Modeling and synthesis of strong ground motion

Success of earthquake resistant design practices critically depends on how accurately the future ground motion can be determined at a desired site. But very limited recorded data are available about ground motion in India for engineers to rely upon. To identify the needs of engineers, under such circumstances, in estimating ground motion time histories, this article presents a detailed review of literature on modeling and synthesis of strong ground motion data. In particular, modeling of seismic sources and earth medium, analytical and empirical Green’s functions approaches for ground motion simulation, stochastic models for strong motion and ground motion relations are covered. These models can be used to generate realistic near-field and far-field ground motion in regions lacking strong motion data. Numerical examples are shown for illustration by taking Kutch earthquake-2001 as a case study.     

竖向地震动对斜坡场地非线性地震反应的影响

国内外规范中推荐或强制规定竖向地震动取为剪切反应谱的1/2～2/3,但该规定如何改进使其更合理已成为一重要课题。首先,对其研究现状简单总结,给出了可处理辐射阻尼、地震动相位特性、计算高效的二维波动显式有限元等效线性化程序ELPSV编制的必要性,然后进行了分析。初步研究表明,竖向地震动强度对周期在0.3 s以下的地表剪切反应谱有一定的影响,而高于0.3 s部分影响轻微。竖向地震动强度对斜坡场地的竖向地震反应及地表竖向反应谱影响显著,按规范的取值将偏于不安全。受地形条件影响,坡顶剪切地震反应会比坡脚反应要大,而竖向地震反应并不明显。土层边界面的地震反应要比周围反应要低,交界面效应明显。软斜坡场地地震反应特性除场地竖向地震反应自下而上先增加后减小的规律外,其他情形与硬斜坡场地的规律基本一致。该结果定量反映了竖向地震动的影响程度,为斜坡场地上考虑竖向地震动的建（构）筑结构的抗震设计提供了有益的基础。     

Effects of strong ground motion on the susceptibility of gully type debris flows

Typhoon Herb in 1996 caused widespread debris flows in central Taiwan. The 7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake on September 21, 1999, which also took place in central Taiwan, induced many landslides in the region. These landslides turned into debris flows when Typhoon Toraji struck Taiwan in 2001. This research selects three regions which suffered a ground motion class of 5, 6, and 7 on the Richter scale during the Chi-Chi earthquake as study areas. Air photos from 1997 and 2001 of these regions are used to map the gully-type debris flows that took place after Typhoons Herb and Toraji, respectively. The gullies adjacent to the debris flow, but without a trace of debris flows, are also mapped as the non-debris flow data. The topography, hydrogeology, and rainfall factors – where debris flow occurred and in which there was no occurrence of debris flows in these gullies were retrieved from DTM, geological maps, and iso-countour maps, and of rainfall through GIS processing. These characteristic are introduced into a probabilistic neural network to build a predicting model for the probability of the occurrence of debris flows. Three series of cross analyses are conducted to compare the probability of the occurrence of debris flows of the same dataset predicted by different prediction models. The results reveal that the susceptibility of debris flows was elevated after the Chi-Chi earthquake struck. The upsurge of susceptibility was more obvious for the regions that received a higher class of ground motion.     

Emergence of the semi-empirical technique of strong ground motion simulation: A review

High frequency ground motion simulation techniques are powerful tools for designing earthquake resistant structures in seismically active regimes. Simulation techniques also provide the synthetic strong ground motion in the regions where actual records are not available (Kumar et al. 2015).These techniques require several parameters of earthquake and other seismic information proceeding to the simulation. Practically estimation of parameters is a tough task, particularly in a region with limited information. This demands a simulation technique based on the easily estimated parameters for a new site. The purposes of this paper are to briefly review existing simulation techniques and to discuss in detail the new, simple and effective semi-empirical technique (Midorikawa 1993) of strong motion simulation.     

PSHA of Van province for performance assessment using spectrally matched strong ground motion records

Within the framework of the performance based earthquake engineering, site specific earthquake spectra for Van province has been obtained. It is noteworthy that, in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment, as a first stage data from geological studies and records from the instrumental period were compiled to make a seismic source characterization for the study region. The probabilistic seismic hazard curves were developed based on selected appropriate attenuation relationships, at rock sites, with a probability of exceedance 2, 10 and 50% in 50 yrs period. The obtained results are compared with the spectral responses proposed for seismic evaluation and retrofit of building structure in Turkish Earthquake Code (2007), section 7. The acceleration response spectrums obtained from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis are matched to adjust earthquake accelerograms recorded during the 2011 Van earthquakes by using SeismoMatch v2.0 software. The aim of this procedure is to obtain a set of reasonable earthquake input motions for the seismic evaluation of existing buildings.     

