A Dynamic Geotechnical Characterization of Soil at Saint Nicola alla Rena Church Damaged by the South Eastern Sicily Earthquake of 13 December 1990

The city of Catania is one of the most seismically active areas of Italy. This paper describes and compares the results of in situ and laboratory investigations that were carried out in order to determine the dynamic characteristics of Saint Nicola alla Rena Church site. Special attention has been paid to the variation of shear modulus and damping ratio with strain level and depth. Moreover normalised laws are proposed to consider shear modulus decay and damping ratio increase with strain level. The deposits under consideration consist of fractured to slightly fractured lava, with horizons of scoriaceus lava, lava in blocks, "rifusa" and volcanoclastic rocks.