This paper examines the sensitivity of seismic hazard analyses to various site response analysis procedures. Site effects are incorporated in the hazard calculations using a probabilistic approach and specifically the methodology of Bazzurro and Cornell [1] for the transformation of a generic ground-motion prediction equation to a site-specific one. The paper explores the sensitivity of the median amplification function, its standard deviation and the resulting surface hazard curve, to different methods of site response analysis and model input parameters. The computed site-specific surface hazard curves are also compared with those obtained from a generic soil ground-motion prediction equation. For the two sites investigated, it is shown that the choice of equivalent linear or nonlinear analysis with different constitutive model parameters has a large impact on the hazard results. The sandy site was seen to be more sensitive to the site response analysis approach employed than the clayey site.
This paper investigates issues related to the number of ground-motion records required for the performance of site response analysis and the inclusion of the site-specific amplification function within probabilistic seismic hazard calculations (PSHA). It explores the minimum number of records required for a robust estimation of the median and standard deviation of the site amplification function, as well as the impact of the selected ground-motion suites on the results of PSHA. Site response analyses are performed using both equivalent linear and nonlinear methodologies. Although the median amplification was observed to be relatively easy to capture, the standard deviation was seen to fluctuate considerably, especially when suites of few records were used. It was observed that in the case of the nonlinear site response analysis 10 records provide relatively stable estimates of the hazard curves for the majority of periods, while in the case of the equivalent linear analysis 20 records or more are required to achieve a similar level of accuracy.
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