Seismic Hazard Assessment

Seismic design loads for standard buildings are given in seismic building codes. Special engineering constructions like dams or industrial facilities are out of the scope of standard building codes and require higher safety levels and longer earthquake recurrence periods. Seismic loads based on generalised code response spectra can only very roughly incorporate regional seismicity and local soil conditions.

SDA-engineering GmbH performs site-specific seismic hazard analyses and calculates seismic loads for the requested earthquake recurrence periods. Therefore, a probabilistic model is used that incorporates the surrounding seismicity in a large-scale and allows the consideration of parameter uncertainties. Soil dynamic calculations are used to further specify the local soil conditions. The cost-benefit and the accuracy of the seismic hazard assessment are matched to the safety requirements. A high level of comprehension and accuracy regarding the seismic hazard analysis is demanded for the evaluation of seismic loads for nuclear facilities. The analyses have to consider the current state-of-the-art and to incorporate uncertainties in a broad range. A modern and powerful software package is available for probabilistic hazard analyses.

On request, an assessment of the soil liquefaction potential is conducted under consideration of peak ground acceleration, structural loads and local soil properties.