Simplified Criteria to Select Ground Response Analysis Methods for Seismic Building Design: Equivalent Linear versus Nonlinear Approaches

Author(s):  
Mauro Aimar ◽  
Sebastiano Foti

ABSTRACT The possible amplification of seismic waves in soil deposits is crucial for the seismic design of buildings and geotechnical systems. The most common approaches for the numerical simulation of seismic site response are the equivalent linear (EQL) and the nonlinear (NL). Even though their advantages and limitations have been investigated in several studies, the relative field of applicability is still under debate. This study tested both methods over a wide population of soil models, which were subjected to a set of acceleration time histories recorded from strong earthquakes. A thorough comparison of the results of the EQL and the NL approaches was carried out, to identify the conditions in which the relative differences are significant. This assessment allowed for the definition of simplified criteria to predict when the two schemes are or are not compatible for large expected shaking levels. The proposed criteria are based on simple and intuitive parameters describing the soil deposit and the ground-motion parameters, which can be predicted straightforwardly. Therefore, this study provides a scheme for the choice between the EQL and the NL approaches that can be used even at the preliminary design stages. It appears that the EQL approach provides reliable amplification estimates in soil deposits with thickness up to 30 m, except for very deformable soils, but this depth range may be extended at long vibration periods. This result reveals a good level of reliability of the EQL approach for various soil conditions encountered in common applications, even for high-intensity shaking.

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1773-1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ç. İnce ◽  
L. Yılmazoğlu

Abstract. In this work, the surface ground motion that occurs during an earthquake in ground sections having different topographic forms has been examined with one and two dynamic site response analyses. One-dimensional analyses were undertaken using the Equivalent-Linear Earthquake Response Analysis (EERA) program based on the equivalent linear analysis principle and the Deepsoil program which is able to make both equivalent linear and nonlinear analyses and two-dimensional analyses using the Plaxis 8.2 software. The viscous damping parameters used in the dynamic site response analyses undertaken with the Plaxis 8.2 software were obtained using the DeepSoil program. In the dynamic site response analyses, the synthetic acceleration over a 475-year return period representing the earthquakes in Istanbul was used as the basis of the bedrock ground motion. The peak ground acceleration obtained different depths of soils and acceleration spectrum values have been compared. The surface topography and layer boundaries in the 5-5' cross section which cuts across the study area west to east were selected in order to examine the effect of the land topography and layer boundaries on the analysis results, and were flattened and compared with the actual status. The analysis results showed that the characteristics of the surface ground motion change in relation to the varying local soil conditions and land topography.


2022 ◽  
pp. 875529302110608
Author(s):  
Chuanbin Zhu ◽  
Fabrice Cotton ◽  
Hiroshi Kawase ◽  
Annabel Haendel ◽  
Marco Pilz ◽  
...  

Earthquake site responses or site effects are the modifications of surface geology to seismic waves. How well can we predict the site effects (average over many earthquakes) at individual sites so far? To address this question, we tested and compared the effectiveness of different estimation techniques in predicting the outcrop Fourier site responses separated using the general inversion technique (GIT) from recordings. Techniques being evaluated are (a) the empirical correction to the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio of earthquakes (c-HVSR), (b) one-dimensional ground response analysis (GRA), and (c) the square-root-impedance (SRI) method (also called the quarter-wavelength approach). Our results show that c-HVSR can capture significantly more site-specific features in site responses than both GRA and SRI in the aggregate, especially at relatively high frequencies. c-HVSR achieves a “good match” in spectral shape at ∼80%–90% of 145 testing sites, whereas GRA and SRI fail at most sites. GRA and SRI results have a high level of parametric and/or modeling errors which can be constrained, to some extent, by collecting on-site recordings.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 7193-7238
Author(s):  
L. Yılmazoğlu ◽  
G. Ç. İnce

Abstract. In this work, the surface ground motion that occurs during an earthquake in ground sections having different topographic forms has been examined with one and two dynamic site response analyses. One-dimensional analyses were undertaken using the Equivalent-Linear Earthquake Response Analysis program based on the equivalent linear analysis principle and the Deepsoil program which is able to make both equivalent linear and nonlinear analyses and two-dimensional analyses using the Plaxis software. The viscous damping parameters used in the dynamic site response analyses undertaken with the Plaxis software were obtained using the DeepSoil program. In the dynamic site response analyses, the synthetic acceleration over a 475 yr replication period representing the earthquakes in Istanbul was used as the basis of the bedrock ground motion. The peak ground acceleration obtained different depths of soils and acceleration spectrum values have been compared. The surface topography and layer boundaries in the 5-5' section were selected in order to examine the effect of the land topography and layer boundaries on the analysis results were flattened and compared with the actual status. The analysis results showed that the characteristics of the surface ground motion changes in relation to the varying local soil conditions and land topography.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ngoc-Long Tran ◽  
Muhammad Aaqib ◽  
Ba-Phu Nguyen ◽  
Duy-Duan Nguyen ◽  
Viet-Linh Tran ◽  
...  

