Seismic Damage Scenarios Induced by Site Effects on Masonry Clustered Buildings: A Case Study in South Italy

The present research aims to explore the influence of site effects on the seismic vulnerability of the historical centre of Baranello, a little town in the Molise Region of Italy. Structural and typological classification of the investigated urban area has been done according to the EMS-98 scale. The vulnerability assessment of the inspected historical buildings has been carried out through an appropriate survey form to identify the buildings most susceptible to seismic damage. Consequently, using the Post-Earthquake Damage and Safety Assessment (AeDES) form implemented by the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC), the typological vulnerability curves of the built-up area have been derived based on the damages recorded after the 2002 Molise earthquake. Finally, a local amplification factor, which increases the severity of the seismic damage to the structures, has been taken into account based on the time-domain method. Results reveal that the local amplification effects significantly increase the expected damage, which should lead to the collapse of almost all the investigated buildings for epicentre distance of 5.0 km and magnitude of 6.0. This means that the proposed simplified approach can represent a useful tool to more appropriately foresee the seismic risk of urban centres.

Automated summary

This research investigates the influence of site effects on the seismic vulnerability of the historical centre of Baranello, Italy. The study reveals that local amplification factors significantly increase the expected damage, indicating the proposed simplified approach can be a useful tool to predict seismic risk in urban areas.