2.5D Simulation of basin-edge effects on the ground motion characteristics

The effects of basin-edge and soil velocity on the ground motion characteristics have been simulated using 2.5D modeling. One of the most significant advantages of the 2.5D simulation is that 3D radiation pattern can be generated in a 2D numerical grid using double-couple shear dislocation source. Further, 2.5D numerical modeling avoids the extensive computational cost of 3D modeling. The responses of basin-edge model using different soil velocities revealed that surface waves were generated near the edge of the basin and propagated normal to the edge, towards the basin. Further, the results depict increase of amplification, duration and surface wave generation with the decrease in soil velocity.     

Modeling of strong motion generation areas of the 2011 Tohoku,Japan earthquake using modified semi-empirical technique

Modification in the semi-empirical technique for the simulation of strong ground motion has been introduced to incorporate the strong motion generation areas (SMGA) in the modeled rupture plane. Strong motion generation areas identified within the rupture plane of the Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 (M _w = 9.0), have been modeled using this modified technique. Two different source models having four and five SMGAs, respectively, are considered for modeling purpose. Strong motion records using modified semi-empirical technique have been simulated at two near-field stations located at epicentral distance of 137 and 140 km, respectively, using two different source models. Comparison of the observed and simulated acceleration waveforms is made in terms of root mean square error (RMSE) at both stations. Minimum root mean square error of the waveform comparison has been obtained at both the stations for source model having five SMGAs. Simulations from same rupture model have been made at other four stations lying at epicentral distance between 154 and 249 km. Comparison of observed and simulated records has been made in terms of RMSE in acceleration records, velocity records and response spectra at each six station. Simulations have been made at six other stations to obtain distribution of peak ground acceleration and peak ground velocity with hypocentral distance. Peak ground acceleration and velocity from simulated and observed records are compared at twelve stations surrounding the source of Tohoku earthquake. Comparison of waveforms and parameters extracted from observed and simulated strong motion records confirms the efficacy of the developed modified technique to model earthquake characterized by SMGAs.     

Near-field and far-field simulation of accelerograms of Sikkim earthquake of September 18, 2011 using modified semi-empirical approach

The semi-empirical approach for modeling of strong ground motion given by Midorikawa (Tectonophysics 218:287?C295, 1993) has been modified in the present paper for component wise simulation of strong ground motion. The modified approach uses seismic moment in place of attenuation relation for scaling of acceleration envelope. Various strong motion properties like directivity effect and dependence of peak ground acceleration with respect to surface projection of source model have been studied in detail in the present work. Recently, Sikkim earthquake of magnitude 6.9 (M _w ) that occurred on September 18, 2011 has been recorded at various near-field and far-field strong motion stations. The modified semi-empirical technique has been used to confirm the location and parameters of rupture responsible for this earthquake. Strong motion record obtained from the iterative modeling of the rupture plane has been compared with available strong motion records from near as well as far-field stations in terms of root mean square error between observed and simulated records. Several possibilities of nucleation point, rupture velocity, and dip of rupture plane have been considered in the present work and records have been simulated at near-field stations. Final selection of model parameters is based on root mean square error of waveform comparison. Final model confirms southward propagating rupture. Simulations at three near-field and twelve far-field stations have been made using final model. Comparison of simulated and observed record has been made in terms of peak ground acceleration and response spectra at 5?% damping. Comparison of simulated and observed record suggests that the method is capable of simulating record which bears realistic appearance in terms of shape and strong motion parameters. Present work shows that this technique gives records which matches in a wide frequency range for Sikkim earthquake and that too from simple and easily accessible parameters of the rupture plane.     

