scholarly journals Seismic Site Classification from the Horizontal-to-Vertical Response Spectral Ratios: Use of the Spanish Strong-Motion Database

Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis A. Pinzón ◽  
Luis G. Pujades ◽  
Albert Macau ◽  
Emilio Carreño ◽  
Juan M. Alcalde

Normally, the average of the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) ratios of the 5% damped response spectra of ground motions is used to classify the site of strong-motion stations. In these cases, only the three-orthogonal as-recorded acceleration components are used in the analysis, and all the vector compositions that can generate a different response for each period oscillator are excluded. In this study, the Spanish strong-motion database was used to classify the sites of accelerometric stations based on the predominant periods through the average horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) of recorded ground motions. Moreover, the directionality effects using the vector composition of the horizontal components of ground motions were also considered in the estimations of H/V ratios. This consideration is a relevant novelty compared to the traditional H/V ratios methods. Only earthquakes with magnitudes above 3.5 and hypocentral distances below 200 km were selected, which resulted in 692 ground-motion records, corresponding to 86 stations, from events in the period between 1993 and 2017. After the analysis, a predominant-period site classification was assigned to each station. On the whole, the obtained mean and standard deviation values of the spectral ratios are comparable to those shown by other researchers. Therefore, the advantages of the proposed procedure, which takes the directionality effects into account, can be summarized as follows: (a) The obtained information is richer and gives enables more sophisticated and realistic analyses on the basis of percentiles and (b) it is easier to detect anomalous stations, sites, and/or accelerograms. Moreover, the method eliminates the effect of directionality as a contributor to epistemic uncertainty.

Author(s):  
Fabio Sabetta ◽  
Antonio Pugliese ◽  
Gabriele Fiorentino ◽  
Giovanni Lanzano ◽  
Lucia Luzi

AbstractThis work presents an up-to-date model for the simulation of non-stationary ground motions, including several novelties compared to the original study of Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seism Soc Am 86:337–352, 1996). The selection of the input motion in the framework of earthquake engineering has become progressively more important with the growing use of nonlinear dynamic analyses. Regardless of the increasing availability of large strong motion databases, ground motion records are not always available for a given earthquake scenario and site condition, requiring the adoption of simulated time series. Among the different techniques for the generation of ground motion records, we focused on the methods based on stochastic simulations, considering the time- frequency decomposition of the seismic ground motion. We updated the non-stationary stochastic model initially developed in Sabetta and Pugliese (Bull Seism Soc Am 86:337–352, 1996) and later modified by Pousse et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 96:2103–2117, 2006) and Laurendeau et al. (Nonstationary stochastic simulation of strong ground-motion time histories: application to the Japanese database. 15 WCEE Lisbon, 2012). The model is based on the S-transform that implicitly considers both the amplitude and frequency modulation. The four model parameters required for the simulation are: Arias intensity, significant duration, central frequency, and frequency bandwidth. They were obtained from an empirical ground motion model calibrated using the accelerometric records included in the updated Italian strong-motion database ITACA. The simulated accelerograms show a good match with the ground motion model prediction of several amplitude and frequency measures, such as Arias intensity, peak acceleration, peak velocity, Fourier spectra, and response spectra.


Author(s):  
Soumya Kanti Maiti ◽  
Gony Yagoda-Biran ◽  
Ronnie Kamai

ABSTRACT Models for estimating earthquake ground motions are a key component in seismic hazard analysis. In data-rich regions, these models are mostly empirical, relying on the ever-increasing ground-motion databases. However, in areas in which strong-motion data are scarce, other approaches for ground-motion estimates are sought, including, but not limited to, the use of simulations to replace empirical data. In Israel, despite a clear seismic hazard posed by the active plate boundary on its eastern border, the instrumental record is sparse and poor, leading to the use of global models for hazard estimation in the building code and all other engineering applications. In this study, we develop a suite of alternative ground-motion models for Israel, based on an empirical database from Israel as well as on four data-calibrated synthetic databases. Two host models are used to constrain model behavior, such that the epistemic uncertainty is captured and characterized. Despite the lack of empirical data at large magnitudes and short distances, constraints based on the host models or on the physical grounds provided by simulations ensure these models are appropriate for engineering applications. The models presented herein are cast in terms of the Fourier amplitude spectra, which is a linear, physical representation of ground motions. The models are suitable for shallow crustal earthquakes; they include an estimate of the median and the aleatory variability, and are applicable in the magnitude range of 3–8 and distance range of 1–300 km.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumer Chopra ◽  
Vikas Kumar ◽  
Pallabee Choudhury ◽  
R. B. S. Yadav

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sreeram Reddy Kotha ◽  
Graeme Weatherill ◽  
Dino Bindi ◽  
Fabrice Cotton

