A Numerical Investigation of Lateral Spreading Phenomena in River Embankments

Emilia region was struck by an earthquake the 20th of May 2012. The seismic event caused a number of liquefaction evidences. A river embankment close to Scortichino village experienced longitudinal cracks and lateral movements. An analysis for evaluation of liquefaction susceptibility is performed based on in-situ tests. CPTU and Vs based methods havve been used and have provided some critical layers at the base of the embankment and on the sandy layer located at a depth of 8 m from ground surface. There is however some uncertainities about the soil liqeufaction susceptibility due to the fact that factor of safety is slightly lower than 1. A numerical analysis is then required to obtain more refined results. An advanced soil constitutive model is used and implemented through the finite element computational platform Opensees to perform a 2D analysis.