New technologies employed in studying, monitoring and stabilizing the San Fratello Landslide (Sicily, Italy)

Abstract

After very intense rainfalls and pre-failure little ground movements, a large landslide occurred in San Fratello on 14th February 2010. San Fratello is a little town on the Nebrodi Mts., a chain in north-east of Sicily, Italy. The landslide is one of the most devastating phenomena occurred in Sicily. In fact it extends over an area of about 100 hectares and has caused enormous damage in the little town: about 300 buildings have been damaged, tens of which completely destroyed, about 2,000 inhabitants have been evacuated. This landslide is very complex for several reasons: it includes different but complementary ground movements; it develops in structurally complex formations; the water table is close to ground level. Based on the results of experimental investigations and back-analyses, geological and geotechnical landslide models have been implemented. Designed stabilization works also include new technologies, such us trench drains realized by means of permeable concrete secant piles having a length of 12.00 m. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.