Earthquakes

Earthquakes often have a large impact. Strong earthquakes such as those occurring in Indonesia or Japan, along the so-called "ring of fire" can cause enormous damage and many casualties. Most casualties are due to collapsing buildings and structures, landslides or tsunamis. In the Netherlands, induced earthquakes in Groningen have resulted in damage and a sense of insecurity and fear.

Seismic design

In the seismic design of buildings and structures, a probabilistic approach is often used as starting point. In this approach you determine the earthquake load in the form of Peak Ground Accelaration (PGA) or Spectral Acceleration (Sa) in relation to probability of occurrence.

Often, national building codes prescribe the probabilistic approach as the starting point for calculating and assessing the strength of a structure. Strength calculations can be done using 2D or 3D Finite Element Models (FEM). Soil-structure interaction usually plays an important role. We can carry out a seismic design, from start to end.

Risk of damage

There are models available that can be used to determine the earthquake load after an earthquake occurred. These models are called Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs). For the Groningen area specific GMPEs have been developed.

The Dutch meteorological institute KNMI performs seismic monitoring in and around Groningen. On the basis of these measurements, the GMPEs are regularly adjusted. By comparing the measured and modeled values ​​of the Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) with national damage assesment criteria (SBR-A guideline) we can determine for you the likelihood of damage.