Geostatistical assessment for the regional zonation of seismic site effects in a coastal urban area using a GIS framework

Earthquake-induced hazards are profoundly affected by site effects related to the amplification of ground motions, which are strongly influenced by local geologic conditions such as soil thickness, bedrock depth, and soil stiffness. Seismic disasters are often more severe over soft soils than over stiff soils or rocks due to differences in local site effects. In this study, on the basis of a geotechnical information system (GTIS) framework, we developed an advanced geostatistical assessment for the regional zonation of seismic site effects. In particular, to reliably predict spatial geotechnical information, we developed a procedural methodology for building an advanced GTIS within a geographic information system framework and applied it to the Busan area in Korea. The systemized GTIS comprised four functional components: database, geostatistical analysis, geotechnical analysis, and visualization. First, to build the GTIS, we collected pre-existing geotechnical data in and around the study area, and then conducted a walk-over site survey to acquire surface geo-knowledge data. Second, we determined the optimum geostatistical estimation method using a cross-validation-based verification test, considering site conditions. The advanced GTIS was used in a practical application to estimate the site effects in the study area. We created seismic zoning maps of geotechnical earthquake parameters, such as the depth to bedrock and the site period, and present them as part of a regional synthetic strategy for earthquake risk assessment.     

基于小田原试验场地数据的不同基岩输入模型对预测地震动特征的影响研究

随着强震台网的密布及观测记录的增加,为研究各类局部场地地震反应预测模型的合理性提供了有效的参考依据,也使利用强震记录及场地条件研究地震动特征成为可能。选取场地地质参数资料和地震记录数据齐全的日本小田原（Ashigara Valley）盲测试验场地,通过对比不同地震动输入方式及场地反应分析模型,研究地震动特征,分析现有模型的优劣。基于1990年8月5日M5.1强震事件的地表基岩记录和地下基岩地震记录,采用地下台强震记录直接输入、地表基岩台强震记录减半为基底地震动输入、地表基岩台强震记录反演为基底地震动输入作为3种基岩地震动输入。基于局部场地条件分别建立一维等效线性模型、二维黏弹性模型及二维时域等效线性化模型等工程中常用的场地数值分析模型,进行局部场地地震反应分析,预测该盲测场地的地表地震动特征,并与对应的实测强震记录结果进行对比,分析不同基岩地震动输入方式对预测地震动特征及地表土层反应谱特征的影响,重点分析地震动输入、土体非线性、场地横向不均匀性及几何与非线性特征共同作用等因素对地表地震动特征的影响,以期为地表地震动的合理预测提供参考。     

The seismic microzonation of the city of Catania (Italy) for the maximum expected scenario earthquake of January 11, 1693

Safety against earthquake hazards presents two aspects: structural safety against potentially destructive dynamic forces and site safety related to geotechnical phenomena, such as amplification, landsliding and soil liquefaction. The correct evaluation of seismic hazard is, therefore, highly affected by risk factors due to geological nature and geotechnical properties of soils. In response to these new developments, several attempts have been made to identify and appraise geotechnical hazards and to represent them in the form of zoning maps, in which locations or zones with different levels of hazard potential are identified. The geotechnical zonation of the subsoil of the city of Catania (Italy) suggests a high vulnerability of the physical environment added to site amplification of the ground motion phenomena. The ground response analysis at the surface, in terms of time history and response spectra, has been obtained by some 1D equivalent linear models and by a 2D linear model, using a design scenario earthquake as input at the conventional bedrock. In particular, the study has regarded the evaluation of site effects in correspondence of the database of about 1200 boreholes and water-wells available in the data-bank of the Catania area. According to the response spectra obtained through the application of the 1D and 2D models, the city of Catania has been divided into some zones with different peak ground acceleration at the surface, to which corresponds a different value of the Seismic Geotechnical Hazard. A seismic microzoning map of the urban area of the city of Catania has been obtained. The map represents an important tool for the seismic improvement of the buildings, indispensable for the mitigation of the seismic risk.     

