Preservation of cultural heritage of Sant’Agata De’ Goti (Italy) from natural hazards

Abstract

Sant’Agata de’ Goti, Italy, is a small town resting on a tuff relief between two creeks, where many anthropic cavities, due to the tuff quarrying activity, are present. The tuff roof is few meters deep, so the adopted open-pit technique gave out superstructures strictly connected to the underlying cavities. This study is focused on the investigation of the possible failure mechanisms of a typical cavity, located along the edge of the cliff. After the collection and the interpretation of the geological and geotechnical data, a back analysis of the strength parameters of the fractured rock mass was carried out through the 2D FLAC code. Starting from the fissuring pattern observed in the field, a ‘ubiquitous joint’ constitutive model implemented into the code was utilized. The analyses confirmed that orientation, spacing and friction strength of the discontinuities affect the instability mechanisms of the cavity and play a very important role on the safety conditions of the building heritage of this attractive town.