Ground motion selection for seismic slope displacement analysis using a generalized intensity measure distribution method

Selecting ground motions based on the generalized intensity measure distribution (GIMD) approach has many appealing features, but it has not been fully verified in engineering practice. In this paper, several suites of ground motions, which have almost identical distributions of spectral acceleration (SA) ordinates but different distributions of non‐SA intensity measures, are selected using the GIMD‐based approach for a given earthquake scenario. The selected ground motion suites are used to compute the sliding displacements of various slopes. Comparisons of the resulting displacements demonstrate that selecting ground motions with biased distribution of some intensity measures (ie, Arias intensity) may yield systematic biases (up to 60% for some slope types). Therefore, compared to the ground motions selected based only on the distribution of SA ordinates, the ground motion suite selected by the GIMD‐based approach can better represent the various characteristics of earthquake loadings, resulting in generally unbiased estimation in specific engineering applications.     

Some considerations on the physical mea-sure of seismic intensity

Introduction In1564,an Italian man named Jacopo Gastaldi(XIE,1958)presented the first macroseismic intensity scale in the world,which based on the building damage and the ground surface failure after an earthquake.Today the seismic intensity has developed into an indispensable important concept,which applies to seismology and earthquake engineering,however it was just used to de-scribe earthquake damage while the concept of intensity was established.With this concept,seis-mologist can estima…     

Seismic response of sliding equipment and contents in base‐isolated buildings subjected to broadband ground motions

Base isolation has been established as the seismic design approach of choice when it comes to protecting nonstructural contents. However, while this protection technology has been widely shown to reduce seismic demands on attached oscillatory equipment and contents (EC), its effectiveness in controlling the response of freestanding EC that are prone to sliding has not been investigated. This study examines the seismic behavior of sliding EC inside base‐isolated buildings subjected to broadband ground motions. The effect of isolation system properties on the response of sliding EC with various friction coefficients is examined. Two widely used isolation models are considered: viscously damped linear elastic and bilinear. The study finds isolation to be generally effective in reducing seismic demands on sliding EC, but it also exposes certain situations where isolation in fact increases demands on EC, most notably for low friction coefficients and high earthquake intensities. Damping at the isolation level is effective in controlling the EC sliding displacements, although damping over about 20% is found to be superfluous. The study identifies a physically motivated dimensionless intensity measure and engineering demand parameter for sliding equipment in base‐isolated buildings subjected to broadband ground motions. Finally, the paper presents easy‐to‐use design fragility curves and an example that illustrates how to use them. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shake table tests for the seismic fragility evaluation of hospital rooms

Health care facilities may undergo severe and widespread damage that impairs the functionality of the system when it is stricken by an earthquake. Such detrimental response is emphasized either for the hospital buildings designed primarily for gravity loads or without employing base isolation/supplemental damping systems. Moreover, these buildings need to warrant operability especially in the aftermath of moderate‐to‐severe earthquake ground motions. The provisions implemented in the new seismic codes allow obtaining adequate seismic performance for the hospital structural components; nevertheless, they do not provide definite yet reliable rules to design and protect the building contents. To date, very few experimental tests have been carried out on hospital buildings equipped with nonstructural components as well as building contents. The present paper is aimed at establishing the limit states for a typical health care room and deriving empirical fragility curves by considering a systemic approach. Toward this aim, a full scale three‐dimensional model of an examination (out patients consultation) room is constructed and tested dynamically by using the shaking table facility of the University of Naples, Italy. The sample room contains a number of typical medical components, which are either directly connected to the panel boards of the perimeter walls or behave as simple freestanding elements. The outcomes of the comprehensive shaking table tests carried out on the examination room have been utilized to derive fragility curves based on a systemic approach. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

隧道工程地震易损性分析研究综述与展望

易损性分析是隧道工程领域防震减灾研究的重要方法。首先,详细综述了国内外隧道地震易损性研究历史与现状;其次,归纳了国内外隧道地震易损性分析主要方法,并总结了各种方法的实际适用性;接着,提出了隧道地震易损性评估步骤,并且讨论了以数值模拟为主要手段的理论易损性曲线建立中的3个关键内容:(1)输入参数确定;(2)破坏状态分级;(3)相关不确定性参数计算;最后,指出该领域一些亟待解决的问题和未来研究发展的方向。结果表明:隧道地震易损性分析能通过考虑相关不确定性因素,反映了隧道在地震荷载作用下的性能,有利于未来的风险评估和损失估算,对基于性能的隧道抗震设计的发展具有重要意义。     

基于砌体结构破坏损伤的地震烈度物理标准研究

为了研究基于砌体结构破坏的地震烈度物理标准,将15个地震动参数按属性(峰值、频率、持时和能量)分成4类,将地震记录按地震动三要素(峰值、频率、持时)分成3组,求出每组记录作用下砌体结构的延性系数,计算出各个参数值和延性系数的相关系数,比较分析这些相关系数发现地震动峰值加速度、有效峰值加速度、地震动输入能量和滞回耗能都能表征地震动对砌体的破坏势,并且这4个参数都和烈度有很好的相关性,可以作为烈度的物理标准。     

