Instability of a broadcasting plant induced by a landslide

ABSTRACT The paper reports a case of heavy damage induced in the structures of a broadcasting plant by slope instability. The plant is located on the top of a hill in Northern Italy. It nsists of a warehouse and a broadcasting tower. The hill is constituted by limestone with a very complex geology. Two faults systems and the bedding planes affect the rock mass and the transition zone between two different limestone formations is in the plant area. In 2005 the mining activity of a pit located at the foot of the hill toward the broadcasting plant cut the slope releasing the bedding planes. A great number of fractures occurred in the warehouse and in the ground around it, suggesting an instability phenomenon in the hill slope. These fractures grew in the years particularly during significant rainfalls. In order to understand the causes that induced the fracture process in the warehouse and to define a support system for the stabilization of the broadcasting plant, a detailed geotechnical survey and a number of numerical slope stability analyses have been successfully carried out.