Behavior of near-source peak horizontal and vertical ground motions over SMART-1 Array, Taiwan

1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 715-732
Author(s):  
M. Niazi ◽  
Y. Bozorgnia

Abstract Over 700 accelerograms recorded from 12 earthquakes in northeast Taiwan have been analyzed for investigating the behavior of vertical and horizontal peak and spectral ground motion in the near-source region. Peak horizontal and vertical ground acceleration (PGA), velocity (PGV), and displacement (PGD) in the range of engineering interest have been subjected to a two-step nonlinear regression procedure in terms of magnitude and hypocentral distance. In comparison with a number of other studies of global PGA observations, our predictions show lower far-field attenuation, lower near-source amplitudes, higher magnitude saturation for the vertical component, lower magnitude saturation for the horizontal component, and higher magnitude scaling. The 2 / 3 ratio of vertical to horizontal ground motion, commonly used in engineering applications, may be unconservative in the very near-field for high-frequency ground motion. It falls below 1 / 2 at distances greater than 50 km. The same ratio for PGV and PGD tends to increase with distance, the latter at a faster rate. For SMART-1 data the major source of uncertainty appears to be inter-event rather than intra-event randomness. The predominance of the inter-event uncertainty in ground motions near the source is expected to be a characteristic of all dense arrays.

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 2301-2323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Belvaux ◽  
Albert Macau ◽  
Sara Figueras ◽  
Xavier Goula ◽  
Teresa Susagna

On 11 May 2011 an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 ( M w) hit the Murcia region of Spain causing significant damage to buildings in the town of Lorca. Accelerograms were recorded by stations of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, and high-amplitude ground motions were observed at the Lorca station, with a peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.37 g. The contribution of a near-field component of ground motion is shown in time histories and in elastic response spectra. Features of near-field ground motions such as directivity could have significantly enhanced the ground shaking caused by this event. Local amplification effects in Lorca were investigated by the H/V spectral ratio technique and an array method. Information obtained from the geophysical field survey allowed the definition of representative soil columns and site classifications according to Eurocode 8. Modeling of site response is conducted for an example location. The aftershocks recorded at different sites confirm the soil amplification at these locations.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janneke van Ginkel ◽  
Elmer Ruigrok ◽  
Rien Herber

<p>Up to now, almost all of the ground motion modeling and hazard assessment for seismicity in the Netherlands focuses on horizontal motion. As a rule of thumb, the strength of vertical ground motions is taken as 2/3 of that of horizontal ground motions. In reality of course, amplifications and V/H ratios are site-dependent and thus vary regionally.  Recent studies have indeed shown that vertical ground motion is not always simply 2/3 of the horizontal motion. However, these studies are performed in areas with high magnitude (Mw>5.0) earthquakes and the question is whether vertical motion is relevant to be included in seismic hazard assessment for low magnitude earthquakes (to date, max Mw=3.6 in Groningen).</p><p>In the Netherlands, the top part of the soils is practically always unconsolidated, so the elastic waves generated by deeper (~3000m) seated earthquakes will be subject to transformation when arriving in these layers. Recordings over a range of depth levels in the Groningen borehole network show the largest amplification to occur in the upper 50 meters of the sedimentary cover. We not only observe a strong amplification from shear waves on the horizontal components, but also from longitudinal waves on the vertical component. A better understanding of vertical motion of low magnitude earthquakes aims to support the design of re-enforcement measures for buildings in areas affected by low magnitude seismicity. Furthermore, interference between the longitudinal -and shear waves might contribute to damage on structures.</p><p>This study presents observations of longitudinal wave amplification in the frequency band 1-10 Hz, corresponding to resonance periods of Dutch buildings. From 19 seismic events, with a minimum of magnitude two, we retrieved transfer functions (TFs) from the vertical component, showing a strong site response at certain locations. In addition, we calculate event V/H ratios and VH factors from the surface seismometer. These results are compared with the TFs and show a similar pattern in terms of site response. Furthermore, the sites with highest vertical amplification correspond to very low (800-900 m/s) P-wave velocities. Our study shows that vertical amplification is very site dependent. However, the question whether the vertical motion is significant enough to form a real hazard can only be answered through cooperation between seismologist and structural engineer.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 999-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Gülerce ◽  
Norman A. Abrahamson

The vertical ground motion component is disregarded in the design of ordinary highway bridges in California, except for the bridges located in high seismic zones (sites with design horizontal peak ground acceleration greater than 0.6 g). The influence of vertical ground motion on the seismic response of single-bent, two-span highway bridges designed according to Caltrans Seismic Design Code (SDC-2006) is evaluated. A probabilistic seismic hazard framework is used to address the probability of exceeding the elastic capacity for various structural parameters when the vertical component is included. Negative mid-span moment demand is found to be the structural parameter that is most sensitive to vertical accelerations.A series of hazard curves for negative mid-span moment are developed for a suite of sites in Northern California. The annual probability of exceeding the elastic capacity of the negative mid-span moment is as large as 0.01 for the sites close to active faults when the vertical component is included. Simplified approaches based on the distance to major faults or the median design peak acceleration show that there is a large chance (0.4 to 0.65) of exceeding the elastic limit if the current 0.6 g threshold is used for the consideration of vertical ground motions for ordinary highway bridges. The results of this study provide the technical basis for consideration of a revision of the 0.6 g threshold.


