TY - JOUR A1 - Bommer, Julian J. A1 - Abrahamson, Norman A. A1 - Strasser, F. O. A1 - Pecker, Alain A1 - Bard, Pierre-Yves A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Cotton, Fabrice Pierre A1 - Fäh, Donat A1 - Sabetta, F. A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Studer, Jost T1 - The challenge of defining upper bounds on earthquake ground motions Y1 - 2004 SN - 0895-0695 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bommer, Julian J. A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Cotton, Fabrice Pierre A1 - Sabetta, F. A1 - Abrahamson, Norman A. T1 - On the use of logic trees for ground-motion prediction equations in seismic-hazard analysis N2 - Logic trees are widely used in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis as a tool to capture the epistemic uncertainty associated with the seismogenic sources and the ground-motion prediction models used in estimating the hazard. Combining two or more ground-motion relations within a logic tree will generally require several conversions to be made, because there are several definitions available for both the predicted ground-motion parameters and the explanatory parameters within the predictive ground-motion relations. Procedures for making conversions for each of these factors are presented, using a suite of predictive equations in current use for illustration. The sensitivity of the resulting ground-motion models to these conversions is shown to be pronounced for some of the parameters, especially the measure of source-to-site distance, highlighting the need to take into account any incompatibilities among the selected equations. Procedures are also presented for assigning weights to the branches in the ground-motion section of the logic tree in a transparent fashion, considering both intrinsic merits of the individual equations and their degree of applicability to the particular application Y1 - 2005 SN - 0037-1106 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bommer, Julian J. A1 - Douglas, John A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Cotton, Fabrice Pierre A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Faeh, Donat T1 - On the selection of ground-motion prediction equations for seismic hazard analysis Y1 - 2010 UR - http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.81.5.783 SN - 0895-0695 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Douglas, John A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Scherbaum, Frank T1 - Ground-motion prediction equations for Southern Spain and Southern Norway obtained using the composite model perspective N2 - In this paper, two sets of earthquake ground-motion relations to estimate peak ground and response spectral acceleration are developed for sites in southern Spain and in southern Norway using a recently published composite approach. For this purpose seven empirical ground-motion relations developed from recorded strong-motion data from different parts of the world were employed. The different relations were first adjusted based on a number of transformations to convert the differing choices of independent parameters to a single one. After these transformations, which include the scatter introduced, were performed, the equations were modified to account for differences between the host and the target regions using the stochastic method to compute the host-to-target conversion factors. Finally functions were fitted to the derived ground-motion estimates to obtain sets of seven individual equations for use in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for southern Spain and southern Norway. The relations are compared with local ones published for the two regions. The composite methodology calls for the setting up of independent logic trees for the median values and for the sigma values, in order to properly separate epistemic and aleatory uncertainties after the corrections and the conversions Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=journal&issn=1363-2469 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/1363246060935058 SN - 1363-2469 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Musson, R. M. W. A1 - Toro, G. R. A1 - Coppersmith, Kevin J. A1 - Bommer, Julian J. A1 - Deichmann, N. A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Cotton, Fabrice Pierre A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Slejko, Dario A1 - Abrahamson, Norman A. T1 - Evaluating hazard results for Switzerland and how not to do it : a discussion of "Problems in the application of the SSHAC probability method for assessing earthquake hazards at Swiss nuclear power plants" by J-U Klugel N2 - The PEGASOS project was a major international seismic hazard study, one of the largest ever conducted anywhere in the world, to assess seismic hazard at four nuclear power plant sites in Switzerland. Before the report of this project has become publicly available, a paper attacking both methodology and results has appeared. Since the general scientific readership may have difficulty in assessing this attack in the absence of the report being attacked, we supply a response in the present paper. The bulk of the attack, besides some misconceived arguments about the role of uncertainties in seismic hazard analysis, is carried by some exercises that purport to be validation exercises. In practice, they are no such thing; they are merely independent sets of hazard calculations based on varying assumptions and procedures, often rather questionable, which come up with various different answers which have no particular significance. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved Y1 - 2005 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Bommer, Julian J. A1 - Bungum, Hilmar A1 - Cotton, Fabrice Pierre A1 - Abrahamson, Norman A. T1 - Composite ground-motion models and logic trees: Methodology, sensitivities, and uncertainties N2 - Logic trees have become a popular tool in seismic hazard studies. Commonly, the models corresponding to the end branches of the complete logic tree in a probabalistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) are treated separately until the final calculation of the set of hazard curves. This comes at the price that information regarding sensitivities and uncertainties in the ground-motion sections of the logic tree are only obtainable after disaggregation. Furthermore, from this end-branch model perspective even the designers of the logic tree cannot directly tell what ground-motion scenarios most likely would result from their logic trees for a given earthquake at a particular distance, nor how uncertain these scenarios might be or how they would be affected by the choices of the hazard analyst. On the other hand, all this information is already implicitly present in the logic tree. Therefore, with the ground-motion perspective that we propose in the present article, we treat the ground-motion sections of a complete logic tree for seismic hazard as a single composite model representing the complete state-of-knowledge-and-belief of a particular analyst on ground motion in a particular target region. We implement this view by resampling the ground-motion models represented in the ground-motion sections of the logic tree by Monte Carlo simulation (separately for the median values and the sigma values) and then recombining the sets of simulated values in proportion to their logic-tree branch weights. The quantiles of this resampled composite model provide the hazard analyst and the decision maker with a simple, clear, and quantitative representation of the overall physical meaning of the ground-motion section of a logic tree and the accompanying epistemic uncertainty. Quantiles of the composite model also provide an easy way to analyze the sensitivities and uncertainties related to a given logic-tree model. We illustrate this for a composite ground- motion model for central Europe. Further potential fields of applications are seen wherever individual best estimates of ground motion have to be derived from a set of candidate models, for example, for hazard rnaps, sensitivity studies, or for modeling scenario earthquakes Y1 - 2005 SN - 0037-1106 ER -