透射边界-地基-风电结构地震响应与破坏模式

近海风力发电结构是由无限域地基、基础及上部结构组成的体系,有限域透射人工边界和地震动输入模式直接影响结构体系的动力响应。首先,建立透射人工边界-地基-基础-塔筒结构和固定边界-地基-基础-塔筒结构的有限元模型;然后,简要澄清了透射边界地震动输入之所以采用外力而不采取地震动物理量（加速度、速度和位移）的原因所在;最后,对给出的3种作用模式：（1）固定边界地震动输入,（2）只考虑外源输入波作用,（3）同时考虑外源输入波和内源振动的散射波作用,分别进行计算分析和比较。通过数值计算并结合理论分析,（1）澄清了对透射边界采用外力进行地震激励输入的方法的原因,这种输入方法合理可靠,符合实际情况;（2）在地震波等效荷载的生成中,针对圆形横截面地基提出了一种阻尼力、刚度力的便捷性生成方法,大大减小了工作量;（3）从自身振动特点及阻尼设置角度,解释了地震作用下采用透射边界比采用固定边界时风电结构响应减小的原因;（4）指出了地震作用下透射边界地基模型在结构动力响应与倒塌计算中内源振动反射的不容忽视性。     

Effect of frequency-dependent radiation pattern in the strong motion simulation of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake,Japan, using modified semi-empirical method

We perform a strong ground motion simulation using a modified semi-empirical technique (Midorikawa in Tectonophysics 218:287–295, 1993), with frequency-dependent radiation pattern model. Joshi et al. (Nat Hazards 71:587–609, 2014) have modified the semi-empirical technique to incorporate the modeling of strong motion generation areas (SMGAs). A frequency-dependent radiation pattern model is applied to simulate high-frequency ground motion more precisely. Identified SMGAs (Kurahashi and Irikura in Earth Planets Space 63:571–576, 2011) of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake (M _w  = 9.0) were modeled using this modified technique. We analyzed the effect of changing seismic moment values of SMGAs on the simulated acceleration time series. Final selection of the moment values of SMGAs is based on the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of waveform comparison. Records are simulated for both frequency-dependent and constant radiation pattern function. Simulated records for both cases are compared with observed records in terms of peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity and pseudo-acceleration response spectra at different stations. Comparison of simulated and observed records in terms of RMSE suggests that the method is capable of simulating record, which matches in a wide frequency range for this earthquake and bears realistic appearance in terms of shape and strong motion parameters. The results confirm the efficacy and suitability of rupture model defined by five SMGAs for the developed modified technique.     

Crustal velocity structure beneath the western Andes of Colombian using receiver-function inversion

Analysis of teleseismic records obtained in two broadband seismic stations of three components located on the Andean region of Colombia is presented in this work. The two stations are located at the Western Cordillera (WC), station BOL, and at the Central Cordillera (CC), station PBLA. The analysis of seismograms was performed by inversion of the receiver functions (RF) in order to obtain the crustal velocity structure beneath the receivers. The receiver function is a spectral ratio obtained from teleseismic earthquakes recorded by broadband seismic stations, which allows the calculation of the velocity structure beneath the receiver by removing source effects in the horizontal components of the seismic traces. Data stacking was performed in order to improve signal to noise ratio and then the data was inverted by using two optimization algorithms: a genetic algorithm (GA), and a simulated annealing algorithm (SA). The present work calculates the receiver functions using teleseismic earthquakes at epicentral distances (Δ) ranging between 30° and 90° and recorded at the two stations within the years 2007 and 2009.Delay times between P and PS waves converted at the Moho boundary were used to constrain the velocity structure. The receiver functions at the stations were generated from seismic events within a broad range of back azimuth. Data from gravity and magnetism were also used during the geophysical survey. The depth of the Moho boundary was found to be at 40 km in the WC beneath station BOL and at 43 km in the CC beneath station PBLA. The upper crust, with a thickness of 5 km, is characterized by a shear wave velocity of about 3.0 km s⁻¹; the shallower layers, at approximately 1.0 km, have shear wave velocities between 2.2 and 2.6 km s⁻¹, which corresponds to sediments overlying the upper crust. These observations support the hypothesis of a thickness of the crust at the root of the mountain range to be between 32 and 50 km. The calculated receiver functions were compared with artificial ones generated from the inversion of 48000 models of horizontal layers for each station using a GA and an SA that allowed a satisfactory coverage of all the sample space in order to avoid non-unique solutions. Beneath station BOL a moderate low-velocity zone (LVZ) was found, which was caused by accretionary processes of the ophiolite complex in the WC.     

