Landslide Analysis of Historical Urban Walls: Case Study of Volterra, Italy
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 35, Issue 6
Abstract
This work arises from the evidences of recent collapses of historical urban walls. These events, mainly occurred after severe rainfalls, recalled the attention on the vulnerability of these infrastructures. Specific evaluation models which take into account the role of moisture inside the walls are not frequent in the literature. The problem is difficult to treat in many practical cases due to the extension of the urban walls and the variability of their geometry and of their mechanical features. The integrity of the urban walls is investigated throughout the analysis of a set of vertical sections. Risk scenarios of rainfall events are analyzed. At this scope, four limit states are proposed and investigated to determine both collapse and serviceability conditions. The combined risk analysis is obtained by treating the single-risk analysis. The results from the limit analysis are compared with those from the finite element method models. The method is applied to the relevant case study of the Volterra historical urban walls with a retrospective analysis of the section that collapsed in January 2014 and the analysis of other relevant sections.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The Authors thank MIUR (Italian Ministry of University Research and Instruction) for financing the MICHe (Mitigating the Impact of natural Hazard on Cultural Heritage, sites and artefacts) Project with PRIN 2015 programme.
References
AA.VV. 2006. Linee seganalatrici di probabilità pluviometrica. Pisa, Italy: Presidenza Del Consiglio Dei Ministri—Dipartimento Per I Servizi Tecnici Nazionali.
Andreini, M., A. de Falco, L. Giresini, and M. Sassu. 2013. “Collapse of the historic city walls of Pistoia (Italy): Causes and possible interventions.” In Vol. 351 of Applied mechanics and materials, 1389–1392. Zurich, Switzerland: Trans Tech Publications.
Borselli, L. 2018. SSAP2010 Slope stability analysis program, Manuale di Riferimento. Mexico City: CONACYT.
Casapulla, C. 2008. “Lower and upper bounds in closed form for out-of-plane strength of masonry structures with frictional resistances.” In Proc., 6th Int. Conf. on Structural Analysis of Historic Construction: Structural Analysis of Historic Construction: Preserving Safety and Significance, SAHC08, 1191–1198. Guimaraes, Portugal: Univ. of Minho.
Casapulla, C. 2015. “On the resonance conditions of rigid rocking blocks.” Int. J. Eng. Technol. 7 (2): 760–771.
Casapulla, C., P. Jossa, and A. Maione. 2010. “Rocking motion of a masonry rigid block under seismic actions: A new strategy based on the progressive correction of the resonance response.” Ing. Sismica 27 (1): 35–48.
Casapulla, C., and A. Maione. 2017. “Critical response of free-standing rocking blocks to the intense phase of an earthquake.” Int. Rev. Civ. Eng. 8 (1): 1–10.
CEN (European Committee for Standardization). 2004. 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance—Part 1: General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings. EN 1998-1: 2004. Brussels, Belgium: CEN.
Chan, Y. C. 1982. Study of old masonry retaining walls in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Geotechnical Engineering Office.
Croce, P., M. L. Beconcini, P. Formichi, F. Landi, B. Puccini, and V. Zotti. 2021. “Bayesian methodology for probabilistic description of mechanical parameters of masonry walls.” ASCE-ASME J. Risk Uncertainty Eng. Syst., Part A: Civ. Eng. 7 (21): 04021008. https://doi.org/10.1061/AJRUA6.0001110.
Deere, D. 1988. “The rock quality designation (RQD) index in practice.” In Proc., Rock Classification Systems for Engineering Purposes, edited by L. Kirkaldie. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM. https://doi.org/10.1520/STP48465S.
Farooq, K., J. D. Rogers, and M. F. Ahmed. 2015. “Effect of densification on the shear strength of landslide material: A case study from salt Range, Pakistan.” Earth Sci. Res. 4 (1): 113–125. https://doi.org/10.5539/esr.v4n1p113.
Franceschini, S. 2012. Analisi critica di modelli previsionali per le frane in Emilia Romagna. Bologna, Italy: Univ. of Bologna.
Fredlund, D., and H. Rahardjo. 1993. “Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 12 (7): 449–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/0267-7261(93)90011-F.
