scholarly journals Stand-Alone Tsunami Alarm Equipment

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akio Katsumata ◽  
Yutaka Hayashi ◽  
Kazuki Miyaoka ◽  
Hiroaki Tsushima ◽  
Toshitaka Baba ◽  
...  

Abstract. One of the quickest means of tsunami evacuation is transfer to higher ground soon after strong and long ground-shaking. Strong ground motion means that the source area of the event is close to the current location, and long ground-shaking or large displacement means that the magnitude is large. We investigated the possibility to apply this to tsunami hazard alarm using single-site ground motion observation. Information from the mass media may not be available sometimes due to power failure. Thus, a device that indicates risk of a tsunami without referring to data elsewhere would be helpful to those should evacuate. Since the sensitivity of a low-cost MEMS accelerometer is sufficient for this purpose, tsunami alarms equipment for home use may be easily realized. Several observation values (e.g., strong-motion duration, peak ground displacement) were investigated as candidates. It was found that a suitable value for a single-site tsunami alarm is long-period peak displacement or the product of strong-motion duration and peak displacement. It was possible to detect an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 7.8 with a 0.8 threat score. Application of this method to recent major earthquakes indicated that such equipment could effectively alert people to the possibility of tsunami.

Author(s):  
R. J. Van Dissen ◽  
J. J. Taber ◽  
W. R. Stephenson ◽  
S. Sritheran ◽  
S. A. L. Read ◽  
...  

Geographic variations in strong ground shaking expected during damaging earthquakes impacting on the Lower Hutt and Porirua areas are identified and quantified. Four ground shaking hazard zones have been mapped in the Lower Hutt area, and three in Porirua, based on geological, weak motion, and strong motion inputs. These hazard zones are graded from 1 to 5. In general, Zone 5 areas are subject to the greatest hazard, and Zone 1 areas the least. In Lower Hutt, zones 3 and 4 are not differentiated and are referred to as Zone 3-4. The five-fold classification is used to indicate the range of relative response. Zone 1 areas are underlain by bedrock. Zone 2 areas are typically underlain by compact alluvial and fan gravel. Zone 3-4 is underlain, to a depth of 20 m, by interfingered layers of flexible (soft) sediment (fine sand, silt, clay, peat), and compact gravel and sand. Zone 5 is directly underlain by more than 10 m of flexible sediment with shear wave velocities in the order of 200 m/s or less. The response of each zone is assessed for two earthquake scenarios. Scenario 1 is for a moderate to large, shallow, distant earthquake that results in regional Modified Mercalli intensity V-VI shaking on bedrock. Scenario 2 is for a large, local, but rarer, Wellington fault earthquake. The response characterisation for each zone comprises: expected Modified Mercalli intensity; peak horizontal ground acceleration; duration of strong shaking; and amplification of ground motion with respect to bedrock, expressed as a Fourier spectral ratio, including the frequency range over which the most pronounced amplification occurs. In brief, high to very high ground motion amplifications are expected in Zone 5, relative to Zone 1, during a scenario 1 earthquake. Peak Fourier spectral ratios of 10-20 are expected in Zone 5, relative to Zone 1, and a difference of up to three, possibly four, MM intensity units is expected between the two zones. During a scenario 2 event, it is anticipated that the level of shaking throughout the Lower Hutt and Porirua region will increase markedly, relative to scenario 1, and the average difference in shaking between each zone will decrease.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Alessandro Todrani ◽  
Giovanna Cultrera

On 24 August 2016, a Mw 6.0 earthquake started a damaging seismic sequence in central Italy. The historical center of Amatrice village reached the XI degree (MCS scale) but the high vulnerability alone could not explain the heavy damage. Unfortunately, at the time of the earthquake only AMT station, 200 m away from the downtown, recorded the mainshock, whereas tens of temporary stations were installed afterwards. We propose a method to simulate the ground motion affecting Amatrice, using the FFT amplitude recorded at AMT, which has been modified by the standard spectral ratio (SSR) computed at 14 seismic stations in downtown. We tested the procedure by comparing simulations and recordings of two later mainshocks (Mw 5.9 and Mw 6.5), underlining advantages and limits of the technique. The strong motion variability of simulations was related to the proximity of the seismic source, accounted for by the ground motion at AMT, and to the peculiar site effects, described by the transfer function at the sites. The largest amplification characterized the stations close to the NE hill edge and produced simulated values of intensity measures clearly above one standard deviation of the GMM expected for Italy, up to 1.6 g for PGA.


