Characterization and Geotechnical Investigations of a Riverbank Failure in Florence, Italy, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Morelli, Stefano; Pazzi, Veronica; Tanteri, Luca; Nocentini, Massimiliano; Lombardi, Luca; Gigli, Giovanni; Tofani, Veronica

doi:10.1061/(asce)gt.1943-5606.0002305

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The current morphology of the Arno river in Florence is the result of typical urbanization of cities that develop along rivers, with the construction of retaining walls and the reduction of the river section [1,2]. The proximity of a river to civil structures and historical center provides a strong reason for detailed stability evaluation [3,4], considering the damage that the failure of the riverbanks could cause. Lungarno Torrigiani is a section of Florentine riverbank, located on the left side, 200 m long and near Ponte Vecchio.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortar Characterization of Historical Masonry Damaged by Riverbank Failure: The Case of Lungarno Torrigiani (Florence)

et al. 2023

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The research of structural masonry associated with geo-hydrological hazards in Cultural Heritage is a multidisciplinary issue, requiring consideration of several aspects including the characterization of used materials. On 25 May 2016, loss of water from the subterranean pipes and of the aqueduct caused an Arno riverbank failure damaging a 100 m long portion of the historical embankment wall of Lungarno Torrigiani in Florence. The historical masonry was built from 1854–1855 by Giuseppe Poggi and represents a historical example of an engineering approach to riverbank construction, composed of a scarp massive wall on foundation piles, with a rubble masonry internal core. The failure event caused only a cusp-shaped deformation to the wall without any shattering or toppling. A complete characterization of the mortars was performed to identify the technologies, raw materials and state of conservation in order to understand why the wall has not collapsed. Indeed, the mortars utilized influenced the structural behavior of masonry, and their characterization was fundamental to improve the knowledge of mechanical properties of civil architectural heritage walls. Therefore, the aim of this research was to analyze the mortars from mineralogical–petrographic, physical and mechanical points of view, to evaluate the contribution of the materials to damage events. Moreover, the results of this study helped to identify compatible project solutions for the installation of hydraulically and statically functional structures to contain the riverbank.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortar Characterization of Historical Masonry Damaged by Riverbank Failure: The Case of Lungarno Torrigiani (Florence)

et al. 2023

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“…Geo-hydrological hazards, such as slope instabilities, often threaten human life, infrastructure and cultural heritage sites that represent unmovable assets relevant to human identity [1]. In the Marche region, there are many medieval villages built on the top of cliffs with local stone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Cost and Fast Operational Procedure to Identify Potential Slope Instabilities in Cultural Heritage Sites

Morelli,

Bonì,

De Donatis

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

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Italy is famous for its one-of-a-kind landscapes and the many cultural heritage sites characterizing the story of its regions. In central Italy, during the medieval age, some of them were built on the top of high and steep cliffs, often on the top of ancient ruins, to protect urban agglomerations, goods and people. The geographical locations of these centers allowed them to maintain their original conformation over time, but, at the same time, exposed them to a high risk of landslides. In this context, this research aimed to present an integrated and low-cost approach to study the potential landslide phenomena affecting two medieval towns. Field surveys and mapping were carried out through the use of innovative digital mapping tools to create a digital database directly on the field. Data gathered during field surveys were integrated with GIS analyses for an improved interpretation of the geological and geomorphological features. Due to the inaccessibility of the cliffs surrounding the two villages, a more detailed analysis of these areas was performed through the use of unmanned aerial vehicle-based photogrammetry, while advanced differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (A-DInSAR) interpretation was undertaken to verify the stability of the buildings in proximity to the cliffs and other potential active failures. The results of the study highlighted the similar geometry and structural settings of the two areas. Kinematically, the intersection of three main joint sets tends to detach blocks (sometimes in high volumes) from the cliffs. The A-DInSAR analysis demonstrated the presence of a landslide failure along the northwest side of the Monte San Martino town. The buildings in proximity to the cliffs did not show evidence of movements. More generally, this research gives insights into the pro and cons of different survey and analysis approaches and into the benefits of their procedural integration in space and in time. Overall, the procedure developed here may be applied in similar contexts in order to understand the structural features driving slopes’ instabilities and create digital databases of geological/monitoring data.

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“…The stability analysis involves the study of the forces that oppose the movement (mainly defined by the mechanical characteristics of the ground, e.g., the friction angle φ' and the cohesion c') and the forces that cause the movement. In the field of geotechnics, this methodology is mainly applied to study the maximum load that can be supported by a slope or a geo-structure without causing subsidence (Sloan 2013), while in the landslide studies it is usually applied after the event to perform a back analysis that enables to determine the conditions that had caused the slope failure (Fidolini et al 2015;Garduño-Monroy et al 2020;Morelli et al 2020). Slope failure implies that the FS at the time of landslide is equal to the unit (FS = 1.0) (Wesley and Leelaratnam 2001;Jiang and Yamagami 2008;Popescu and Shaefer 2008;Zhang et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstruction of the evolution phases of a landslide by using multi-layer back-analysis methods

et al. 2022

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Back analysis is the most common method to study landslide movements after the event, and it allows us to understand how a landslide evolved along the slope. This paper presents the back-analysis of the Pomarico landslide (Basilicata, Italy) that occurred on January 25th, 2019, on the southwestern slope of the Pomarico hill. The landslide, of rotational clayey retrogressive type—planar sliding, evolved in different phases until it caused a paroxysmal movement in the early afternoon on January 29th, 2019. The landslide caused the collapse of a bulkhead (built at the end of the twentieth century) and of some buildings along the village’s main road. In this paper, a multi-layer back-analysis study is presented, based on the limit equilibrium model (LEM), applying the solution proposed by Morgenstern and Price in Geotechnique 15(1):79–93zh, (1965) and implemented in the freeware software SSAP 2010. The analysis allowed the reconstruction of the entire landslide evolution, using geotechnical parameters obtained from both laboratory and in situ tests, and data from the literature. The application of multilayer back-analysis made it possible to avoid the homogenisation of the layers, modelling the event according to the real conditions present on the slope. The use of the SSAP software made it possible to curb the problem related to the theoretical limitation of the shape of the rupture surfaces, by evaluating independently the friction angle locally and by discarding all those surfaces, which, due to this problem, presented a non-reliable factor of safety (FS) value. The modelling revealed a slope that is highly unstable as the height of the water table changes. The FS calculated under water table conditions close to ground level was less than 1 (FS = 0.98), simulating the first landslide movement (November 2018). The subsequent model reconstructed the critical surface responsible for the January 2019 movement and calculated the FS present on the slope (FS = 1.01). Eventually, the paroxysmal event on January 29th, 2019, was modelled, returning an FS of 0.83, and a sliding surface that sets below the bulkhead, causing its failure. Furthermore, the modelling of the slope in the presence of adequate retaining structures demonstrated the (non-) effectiveness of the retaining wall system represented by the bulkhead. The proposed method of analysis suggests further applications in similar complex multi-layer soil-structure interaction scenarios.

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Characterization and Geotechnical Investigations of a Riverbank Failure in Florence, Italy, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Cited by 15 publications

References 51 publications

Mortar Characterization of Historical Masonry Damaged by Riverbank Failure: The Case of Lungarno Torrigiani (Florence)

Mortar Characterization of Historical Masonry Damaged by Riverbank Failure: The Case of Lungarno Torrigiani (Florence)

A Low-Cost and Fast Operational Procedure to Identify Potential Slope Instabilities in Cultural Heritage Sites

Reconstruction of the evolution phases of a landslide by using multi-layer back-analysis methods

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