This study presents a case study on ground response analysis of one of the important cultural heritages in Hanoi, Vietnam. One-dimensional nonlinear and equivalent linear site response analyses which are commonly applied to solve the problem of seismic stress wave propagation are performed at the Ba Dinh square area. A measured in-situ shear wave velocity profile and corresponding geotechnical site investigation and laboratory test data are utilized to develop the site model for site-specific ground response analysis. A suite of earthquake records compatible with Vietnamese Design Code TCVN 9386: 2012 rock design spectrum is used as input ground motions at the bedrock. A few concerns associated with site-specific ground response evaluation are analyzed for both nonlinear and equivalent linear procedures, including shear strains, mobilized shear strength, and peak ground acceleration along with the depth. The results show that the mean maximum shear strains at any soil layer are less than 0.2% in the study area. A deamplification portion within the soil profile is observed at the layer interface with shear wave velocity reversal. The maximum peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the surface is about 0.2 g for equivalent linear analysis and 0.16 g for nonlinear analysis. The ground motions are amplified near the site natural period 0.72 s. The soil factors calculated in this study are 1.95 and 2.07 for nonlinear and equivalent linear analyses, respectively. These values are much different from the current value of 1.15 for site class C in TCVN 9386: 2012. A comparison of calculated response spectra and amplification factors with the local standard code of practice revealed significant discrepancies. It is demonstrated that the TCVN 9386: 2012 soil design spectrum is unable to capture the calculated site amplification in the study area.


2018 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 01043
Author(s):  
Windu Partono

Development of surface acceleration time histories is important for dynamic analysis of structure design and evaluation. Acceleration time histories usually developed from seismograph records due to specific earthquake event. Following the research conducted by Team for Revision of Seismic Hazard Maps of Indonesia 2010 and 2016, Lasem fault and Semarang fault are two closest and dangerous shallow crustal fault earthquake sources which must be taken into account for seismic mitigation of Semarang. This paper presents the development two components surface acceleration time histories for Semarang caused by Semarang fault earthquake scenarios, with magnitude from 6 Mw to 7 Mw and maximum epicentre distance 15 Km. This research was performed by conducting deterministic hazard analysis, response spectral matching and site response analysis to obtain a pair of modified acceleration time histories. Site response analysis was performed by conducting 30 meters soil deposit model by taking the assumption that the position of bedrock elevation is 30 meters below the surface layer. Modified acceleration time histories were developed from a pair time histories (North-South/NS and East-West/EW direction) collected from worldwide historical earthquakes. Modified time histories were developed due to limited time histories data caused by Semarang fault earthquake source.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 1055-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramin Motamed ◽  
Kevin Stanton ◽  
Ibrahim Almufti ◽  
Kirk Ellison ◽  
Michael Willford

A nonlinear ground response analysis is conducted for the Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake recorded at a free-field vertical array near the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. A bidirectional site response analysis is carried out using LS-DYNA which allows user defined stress-strain relationships to dictate soil behavior subjected to dynamic loading. Dynamic soil behavior is characterized using a two-stage hyperbolic backbone curve implemented with modifications to consider the peak strength of soil layers as well as the strain at which the peak strength is fully mobilized. The effects of bidirectional input motions, strain rate, and the shape of the shear modulus degradation curves are investigated, and it is demonstrated that each factor can have a significant influence on the results.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-238
Author(s):  
Seokgyeong Hong ◽  
Jaehun Ahn

The importance of establishing a disaster prevention plan considering seismic performance is being highlighted to reduce damage to structures caused by earthquakes. Earthquake waves propagate from the bedrock to the ground surface through the soil. During the transmission process, they are amplified in a specific frequency range, and the degree of amplification depends mainly on the characteristics of the ground. Therefore, a seismic response analysis process is essential for enhancing the reliability of the seismic design. We propose a model for predicting seismic waves on the surface from seismic waves measured on the bedrock based on Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and validate the applicability of the proposed model with Spectral Acceleration (SA). Both the proposed models based on MLP and CNN successfully predicted the seismic response of the surface. The CNN-based model performed better than the MLP-based model, with a 10% smaller average error. We plan to implement the physical properties of the ground, such as shear wave velocity, to create a more versatile model in the future.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document