3D Numerical Simulation of Soil-Structure Interaction Effect: The Acquasanta, Genoa, Railway Bridge

In this paper the soil-structure interaction problem is addressed by three-dimensional numerical simulation considering a challenging case study: a remarkable bridge, called “Acquasanta” bridge, located near Genoa and characterized by complex geological site conditions. The comparison between displacement time-histories of the structure considering or disregarding the soil-structure interaction effect is provided, pointing out that the three-dimensional site effects contribution to the increasing complexity of the dynamic response is very significant and cannot be neglected. The development of non-conforming meshing strategies allows us to tackle numerically and more efficiently the typically multi-scale wave propagation problem, from the far-field to the near-field, from the near-field to the soil-structure interaction effect.