Earthquake geotechnical engineering and engineering seismology

The EUCENTRE Foundation boasts many years of experience in the field of earthquake geotechnical engineering and engineering seismology in research projects funded by public and private entities in Italy and abroad. Skills:

• Seismic hazard assessment by using advanced probabilistic approaches. Recent projects: seismic macrozonation of the eastern Caribbean countries and the region of Tamil Nadu (India).
• Simulation of real earthquakes by using advanced computation tools. Recent projects: simulation of the May 2012 shock in Emilia Romagna.
• Selection of real spectrum-compatible accelerograms at a regional scale. Recent projects: definition of the seismic input in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
• Feasibility studies of earthquake early warning systems. Recent projects: computation of lead times in Trinidad & Tobago and at the port of Gioia Tauro.

• Assessment of the ground shaking expected at a specific site and for large territories by using stochastic approaches. Recent projects: calculation of ground shaking scenarios for the Italian railway network.
• Assessment of the seismo-geotechnical stability of strategic sites. Recent projects for Enel Green Power, Ravenna Port Authority and for the Venice airport area.
• Multi-scale assessment of risk associated to earthquake-induced liquefaction of soils. Recent projects: microzonation of the Municipality of Cavezzo (Modena) and megazonation at a European scale.

• Assessment of the seismic vulnerability of port infrastructure, embankment dams, airports, earth-retaining and underground structures: activities for the Italian Civil Protection Department and for infrastructure operators.
• Computation tools for assessing the seismic response of structures and infrastructure (e.g. ports), even in near real-time, taking into account the interdependences of the components of the object system and development of decision support systems (DSS): innovative application at the port of Gioia Tauro.
• Evaluation of the stability of natural and human-made slopes under seismic loading: application to instability phenomena in Northern Italy.
• Reconnaissance surveys with specific reference to geotechnical-related damage after recent earthquakes: Emilia 2012 and Central Italy 2016 seismic sequences.
• Execution of non-invasive geophysical tests for the ground characterization of subsoil including joint measurement of seismo-stratigraphic and damping profiles, also during the post-earthquake emergency phase (e.g. Emilia 2012 seismic sequence).

Execution of non-invasive geophysical tests for the ground characterization of subsoil
The mobile laboratory of EUCENTRE includes the equipment for performing non-invasive seismic geophysical surveys, namely MASW, ReMi and H/V, aimed at the geotechnical and seismo-stratigraphic characterization of construction sites through the joint measurement of S waves velocity and small deformation damping profiles. EUCENTRE staff is trained to carry out investigations both in ordinary conditions and promptly during post-seismic surveys for the gorund characterization of strategic sites. The equipment includes:

• A DMT Summit Compact II, 24-channel digital seismograph;
• 25 Clark geophones with natural frequency of 4.5 Hz, that can be used both on rigid pavement and on the ground;
• 3 types of Boviar seismic sources: an 8 kg hammer, an S wave generator, a seismic gun for micro-explosions;
• 10 3-channel Lennartz velocimeters with a period of 5 s;
• Software for processing the acquired signals: SWAN and GEOPSY.