Abstract
In this work, the reduction of seismic hazard in eastern Sicily is addressed by both studying the fundamental resonant frequency of strategic buildings through low cost geophysical investigation techniques, and exploring a practical approach to earthquake early warning (EEW) system. The fundamental period and the corresponding amplification of some selected strategic buildings has been estimated using ambient vibration and earthquake data. We analyzed the basic dynamic parameters of buildings chosen as target, by using continuous vibration measurements at different floors. The dynamic behavior of structures was evaluated considering both small strains induced by ambient vibrations and larger excitation levels due to the earthquakes occurrence. A practical approach to earthquake early warning in the investigated area was dealt with by using empirical relationships between parameters measured on the initial portion of seismic recordings and related to the earthquake magnitude and peak ground motion. In particular, we performed the first preliminary tests by using empirical relationships calibrated for the considered area and taking into account the geometry of the existing permanent seismic network deployed in the eastern Sicily. The estimated relationships have been used to provide onsite warning around a given seismic station and evaluate the potential damaging effects. The joint of EEW system and geophysical investigation shown in this work may be deemed a useful guide for the future implementation of the in real time seismic monitoring in the region.
Highlights
The research project POR-FESR “Attività di sviluppo sperimentale finalizzata alla riduzione del rischio sismico nella Sicilia orientale” has supported several research actions aimed to the earthquake hazard mitigation in Eastern Sicily
One of the main objectives of the project was to lay the foundations of the development of a low-cost structural health monitoring (SHM) system for buildings of strategic interest, combining the real-time strong motion monitoring system (RSMS) and the earthquake early warning system (EEWS)
We dealt with the first approaches for the future realization of such systems in eastern Sicily, starting from the preliminary study of the structural dynamic behavior of some buildings that we selected as potential target sites
Summary
The research project POR-FESR “Attività di sviluppo sperimentale finalizzata alla riduzione del rischio sismico nella Sicilia orientale” has supported several research actions aimed to the earthquake hazard mitigation in Eastern Sicily. Even though it is not able to characterize the complexity of site effects alone, nor STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING AND EARTHQUAKE EARLY WARNING provide the absolute value of the amplification, this method can be used to estimate the fundamental period of soil deposits This information is very important since represents the period at which the soil amplifies the ground motion caused by a seismic event. If it coincides or is equal to the fundamental period of manmade infrastructure, there is a great possibility of strong damages [Mucciarelli et al, 2004; Navarro et al, 2004] Following this technique, we deal with the topic of the health monitoring of structures potentially exposed to ground motion shaking from future earthquakes. We test two early warning parameters by applying the method by Zollo et al [2010] based on the real-time measurement of Pd and τc at recording sites located at increasing distances from the earthquake epicenter
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