Local site effects and dynamic soil behavior

Amplitudes of seismic waves increase significantly as they pass through soft soil layers near the earth's surface. This phenomenon, commonly known as site amplification, is a major factor influencing the extent of damage on structures. It is crucial that site amplification is accounted for when designing structures on soft soils. The characteristics of site amplification at a given site can be estimated by analytical models, as well as field tests. Analytical models require as inputs the geometry of all soil layers from surface to bedrock, their dynamic properties (e.g. density, wave velocity, damping), and the incident bedrock motions. Field tests involve recording and analyzing the dynamic response of sites to artificial excitations, ambient forces, and actual earthquakes. The most reliable estimates of site amplification are obtained by analyzing the recorded motions of the site during strong earthquakes. This paper presents a review of the types and the generating mechanisms of site amplification, and the models and methods that are used to characterize them from earthquake records.     

Long period microtremors, microseisms and earthquake damage: Northridge, CA, earthquake of 17 January 1994

Three studies of site amplification factors, based on the recorded aftershocks, and one study based on strong motion data, are compared one with another and with the observed distribution of damage from the Northridge, CA, earthquake of 17 January 1994 (M_L=6.4). In the epicentral area, when the peak ground velocities are larger than v_m≈15 cm/s, nonlinear response of soil begins to distort the amplification factors determined from small amplitude (linear) wave motion. Moving into the area of near-field and strong ground motion (v_m>30 cm/s), the site response becomes progressively more affected by the nonlinear soil response. Based on the published results, it is concluded that site amplification factors determined from small amplitude waves (aftershocks, small earthquakes, coda waves) and their transfer-function representation may be useful for small and distant earthquake motions, where soils and structures respond to earthquake waves in a linear manner. However in San Fernando Valley, during the Northridge earthquake, the observed distribution of damage did not correlate with site amplification determined from spectra of recorded weak motions. Mapping geographical distribution of site amplification using other than very strong motion data, therefore appears to be of little use for seismic hazard analyses.     

Site response to multi-directional earthquake loading: A practical procedure

Site response to earthquake loading is one of the fundamental problems in geotechnical earthquake engineering. Most site response analyses assume vertically propagating shear waves in a horizontally layered soil–rock system and simply ignore the effect of site response to vertical earthquake motion, although actual ground motions are comprised of both horizontal and vertical components. In several recent earthquakes very strong vertical ground motions have been recorded, raising great concern over the potential effect of vertical motion on engineering structures. Being a step toward addressing this concern, this paper presents a simple and practical procedure for analysis of site response to both horizontal and vertical earthquake motions. The procedure involves the use of the dynamic stiffness matrix method and equivalent-linear approach, and is built in the modern MATLAB environment to take full advantages of the matrix operations in MATLAB. The input motions can be specified at the soil–bedrock interface or at a rock outcropping. A detailed assessment of the procedure is given, which shows that the procedure is able to produce acceptable predictions of both vertical and horizontal site responses.     

2020年7月12日唐山古冶5.1级地震揭示的北京城区地震动场地效应分析

局部场地条件对地震动特性影响显著,深厚的软弱覆盖层引起的地震动场地效应会显著放大中长周期反应谱。采用谱比法,对2020年7月12日唐山古冶5.1级地震中获得的部分强震动记录进行统计,发现在本次地震中北京城区的地震动场地效应显著,深厚覆盖层明显放大了加速度反应谱,在T=1.2 s左右反应谱放大倍数可达4.0,说明北京地区的场地和盆地效应使得远场地震动的中长周期成分显著放大。此外,发现参考基岩场地记录是否与土层场地处遭受的基岩地震动一致,仍然是制约统计结果可靠性的关键因素。      