青藏地区面波高分辨率层析成像

通过搜集198～2001年间亚洲、部分欧洲及西太平洋地区台网44个数字地震台记录的187个地震事件,约1 500条三分量长周期数字化地震记录.从中挑选出390条很好地覆盖了青藏高原及邻区大圆传播路径,采用面波频散反演方法,对70°E～110°E,10°S～45°N范围地壳上地幔不同深度(8～430 km)进行1°×1°高分辨率三维S波速度成像.根据成像结果对青藏高原的地壳厚度进行了推断,讨论了青藏高原的构造演化及其动力学特征.     

巨厚沉积土夹火山岩场地非线性地震反应特性

地震基岩深度和土体动力本构模型的选取对核岛场地地震效应评价结果的合理性具有重要影响。以拟建某沿海核电厂深度470 m沉积土夹火山岩层场地的3个钻孔剖面为研究对象,采用一维等效线性波传分析（ELA）法、基于Matasovic本构模型和Davidenkov-Chen-Zhao（DCZ）本构模型的一维非线性分析（NLA）法,选取不同剪切波速的5个岩土层作为地震基岩,研究了输入地震动特性、地震基岩深度和土体动力本构模型的选取对巨厚沉积土夹火山岩层场地非线性地震反应特性的影响。结果表明：（1）以浅层硬岩夹层或深部土层作为地震基岩,NLA法计算的5%阻尼比的地表谱加速度SA的短周期部分较之ELA法的计算值大,但两者计算的地表SA谱的长周期部分几乎一致;（2）基于Matasovic模型和DCZ模型的NLA法计算的地表SA谱谱形和峰值加速度随深度的变化趋势基本一致;（3）从NLA法计算的地表峰值加速度和累积绝对速度而言,以剪切波速约2 500 m/s的浅层硬岩夹层作为地震基岩是适宜的。     

Effect of surface wave inversion non-uniqueness on 1D seismic ground response analysis

Surface wave methods are increasingly being used for geotechnical site characterization. The methodology is based on the dispersive characteristic of Rayleigh waves in vertically heterogeneous medium. Experimental dispersion curve is inverted to obtain one-dimensional shear-wave velocity profile by inverse problem solution. Uncertainty associated with this surface wave inversion has drawn much attention. Inverse problem solution can provide different equivalent shear-wave velocity profiles, which may lead to different seismic site response analysis. In this study, a neighborhood algorithm has been used for inversion of dispersion curve to get a set of equivalent shear-wave velocity profiles. These equivalent velocity profiles are then used for 1D ground response analysis for different input motion record of the same earthquake at different epicentral distances. Results show significant variation in amplification spectrum in terms of maximum amplification as well as peak frequency. The extent of this uncertainty largely depends on the characteristics of the ground motion records at different epicentral distances. A linear variation is observed between mean coefficients of variation of amplification spectrum and epicentral distance of ground motion records. A gradual increase in mean value of peak frequency and peak amplification with the epicentral distance is also observed.     

