Near-Field Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis of Metropolitan Tehran Using Region-Specific Directivity Models

Ground motions are affected by directivity effects at near-fault regions which result in low-frequency cycle pulses at the beginning of the velocity time history. The directivity features of near-fault ground motions can lead to significant increase in the risk of earthquake-induced damage on engineering structures. The ordinary probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) does not take into account such effects; recent studies have thus proposed new frameworks to incorporate directivity effects in PSHA. The objective of this study is to develop the seismic hazard mapping of Tehran City according to near-fault PSHA procedure for different return periods. To this end, the directivity models required in the modified PSHA were developed based on a database of the simulated ground motions. The simulated database was used in this study because there are no recorded near-fault data in the region to derive purely empirically based pulse prediction models. The results show that the directivity effects can significantly affect the estimate of regional seismic hazard.