects occurred following the 1693 and 1818 strong earthquakes [8][9][10][11].…”

An Experimental Characterization of Shear Wave Velocity (Vs) in Clean and Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Sand

“…All in all, to the best of our knowledge, it can be stated at this stage based on the literature review conducted by the authors that there has not been a centralized experimental study focusing on influences of hydrocarbon contamination on shear wave velocity of soils as a substantial geotechnical characteristic in small/very small strain problems such as design of machine foundation, deep excavation examination (Dyvik and Madshus 1986;Viggiani and Atkinson 1995), and earthquake ground response analysis (Castelli et al 2016;Cavallaro et al 2012;Cavallaro et al 2013a;Cavallaro et al 2013b;Grasso and Maugeri 2014;Maugeri and Grasso 2013). Generally speaking, several experimental apparatus have been introduced/utilized in the literature to determine shear wave velocity of soils including bender elements system, resonant column apparatus, and also torsional shear test (Yamashita et al 2009).…”

A unified classification model for modeling of seismic liquefaction potential of soil based on CPT

“…So, the prediction of liquefaction potential of soil due to an earthquake is an important step for earthquake hazard mitigation. There are various techniques available for the determination of liquefaction potential of soil in the literature [1–13] . However, available methods have some limitations [14] .…”