Site seismic response for a strategic building in the city of Messina by two-dimensional finite element analysis

It is well recognized that local seismic effects can exert a significant influence on the distribution of damages during earthquakes. Traditionally, these effects have been studied by means of simple one-dimensional (1-D) models of seismic wave propagation which take only the influence of the stratigraphic profile and soil/bedrock properties into account on the seismic response. Conversely, local effects derived from surface topography such as ridge, cliffs etc., which are typically two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) problems, have received less attention because of computational time, lack of experimental data and the need of more refined models. It is therefore of great interest to quantitatively evaluate the relative contribution on seismic response of stratigraphic as well as of topographic effects, which can be very different depending on the specific morphological conditions and geotechnical characteristics of the site.