Northridge, California, earthquake of 1994: density of pipe breaks and surface strains

Empirical scaling equations are presented which relate the average number of water pipe breaks per km², , with the peak strain in the soil or intensity of shaking at the site. These equations are based on contour maps of peak surface strain evaluated from strong motion recordings, and observations of intensity of ground shaking and damage following the Northridge, California, earthquake of 17 January 1994. Histograms for the number of pipe breaks per km², n, are presented for several ranges of values of the horizontal peak strain and for several values of the site intensity. The observed distribution of pipe breaks is also used to speculate on possible more detailed geographical distribution of near surface strains in the San Fernando Valley and in central Los Angeles. The results can be used to predict number of pipe breaks in the San Fernando Valley and in Los Angeles, for a scenario earthquake or in probabilistic seismic hazard calculations, considering all possible scenarios that contribute to the hazard and the likelihood of their occurrence during specified exposure. Such predictions will be useful for emergency response planning (as the functioning of the water supply is critical for sanitation and in fighting fires caused by earthquakes), to estimate strains during future and past earthquakes in areas where no strong motion was recorded and in defining design guidelines for pipelines and other structures and structural systems sensitive to strains in the ground.     

1971 San Fernando and 1994 Northridge, California, earthquakes: did the zones with severely damaged buildings reoccur?

This paper compares the distribution of damage from the San Fernando, 1971, and Northridge, 1994, earthquakes. Both events had similar size, occurred on blind thrust faults beneath the densely populated San Fernando Valley of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and hence offer a rare opportunity to compare the effects of the two earthquakes. In a previous study of the distribution of red-tagged (‘unsafe’) buildings and of breaks in the water distribution system caused by the Northridge earthquake, the authors discovered that buildings were damaged less where the soil response was not linear (as indicated by the breaks in the water pipes), except in localized areas of very severe shaking (peak ground velocity exceeding 150 cm/s). The study in this paper shows that the same applies to the damage caused by the San Fernando earthquake, and that the areas with severely damaged buildings (so called ‘gray zones’) for both earthquakes overlapped. This reoccurrence of damage within the same area is interpreted to result from some specific properties of local soil and geology. These properties are not fully understood at present, but should be explored to provide a basis for a new tool for forecasting microzonation maps, and reducing future seismic hazard.     

Nonlinear soil response as a natural passive isolation mechanism-the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake

The spatial relationship between areas with severely damaged (red-tagged) buildings and areas with large strains in the soil (indicated by reported breaks in the water distribution system), observed during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, is analysed. It is shown that these areas can be separated almost everywhere. Minimal overlapping is observed only in the regions with very large amplitudes of shaking (peak ground velocity exceeding about 150 cm s⁻¹). One explanation for this remarkable separation is that the buildings on ‘soft’ soils, which experienced nonlinear strain levels, were damaged to a lesser degree, possibly because the soil absorbed a significant portion of the incident seismic wave energy. As a result, the total number of severely damaged (red-tagged) buildings in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles and Santa Monica may have been reduced by a factor of two or more. This interpretation is consistent with the recorded peak accelerations of strong motion in the same area. It is concluded that significant reduction in the potential damage to wood frame single family dwellings may be expected in areas where the soil experiences ‘large’ strains (beyond the linear range) during strong earthquake shaking, but not significant differential motions, settlement or lateral spreading, near the surface.     

Damage distribution during the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake relative to generalized categories of surficial geology

The spatial distributions of severely damaged buildings (red-tagged) and of breaks in the water distribution system following the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake (M_L = 6·4) are investigated relative to the local characteristics of surficial geology. The pipe breaks are used as an indicator of nonlinear soil response, and the red-tagged buildings as indicator of severe shaking. The surficial geology is described by several generalized categories based on age, textural character and thickness of the near surface layer. Two regions are studied: the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles-Santa Monica. The analysis shows that there is no simple correlation between damage patterns and surficial geology. Single family wood-frame buildings were damaged less when built on fine silt and clay (0–3 m thick) from the late Holocene.     

