The first Italian blast-induced liquefaction test (Mirabello, Emilia-Romagna, Italy): description of the experiment and preliminary results

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Sara Amoroso
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5835-079X
Giuliano Milana
Kyle M. Rollins
Cesare Comina
Luca Minarelli
Maria R. Manuel
Paola Monaco
Marco Franceschini
Marco Anzidei
Cameron Lusvardi
Luciana Cantore
Andrea Carpena
Stefano Casadei
Francesca R. Cinti
Riccardo Civico
Brady R. Cox
Paolo Marco De Martini
Giuseppe Di Giulio
Deborah Di Naccio
Giuseppe Di Stefano
Johann Facciorusso
Daniela Famiani
Federico Fiorelli
Daniela Fontana
Sebastiano Foti
Claudia Madiai
Valeria Marangoni
Diego Marchetti
Silvano L. Marchetti
Luca Martelli
Mauro Mariotti
Elena Muscolino
Davide Pancaldi
Daniela Pantosti
Federico Passeri
Arianna Pesci
Giovanni Romeo
Vincenzo Sapia
Alessandra Smedile
Marco Stefani
Gabriele Tarabusi
Giordano Teza
Maurizio Vassallo
Fabio Villani

Abstract

Soil liquefaction can result in significant settlement and reduction of load-bearing capacity. Moreover, the increase and the accumulation of pore pressure during an earthquake and its post-seismic dissipation can generate permanent deformations and settlements. The quantitative evaluation of post-liquefaction settlements is of extreme importance for engineering purposes, i.e. for earthquake-resistant design of new buildings and safety evaluation of existing ones. Quantifying the extent of these phenomena is, however, rather difficult. Uncertainties arise from the stochastic nature of the earthquake loading, from the simplifications of soil models, and from the difficulty in establishing correlations between the pre-earthquake soil state and the post-seismic deformations. Field scale liquefaction tests, under controlled conditions, are therefore important for a correct quantification of these phenomena. Recent experiences (e.g. New Zealand, United States) show that liquefaction can be induced and monitored with field scale blast tests to study the related effects on soil geotechnical properties. Within this framework this paper introduces the preliminary results obtained from a research project on blast-induced liquefaction at the field scale; tests were performed at a trial site located in Mirabello (Ferrara, Italy), a village strongly affected by liquefaction phenomena during the 2012 Emilia Romagna earthquake. Invasive tests, such as piezocone, seismic dilatometer and down-hole tests, and non-invasive tests were carried out before and after the execution of two blast test sequences to study the variation in physical properties of the soils. Pore pressure transducers, settlement profilometers, accelerometers and an instrumented micropile were installed with the objective of measuring, during and after the detonations, the generation and subsequent dissipation of the pore pressure, the vertical deformations, and the blast-induced ground motions respectively. Variations in load distribution on deep foundations due to soil liquefaction were also evaluated on a test micropile instrumented with a strain gauge chain. Topographical surveys were carried out to measure ground surface settlements. Laboratory tests and trenches also provided increase understanding of the site characteristics.

Article Details

How to Cite
Amoroso, S., Milana, G., Rollins, K. M., Comina, C., Minarelli, L., Manuel, M. R., Monaco, P., Franceschini, M., Anzidei, M., Lusvardi, C., Cantore, L., Carpena, A., Casadei, S., Cinti, F. R., Civico, R., Cox, B. R., De Martini, P. M., Di Giulio, G., Di Naccio, D., Di Stefano, G., Facciorusso, J., Famiani, D., Fiorelli, F., Fontana, D., Foti, S., Madiai, C., Marangoni, V., Marchetti, D., Marchetti, S. L., Martelli, L., Mariotti, M., Muscolino, E., Pancaldi, D., Pantosti, D., Passeri, F., Pesci, A., Romeo, G., Sapia, V., Smedile, A., Stefani, M., Tarabusi, G., Teza, G., Vassallo, M. and Villani, F. (2017) “The first Italian blast-induced liquefaction test (Mirabello, Emilia-Romagna, Italy): description of the experiment and preliminary results”, Annals of Geophysics, 60(5), p. S0556. doi: 10.4401/ag-7415.
Section
Seismology

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