A vector-valued intensity measure for near-fault ground motions

Near-fault ground motions containing high energy and large amplitude velocity pulses may cause severe damage to structures. The most widely used intensity measure (IM) is the elastic spectral acceleration at the fundamental period of the structure (Sa(T₁)); however, Sa(T₁) is not a sufficient IM with respect to the effects of the pulse-like ground motions on structural response. For near-fault ground motions, including pulse-like and non–pulse-like time histories, we propose a vector-valued IM consisting of a new IM called instantaneous power (IP(T₁)) and the Sa(T₁). The IP(T₁) is defined as the maximum power of the bandpass-filtered velocity time series over a time interval of 0.5T₁. The IP(T₁) is period-dependent because the velocity time series is filtered over a period range (0.2T₁-3T₁). This allows the IP(T₁) to represent the power of the near-fault ground motions relevant to the response of the structure. Using two-dimensional models of the 2- and 9-story steel-frame buildings, we show that the proposed [Sa(T₁), IP(T₁)] vector IM gives more accurate estimates of the maximum inter-story drift and collapse capacity responses from near-fault ground motions than using the vector IM consisting of the Sa(T₁), the presence of the velocity pulse, and the period of the velocity pulse. Moreover, for the structures considered, for a given Sa(T₁), the IP(T₁) is more strongly correlated with structural damage from near-fault ground motions than the combination of the velocity pulse and pulse period.     

Selection of optimal intensity measures in probabilistic seismic demand models of highway bridge portfolios

Probabilistic seismic demand models are a common and often essential step in generating analytical fragility curves for highway bridges. With these probabilistic models being traditionally conditioned on a single seismic intensity measure (IM), the degree of uncertainty in the models is dependent on the IM used. Selection of an optimal IM for conditioning these demand models is not a trivial matter and has been the focus of numerous studies. Unlike previous studies that consider a single structure for IM selection, this study evaluates optimal IMs for use when generating probabilistic seismic demand models for bridge portfolios such as would be found in HAZUS‐MH. Selection criteria such as efficiency, practicality, sufficiency, and hazard computability are considered in the selection process. A case study is performed considering the multi‐span simply supported steel girder bridge class. Probabilistic seismic demand models are generated considering variability in the geometric configurations and material properties, using two suites of ground motions—one synthetic and one recorded motion suite. Results show that of the 10 IMs considered, peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration at the fundamental period are the most optimal for the synthetic motions, and that cumulative absolute velocity is also a close contender when using recorded motions. However, when hazard computability is considered, PGA is selected as the IM of choice. Previous studies have shown that spectrally based quantities perform better than PGA for a given structure, but the findings of this study indicate that when a portfolio of bridges is considered, PGA should be used. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Average spectral acceleration as an intensity measure for collapse risk assessment

This paper investigates the performance of spectral acceleration averaged over a period range (Sa_avg) as an intensity measure (IM) for estimating the collapse risk of structures subjected to earthquake loading. The performance of Sa_avg is evaluated using the following criteria: efficiency, sufficiency, the availability or ease of developing probabilistic seismic hazard information in terms of the IM and the variability of collapse risk estimates produced by the IM. Comparisons are also made between Sa_avg and the more traditional IM: spectral acceleration at the first‐mode period of the structure (Sa(T₁)). Though most previous studies have evaluated IMs using a relatively limited set of structures, this paper considers nearly 700 moment‐resisting frame and shear wall structures of various heights to compare the efficiency and sufficiency of the IMs. The collapse risk estimates produced by Sa_avg and Sa(T₁) are also compared, and the variability of the risk estimates is evaluated when different ground motion sets are used to assess the structural response. The results of this paper suggest that Sa_avg, when computed using an appropriate period range, is generally more efficient, more likely to be sufficient and provides more stable collapse risk estimates than Sa(T₁). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of the exact conditional spectrum and generalized conditional intensity measure methods for ground motion selection

Two existing, contemporary ground motion selection and modification procedures – (i) exact conditional spectrum (CS‐exact) and (ii) generalized conditional intensity measure (GCIM) – are evaluated in their ability to accurately estimate seismic demand hazard curves (SDHCs) of a given structure at a specified site. The amount of effort involved in implementing these procedures to compute a single SDHC is studied, and a case study is chosen where rigorous benchmark SDHCs can be determined for evaluation purposes. By comparing estimates from ground motion selection and modification procedures with the benchmark, we conclude that estimates from CS‐exact are unbiased in many of the cases considered. The estimates from GCIM are even more accurate, as they are unbiased for most – but not all – of the cases where estimates from CS‐exact are biased. We find that it is possible to obtain biased SDHCs from GCIM, even after employing a very diverse collection of intensity measures to select ground motions and implementing its bias‐checking feature, because it is usually difficult to identify intensity measures that are truly ‘sufficient’ for the response of a complex, multi‐degree‐of‐freedom system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.