Methodology for Site Classification Estimation Using Strong Ground Motion Data from the Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Earthquake

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 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 503
Author(s):  
Lucia Nardone ◽  
Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi ◽  
Rosalba Maresca

Cultural heritage represents our legacy with the past and our identity. However, to assure heritage can be passed on to future generations, it is required to put into the field knowledge as well as preventive and safeguard actions, especially for heritage located in seismic hazard-prone areas. With this in mind, the article deals with the analysis of ground response in the Avellino town (Campania, Southern Italy) and its correlation with the effects caused by the 23rd November 1980 Irpinia earthquake on the historical buildings. The aim is to get some clues about the earthquake damage cause-effect relationship. To estimate the ground motion response for Avellino, where strong-motion recordings are not available, we made use of the seismic hazard disaggregation. Then, we made extensive use of borehole data to build the lithological model so being able to assess the seismic ground response. Overall, results indicate that the complex subsoil layers influence the ground motion, particularly in the lowest period (0.1–0.5 s). The comparison with the observed damage of the selected historical buildings and the maximum acceleration expected indicates that the damage distribution cannot be explained by the surface geology effects alone.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Anastassiadis ◽  
I. E. Avramidis ◽  
P. Panetsos

According to the model of Penzien and Watabe, the three translational ground motion components on a specific point of the ground are statistically noncorrelated along a well-defined orthogonal system of axes p, w, and v, whose orientation remains reasonably stable over time during the strong motion phase of an earthquake. This orthotropic ground motion is described by three generally independent response spectra Sa, Sb, and Sc, respectively. The paper presents an antiseismic design procedure for structures according to the above seismic motion model. This design includes a) determination of the critical orientation of the seismic input, i.e., the orientation that gives the largest response, b) calculation of the maximum and the minimum values of any response quantity, and c) application of either the Extreme Stress Method or the Extreme Force Method for determining the most unfavorable combinations of several stress resultants (or sectional forces) acting concurrently at a specified section of a structural member.


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.


1996 ◽  
Vol 86 (1B) ◽  
pp. S333-S349 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Bardet ◽  
C. Davis

Abstract During the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Van Norman Complex yielded an unprecedented number of recordings with high acceleration, in the close proximity of the fault rupture. These strong-motion recordings exhibited the pulses of the main event. One station recorded the largest velocity ever instrumentally recorded (177 cm/sec), resulting from a 0.86 g peak acceleration with a low frequency. Throughout the complex, the horizontal accelerations reached peak values ranging from 0.56 to 1.0 g, except for the complex center, where the peak acceleration did not exceed 0.43 g. The vertical acceleration reached maximum peak values comparable with those of the horizontal acceleration. The acceleration response spectra in the longitudinal and transverse directions were significantly different. Such a difference, which is not yet well documented in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering, indicates that the amplitude and frequency content of the ground motion was directionally dependent in the Van Norman Complex.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga-Joan Ktenidou ◽  
Faidra Gkika ◽  
Erion-Vasilis Pikoulis ◽  
Christos Evangelidis

<p>Although it is nowadays desirable and even typical to characterise site conditions in detail at modern recording stations, this is not yet a general rule in Greece, due to the large number and geographical dispersion of stations. Indeed, most of them are still characterised merely through geological descriptions or proxy-based parameters, rather than through in-situ measurements. Considering: 1. the progress made in recent years with sophisticated ground motion models and the need to define region-specific rock conditions based on data, 2. the move towards large open-access strong-motion databases that require detailed site metadata, and 3. that Greek-provenance recordings represent a significant portion of European seismic data, there are many reasons to improve our understanding of site response at these stations. Moreover, it has been shown recently in several regions that even sites considered as rock can exhibit amplification and ground motion variability, which has given rise to more scientific research into the definition of reference sites. For Greece, in-situ-characterisation campaigns for the entire network would impose unattainable time/budget constraints; so, instead, we implement alternative empirical approaches using the recordings themselves, such as the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique and its variability. We present examples of 'well-behaved', typical rock sites, and others whose response diverges from what is assumed for their class.</p><p> </p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 2892-2911
Author(s):  
Eri Ito ◽  
Kenichi Nakano ◽  
Fumiaki Nagashima ◽  
Hiroshi Kawase

ABSTRACT The main purpose of the site classification or velocity determination at a target site is to obtain or estimate the horizontal site amplification factor (HSAF) at that site during future earthquakes because HSAF would have significant effects on the strong-motion characteristics. We have been investigating various kinds of methods to delineate the S-wave velocity structures and the subsequent HSAF, as precisely as possible. After the advent of the diffuse field concept, we have derived a simple formula based on the equipartitioned energy density observed in the layered half-space for incident body waves. In this study, based on the diffuse field concept, together with the generalized spectral inversion technique (GIT), we propose a method to directly estimate the HSAF of the S-wave portion from the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio of earthquakes (eHVSRs). Because the vertical amplification is included in the denominator of eHVSR, it cannot be viewed as HSAF without correction. We used GIT to determine both the HSAF and the vertical site amplification factor (VSAF) simultaneously from strong-motion data observed by the networks in Japan and then deduced the log-averaged vertical amplification correction function (VACF) from VSAFs at a total of 1678 sites in which 10 or more earthquakes have been observed. The VACF without a category has a constant amplitude of about 2 in the frequency range from 1 to 15 Hz. By multiplying eHVSR by VACF, we obtained the simulated HSAF. We verified the effectiveness of this correction method using data from observation sites not used in the aforementioned averaging in the frequency range from 0.12 to 15 Hz.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duruo Huang ◽  
Wenqi Du

Abstract. In performance-based seismic design, ground-motion time histories are needed for analyzing dynamic responses of nonlinear structural systems. However, the number of strong-motion data at design level is often limited. In order to analyze seismic performance of structures, ground-motion time histories need to be either selected from recorded strong-motion database, or numerically simulated using stochastic approaches. In this paper, a detailed procedure to select proper acceleration time histories from the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) database for several cities in Taiwan is presented. Target response spectra are initially determined based on a local ground motion prediction equation under representative deterministic seismic hazard analyses. Then several suites of ground motions are selected for these cities using the Design Ground Motion Library (DGML), a recently proposed interactive ground-motion selection tool. The selected time histories are representatives of the regional seismic hazard, and should be beneficial to earthquake studies when comprehensive seismic hazard assessments and site investigations are yet available. Note that this method is also applicable to site-specific motion selections with the target spectra near the ground surface considering the site effect.


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

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