On the reoccurrence of site specific response

The period and amplitude variations of local peaks in the Fourier amplitude spectra of free-field strong ground motion recorded at five stations in San Fernando Valley of metropolitan Los Angeles, California, are described, searching for peaks that reoccur during different earthquakes. The data suggest that some local peaks reoccur (about 50% of the time), during shaking by small local earthquakes (peak ground velocities, v_max<10–20 cm/s). During large strong motion amplitudes (v_max>20 cm/s), these peaks are shifted towards longer periods (by nonlinear response of soils) or disappear. The data also suggest that densification and settlement of soil, minutes and hours following the strong shaking may contribute towards fluctuations in the effective stiffness of the shallow surface layers.     

The Northridge, California, earthquake of 1994: fire ignition by strong shaking

The Northridge earthquake contributed unprecedented detail and quality of data on strong ground motion and on its effects on man-made structures. About 110 fires have been attributed directly to the effects of this earthquake. Two hypotheses for the principal causative agents leading to fire ignition were examined: differential motion and strains in the soil, and inertial forces. The fire-ignition frequency is described with respect to: (1) simple measures of strain in the soil (via density of water pipe breaks, n), (2) occurrence of severely damaged buildings (via density of red-tagged buildings, N), (3) site intensity of shaking, (I_MM), and (4) inertial forces (via peak horizontal ground velocity, v_m). It is shown that the rate of fires (per unit area) ignited by earthquake shaking can be predicted by several empirical equations of comparable accuracy and in terms of common scaling parameters of strong ground motion.     

Observations and estimation of long-period strong ground motion in the los angeles basin

While the accurate estimation of ground-motion amplitudes across the entire frequency band of engineering interest is not possible at the present time, the excitation and propagation of long-period strong-ground motion can be understood with existing seismological methodology. In the Los Angeles Basin, the long-period strong ground motion excited by the San Fernando earthquake is dominated by the presence of surface waves, whose gross amplitude and frequency content are easily attributable to physical properties of the earthquake source and source-station propagation paths. Observed measures of the long-period strong ground motion of the Kern County earthquake relative to the San Fernando earthquake at two sites in the Los Angeles Basin which recorded both shocks can be predicted with considerable accuracy by a simple earthquake source model. This source model is extrapolated to represent the maximum credible earthquake likely to affect the Los Angeles area, taken to be a repeat of the Fort Tejon (1857) earthquake along the San Andreas fault. The measures of long-period strong ground motion in the Los Angeles Basin estimated for it agree well with the comparable measures of Earthquake A-2, intended to represent the same situation. For the purpose of aseismic design of long-period structures, Earthquake A-2 is a reasonable, if not all inclusive, estimate of the long-period strong ground motion in the Los Angeles Basin generated by a magnitude 8+ earthquake along the San Andreas fault north and east of Los Angeles.     

Peak velocities and peak surface strains during Northridge, California, earthquake of 17 January 1994

We present contours of the largest horizontal and vertical recorded peak velocities of strong ground motion during the Northridge, California, earthquake. Above the fault, the horizontal peak velocities exceeded 100 cm/s. The vertical velocities were larger than 20 cm/s. We also present contours of peak horizontal and vertical strain factors. Through most of the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Susana Mountains, the horizontal surface strain factor was larger than 10⁻³. The largest horizontal strain factor computed was for the Rinaldi Receiving Station ∼10^−2·2. The corresponding vertical strains were >10^−3·25 and 10⁻¹³, respectively. Through most of the Los Angeles Basin the horizontal peak surface strain factors were between 10^−3·75 and 10⁻³.     

