Simplified techniques for the estimate of seismic site amplification in Italy

The recent developments of the Italian building code have been derived in some parts from methodologies proposed in different geologic, seismological and built up contexts (e.g. California and Japan), without verifying their adaptability to the Italian territory. The scope of the proposed search is addressed on three tasks:1) Development of the methodological aspect, refining existing technologies for simplified estimates of the seismic response, with the development of algorithms that optimize techniques already asserted in literature and practical use (the H/V ratio, Refraction Microtremor, Vs30), but also leading innovative researches on other original techniques (passive seismic stratigraphy technique based on the inversion of the HVSR, Vs10).2) Application of the above proposed methodologies to various case studies, with particular attention to the appraisal of the local seismic response in presence of situations of particular social or engineering interest (strategic buildings, buildings of particularly diffused constructive typology) and geologic – geomorphological interest, diffused but little considered in the past (mountain valleys with inhomogeneous sedimentation, moraine hills, geothermal areas, fault zones, cavities, morphologic escarpments).3) Verify the congruence between seismic site amplification measured from earthquake recordings and parameters that can be acquired with simplified estimates, on a data base that will be prepared using at least 150 sites in 6 different regions.The proposed research aims to an integration with other national and international projects the participants are involved in, namely the JRA4 task of the EU project NERIES, the project NATO SfP ASSASBV-980857, the Seismological Project INGV-DNPC S4.The project will deliver the archive of the information relevant to the selected sites (data base), plus software and new algorithms, and guidelines on the procedure to be adopted for site amplification estimates.