Topographic Site Effects Evaluation for the Monte Po Hill in the City of Catania (Italy)

The Monte Po Hill is located in the North-eastern part of the city of Catania; this area is prone to high seismic risk due to the presence of several constructions, including a school, in the vicinity of a toe of a slope, characterized by precarious stability conditions. The study has regarded the evaluation of site effects in correspondence of the site, to which corresponds a different value of the Seismic Geotechnical Hazard. In the beginning of 2007 a seismic station has been also located into the school building, with the aim of recording seismic events. Seismograms obtained by the seismic station have been also used to evaluate the ground response analysis at the surface. Finally the 1-D computer code EERA was also used to model the equivalent-linear earthquake site response analyses of layered soil deposits of the hill. The detail with which the hill has been studied has allowed the construction of a detailed 2-D model of its structure. It has been explored the differences between the computed ground motion for different Vs profiles using QUAD4M and QUAKE/W 2-D codes. It has been also possible to compare the results from different 1-D models reflecting current approaches to the determination of site response