Tall building performance‐based seismic design using SCEC broadband platform site‐specific ground motion simulations

The scarcity of strong ground motion records presents a challenge for making reliable performance assessments of tall buildings whose seismic design is controlled by large‐magnitude and close‐distance earthquakes. This challenge can be addressed using broadband ground‐motion simulation methods to generate records with site‐specific characteristics of large‐magnitude events. In this paper, simulated site‐specific earthquake seismograms, developed through a related project that was organized through the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Ground Motion Simulation Validation (GMSV) Technical Activity Group, are used for nonlinear response history analyses of two archetype tall buildings for sites in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. The SCEC GMSV team created the seismograms using the Broadband Platform (BBP) simulations for five site‐specific earthquake scenarios. The two buildings are evaluated using nonlinear dynamic analyses under comparable record suites selected from the simulated BBP catalog and recorded motions from the NGA‐West database. The collapse risks and structural response demands (maximum story drift ratio, peak floor acceleration, and maximum story shear) under the BBP and NGA suites are compared. In general, this study finds that use of the BBP simulations resolves concerns about estimation biases in structural response analysis which are caused by ground motion scaling, unrealistic spectral shapes, and overconservative spectral variations. While there are remaining concerns that strong coherence in some kinematic fault rupture models may lead to an overestimation of velocity pulse effects in the BBP simulations, the simulations are shown to generally yield realistic pulse‐like features of near‐fault ground motion records.     

Apparent propagation velocity of body waves

The apparent horizontal propagation velocity, that is the propagation velocity of seismic waves with respect to the ground surface, is discussed in this paper. This parameter is needed to determine the effects of earthquakes on long structures such as bridges and buried pipelines as well as the torsional rotation of foundations of multi-storey buildings. A time window intensity tensor introduced by Penzien and Kubo is used herein to determine the predominant directions of ground motion during an earthquake. Considering the reflection of waves at a free surface, an approximate relationship between the predominant direction and the angle of incidence of body waves with respect to the ground surface is presented. Knowing the material properties of the top layer and the angle of incidence, the desired propagation velocity with respect to the ground surface is readily calculated. The median value of the apparent propagation velocity of shear waves for near field sites which recorded the 1971 San Fernando earthquake was determined to be about 2-1 km/s using the above method. A similar value for the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake is 3·7 km/s. These values are consistent with the range of values for the apparent propagation velocity determined by other researchers.     

Aseismic design implications of near-fault san fernando earthquake records

Near-fault records of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake contain severe, long duration acceleration pulses which result in unusually large ground velocity increments. A review of these records along with the results of available theoretical studies of near-fault ground motions indicates that such acceleration pulses may be characteristic of near-fault sites in general. The results of an analytical study of a building severely damaged during the San Fernando earthquake indicate that such severe, long duration acceleration pulses were the cause of the main features of the observed structural damage. The implications of such pulses on current aseismic design methods, particularly those used to establish design earthquakes, are examined for buildings located near potential earthquake faults. Analytical studies of the non-linear dynamic response of single and multiple degree-of-freedom systems to several near-fault records, as well as to a more standard accelerogram, indicate that at near-fault sites: (a) very large displacement ductilities may result for current levels of code design forces; (b) smoothed elastic design response spectra should reflect the larger ground velocities that may occur; and (c) peak inelastic response cannot reliably be inferred from elastic response predictions.     

Two-dimensional earthquake vibrations in sedimentary basins – SH waves

In this paper, long- and short-period vibrations in sedimentary basins are studied. First, two-dimensional, long-period vibrations of deep semi-circular basins for excitation by earthquake faults, which can be inside or outside the basin, are analyzed. Second, recurring intermediate peak frequencies of Fourier-spectrum amplitudes of recorded accelerations along the east–west axis of the San Fernando Valley during the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake are reviewed. It is shown that these intermediate frequencies cannot be associated with vibrations of the entire San Fernando basin because the frequency range of typical strong-motion recordings (0.04 to 15.0 s) is too narrow to include the long-period vibration of the whole basin. These intermediate vibrations are consistent with Kanai׳s one-dimensional models consisting of parallel layers and excited by vertically incident shear waves.     

