Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper describes a pseudo-static approach developed for geosynthetic-reinforced earth (GRE) retaining walls, calibrated against given levels of wall performance defined by specified values of earthquake-induced displacements. The GRE walls generally show a good performance under severe seismic loading due to the capability of reinforcements to redistribute the deformations induced by the seismic actions within the reinforced zone.

Between August and November 2016, three major earthquake events occurred in Central Italy. The first event, with M6.1, took place on 24 August 2016, the second (M5.9) on 26 October, and the third (M6.5) on 30 October 2016. Each event was followed by numerous aftershocks. The 24 August event caused massive damages especially to the villages of Arquata del Tronto, Accumoli, Amatrice, and Pescara del Tronto. In total, there were 299 fatalities, generally from collapses of unreinforced masonry dwellings.