1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 1821-1834
Author(s):  
Toshimi Satoh ◽  
Toshiaki Sato ◽  
Hiroshi Kawase

Abstract We evaluate the nonlinear behavior of soil sediments during strong ground shaking based on the identification of their S-wave velocities and damping factors for both the weak and strong motions observed on the surface and in a borehole at Kuno in the Ashigara Valley, Japan. First we calculate spectral ratios between the surface station KS2 and the borehole station KD2 at 97.6 m below the surface for the main part of weak and strong motions. The predominant period for the strong motion is apparently longer than those for the weak motions. This fact suggests the nonlinearity of soil during the strong ground shaking. To quantify the nonlinear behavior of soil sediments, we identify their S-wave velocities and damping factors by minimizing the residual between the observed spectral ratio and the theoretical amplification factor calculated from the one-dimensional wave propagation theory. The S-wave velocity and the damping factor h (≈(2Q)−1) of the surface alluvial layer identified from the main part of the strong motion are about 10% smaller and 50% greater, respectively, than those identified from weak motions. The relationships between the effective shear strain (=65% of the maximum shear strain) calculated from the one-dimensional wave propagation theory and the shear modulus reduction ratios or the damping factors estimated by the identification method agree well with the laboratory test results. We also confirm that the soil model identified from a weak motion overestimates the observed strong motion at KS2, while that identified from the strong motion reproduces the observed. Thus, we conclude that the main part of the strong motion, whose maximum acceleration at KS2 is 220 cm/sec2 and whose duration is 3 sec, has the potential of making the surface soil nonlinear at an effective shear strain on the order of 0.1%. The S-wave velocity in the surface alluvial layer identified from the part just after the main part of the strong motion is close to that identified from weak motions. This result suggests that the shear modulus recovers quickly as the shear strain level decreases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1665-1679
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lackner

Abstract. Earthquake impact is an inherently interdisciplinary topic that receives attention from many disciplines. The natural hazard of strong ground motion is the reason why earthquakes are of interest to more than just seismologists. However, earthquake shaking data often receive too little attention by the general public and impact research in the social sciences. The vocabulary used to discuss earthquakes has mostly evolved within and for the discipline of seismology. Discussions on earthquakes outside of seismology thus often use suboptimal concepts that are not of primary concern. This study provides new theoretic concepts as well as novel quantitative data analysis based on shaking data. A dataset of relevant global earthquake ground shaking from 1960 to 2016 based on USGS ShakeMap data has been constructed and applied to the determination of past ground shaking worldwide. Two new definitions of earthquake location (the shaking center and the shaking centroid) based on ground motion parameters are introduced and compared to the epicenter. These definitions are intended to facilitate a translation of the concept of earthquake location from a seismology context to a geographic context. Furthermore, the first global quantitative analysis on the size of the area that is on average exposed to strong ground motion – measured by peak ground acceleration (PGA) – is provided.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Aleem ◽  
Paul George ◽  
Prasanna Natarajan

Earthquakes are potentially very destructive natural events. The risk fromearthquakes is aggravated because they are unpredictable and can cause tremendousloss of life and property within seconds, particularly in dense urban settings. Wepresent our ongoing work to develop a comprehensive earthquake early warningsystem (EEWS) for the Indian subcontinent. The impetus for this work comes fromthe fact that India has just 82 seismic stations for a land area of about 3.2 million sq.km, with no dedicated EEWS, plus low-cost accelerometers are now easily available,and smartphones have deep penetration. The planned system will use a network ofmobile smartphones and stationary low-cost MEMS-based strong motion sensors.The main components of this project are: creating a high-density network of low-costsensors, real-time transmission of data, algorithms to analyze ground shaking data,compute ground motion characteristics, and determine if the source of shaking is anearthquake.


1977 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-515
Author(s):  
Christopher Rojahn ◽  
B. J. Morrill

Abstract Two earthquakes occurred on the island of Hawaii on November 29, 1975, a magnitude (Ms) 5.7 event at 0335 (local time) and a magnitude (Ms) 7.2 event at 0447. During the larger event, a maximum acceleration of 0.22 g was recorded in the southern part of Hilo, 43 km north of the epicenter. A 0.05 g threshold duration of 13.7 sec was measured for the same component. Smaller amplitude accelerograph records were obtained at two other locations on the island along with four seismoscope records. During or subsequent to the larger event, a large sector of the southeastern coastline subsided by as much as 3.5 meters. A tsunami generated by the larger event caused at least one death (one person also missing), injury to 28 persons, and significant structural and nonstructural damage. Only scattered evidence of strong ground shaking was observed in the epicentral area, and most of the several dozen nearby structures sustained little or no structural damage from ground shaking. In Hilo, 45 km north of the Ms = 7.2 epicenter, structural and nonstructural damage was slight to moderate but more extensive than elsewhere on the island.