Evaluating the structural model from ambient vibration recordings and shallow seismic refraction techniques. A case study of Zagazig City,Egypt

This study uses the seismic refraction and noise measurements to investigate the velocity structure of the subsurface and emphasize the advantage of ambient vibration over the conventional seismic refraction technique. Field measurements were carried out at nine sites in and around Zagazig city. Shallow seismic refraction data were interpreted using the delay time method to obtain the two-dimension ground model at each site. Ambient vibration arrays are used to infer the one-dimensional compressional and shear wave velocity profiles through two main steps. The first step is to derive the dispersion curve from the recorded signals using the frequency-wavenumber method. The second is to invert the dispersion curve to obtain the site velocity profiles. The results of the compressional wave velocities obtained from seismic refraction technique showed that the subsurface consists of a number of layers ranging from two to four layers and give a good agreement with the results of the seismic wave velocities obtained from the ambient vibration arrays. The ambient vibration arrays gave a deeper depth of penetration than the other method, providing more information on the subsurface structure without any disturbance to the environment. This work provides reliable estimates of the seismic velocity structures of both shallow and deep sedimentary layers within the area of interest.     

Estimation of model parameter of Sumatra earthquake using empirical Green’s function technique and generation of hypothetical earthquake scenario for Andaman Island, India

Empirical Green??s function (EGF) technique is considered to be most effective technique for simulation of ground motions due to a finite earthquake source. In the present paper, this technique has been used to simulate ground motion due to a great earthquake. The coastal region of Sumatra Island has been visited by a great earthquake on December 26, 2004. This earthquake has been recorded at several broadband stations including a nearest broadband station PSI in Indonesia. The shear wave contributions in both horizontal components have been simulated at PSI station using EGF technique. The comparison of simulated and observed waveform has been made for various possibilities of rupture parameters in terms of root mean square error. The final rupture model supports rupture velocity of 3.0?km/s with nucleation point supporting northward propagating rupture that coincide with high-slip asperity defined by Sorensen et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 97:S139?CS151, 2007). The final modeling parameters have been used to simulate record at MDRS station in coastal state of Tamilnadu, India. In an attempt to model a scenario of great earthquake in the Andaman Island, a hypothetical rupture plane is modeled in this region. The event occurred on August 10, 2008 of magnitude 6.2 (M _w ) recorded on strong motion array at Port Blair has been used as EGF to simulate records due to the hypothetical great earthquake. Possibilities of earthquake due to the oblique strike-slip and thrust mechanism have been modeled in the present paper. Several possibilities of nucleation point for both cases has been considered, and it is seen that variation of peak ground acceleration at Port Blair station for strike-slip and thrust mechanism is 126?C738 gals and 647?C2,571 gals, respectively, which indicate high seismic hazard potential of Andaman Island.     

Group velocity dispersion analysis in northern Peninsular Malaysia

The crustal structure beneath three seismic stations over Malaysia has been investigated with the application of the group velocity dispersion analysis of the northern Sumatra earthquake data which occurred on 06 April 2010. Eighteen crustal layer models are constructed to assess the structure. Group velocity dispersions have been computed for the recorded earthquake data using a graphical method and modified Haskell matrix method for the models. Both dispersions have been presented for the interpretation of crustal layers. Findings have shown four major crustal layers having thicknesses of 2.5–4.0, 2.0–5.5, 5.0–8.0, and 8.5–9.0 km, while in Terengganu, it has shown three layers. Density, shear, and compressional wave velocities used in models have suggested that the crustal structure of the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia is crystalline. Major crustal minerals are of quartz, plagioclase, and mica. Most layers seem to have upward directions toward Perak from Kedah and Terengganu.     

Effects of seismic wave propagation on a long and narrow building: Body wave and surface wave propagation

In the case of the dynamic analysis of the structures using the recorded earthquake ground motions, it is usually assumed that the ground motion consists of body waves propagating vertically. However, the response of a long and narrow structure may be influenced by the oblique propagation of body waves and the dispersion of surface waves. In this paper, the effects of the seismic wave propagation on the response of this kind of structure are investigated. The characteristics of the wave propagation were verified using the recorded motions and soil information at the building site. The ground motion at every input point of the building was evaluated using the difference of arrival time of seismic waves calculated by assuming the velocity and the direction of the wave propagation. Using these ground motions, response analyses of the lumped mass model for the structure were performed. By considering the characteristics of the seismic wave propagation, the average response decreased but the local response increased around the end of the roof. Further studies of the structure were also performed in order to restrain the response around the end of the roof.     