Site response in the Qionghai Basin in the Wenchuan earthquake

Amplification effects of soil site response can significantly impact ground motions, and must be considered in the seismic fortification of buildings/structures to prevent or mitigate this potential seismic hazard. Utilizing acceleration time histories from the main shock of the Wenchuan earthquake recorded at four stations (i.e., one on bedrock and three on soil) in the Qionghai Basin, the site responses from three soil sites are studied by using the traditional spectral ratio method. The bedrock site is selected as a reference site. This study found that peak ground accelerations (PGAs) on the soil sites are much larger than on bedrock, with EW, NS and UD components of 3.96–6.58, 6.27–10.98, and 3.17–6.66 times those of the bedrock site, respectively. The amplification effects of the soil sites on ground motions in the frequency range of 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz are significant, depending on the thickness of the soil layer and the frequency content of the site. A significant amplification occurs with high frequency components of ground motion at shallow soil sites, and low and high frequency components of ground motion at intermediate soil sites.     

Local seismic site amplification: effects of obliquely incident antiplane motions

Seismic site amplification studies are generally used to assess the effects of local geology and soil conditions on ground motion characteristics. Although extensive reviews on site amplification phenomena associated with stratigraphic effects can be found in the specialized literature, it should be pointed out that most of the practical applications have been limited to the study of vertically propagating shear horizontal (SH) waves, i.e., to the 1-D soil amplification problem. Furthermore, little attention, if any, has been devoted to the study of the effects of non-vertically incident SH waves on surface accelerograms and on the earthquake response of structures. In the present work, the study is extended to an investigation of 2-D site amplification of non-vertically propagating seismic shear waves in multilayered viscoelastic soil deposits. Sensitivity analyses of the effects of non-vertical incidence on site amplification functions are performed based on site geotechnical data collected from post-seismic investigations of the 1980 El-Asnam earthquake. Analytical results are discussed in terms of seismic site transfer functions, spectral ratios, surface acceleration time histories, and structural response spectra for different values of wave incidence angle. Both bedrock and rock outcropping cases are examined.     

2013年甘肃岷县MS6.6地震区域地震波传播模拟与地面运动特征研究

2013年7月22日,甘肃省定西市岷县发生M_S6.6地震,造成了严重的人员伤亡和经济损失.地震发生于青藏高原东北部边缘与甘肃东南部地区的交界处,是该区域一百多年以来发生的最大地震.分析本次地震观测数据显示,岷县M_S6.6地震产生的地震地面运动呈现出明显的区域变化特征.为了研究这种区域变化特征,本文使用全球CRUST1.0和SRTM30模型数据建立了甘肃岷县及周边地区的地下三维传播介质模型,使用并行的三维有限差分方法进行了岷县地震的区域地震波传播模拟,并与研究区内数字地震台网记录的地震观测资料进行对比.通过分析地面运动的峰值速度和持续时间的区域分布特征,发现：在青藏高原东北部边缘,较大的地形起伏对地面运动的峰值速度分布起主要影响作用;在青藏高原外围地区,地形起伏较小,而沉积层主要影响地面运动的峰值速度和持续时间,从而导致了明显的盆地效应,如地面运动的振幅放大和持续时间加长.因此,研究区剧烈的地形起伏和表层沉积层是影响地面运动的重要因素.     

On a Quick Seismic Microzonation of Wide Areas

In this paper a characterization of seismic site response is proposed, taking into consideration geo-morphological conditions, geotechnical and geophysical parameters such as slope, average shear-wave velocity, maximum expected acceleration on bedrock, depth of ground water table. An empirical relationship is presented between these parameters and applied, with the objective of determining ground motion amplification coefficients to be used in specific programs of land use or town planning dedicated to the mitigation of seismic risk.     

