Effects of Soil Characterization on the Seismic Input

This paper is aimed at determining the effects of the soil characterization on the seismic input to use for seismic assessment. Three different soil profiles have been assembled to represent the stratigraphies found through a proper experimental investigation, carefully described, and alternative seismic site response analyses have been performed. The surface spectra obtained from the seismic site response analysis are very different each other, so evidencing the importance to carefully describe soil stratigraphy. Furthermore, the comparison among the surface records found for different return periods has shown a limited sensitivity of the site response analysis to the seismic intensity.