1976 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-151
Author(s):  
Firdaus E. Udwadia ◽  
Panos Z. Marmarelis

abstract This paper investigates the response of structural systems to strong earthquake ground shaking by utilizing some concepts of system identification. After setting up a suitable system model, the Weiner technique of nonparametric identification has been introduced and its experimental applicability studied. The sources of error have been looked into and several new results have been presented on accuracy calculations stemming from the various assumptions in the Wiener technique. The method has been applied in studying the response of a 9-story reinforced concrete structure to earthquake excitation as well as ambient vibration testing. The linear contribution to the total roof response during strong ground shaking has been identified, and it is shown that a marked nonlinear behavior is exhibited by the structure during the strong-motion portion of the excitation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eser Çakti ◽  
Karin Sesetyan ◽  
Ufuk Hancilar ◽  
Merve Caglar ◽  
Emrullah Dar ◽  
...  

<p>The Mw 6.9 earthquake that took place offshore between the Greek island of Samos and Turkey’s İzmir province on 30 October 2020 came hardly as a surprise. Due to the extensional tectonic regime of the Aegean and high deformation rates, earthquakes of similar size frequently occur in the Aegean Sea on fault segments close to the shores of Turkey, affecting the settlements on mainland Turkey and on the Greek Islands. Samos-Sigacik earthquake had a normal faulting mechanism. It was recorded by the strong motion networks in Turkey and Greece. Although expected, the earthquake was an  outstanding event in the sense of  highly localized, significant levels of building damage as a result of amplified ground motion levels. This presentation is an overview of strong ground motion characteristics of this important event both regionally and locally. Mainshock records suggest that local site effects, enhanced by basin effects could be responsible for structural damage in central Izmir, the third largest city of Turkey located at 60-70 km epicentral distance. We installed a seven-station network in Bayraklı and Karşıyaka districts of İzmir within three days of the mainshock in search of site and basin effects.  Through analysis of recorded aftershocks we explore the amplification characeristics of soils in the two aforementioned districts  and try to understand the role basin effects might have played in the resulting ground motion levels and consequently damage. </p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 594-597 ◽  
pp. 1840-1848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Jian Yan ◽  
Yan Bin Wang ◽  
Yu Cheng Shi

Abstract: In this paper, we simulated two-dimension numerical on the strong ground motion in Lanzhou basin through the hybrid scheme based on the pseudospectral method (PSM) and finite difference method (FDM). We base on a focal of 20 km deep and a profile of 5 layers is used as model to analyze the site response and the peak displacement of strong ground motion. The results show that the hybrid PSM/FDM method for seismic wavefield simulation combines with advantages of PSM and FDM and makes up for the disadvantage of them, so this method can process well the calculation of the discontinuous medium surface, then the calculation accuracy is similar to PSM. Through the wavefield simulation it is known that the peak ground displacement (PGD) of the vertical is larger and the influence of surface wave at the basin edge is more obvious than the horizontal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 1276-1288
Author(s):  
Mitsuyuki Hoshiba

ABSTRACT Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems aim to provide advance warnings of impending strong ground shaking. Many EEW systems are based on a strategy in which precise and rapid estimates of source parameters, such as hypocentral location and moment magnitude (Mw), are used in a ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) to predict the strength of ground motion. For large earthquakes with long rupture duration, the process is repeated, and the prediction is updated in accordance with the growth of Mw during the ongoing rupture. However, in some regions near the causative fault this approach leads to late warnings, because strong ground motions often occur during earthquake ruptures before Mw can be confirmed. Mw increases monotonically with elapsed time and reaches its maximum at the end of rupture, and ground motion predicted by a GMPE similarly reaches its maximum at the end of rupture, but actual generation of strong motion is earlier than the end of rupture. A time gap between maximum Mw and strong-motion generation is the first factor contributing to late warnings. Because this time gap exists at any point of time during the rupture, a late warning is inherently caused even when the growth of Mw can be monitored in real time. In the near-fault region, a weak subevent can be the main contributor to strong ground motion at a site if the distance from the subevent to the site is small. A contribution from a weaker but nearby subevent early in the rupture is the second factor contributing to late warnings. Thus, an EEW strategy based on rapid estimation of Mw is not suitable for near-fault regions where strong shaking is usually recorded. Real-time monitoring of ground motion provides direct information for real-time prediction for these near-fault locations.


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