Comparison of Earthquake Design Regulations for Buildings in Iran and Germany

The contribution addresses a comparison of normative building codes for earthquake design between Germany and Iran. The underlying objective is to assess the possibilities and limitations of transferring building typological approaches for risk assessment and building materiality analysis from the European to the Iranian context. Research in building codes is closely related to risk analyses of natural and anthropogenic hazards, considering uncertainties in predicting their intensity and frequency. On this basis, building codes bridge the gap between insights from hazard research and the implications or requirements for structures. They involve determining relevant parameters and their effects on the structural design, required load-bearing capacity, and usability of individual components, taking into account the entire building. In a comparative study involving the Iranian earthquake design standard “Standard 2800” and the “DIN EN 1998” (Eurocode 8 and German National Annex) regulating seismic design in Germany and the EU, the primary focus is to assess the codes’ applicability in risk assessment and their potential contribution to an integrated perspective, particularly from a resources perspective. The comparative study provides a brief overview of most important contents and compares key parameters of seismic design. Specifically, the study compares seismic zones characterizing the impact, subsoil types significantly responsible for the transmission and damping of earthquake waves as well as the importance factor, which characterises the social significance of the buildings as a kind of affectedness of the people living in them. The normative comparison reveals some similarities but also differences. While both codes essentially define the importance factor in the same way, geological conditions differ, resulting in distinct approaches to design parameters, among other aspects. Overall, both the Iranian and European seismic codes present a distinct perspective on content. While the Iranian code focuses on seismic design, the Eurocode 8 incorporates additional information on specific seismic requirements related to the use of building materials in structural planning.