Seismic Hazard and Alpine Valley Response Analysis
SISMOVALP
Interereg III B - Alpine Space Programme
2003-2006

CDROM II: Generic Alpine Valleys Characterization

Due to tourism and industrial development, urbanised areas located on deep-filled sediment alpine valley have undergone massive development. In the last decade, many seismological studies have shown that vibrations due to earthquakes are strongly amplified by alpine-specific soil conditions. Therefore, the fast building expansion in the alpine environment may have not been regulated by adequate levels of earthquake resistant design.
The project builds a transnational database which can be used in the whole alpine space for seismic hazard studies. Representative alpine valleys shapes and earthquake scenarios are defined and the associated vibrations are calculated. Generic alpine spectra and accelerograms are proposed and compared with the level of protection currently pursued at a national or European (EC8) scale. The improved seismic risk knowledge are disseminated to civil engineers and local authorities in order to reduce our vulnerability to earthquakes in the alpine space.