2021 ◽  
pp. 875529302110194
Author(s):  
Daniel Verret ◽  
Denis LeBœuf ◽  
Éric Péloquin

Eastern North America (ENA) is part of a region with low-to-moderate seismicity; nonetheless, some significant seismic events have occurred in the last few decades. Recent events have reemphasized the need to review ENA seismicity and ground motion models, along with continually reevaluating and updating procedures related to the seismic safety assessment of hydroelectric infrastructures, particularly large dams in Québec. Furthermore, recent researchers have shown that site-specific characteristics, topography, and valley shapes may significantly aggravate the severity of ground motions. To the best of our knowledge, very few instrumental data from actual earthquakes have been published for examining the site effects of hydroelectric dam structures located in eastern Canada. This article presents an analysis of three small earthquakes that occurred in 1999 and 2002 at the Denis-Perron (SM-3) dam. This dam, the highest in Québec, is a rockfill embankment structure with a height of 171 m and a length of 378 m; it is located in a narrow valley. The ground motion datasets of these earthquakes include the bedrock and dam crest three-component accelerometer recordings. Ground motions are analyzed both in the time and frequency domains. The spectral ratios and transfer functions obtained from these small earthquakes provide new insights into the directionality of resonant frequencies, vibration modes, and site effects for the Denis-Perron dam. The crest amplifications observed for this dam are also compared with previously published data for large dams. New statistical relationships are proposed to establish dam crest amplification on the basis of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the foundation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali K. Abdelfattah ◽  
Abdullah Al-amri ◽  
Kamal Abdelrahman ◽  
Muhamed Fnais ◽  
Saleh Qaysi

AbstractIn this study, attenuation relationships are proposed to more accurately predict ground motions in the southernmost part of the Arabian Shield in the Jazan Region of Saudi Arabia. A data set composed of 72 earthquakes, with normal to strike-slip focal mechanisms over a local magnitude range of 2.0–5.1 and a distance range of 5–200 km, was used to investigate the predictive attenuation relationship of the peak ground motion as a function of the hypocentral distance and local magnitude. To obtain the space parameters of the empirical relationships, non-linear regression was performed over a hypocentral distance range of 4–200 km. The means of 638 peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) values calculated from the records of the horizontal components were used to derive the predictive relationships of the earthquake ground motions. The relationships accounted for the site-correlation coefficient but not for the earthquake source implications. The derived predictive attenuation relationships for PGV and PGA are$$ {\log}_{10}(PGV)=-1.05+0.65\cdotp {M}_L-0.66\cdotp {\log}_{10}(r)-0.04\cdotp r, $$ log 10 PGV = − 1.05 + 0.65 · M L − 0.66 · log 10 r − 0.04 · r , $$ {\log}_{10}(PGA)=-1.36+0.85\cdotp {M}_L-0.85\cdotp {\log}_{10}(r)-0.005\cdotp r, $$ log 10 PGA = − 1.36 + 0.85 · M L − 0.85 · log 10 r − 0.005 · r , respectively. These new relationships were compared to the grand-motion prediction equation published for western Saudi Arabia and indicate good agreement with the only data set of observed ground motions available for an ML 4.9 earthquake that occurred in 2014 in southwestern Saudi Arabia, implying that the developed relationship can be used to generate earthquake shaking maps within a few minutes of the event based on prior information on magnitudes and hypocentral distances taking into considerations the local site characteristics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 1271-1297
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Campbell

In this article, I propose a method for estimating the magnitude [Formula: see text] at which subduction megathrust earthquakes are expected to exhibit a break in magnitude scaling of both seismic source dimensions and earthquake ground motions. The methodology is demonstrated by applying it to 79 global subduction zones defined in the literature, including Cascadia. Breakpoint magnitude is estimated from seismogenic interface widths, empirical source scaling relations, and aspect ratios of physically unbounded earthquake ruptures and their uncertainties. The concept stems from the well-established observation that source-dimension and ground motion scaling decreases for shallow continental (primarily strike-slip) earthquakes when rupture exceeds the seismogenic width of the fault. Although a scaling break for megathrust earthquakes is difficult to observe empirically, all of the instrumentally recorded historical [Formula: see text] mega-earthquakes have occurred on subduction zones with [Formula: see text] (8.1–8.9), consistent with an observed break in source scaling relations derived from these same events. The breakpoint magnitudes derived in this study can be used to constrain the magnitude at which the scaling of ground motion is expected to decrease in subduction ground motion prediction equations.


