Site characterization studies in Iran

During the years, I participated in many different projects in Iran, mostly to study local geotechnical conditions and soil characterization. Each of these projects was undertaken for a specific reason and necessity.

I was involved in these projects in terms of:

• Extracting dispersion curves from active methods (MASW)
• Extracting dispersion curves (Rayleigh and Love) from passive methods (3-component F-K methods)
• H/V (process and interpretation)
• F0 microzonation map
• F0-depth relation estimation
• Extracting Ellipticity curves (one station and multi-station methods)
• Joint inversion of Ellipticities, Active and Passive arrays to extract shear wave velocity profiles

Here is the description of each project:

1- Aq-Qala and Gomishan: This project was defined after the heavy damage related to the flood of 2019 in Golestan Province. The flood damage highlighted the importance of all types of natural hazards studies, especially the local seismic hazards in the high-seismicity area filled by loess (weak) soils.

2- Faraghi: Another project in Golestan province was conducted in Faraghi city. The city is currently facing the problem of severe land subsidence due to the erosion of clay and loess soils. The severe 2004 flood that affected several villages led to the creation of the city. Thus, the rapid urban development and population growth in the city have increased the risks associated with various potential natural hazards, posing significant challenges for the city's resilience.

3- Kalpoosh: Following the torrential rains in 2019, numerous landslides occurred in mountainous areas and steep slopes in the East Alborz region (North Semnan province). One of the most important landslides occurred in the village of Kalpoosh. Kalpoosh was built on a large old landslide, and this area has been reactivated due to infiltration waters from the Kalpoosh dam and the rainfall and snowmelt caused by heavy snow in winter 2018. In addition to the reactivation, many other large and small landslides have occurred on the slopes around this village, which raises the necessity of comprehensive studies in this region. As part of this project, site-effect studies were done in order to find the new location for the transfer of damaged houses in the uninhabitable parts.

4- Borujerd: In this study, we tried to investigate the soil characterization and site conditions (soil class, VS30, velocity profiles) for seismic stations in Lorestan province using the ambient noise vibrations method.

5- Mahshahr: This project was carried out to evaluate the seismic vulnerability and resiliency of structures in oil and gas facilities in southern Iran (Mahshahr special economic zone). Site effect and microzonation studies were carried out as part of this project's objectives to complete the study.