Site response zones and short-period earthquake ground motion projections for the Las Vegas Basin

A deterministic seismic hazard analysis was conducted to address the effect of local soil conditions on earthquake-induced strong ground motion in the Las Vegas Basin, Nevada (US). Using a large geological and geotechnical database, two response units were defined: a fine-grained unit, predominantly clay; and a coarse-grained unit, predominantly gravel. A moderate number of high-quality shallow shear wave velocity measurements were collected from which characteristic shear wave velocity profiles were developed for each response unit. An equivalent-linear one-dimensional site response model was used. The model was calibrated using a basin-wide, small-strain ground motion database. Calibration tests showed that ground motion projections become increasingly conservative with increasing ground-motion amplitude. Projections were overconservative for the coarse-grained response unit, likely due to the sparseness of the velocity database. For the earthquake response analyses, historical ground motions were used to model characteristic ‘bedrock’ motion for earthquakes on 10 faults judged to be critical. Response spectral envelopes were generated for each unit through Monte-Carlo simulations. For the fine-grained response unit, 95th percentile peak ground acceleration, peak spectral acceleration and predominant period were 310 cm/s², 1100 cm/s², and 0.29 s, respectively. With respect to codified design spectra, projections are lower at short periods and higher at long periods. Projections of peak spectral accelerations for the coarse-grained response unit, were more than double that of codified spectra; however, they are believed to be overconservative. Near-fault effects and basin-edge effects, though potentially important, were not considered in these analyses.     

A first interpretation of crustal structure in the Adelaide Geosyncline in South Australia using quarry blasts

Explosions at two large open cut mines (Leigh Creek and Iron Baron) were used as sources of seismic energy to record along two linear profiles, parallel and approximately transverse to the axis of the Adelaide geosyncline in South Australia. Records at approximately 120 sites were obtained out to distances of the order of 350 km with Kinemetrics PS‐1A portable seismographs, using smoked paper and a recording speed of 4 mm/s. Times of blasting were determined from records at some of the permanent stations of the University of Adelaide seismograph network. Station spacing was normally 5 km, but at large distances from the source this increased to the order of 10 km.

The simplest model of the crust consistent with the observed travel times comprises two essentially homogeneous layers overlying the mantle. The average P wave velocities in the upper and lower crustal layers are 5.94 km/s and 6.46 km/s, with the boundary between the layers at approximately 18 km and possibly 8 km below Eyre Peninsula. Although such a division has been found in other parts of Australia, none of the earlier studies in S.A. found evidence for such a discontinuity or velocity gradient. The P wave velocity in the upper mantle is 7.97 km/s and the mean thickness of the crust is 39 km. Both the intermediate and Moho “discontinuities” may vary by up to 5 km from their mean depths. Shear waves have velocities of 3.43 and 4.45 km/s in the upper crustal layer and the upper mantle, respectively.     

中国大陆科学钻探主孔100～2000m岩石弹性波速度：对地震深反射的约束

在常温常压条件对中国大陆科学钻CCSD主孔岩心的700样品进行了弹性波速度测量，并建立了主孔2000m的波速(Vp和Vs)连续剖面，为检验地球物理模型的合理解释提供了岩石物理学方面的宝贵资料。主孔中新鲜榴辉岩纵波速度(Vp)最大(7.86km／s)，正副片麻岩波速最小，又分别为5.53km／s和5．71km／s，榴辉岩的波速随着退变质作用的增强而明显减小。主孔2000m总平均Vp速度为6．2km／s，它与地球物理探测方法获得的大别-苏鲁造山带上地壳具有6.2-6．3km／s高速层结论是一致的。大部分岩石具有明显地震波各向异性。水饱和度使岩石纵波(Vp)速度和剪切波速度(Vs)分别增加19％和6％，而使Vp的各向异性降低3％～4％。不同岩性界面的反射系数(Rc)是产生地震反射的主要原因。金红石榴辉岩与片麻岩之间具有很高的反射系数(0.24-0．31)。韧性剪切带中糜棱岩化片麻岩和面理化榴辉岩使岩石各向异性和反射强度明显增加。岩石微裂隙与主孔原位波速变化有密切关系。饱水岩石速度(Vp和Vs)可以代表CCSD主孔原位状态的地震波速度。上述成果为本区地震反射体成因提供了重要的岩石物理性质约束。     

