Verification of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis Computer Programs, PEER Report 2010-106

Abstract: 

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) has become a fundamental tool in assessing seismic hazards and for estimating seismic design and seismic safety evaluation of ground motions. It is used both on a site-specific basis for important and critical facilities and on a national scale for building codes. This report describes a project to test and verify the numerical approaches and software used in PSHA. The project was sponsored by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center’s Lifelines Program. A Working Group was organized and members tested their own computer codes in two sets of tests. Through several iterations, codes were tested and acceptable answers were established either through analytical solutions or as the consensus answer from the test case results. The verification tests are available to any PSHA code developer/user worldwide through this publication and the PEER website. The test cases will be used as a standard verification for all PSHA codes to be used in projects for the PEER Lifelines Program sponsors, which include the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), and the California Energy Commission (CEC).

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Author: 
Patricia Thomas
Ivan Wong
Norman Abrahamson
Publication date: 
May 1, 2010
Publication type: 
Technical Report
Citation: 
Thomas, P., Wong, I., & Abrahamson, N. (2010). Verification of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis Computer Programs, PEER Report 2010-106. Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA.