Seismic signature of the deadly snow avalanche of January 18, 2017, at Rigopiano (Italy).

Most snow avalanches occur unobserved, which becomes particularly dramatic when human lives are involved. Seismological observations can be helpful to unravel time and dynamics of unseen events, like the deadly avalanche of January 18, 2017, that hit a Resort-hotel at Rigopiano in the Abruzzi (Italy). Particle motion analysis and spectrograms from data recorded by a close seismic broadband station, calculation of synthetic seismograms, as well as simulation of the flow, allowed us to construct the dynamics of the snow avalanche that buried alive 40 people, killing 29.

Designing Reinforced Concrete Beams Containing Supplementary Cementitious Materials.

If supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are used as binders, the environmental impact produced by cement-based composites can be reduced. Following the substitution strategy to increase sustainability, several studies have been carried out with the aim of measuring the mechanical properties of different concrete systems, in which a portion of Portland cement was substituted with SCMs, such as fly ashes. On the other hand, studies on the structural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) elements made with SCMs are very scarce.

Snow metamorphism: A fractal approach.

Snow is a porous disordered medium consisting of air and three water phases: ice, vapor, and liquid. The ice phase consists of an assemblage of grains, ice matrix, initially arranged over a random load bearing skeleton. The quantitative relationship between density and morphological characteristics of different snow microstructures is still an open issue.

Fractal heterogeneous media.

A method is presented for generating compact fractal disordered media by generalizing the random midpoint displacement algorithm. The obtained structures are invasive stochastic fractals, with the Hurst exponent varying as a continuous parameter, as opposed to lacunar deterministic fractals, such as the Menger sponge. By employing the detrending moving average algorithm [A.