• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.103-109
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• 2009

The probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) calculates the probability of exceedance of a certain ground motion parameter within a finite period at a site of interest. PSHA is very robust in that it can account for the uncertainties in seismic source, wave passage effect, and seismic site effects and hence, it is the most widely used method in quantifying the future earthquake induced ground vibration. This paper evaluates the applicability of a new PSHA that is alleged to be able to reproduce the results of a conventional PSHA method, but generates a series of earthquake scenarios and corresponding ground motion time histories that are compatible with the scenarios. In the application, a 40,000 year period is simulated, during which 16,738 virtual earthquakes have occurred. The seismic hazard maps are generated from the outputs of the new PSHA. Comparisons with the maps generated by the conventional PSHA method demonstrated that the new PSHA can successfully reproduce the results of a conventional PSHA. The new PSHA may not be very meaningful in itself. However, the real advantage of the method is that it can be used to develop probabilisitic seismic site coefficients. The suite of generated ground motion time histories are used to develop probabilistic site coefficients in the companion paper.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1255-1262
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• 2009

This paper introduces the status of and issues related to the PSHA (Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis) of Korean Nuclear Power Plant sites. PSHA was first introduced to the nuclear industry in the mid-1980s. The Korean PSHA is based on Cornell and accommodates the modem approach for eliciting expertise and statistical treatment. Due to the low seismicity in Korea, large uncertainties exist in the PSHA database including seismic source maps, seismicity parameters of seismic sources, and attenuation formulae. Though research in seismology, geology, and earthquake engineering since the mid-1990s has significantly reduced uncertainties, a considerable amount still exists. Considering the low seismicity of the Korean Peninsula, especially the lack of strong motion data, further reduction will take several decades.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1243-1254
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• 2009

The paper discusses the methodology and the use of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for nuclear power plants from a European perspective. The increasing importance of risk-informed approaches in the nuclear oversight process observed in many countries has contributed to increasing attention to PSHA methods. Nevertheless significant differences with respect to the methodology of PSHA are observed in Europe. The paper gives an overview on actual projects and discusses the differences in the PSHA-methodology applied in different European countries. These differences are largely related to different approaches used for the treatment of uncertainties and to the use of experts. The development of a probabilistic scenario-based approach is identified as a meaningful alternative to the development of uniform hazard spectra or uniform confidence spectra.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.821-831
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• 2019

The 9.12 earthquake (2016.9.12., M_L=5.8) and Pohang (2017.11.15., M_L=5.4) caused social and economic damage, resulting in a greater public interest in earthquakes than in the past. In the U.S., Japan and Chile, which have high frequency of earthquakes, infrastructure facilities are already managed based on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and ground motion prediction equation (GMPE) to prepare for and respond to seismic disasters. In South Korea, the aforementioned PSHA and GMPE models have been developed independently through individual researchers. However, the limited disclosure of basic data, calculation methods, and final results created during the model development poses a problem of deploying new data without updating the earthquake that occurs every year. Therefore, this paper describes how to create flatfile, which is the basic data of GMPE, and how to process for seismic waves, and how to create intensity measures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1235-1242
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• 2009

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) is routinely conducted in the US for nuclear plants, for the determination of appropriate seismic design levels. These analyses incorporate uncertainties in earthquake characteristics in stable continental regions (where direct observations of large earthquakes are rare), in estimates of rock motions, in site effects on strong shaking, and in the damage potential of seismic shaking for engineered facilities. Performance goals related to the inelastic deformation of individual components, and related to overall seismic core damage frequency, are used to determine design levels. PSHA has the ability to quantify and document the important uncertainties that affect seismic design levels, and future work can be guided toward reducing those uncertainties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.422-422
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• 2002

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.59-69
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• 2021

