Giuliano F. Panza – författare

Issues pertaining to urban risks are a pressing concern for those involved in disasters mitigation. Development of effective mitigation strategies requires sound seismic hazard information that is commonly derived through a seismic hazard assessment (SHA). The purpose of SHA is to provide a scientifically consistent estimate of seismic hazard for engineering design and other considerations. The time is ripe to move beyond the old paradigms of the traditional Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA). This two-part volume advocates advanced methods for SHA that utilize up to date earthquake science and basic scientific principles to derive the seismic hazard in terms of a ground motion or related quantity and its occurrence frequency at a site, as well as the associated uncertainty. It aims to: (1) identify the issues in the current SHAs, (2) facilitate the development of a scientifically consistent approach for SHA and (3) disseminate, both in scientific and in engineeringpractice societies, advanced reliable tools for independent hazard estimates, like NDSHA (neo-deterministic SHA), which incorporates physically based ground motion models. It provides a fresh approach to seismic hazard analysis. Part 1 deals with the general issues of SHA methodology review and development, as well as with recent advances in earthquake science that may have relevant implications toward an improved SHA. It is addressed to seismologists, engineers and stake-holders, and aims to contribute to bridging between modern interdisciplinary research and practitioners.

Issues pertaining to urban risks are a pressing concern for those involved in disasters mitigation. Development of effective mitigation strategies requires sound seismic hazard information that is commonly derived through a seismic hazard assessment (SHA). The purpose of SHA is to provide a scientifically consistent estimate of seismic hazard for engineering design and other considerations. The time is ripe to move beyond the old paradigms of the traditional Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA). This two-part volume advocates advanced methods for SHA that utilize up to date earthquake science and basic scientific principles to derive the seismic hazard in terms of a ground motion or related quantity and its occurrence frequency at a site, as well as the associated uncertainty. It aims to: (1) identify the issues in the current SHAs, (2) facilitate the development of a scientifically consistent approach for SHA and (3) disseminate, both in scientific and in engineeringpractice societies, advanced reliable tools for independent hazard estimates, like NDSHA (neo-deterministic SHA), which incorporates physically based ground motion models. It provides a fresh approach to seismic hazard analysis. Part 2 provides advanced SHA case studies, concerning regional national and metropolitan estimates for different parts of the world, including Asia, Europe, North and South America. It is addressed to seismologists, engineers and stake-holders, and aims to contribute to bridging between modern interdisciplinary research and practitioners.

requiring the adaptation of probabilistic maps to design ground motions; and (d) the generalization of design parameters to locations where there is little seismic history. Maximum displacements, velocities, and, based on the European Build­ ing Code EC8, design ground acceleration maps have thus been produced by ZivCic et al. for Slovenia, Marku§ic et al. for Croatia, Bus et al. for Hungary, and Radulian et al. for Romania. The last two contributions in the volume are dedicated to studies of local site effects that could affect the microzonation of large urban areas. Moldoveanu et al. employed a technique based on the modal summation and finite dif­ ferences to calculate the expected ground motion in the capital city of Bucha­ rest due to large intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes. Their results outline that the presence of alluvial sediments and the possible variation of event scenario require the use of all three components of motion for a reliable determination of the seismic input. The study of Marmureanu et al. , more limited in scope, offers a laboratory analysis of the attenuation effects for sur­ face layers. The authors confirm that seismic attenuation in sedimentary layers is a function of the strain levels induced by large earthquakes, and find that the quality factor is nearly constant over a relatively wide frequency range, between 7 and 100 Hz.

requiring the adaptation of probabilistic maps to design ground motions; and (d) the generalization of design parameters to locations where there is little seismic history. Maximum displacements, velocities, and, based on the European Build­ ing Code EC8, design ground acceleration maps have thus been produced by ZivCic et al. for Slovenia, Marku§ic et al. for Croatia, Bus et al. for Hungary, and Radulian et al. for Romania. The last two contributions in the volume are dedicated to studies of local site effects that could affect the microzonation of large urban areas. Moldoveanu et al. employed a technique based on the modal summation and finite dif­ ferences to calculate the expected ground motion in the capital city of Bucha­ rest due to large intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes. Their results outline that the presence of alluvial sediments and the possible variation of event scenario require the use of all three components of motion for a reliable determination of the seismic input. The study of Marmureanu et al. , more limited in scope, offers a laboratory analysis of the attenuation effects for sur­ face layers. The authors confirm that seismic attenuation in sedimentary layers is a function of the strain levels induced by large earthquakes, and find that the quality factor is nearly constant over a relatively wide frequency range, between 7 and 100 Hz.