Theme Lecture – Lessons on PSHA and site response analyses learned from recent infrastructure projects worldwide
Material from design earthquake studies for infrastructures projects worldwide is presented, grouped in the subjects of PSHA and site response analysis (SRA). Concerning PSHA, emphasis is placed on seismotectonic complexity occurring where stable continental zones are contiguous to active ones, and uncertainty in ground shaking hazard assessment increases because of data scarcity worldwide. Using the Persian Gulf region as an example, the difficulty in establishing seismogenic source models and earthquake activity rates is highlighted; the selection of GMPEs in such complex settings is also discussed, with examples from Near East and Africa. Regarding SRA, the comparative merits of the type of approach used is discussed first, i.e. hybrid (probabilistic + deterministic) vs. rigorous probabilistic. Lastly, deep borehole data from a real project site are used to investigate whether the lack of deep seismic velocity data at deep soft soil sites plays or not a significant role in SRA.