Historical records of earthquakes are generally used as a basis to extrapolate the instrumental earthquake catalog in time and space during the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). However, the historical catalogs' input parameters determined through historical descriptions rather than any quantitative measurements are accompanied by considerable uncertainty in PSHA. Therefore, quantitative assessment to verify the historical earthquake parameters is essential for refining the reliability of PSHA. This study presents an approach and its application to constrain reliable ranges of the magnitude and corresponding epicenter of historical earthquakes. First, ranges rather than specific values of ground motion intensities are estimated at multiple locations with distances between each other for selected historical earthquakes by reviewing observed co-seismic natural phenomena, structural damage levels, or felt areas described in their historical records. Based on specific objective criteria, this study selects only one earthquake (July 24, 1643), which is potentially one of the largest historical earthquakes. Then, ground motion simulations are performed for sufficiently broadly distributed epicenters, with a regular grid to prevent one from relying on strong assumptions. Calculated peak ground accelerations and velocities in areas with the historical descriptions on corresponding earthquakes are converted to intensities with an empirical ground motion-intensity conversion equation to compare them with historical descriptions. For the ground motion simulation, ground motion prediction equations and a frequency-wavenumber method are used to consider the effects of possible source mechanisms and stress drop. From these quantitative calculations, reliable ranges of epicenters and magnitudes and the trade-off between them are inferred for the earthquake that can conservatively match the upper and lower boundaries of intensity values from historical descriptions.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.43-51
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• 2011

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), which can effectively apply inevitable uncertainties in seismic data, considers a number of seismotectonic models and attenuation equations. The calculated hazard by PSHA is generally a value dependent on peak ground acceleration (PGA) and expresses the value as an annual exceedance probability. To represent the uncertainty range of a hazard which has occurred using various seismic data, a hazard curve figure shows both a mean curve and percentile curves (15, 50, and 85). The percentile performs an important role in that it indicates the uncertainty range of the calculated hazard, could be calculated using various methods by the relation of the weight and hazard. This study using the weight accumulation method, the weighted hazard method, the maximum likelihood method, and the moment method, has calculated the percentile of the computed hazard by PSHA on the Shinuljin 1, 2 site. The calculated percentile using the weight accumulation method, the weighted hazard method, and the maximum likelihood method, have similar trends and represent the range of all computed hazards by PSHA. The calculated percentile using the moment method effectively showed the range of hazards at the source which includes a site. This study suggests the moment method as effective percentile calculation method considering the almost same mean hazard for the seismotectonic model and a source which includes a site.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.87-97
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• 2009

The seismic site coefficients are often used with the seismic hazard maps to develop the design response spectrum at the surface. The site coefficients are most commonly developed deterministically, while the seismic hazarde maps are derived probabilistically. There is, hence, an inherent incompatibility between the two approaches. However, they are used together in the seismic design codes without a clear rational basis. To resolve the fundamental imcompatibility between the site coefficients and hazard maps, this study uses a novel probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) technique that simulates the results of a standard PSHA at a rock outcrop, but integrates the site response analysis function to capture the site amplification effects within the PSHA platform. Another important advantage of the method is its ability to model the uncertainty, variability, and randomness of the soil properties. The new PSHA was used to develop fully probabilistic site coefficients for site classes of the seismic design code and another sets of site classes proposed in Korea. Comparisons highlight the pronounced discrepancy between the site coefficients of the seismic design code and the proposed coefficients, while another set of site coefficients show differences only at selected site classes.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.151-160
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• 2014

Probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA) is based on the approach of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) which is performed using various seismotectonic models and ground-motion prediction equations. The major difference between PTHA and PSHA is that PTHA requires the wave parameters of tsunami. The wave parameters can be estimated from tsunami propagation analysis. Therefore, a tsunami simulation analysis was conducted for the purpose of evaluating the wave parameters required for the PTHA of Uljin nuclear power plant (NPP) site. The tsunamigenic fault sources in the western part of Japan were chosen for the analysis. The wave heights for 80 rupture scenarios were numerically simulated. The synthetic tsunami waveforms were obtained around the Uljin NPP site. The results show that the wave heights are closely related with the location of the fault sources and the associated potential earthquake magnitudes. These wave parameters can be used as input data for the future PTHA study of the Uljin NPP site.