<p>Ground-Motion Models (GMMs) characterize the random distributions of ground-motions for a combination of earthquake source, wave travel-path, and the effected site’s geological properties. Typically, GMMs are regressed over a compendium of strong ground-motion recordings collected from several earthquakes recorded at multiple sites scattered across a variety of geographical regions. The necessity of compiling such large datasets is to expand the range of magnitude, distance, and site-types; in order to regress a GMM capable of predicting realistic ground-motions for rare earthquake scenarios, e.g. large magnitudes at short distances from a reference rock site. The European Strong-Motion (ESM) dataset is one such compendium of observations from a few hundred shallow crustal earthquakes recorded at a several hundred seismic stations in Europe and Middle-East.</p><p>We developed new GMMs from the ESM dataset, capable of predicting both the response spectra and Fourier spectra in a broadband of periods and frequencies, respectively. However, given the clear tectonic and geological diversity of the data, possible regional and site-specific differences in observed ground-motions needed to be quantified; whilst also considering the possible contamination of data from outliers. Quantified regional differences indicate that high-frequency ground-motions attenuate faster with distance in Italy compared to the rest of Europe, as well as systematically weaker ground-motions from central Italian earthquakes. In addition, residual analyses evidence anisotropic attenuation of low frequency ground-motions, imitating the pattern of shear-wave energy radiation. With increasing spatial variability of ground-motion data, the GMM prediction variability apparently increases. Hence, robust mixed-effects regressions and residual analyses are employed to relax the ergodic assumption.</p><p>Large datasets, such as the ESM, NGA-West2, and from KiK-Net, provide ample opportunity to identify and evaluate the previously hypothesized event-to-event, region-to-region, and site-to-site differences in ground-motions. With the appropriate statistical methods, these variabilities can be quantified and applied in seismic hazard and risk predictions. We intend to present the new GMMs: their development, performance and applicability, prospective improvements and research needs.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Mascandola ◽  
Marco Massa ◽  
Sara Lovati ◽  
Paolo Augliera

Author(s):  
Chris Van Houtte

An important component of seismic hazard assessment is the prediction of the potential ground motion generated by a given earthquake source. In New Zealand seismic hazard studies, it is commonplace for analysts to only adopt one or two models for predicting the ground motion, which does not capture the epistemic uncertainty associated with the prediction. This study analyses a suite of New Zealand and international models against the New Zealand Strong Motion Database, both for New Zealand crustal earthquakes and earthquakes in the Hikurangi subduction zone. It is found that, in general, the foreign models perform similarly or better with respect to recorded New Zealand data than the models specifically derived for New Zealand application. Justification is given for using global models in future seismic hazard analysis in New Zealand. Although this article does not provide definitive model weights for future hazard analysis, some recommendations and guidance are provided.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 785-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin-Nan Huang ◽  
Andrew S. Whittaker

Ratios of pseudo-spectral velocity (averaged over the period range of 0.5–2 seconds and at a period of 1 second) to peak ground velocity (PGV) were computed for hundreds of ground motion records selected from the PEER NGA Strong Motion Database. Two-stage regression analyses were performed to develop models for the ratios. The inter-event terms of the ratios trend to moderate decrease as moment magnitude increases; the intra-event residuals do not depend on distance. The results of this study provide the technical basis for a procedure presented in the American Technology Council's ATC-58 project, Guidelines for Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings, for estimating PGV by scaling values of pseudo-spectral velocity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650007
Author(s):  
Anat Ruangrassamee ◽  
Chitti Palasri ◽  
Panitan Lukkunaprasit

In seismic design, excitations are usually considered separately in two perpendicular directions of structures. In fact, the two components of ground motions occur simultaneously. This paper clarifies the effects of bi-directional excitations on structures and proposes the response spectra called “bi-directional pseudo-acceleration response spectra”. A simplified analytical model of a two-degree-of-freedom system was employed. The effect of directivity of ground motions was taken into account by applying strong motion records in all directions. The analytical results were presented in the form of the acceleration ratio response spectrum defined as the bi-directional pseudo-acceleration response spectrum normalized by a pseudo-acceleration response spectrum.


2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 511-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vietanh Phung ◽  
Gail M. Atkinson ◽  
David T. Lau

The ground motions of the Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake ( Mw=7.6) were recorded at 420 strong-motion stations, including 69 near-fault sites. However, the site conditions of many stations are not available. Among 420 strong-motion stations, the site conditions are known for only 87 stations, which were classified into four groups ( S1, S2, S3, and S4) by using borehole data and some surface geology. This paper presents a methodology to estimate the missing site condition information at strong-motion stations in Taiwan. The method is based on the shape of the 5% damped pseudo-acceleration spectrum of the horizontal ground motion component normalized with respect to average PGA, where the classification scheme is developed using the data from the 87 stations for which the site conditions are known. Possible effects of soil nonlinearity, and distance to the fault on the classification are investigated. The results obtained from the proposed methodology are well correlated with the available known site classification information data. The methodology is then applied to estimate the site condition for the other 333 stations without known site classification. Our results are compared to previous results obtained based on interpretation of geologic maps and geomorphologic data. We find that the two approaches agree in 71% of the cases. We also tested the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique to estimate the site classification of other 333 strong-motion stations. However, this technique resulted in lower accuracy than does the proposed technique based on the spectral shape of normalized response spectra.


Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Sara Sgobba ◽  
Giovanni Lanzano ◽  
Francesca Pacor ◽  
Chiara Felicetta

Near-source effects can amplify seismic ground motion, causing large demand to structures and thus their identification and characterization is fundamental for engineering applications. Among the most relevant features, forward-directivity effects may generate near-fault records characterized by a large velocity pulse and unusual response spectral shape amplified in a narrow frequency-band. In this paper, we explore the main statistical features of acceleration and displacement response spectra of a suite of 230 pulse-like signals (impulsive waveforms) contained in the NESS1 (NEar Source Strong-motion) flat-file. These collected pulse-like signals are analyzed in terms of pulse period and pulse azimuthal orientation. We highlight the most relevant differences of the pulse-like spectra compared to the ordinary (i.e., no-pulse) ones, and quantify the contribution of the pulse through a corrective factor of the spectral ordinates. Results show that the proposed empirical factors are able to capture the amplification effect induced by near-fault directivity, and thus they could be usefully included in the framework of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis to adjust ground-motion model (GMM) predictions.


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