Uncertainty assessment of seismic site classification

Seismic site classification is a critical subject for reliable seismic ground motion analysis. Building codes have widely considered the shear wave velocity (VS) to makea reliable subsoil seismic classification based on the knowledge of the mechanical properties of material deposits down to bedrock. This approach has limitationsbecause geophysical data are often very expensive to obtain. This paper present a method for estimating the VS of soil layers in unsampled location. For this purpose,first three boreholes drilled for determining geotechnical parameters. After obtaining VS and other mechanical parameters of soil, using cokriging the VS in unsampledlocation were estimated. For reliability assessment of seismic site classification the site studied as a several components together. Finally, the seismic soil type of the sitewas specified.

Keywords:

Seismic site classification , Iranian Seismic Code , Shear wave velocity , Geostatistics , Cokriging , Variogram