Grillanda, N., A. Chiozzi, F. Bondi, A. Tralli, F. Manconi, F. Stochino, and A. Cazzani. 2019. “Numerical insights on the structural assessment of historical masonry stellar vaults: The case of Santa Maria del Monte in Cagliari.” Continuum Mech. Thermodyn. 3 (1): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-019-00752-8.
Losi, G. L. 2012. Modellazione spazio-temporale dei fenomeni di soil slip: Dalla scala di pendio alla scala territorial. Parma, Italy: Università degli Studi di Parma.
Mistretta, F., F. Stochino, and M. Sassu. 2019. “Structural and thermal retrofitting of masonry walls: An integrated cost-analysis approach for the Italian context.” Build. Environ. 155 (May): 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.03.033.
Montrasio, L., and R. Valentino. 2007. “Experimental analysis and modelling of shallow landslides.” Landslides 4 (3): 291–296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-007-0082-3.
Montrasio, L., and R. Valentino. 2008. “A model for triggering mechanisms of shallow landslides.” Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 8 (5): 1149–1159. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-8-1149-2008.
Montrasio, L., and R. Valentino. 2016. “Modelling rainfall-induced shallow landslides at different scales using SLIP—Part II.” Procedia Eng. 158 (3): 482–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.476.
Montrasio, L., R. Valentino, and G. L. Losi. 2009. “Rainfall-induced shallow landslides: A model for the triggering mechanism of some case studies in Northern Italy.” Landslides 6 (3): 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-009-0154-7.
Montrasio, L., R. Valentino, and A. Terrone. 2014. “Application of the SLIP model.” Procedia Earth Planet. Sci. 9 (1): 206–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeps.2014.06.023.
Puppio, M. L., and L. Giresini. 2019. “Estimation of tensile mechanical parameters of existing masonry through the analysis of the collapse of Volterra’s urban walls.” Fratura ed Integrita Strutturale 13 (12): 725–738. https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.49.65.
Puppio, M. L., E. Vagaggini, L. Giresini, and M. Sassu. 2019. “Large-scale survey method for the integrity of historical urban walls: Application to the case of Volterra (Italy).” In Proc., VECF1—1st Virtual European Conf. on Fracture, 1–14. London: Elsevier.
Santerecchi, E. 2014. Geologic and Geotecnic report—Volterra. Volterra, Italy: Municipality of Volterra.
Sassu, M., F. Stochino, and F. Mistretta. 2017. “Assessment method for combine structural and energy retrofitting in masonry buildings.” Buildings 7 (3): 71.
Schilirò, L., L. Montrasio, and G. Scarascia Mugnozza. 2016. “Prediction of shallow landslide occurrence: Validation of a physically-based approach through a real case study.” Sci. Total Environ. 569–570 (Nov): 134–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.06.124.
Strand7 Limited. n.d. Straus7 reference manual & user guide. Accessed December 7, 2016. https://dokumen.tips/documents/straus7-verification-manual.html.
Vagaggini, E. 2019. Vulnerabilità di mura storiche urbane: Il rischio frana perle mura di Volterra. Pisa, Italy: Univ. of Pisa.
Valentino, R., C. Meisina, L. Montrasio, G. L. Losi, and D. Zizioli. 2014. “Predictive power evaluation of a physically based model for shallow landslides in the area of Oltrepò Pavese, Northern Italy.” Geotech. Geol. Eng. 32 (4): 783–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-014-9758-3.
Yoshida, Y., J. Kuwano, and R. Kuwano. 1991. “Effects of saturation on shear strength of soils.” Soils Found. 31 (1): 181–186. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.31.181.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 35 • Issue 6 • December 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 28, 2020
Accepted: Jun 16, 2021
Published online: Sep 15, 2021
Published in print: Dec 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 15, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Giovanna Concu, Mariangela Deligia, Mauro Sassu, Seismic Analysis of Historical Urban Walls: Application to the Volterra Case Study, Infrastructures, 10.3390/infrastructures8020018, 8, 2, (18), (2023).
- Emma Vagaggini, Martina Ferrini, Mauro Sassu, Mario Lucio Puppio, Modelling of Moisture Effect in Safety Evaluation of Soil-Interacting Masonry Wall Structures, Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2021, 10.1007/978-3-030-86960-1_16, (220-234), (2021).