ABSTRACT
A proper evaluation of the seismic performance of geotechnical systems is a fundamental step for assessing the functionality of a transportation network after the occurrence of an earthquake. This paper illustrates the preliminary results of a novel methodology aimed at identifying geotechnical systems characterized by an unsatisfactory seismic performance, resulting in a compromised functionality of the overall road network. The proposed framework is applied to an ideal case study using gravity retaining walls as an illustrative example of more complex geotechnical systems. The potential damage to each retaining wall is quantified through ad-hoc generated fragility curves, starting from a scenario ground motion map. A new scale of functionality loss is proposed by exploiting existing damage scales. Information on partial or complete road closures is incorporated as part of a standard transportation engineering framework. Such framework is used to estimate variations in the performance of the road network by means of specific indicators, e.g. active accessibilities and path generalized costs. The analysis of these indexes is used to quantify the effects of loss of functionality of the retaining walls and the resulting actions on the overall performance of the transportation network. The versatility of the proposed framework allows it to be applied to any transportation network and geotechnical system.
