Engineering Seismology and Soil Dynamics

Earthquakes are among the natural disasters that have the highest destructive potential. Through engineering seismological investigations, the earthquake hazard and the seismic load assumptions (response spectrum, earthquake duration, etc.) are determined. This is particularly important for critical infrastructure with increased secondary risk such as dams, industrial plants or nuclear power plants. Nowadays, the calculation of the earthquake hazard is commonly carried out by probabilistic analyses under the systematic consideration of all uncertainties. If required, deterministic methods are also used. To determine site-specific accelerations, soil dynamic measurements and calculations are performed in order to take site-specific characteristics into account.

Among other projects, SDA-engineering GmbH acted as technical consultant in the PEGASOS project to determine the seismic hazard of Swiss nuclear power plants and was commissioned to carry out the site selection procedure for a future nuclear plant site in Turkey using the SSHAC Level 3 procedure.

Furthermore, we are actively involved in the development of regulations for nuclear facilities on a national and international level. Networking with colleagues worldwide and the cooperation with RWTH Aachen University and other universities in research work ensures that the high level of expertise in this field always takes into account the current state of the art in science and technology.