Surface wave phase velocity maps from multiscale wave field interpolation

Availability of spatially dense broadband observations of seismic surface wave fields allows to derive phase velocity maps on regional scale by non-tomographic means. I present a multiscale interpolation scheme for surface wave fields where for each observed wave field, a multiscale phase velocity map and its standard deviation are calculated from subsets of the available data. Isotropic phase velocity (with an estimate on its standard deviation) is then found as the weighted mean of multiscale maps from different observations. Comparison of different interpolation schemes on synthetic wave fields shows that bivariate linear interpolation of phases in a triangulated region, in conjunction with multiscale stacking, is not inferior than methods involving higher-order polynomials. The recovered phase velocity maps are, in the presence of random uncertainties with realistic magnitude, largely free of artifacts and restore a synthetic input model reasonably well. The method is applied to a subset of Rayleigh wave observations at USArray which yields phase velocity maps well within the range of published results. Multiscale interpolation seems to be a practical alternative to tomographic inversion for regional broadband seismic networks (≥30 stations). It requires no choice of arbitrary parameters and is insensitive to number of earthquakes and their azimuthal distribution.     

Crustal structure beneath the central Tien Shan from ambient noise tomography

Through analysis of seismic ambient noise recorded by the GHENGIS array, we constructed a high‐resolution 3‐D crustal shear‐wave velocity model for the central Tien Shan. The obtained shear‐wave velocity model provides insight into the detailed crustal structure beneath the Tien Shan. The results obtained at shallow depths are well correlated with known subsurface geological features. Low velocities are found mainly beneath sedimentary basins, whereas high velocities are mainly associated with mountain ranges. At greater depths of ~43–45 km, high velocities were observed beneath the Tarim Basin and Kazakh Shield; these high velocities extend forward in opposite directions and tilt down towards the central Tien Shan to a depth of in excess of 50 km, most likely reflecting lateral variations in crustal thickness beneath the Tien Shan and surrounding platforms.     

Modeling of strong motion generation area of the Uttarkashi earthquake using modified semiempirical approach

The semiempirical approach based on envelope summation method given by Midorikawa (Tectonophysics 218:287–295, 1993) has been modified in this paper for modeling of strong motion generation areas (SMGAs). Horizontal components of strong ground motion have been simulated using modifications in the semiempirical approach given by Joshi et al. (Nat Hazard 71:587–609, 2014). Various modifications in the technique account for finite rupture source, layering of earth, componentwise division of energy and frequency-dependent radiation pattern. In this paper, SMGAs of the Uttarkashi earthquake have been modeled. Two different isolated wave packets in the recorded accelerogram have been identified from recorded ground motion, which accounts for two different SMGAs in the entire rupture plane. The approximate locations of SMGAs within the rupture plane were estimated using spatio-temporal variation of 77 aftershocks. Source parameters of each SMGA were calculated from theoretical and observed source displacement spectra computed from two different wave packets in the record. The final model of rupture plane responsible for the Uttarkashi earthquake consists of two SMGAs, and the same has been used to simulate horizontal components of acceleration records at different station using modified semiempirical technique. Comparison of the observed and simulated acceleration records in terms of root mean square error confirms the suitability of the final source model for the Uttarkashi earthquake.