Experimental and analytical study of the seismic response of the urban area of Mendoza (Argentina)

The paper summarizes the activity carried out in a recent project aiming to apply updated methodologies to the seismic microzonation of the urban area of Mendoza (Argentina), located in a region characterized by high seismic activity and on deep recent alluvial deposits. Stratigraphic and geophysical data available from previous studies were integrated with new investigations at test sites representative of four microzones. Field investigations included sampling pits, one-station (HVSR) and multi-receiver surface wave (ESAC) passive geophysical tests. Resonant Column - Torsional Shear tests on undisturbed and reconstituted specimens were carried out to define the non-linear behaviour of silty, sandy and gravelly soils. Natural accelerograms were selected following the national code and deterministic near-fault hazard approaches, and used as reference input motions for 1D seismic response analyses. The results were summarized in terms of average spectral shapes and distributions of amplification of PGA and Housner intensity.