1981 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-319
Author(s):  
A. McGarr ◽  
R. W. E. Green ◽  
S. M. Spottiswoode

abstract Ground acceleration was recorded at a depth of about 3 km in the East Rand Proprietary Mines, South Africa, for tremors with −1 ≦ ML ≦ 2.6 in the hypocentral distance range 50 m < R ≦ 1.6 km. The accelerograms typically had predominant frequencies of several hundred Hertz and peak accelerations, a, as high as 12 g. The peak accelerations show a dependence on magnitude, especially when expressed as dynamic shear-stress differences, defined as σ˜ = ρRa, where ρ is density. For the mine tremors, σ˜ varies from 2 to 500 bars and depends on magnitude according to log σ˜ = 1.40 + 0.38 · ML. Accelerograms for 12 events were digitized and then processed to determine velocity and, for seven events with especially good S/N, displacement and seismic source parameters. Peak ground velocities v ranged up to 6 cm/sec and show a well-defined dependence one earthquake size as measured by ML or by seismic moment, Mo. On the basis of regression fits to the mine data, with −0.76 ≦ ML ≦ 1.45, log Rv = 3.95 + 0.57 ML, where Rv is in cm2/sec, and log Rv = −4.68 + 0.49 log Mo. These regression lines agree excellently with the corresponding data for earthquakes of ML up to 6.4 or Mo to 1.4 × 1026 dyne-cm. At a given value of ML or Mo, a, at fixed R, shows considerably greater variation than v and appears to depend on the bandwidth of the recording system. The peak acceleration at small hypocentral distances is broadly consistent with ρRa = 1.14 Δτrofs/β, where Δτ is stress drop, ro is the source radius, β is shear velocity, and fs is the bandwidth of the recording system. The peak velocity data agree well with Rv = 0.57 βΔτro/μ, where μ is the modulus of rigidity; both expressions follow from Brune's model of the seismic source and were compared with data for events in the size range 5 × 1016 ≦ Mo ≦ 1.4 × 1026 dyne-cm. Measurements of the source parameters indicated that, as for earthquakes, the stress drops for the tremors range from 1 to 100 bars and show no consistent dependence on Mo down to Mo = 5 × 1016 dyne-cm.


An effective earthquake (Mw 7.9) struck Alaska on 3 November, 2002. This earthquake ruptured 340 km along Susitna Glacier, Denali and Totschunda faults in central Alaska. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) was recorded about 0.32 g at station PS10, which was located 3 km from the fault rupture. The PGA would have recorded a high value, if more instruments had been installed in the region. A numerical study has been conducted to find out the possible ground motion record that could occur at maximum horizontal slip during the Denali earthquake. The current study overcomes the limitation of number of elements to model the Denali fault. These numerical results are compared with observed ground motions. It is observed that the ground motions obtained through numerical analysis are in good agreement with observed ground motions. From numerical results, it is observed that the possible expected PGA is 0.62 g at maximum horizontal slip of Denali fault.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 790-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Aryan ◽  
Mehdi Ghassemieh

Field evidence of recent earthquakes shows serious bridge damages due to the direct compression or tension in the columns and some flexural and shear failures caused by the variation in axial force of the columns. These damages could not be produced solely by the horizontal seismic excitations; the vertical component of the earthquake is involved. This paper presents a numerical study highlighting the presence of vertical seismic excitation. Nonlinear time history analyses are conducted on detailed three-dimensional models of multi-span simply supported and multi-span continuous bridges using a suite of representative ground motions. The results showed the significant influence of vertical excitation on the bridge responses. Therefore, it is imperative to include more efficient criteria to upgrade the design codes and extend practical techniques that consider and cope with the structural effects of vertical ground motion along with the horizontal excitations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Zalachoris ◽  
Ellen M. Rathje

A ground motion model (GMM) tuned to the characteristics of the observed, and potentially induced, seismicity in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas is developed using a database of 4,528 ground motions recorded during 376 events of Mw > 3.0 in the region. The GMM is derived using the referenced empirical approach with an existing Central and Eastern North America model as the reference GMM and is applicable for Mw = 3.0–5.8 and hypocentral distances less than 500 km. The proposed model incorporates weaker magnitude scaling than the reference GMM for periods less than about 1.0 s, resulting in smaller predicted ground motions at larger magnitudes. The proposed model predicts larger response spectral accelerations at short hypocentral distances (≤20 km), which is likely because of the shallow hypocenters of events in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Finally, the VS30 scaling for the newly developed model predicts less amplification at VS30 < 600 m/s than the reference GMM, which is likely because of the generally thinner sediments in the study area. This finding is consistent with recent studies regarding site amplification in Central and Eastern North America.


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