Abstract
This study is focused on the impact of the Eurocode 8 draft revision on the seismic zonation of Romania, one of the countries with the highest hazard levels in Europe. In this study, the design response spectra are evaluated for a number of sites in Romania for which both shear wave velocity profiles and ground motion recordings are available. The impact of the proposed changes on the structural design for structures situated in the southern part of Romania is also discussed. The results show considerable differences between the design response spectra computed according to the Eurocode 8 draft revision and the design response spectra from the current Romanian seismic code P100-1/2013. The differences are larger in the case of the sites situated in the southern part of Romania and those which have large design values for the control period TC. In Bucharest, for instance, it was found that the maximum design spectral accelerations would correspond to those from the 2006 version of the code while the maximum design spectral displacements would be significantly smaller than the levels produced by the 1981 or 1992 versions of the code. The results presented herein show that the differences in the seismic hazard and design ground motions are mainly due to the effects of local soil and site conditions and the associated site amplification proposed in the current Romanian seismic code and EC8 draft revision. Moreover, it has been shown that more analyses are needed to apply the seismic actions proposed in Eurocode 8 revision specifically for the sites in Romania under the influence of Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes so as to ensure an increased level of seismic safety for structures designed and built in the future.
Highlights
This study is focused on the impact of the Eurocode 8 draft revision [1] on the seismic zonation of Romania
Significant differences were observed for the site amplification factors of soil formations that had a great overall thickness (>60.0 m), which were derived using the comparison of ground motion recordings from crustal earthquakes and those computed from the recordings of Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic events
This study focused on the evaluation of the potential impact of the Eurocode 8 draft revision [1] on the seismic zonation of Romania
Summary
This study is focused on the impact of the Eurocode 8 draft revision [1] on the seismic zonation of Romania. The site amplification factors proposed in the Eurocode 8 draft revision [1] were derived using a database of ground motions recorded during shallow earthquakes that had focal depths of less than 35 km [2]. Significant differences were observed for the site amplification factors of soil formations that had a great overall thickness (>60.0 m), which were derived using the comparison of ground motion recordings from crustal earthquakes and those computed from the recordings of Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic events. Over the past 30 years, no major earthquake (either shallow or intermediate-depth) has occurred in Romania, so an evaluation of the design response spectra using ground motion recordings cannot be performed. In the case of Romania, Pavel and Vacareanu [16] have evaluated the exceedance probabilities of the current design response spectra via the action of crustal seismic events.
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