SITE AND SEISMIC STATION CHARACTERIZATION: AN EUROPEAN INITIATIVE

Abstract

Site characterization is a key input in seismic hazard and risk assessment (e.g. Ground Motion Prediction Equation, microzonation studies, damage scenarios) and seismic design (building codes, critical facilities). Although the number of strong-motion stations in free-field and engineering structures has largely increased over the world in the last twenty years, only a limited number of sites includes detailed site condition indicators: mostly geology and EC8 soil class, more rarely shear-wave velocity (Vs) information (e.g. Vs30 and Vs profiles), without proper documentation and quality assessment in most cases. This lack of information is a critical issue, e.g. for deriving reference rock/soil velocity profiles for region-specific GMPEs, site-specific hazard assessment, vs-kappa adjustments, seismic response of engineering infrastructures, risk modeling at urban or regional scale. Within the framework of the SERA “Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe” Horizon 2020 Project, a networking activity has been set up to propose a comprehensive European strategy and standards fostering site characterization of seismic stations in Europe. We will present the status of this networking activity that focuses on several issues. The first target is to evaluate the most relevant site characterization scalar, depth and frequencydependant indicators (e.g. Vs30, resonance period, velocity profiles, kappa, amplification factors and functions, etc.) for seismic hazard purposes and, thereafter, to propose best practice for site characterization together with standards for overall quality metrics on site characterization. The second target focuses on disseminating, within the broader seismological and engineering community, site characterization metadata developed within the EU NERA and EPOS-IP projects in order to validate and/or further develop metadata format schemes for wide use. Based on available site characterization information in Europe and considering the research and engineering needs, the third target proposes to set up a road map to prioritize strong motion site characterization in Europe for the next decade. Finally, a task is dedicated to investigate relevance of new site condition and amplification proxies (for example combining resonance frequency, local slope and other parameters, proxy for non-linear effects, wavelength-scaled curvature and topographic position index position as proxies for topographic effects, aggravation factor for basin effects, etc.) and their implementation at the European scale and into site characterization metadata.