Site correction of ground motion in Fujian area

On the basis of the interpretation of the high-resolution satellite remote sensing images, in combination with the data of engineering geological exploration and shear-wave velocity testing, the site category-zoning map of FJ area with the scale of 1:200,000 is generated according to the site classification standard of “Code for Seismic design of Buildings” of China (GB50011 2010). By the method of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis, we obtain bedrock seismic ground motion parameters of five recurrent periods (50, 200, 500, 1000, and 2500 a) of FJ area. By using the 617 typical soil layer structures of the site classifications in FJ area, we build seismic response models of soil layers and make seismic response analysis, then obtain the statistic sample space of site amplification factors, which possess reasonable distribution and sufficient data. Considering the distribution characteristics of The Quaternary Strata in FJ area, according to the statistic zoning (mountains and coastal areas respectively) and site classifications as well as the level of bedrock importing ground motion, the site magnification-factors of ground motion in FJ area are obtained by classification statistics.     

1920年海原地震滑坡密集区的地震动场地效应研究

地震动作为引起地震灾害的原动力,常常通过造成建筑物倒塌、山体滑坡等形式引起大量人员伤亡和财产损失。1920年海原8½级地震,在震中距80 km远的西吉—静宁交界的黄土丘陵区引发了大量的山体滑坡,并造成重大人员伤亡和财产损失。在分析海原地震高烈度区滑坡分布特征的基础上,通过场地调查和数值计算等方法,研究典型滑坡密集场地的地质条件及地震反应特征。研究表明起伏地形和黄土厚度不均等因素造成丘陵山体两侧地震反应的差异,从而导致地震滑坡在斜坡土体较厚的一侧成群连片发育。海原地震造成的滑坡密集区的地形地貌、岩土性质、土层结构等条件决定了该地区地震动随局部场地条件变化非常迅速,地层场地效应和地形场地效应联合作用加剧了斜坡地表的地震动放大作用,增加了触发地震滑坡的动力。     

辽宁省地震易发区地震危险性研究

盘锦、海城、营口地区是辽宁省内地震活动性最强、地震危险性最高的地区。该地区开展了大量重点工程地震安全性评价、区域性地震区划和地震小区划工作，但尚未开展基于场地条件的区域尺度地震危险性研究。独有的沉积特点使该地区场地条件较复杂，因此在地震危险性概率分析中考虑场地条件是必要的。本文基于新一代中国地震动参数区划图基本原理和技术原则，结合盘锦、海城、营口地区场地条件特征，采用基于地形坡度的方法对场地条件进行分类，确定场地地震动影响系数，给出该地区基于区域场地条件的地震危险性分布，相关研究结果可为地震风险评估和防震减灾规划提供参考。     

土层平均剪切波速确定及其可靠性验证——基于钻井台阵强震动记录

震害资料显示,场地条件对地震动特性以及工程结构破坏程度影响显著。为减少因场地效应而造成的经济损失和社会影响,在进行场地地震反应分析时,需最大限度地减小因场地土层模型参数的不确定性引起的地震动评估偏差,为工程结构地震反应分析选取并生成适当的地震动输入。随着强震动观测技术的逐渐发展,大量可靠的钻井台阵记录为地震过程中场地观测点的动力反应提供了直接数据。以美国加州地区La Cienega钻井台阵强震动观测数据为基础,利用互相关函数,对不同强度地震作用下场地土层的平均剪切波速进行分析,并在此基础上,以Cyclic 1D为模拟平台,建立一维自由场地地震反应有限元分析模型。分析结果表明：通过钻井台阵地震动观测数据识别,得到场地平均剪切波速,能够反映该场地的动力特性,数值模拟计算结果和台阵地震动记录基本吻合,可为数值模型参数选取提供依据。     

