Topographic seismic effects and avalanche hazard:A case study of Mount Siella(L’Aquila,Central Italy)

In mountainous areas,snow avalanches could be triggered by the shaking produced by earthquakes.The forces induced by the earthquake can cause an irregular increase of shear strength load down the slope,for the presence of complex surface and buried morphologies.Topographic irregularities generate maximum effects of waves amplification linked to wavelengths comparable to the horizontal dimension of the topographic feature.For this reason,the selected time-histories represent an appropriate input for the two-dimensional numerical response analyses when a dynamic phenomenon produce the resonant motion of a whole mountain.This represents an important earthquake-induced hazard in snow-covered mountain areas with high probability of seismic events.Some valleys are located in regions with scare ground motion data and investments on infrastructures are not always accompanied by adequate protection against earthquake-induced avalanches.The paper points out a simple deterministic approach for selecting a set of real accelerograms applied to a real case of Siella Mountain(Central Italy)where a large avalanche destroying a tourist facility of Rigopiano resort on 18 January 2017.The selected time histories were used as input for the two-dimensional numerical model of the subsoil to evaluate the topographic seismic amplification in ridge and compare it with the results of other authors.These methods suggest that morphology-related inertial effects should be considered as an overload action on snow layers when controlling multi-hazard studies and spatial planning.

On the role of topographic ampli fi cation in seismic slope instabilities

Surface wave generation due to body wave propagation near ground surface has been discussed in the literature.This phenomenon,typically occurring in topographic changing areas,along with its interaction with body waves(SV),decreases precision of formulas for evaluation of slope displacement.This signi fi cant fact caused the researchers not only to investigate the combined surface and SV waves motion pattern,but also to consider its effect on structures built on the slopes.In order to reveal the phenomenon,several fi nite element numerical studies have been performed by ABAQUS programme.Besides,two physical model slopes simulating the landslide occurrence have been constructed and tested by shaking table device.The results of induced and calculated accelerations obtained by two approaches have been compared and Rayleigh wave generation has been proved.Furthermore,the slope displacements have been calculated by various empirical methods and the results were compared with numerical ones.The results proved that in order to increase the precision of empirical formulas for displacement prediction,surface wave effect should be taken into account.Finally,a concept of'effective depth of sur fi cial ampli fi cation'is introduced and its effect on dynamic slope stability is analysed.

Near-source topographic effect on seismic responses of a multi-span continuous railway bridge crossing a symmetrical V-shaped canyon

Past earthquakes have revealed that topographic features have significant impacts on the characteristics of ground motions,which may cause the amplification and de-amplification of input seismic waves.The topographic effect with the assumption of plane seismic waves on the seismic responses of bridges has been investigated in the existing literature;however,the influence of near-source topographic effects has not been thoroughly understood.The objective of this study is to numerically explore the near-source topographic effects on the seismic behaviors of an existing railway bridge crossing a symmetrical V-shaped canyon.The influence of the source of incident waves is estimated.Numerical results demonstrate that the topographic effects can noticeably amplify the seismic responses of the bridge.Compared to the bridge without crossing a canyon,the peak displacements of the girder,pier,and bearing in the case of the canyon crossing bridge increase by 15.2%,2.9%−14.5%,and 24.2%−229.6%,respectively.The piers at the illuminated side of the canyon experience larger seismic responses compared to the piers at the shaded side of the canyon due to the unequal motion amplitudes at each support.As the source-to-canyon distance increases,the seismic responses of the piers show an increasing trend.