强地震动作用下层状岩体破坏的物理模拟研究

岩体地震动力破坏现象是常见但研究较少的复杂课题。利用物理模拟试验,研究了层状岩体边坡在强地震动作用下的变形破坏问题。按结构面走向平行和垂直地震动方向,对不同岩体结构特征的模型施加不同的幅值和频率的水平向地震动荷载,进行岩体的振动破坏试验。结果表明,结构面空间展布方向与地震动荷载的相互关系不同、结构面软弱程度不同,岩体变形破坏的形式和分布特征也不相同。岩体的动力破坏主要是岩体结构的破坏,即岩体结构的宏观破坏和微观损伤,岩体结构特征是控制其动力变形破坏的主要因素。极大的不均匀性是岩体动力破坏的显著特点,这与大量极震区岩体破坏的现象类似。但岩体动力破坏模式的建立和定量的力学分析还需更多研究。     

Destructive near-fault strong ground motion from the 2016 Kumamoto prefecture,Japan, M7.3 earthquake

The sequence of the 2016 Kumamoto, Japan, earthquake, which included an initial M6.5 foreshock on April 14, followed by a larger M7.3 mainshock on April 16, and subsequently occurred high aftershock activity, caused significant damage in Kumamoto and neighboring regions. The near-field strong motion record by strong motion network (K-NET and KiK-net) and the intensity meter network demonstrated clearly the characteristics of the strong ground motion developed by the shallow (H = 12 km), inland earthquake comprising short-time duration (<15–20 s) but large (>1G) ground accelerations. The velocity response spectra of the near-fault motion at Mashiki and Nishihara showed large levels (>300–550 cm/s) in the short-period range (T = 1–2 s), several times larger than that of the near-field record of the destructive 1995 Kobe earthquake (M7.3) and that of the 2004 Mid-Niigata earthquake (M6.8). This period corresponds to the collapse vulnerability of Japanese wooden-frame houses, and is the major cause of severe damage during the Kumamoto earthquake. The response spectra also showed extremely large levels (>240–340 cm/s) in the long-period (T > 3 s) band, which is potentially disastrous for high-rise buildings, large oil storage tanks, etc. to have longer resonant period. Such long-period motion was, for the most parts, developed by the static displacement of the fault movement rather than by the seismic waves radiating from the source fault. Thus, the extreme near-fault long-period motion was hazardous only close to the fault but it attenuated very rapidly away from the fault.     

Inclusion of earthquake strong ground motion in a geographic information system-based landslide susceptibility zonation in Garhwal Himalayas

Garhwal Himalayas are seismically very active and simultaneously suffering from landslide hazards. Landslides are one of the most frequent natural hazards in Himalayas causing damages worth more than one billion US$ and around 200 deaths every year. Thus, it is of paramount importance to identify the landslide causative factors to study them carefully and rank them as per their influence on the occurrence of landslides. The difference image of GIS-derived landslide susceptibility zonation maps prepared for pre- and post-Chamoli earthquake shows the effect of seismic shaking on the occurrence of landslides in the Garhwal Himalaya. An attempt has been made to incorporate seismic shaking parameters in terms of peak ground acceleration with other static landslide causative factors to produce landslide susceptibility zonation map in geographic information system environment. In this paper, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis has been carried out to calculate peak ground acceleration values at different time periods for estimating seismic shaking conditions in the study area. Further, these values are used as one of the causative factors of landslides in the study area and it is observed that it refines the preparation of landslide susceptibility zonation map in seismically active areas like Garhwal Himalayas.     

A neural network approach for attenuation relationships: An application using strong ground motion data from Turkey

This paper presents an application of neural network approach for the prediction of peak ground acceleration (PGA) using the strong motion data from Turkey, as a soft computing technique to remove uncertainties in attenuation equations. A training algorithm based on the Fletcher–Reeves conjugate gradient back-propagation was developed and employed for three sample sets of strong ground motion. The input variables in the constructed artificial neural network (ANN) model were the magnitude, the source-to-site distance and the site conditions, and the output was the PGA. The generalization capability of ANN algorithms was tested with the same training data. To demonstrate the authenticity of this approach, the network predictions were compared with the ones from regressions for the corresponding attenuation equations. The results indicated that the fitting between the predicted PGA values by the networks and the observed ones yielded high correlation coefficients (R²). In addition, comparisons of the correlations by the ANN and the regression method showed that the ANN approach performed better than the regression. Even though the developed ANN models suffered from optimal configuration about the generalization capability, they can be conservatively used to well understand the influence of input parameters for the PGA predictions.     