震源机制和场地条件在河北地震影响场判定中的应用研究

震后应急工作中地震影响场的判定和快速给出较为合理的地震烈度分布图,是震后应急救援的重要依据,对于政府了解灾情、部署工作以及估算灾害损失都尤为重要,所以本文以此为研究目的,力求震后快速给出准确的地震烈度分布图。本文收集整理了河北地区中强地震的实际等震线图,将其与加入了震源机制解影响参数的烈度衰减关系计算得到的理论等震线图进行对比。结果显示:随着震级的增大,由衰减关系计算得到的等震线图与实际地震等震线图在高烈度区（≥Ⅶ度）相似度更高。另外,根据震后24小时内余震频度的空间变化,对极震区理论等震线修正后,其与实际等震线更加贴合,即理论计算烈度与实际调查烈度值更加接近。最后,对河北地区划分网格,根据地震动衰减关系计算震例对各个网格中心点产生的影响—基岩PGA。提取场地类别属性,考虑场地放大因子,完成基岩PGA到地表PGA的转换。将地表PGA换算成烈度,并与实际地震等震线图进行对比分析。结果表明,考虑了场地放大效应的地震影响场在高烈度区与实际等震线相似度很高,且相似度超过基于震源机制解的烈度衰减关系方法。      

临安地震台阵勘址与场地条件分析

介绍浙江临安地震台阵勘址工作,包括各子台位置关系、区域自然地理与气候条件,着重分析区域大地构造、地质发展史以及测试点位的基岩性质等地质条件,结合岩土工程勘察资料,分析认为选定区域适合地震台阵建设,简述台阵供电与通讯初步设计方案,为后期地震台阵建设提出指导意见。     

渭河盆地中土层场地对地震动的放大作用

土层场地对地震动的影响较大,建(构)筑物的选址及其抗震设防必须考虑土层场地的放大作用,以避免或减轻其震害.汶川地震中,布设在渭河盆地中的数字强震动台网共有27个台站(包括2个基岩台站和25个土层台站)获得良好的主震加速度时程.利用这些加速度时程,选择汤峪台做为参考场地,基于考虑几何衰减的传统谱比法分析研究了25个土层场...     

Seismic microzonation and earthquake damage scenarios for urban areas

A methodology for seismic microzonation and earthquake damage scenarios may be considered as composed of two stages. In the first stage, microzonation maps with respect to estimated earthquake characteristics on the ground surface are generated for an investigated urban area. The effects of local geological and geotechnical site conditions are taken into account based on site characterization with respect to representative soil profiles extending down to the engineering bedrock. 1D site response analyses are performed to calculate earthquake characteristics on the ground surface using as many as possible, hazard compatible real acceleration time histories. In the second stage, vulnerability of buildings and pipeline systems are estimated based on site-specific ground motion parameters. A pilot study is carried out to evaluate seismic damage in a district in Istanbul, Turkey. The results demonstrate the significance of site characterization and site response analysis in calculating the earthquake characteristics on the ground surface in comparison to simplified empirical procedures.     

Centrifuge modeling of seismic response of layered soft clay

Centrifuge modeling is a valuable tool used to study the response of geotechnical structures to infrequent or extreme events such as earthquakes. A series of centrifuge model tests was conducted at 80g using an electro-hydraulic earthquake simulator mounted on the C-CORE geotechnical centrifuge to study the dynamic response of soft soils and seismic soil–structure interaction (SSI). The acceleration records at different locations within the soil bed and at its surface along with the settlement records at the surface were used to analyze the soft soil seismic response. In addition, the records of acceleration at the surface of a foundation model partially embedded in the soil were used to investigate the seismic SSI. Centrifuge data was used to evaluate the variation of shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain amplitude and confining pressure, and to assess their effects on site response. Site response analysis using the measured shear wave velocity, estimated modulus reduction and damping ratio as input parameters produced good agreement with the measured site response. A spectral analysis of the results showed that the stiffness of the soil deposits had a significant effect on the characteristics of the input motions and the overall behavior of the structure. The peak surface acceleration measured in the centrifuge was significantly amplified, especially for low amplitude base acceleration. The amplification of the earthquake shaking as well as the frequency of the response spectra decreased with increasing earthquake intensity. The results clearly demonstrate that the layering system has to be considered, and not just the average shear wave velocity, when evaluating the local site effects.