Simulation of strong ground motion for a potential Mw7.3 earthquake in Kopili fault zone,northeast India

Natural Hazards - The occurrence of major natural disasters in recent years has impacted large cities worldwide and boosted the need of assessing urban resilience. As a key factor of resilience,...     

Characterization of sediments by high-frequency echo-sounding

A high-frequency echo-sounder (200 kHz) was used to characterize the sediments of the shallow Öre Estuary in the Gulf of Bothnia, northern Sweden. The acoustic signal patterns of the echogram were used to differentiate between fine-grained and coarse-grained sediment bottoms according to four major criteria: roughness of the line surface, line thickness, and occurrence of white line and double echo. The echogram characteristics were calibrated against physical properties of the sediment determined in the laboratory. It can be concluded that high-frequency echo-sounding offers an easily applied and reliable method for determining the spatial extent of different bottom sediments (e.g., fine-grained) in shallow waters.     

Rating of Indian ground motion records

Natural Hazards - A nonlinear dynamic analysis method in earthquake-resistant design requires real-time ground motion records. However, a definite criterion is required for ground motion selection....     

High-frequency ground motion from Australian earthquakes

The dominant high-frequency component of ground motion for most seismic events in Australia comes from the crustal Lg phase that can commonly propagate efficiently to considerable distances across the continent. Using results from recent tomography for the attenuation of Lg, we are able to build the pattern of transmission of ground motion from events within the continent. The effects are readily displayed in terms of a distribution of effective magnitude. The same approach can also be used to look at the cumulative effects across the continent from 1840 to date as a useful complement to other ways of assessing earthquake potential.     

Near-source strong motion database catalog for Iran

This paper discusses a newly developed high-quality integrated dataset of shallow earthquake ground motions that occurred in Iran, from 1976 to 2013. A total of 860 three-component strong motion records are processed from 183 earthquake events, moment magnitudes 5.0?≤?M _w ?≤?7.4, and rupture distances of R _RUP  ≤ 120 km. Strong motion data from Iran having special tectonic features and shallow earthquakes with depths less than 35 km are included. This paper presents a thorough procedure used to collect and to generate a database following the Next-Generation Attenuation-West research projects. This database can be used in the development and ranking of ground motion models and for seismological and engineering hazard and risk analyses. Unprocessed strong motion records are obtained from the Iranian Strong Motion Network (ISMN). The time series collected were thoroughly examined through several rounds of quality reviews. The newly generated database includes the peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and pseudo-spectral acceleration for the 5% damped with periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. The database also includes ground motion information and source characterization and parameters. This study is the near-source compiled ground motion database that can be used for Iran, and it is consistent with standard worldwide databases.     

The importance of strong motion seismology in India

The high seismicity of portions of the Indian peninsula, together with the high density of population and industrial growth, results in a significant seismic risk in many parts of the subcontinent. Large construction projects throughout the peninsula require an adequate basis for earthquake-resistant design. Thus, as well as strong scientific arguments, there are major practical reasons why a substantial programme to record strong seismic ground motion should be carried out in India. This paper first reviews the history of strong motion instrumental recording, beginning with the important accelerograms obtained in the Koyna earthquake of 11 December 1969 through the recent increase in strong motion instrumentation, particularly in association with construction of large dams. It is argued that there is a pressing need for further extension of strong motion accelerograph coverage of India, especially along the seismically active regional thrust faults of the Himalayan region. Such programme expansion should follow deliberate strategies of site selection, designed to optimize the scientific and practical returns, given the requirements of minimum costs, reliable maintenance and accessible data.     

Near-field ground motion during earthquake preparation process

Wave number discretization method is applied to study the near-field of seismic sources embedded in a cracked elastic solid. Near-field solutions are obtained for horizontal and vertical line forces. Effects of modifications in cracks of focal region on ground motion, in the near-field, are studied numerically for different

? values of crack density

? saturation of cracks

? width of cracks, and

? regimes of connection between cracks.

An earthquake process is assumed to be going through five major stages. These stages represent continuous accumulation of stress, interconnections between cracks leading to eventual failure and drainage of fluid from cracks after the major shock. Variations in the velocity ratio of waves noted from accelerograms verify the process of preparation of an earthquake.P wave contribution to vertical acceleration is negligible when the source is a vertical line force andS wave contributes only a little to horizontal acceleration when the source is a horizontal line force.     

地震动作用下滑坡稳定性分析

应用地震危险性分析理论和地震动人工合成技术,给出Newmark法中所需的地震动时程.通过滑坡实例计算,得出了坡体中地震动峰值加速度与深度存在负指数关系;坡体对地震动放大倍数与坡体厚度近似呈线性关系.通过对Newmark法中不同地震动时程作用位置的计算对比,发现使用地面地震动时程得到的结果虽有些偏于安全,但基本是合理的.