Spectral amplitudes of strong earthquake accelerations recorded in buildings

Fourier spectrum amplitudes of horizontal and vertical earthquake accelerations recorded at the foundation levels of 57 buildings in the Los Angeles metropolitan area have been used to study the dependence of spectral amplitudes on the building foundation sizes. Comparison of these amplitudes with those predicted by empirical models for scaling ‘free field’ Fourier amplitude spectra does not indicate any significant dependence of the spectral amplitudes on the size of the foundation. Third degree polynomials have been employed to smooth the spectra of the accelerations recorded inside the buildings and their coefficients have been examined as functions of the foundation plan dimensions. These results also indicate no significant dependence of the spectral amplitudes on the foundation dimensions. A qualitative analysis of the spectral amplitudes for possible effects caused by the phenomena associated with soil-structure interaction indicates that the Fourier spectra of the recorded accelerations may experience some amplification as the relative ‘density’ of the foundation-structure system increases.     

Earthquake response of two repaired buildings damaged in past seismic shaking

Two reinforced concrete buildings which suffered architectural and minor structural damage during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, were shaken again by the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. Their well recorded responses are analyzed employing a system identification technique. Comparison of the vibration parameters inferred from analyses of the Whittier earthquake response to the corresponding parameters inferred from dynamic response data before, during and after the San Fernando earthquake verify the adequacy of the repairs made on the structures. Also, comparison of the recorded dynamic responses with the design code requirements provides supporting evidence for the adequacy of current design practices.     

A comparative study of bridge damage due to the Wenchuan, Northridge, Loma Prieta and San Fernando earthquakes

A comparative study of selected bridge damage due to the Wenchuan, Northridge, Loma Prieta and San Fernando earthquakes is described in this paper. Typical ground motion effects considered include large ground fault displacement, liquefaction, landslide, and strong ground shaking. Issues related to falling spans, inadequate detailing for structural ductility and complex bridge configurations are discussed within the context of the recent seismic design codes of China and the US. A significant lesson learned from the Great Wenchuan earthquake, far beyond the opportunities to improve the seismic design provisions for bridges, is articulated.     

Hazard mapping of normalized peak strain in soils during earthquakes: microzonation of a metropolitan area

Seismic hazard maps of the Los Angeles metropolitan area are illustrated for normalized peak strain and for 50 years of exposure. The strain estimates are based on scaling in terms of peak ground velocity. The proportionality factor is the phase velocity with which the wave energy is propagating. A simplified seismicity model is used in which all earthquakes occur on faults represented by buried lines and in one zone of diffused seismicity. Poissonian model of earthquake occurrence is assumed. The same model was used in the 1980's to illustrate a method for microzoning of the same area for response spectral amplitudes. Maps of logarithms of normalized peak strain, cε_max, are presented for probabilities of at least one exceedance p = 0·99, 0·9, 0·5, 0·1 and 0·01. These can be used to construct site specific probability distribution functions of the normalized peak strain, cε_max. Such maps are useful for design of new and for retrofit of existing structures, sensitive to strain and differential ground motions (bridges, tunnels, pipelines, etc.).     

Horizontal ground motion in los angeles during the san fernando earthquake

Accelerograms, Fourier amplitude spectra and response spectra from ground motion recorded in the San Fernando earthquake at selected sites in Los Angeles were examined and compared. Although differences exist in the data from the bases of a group of six tall buildings close together near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie Avenue, the differences are not significant from the standpoint of design. A single design spectrum is most appropriate for this area, even though there exists a variety of foundation conditions, building properties and basement configurations for the six sites. The degree to which soil-structure interaction and the local geology affected the response could not be precisely determined from the basement accelerograms, although the data from the six Wilshire-Normandie sites offered some evidence that soil-structure interaction and local site conditions did not contribute significantly to the character of the recorded motions. There was some correlation between the degree of similarity in the response at two sites and their distance apart. Thus, it is possible that some differences in the response of the closely spaced buildings could result from different superposition of the seismic waves. The shapes of response spectra from all of the sites studied, including the spectra from seven buildings 2–3 miles distant from the buildings near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie Avenue, indicate that the character of the ground motion was probably more dependent on the source mechanism and the travel paths of the earthquake waves, rather than on more local effects.     

Duration of strong ground motion during Northridge,California, earthquake of January 17, 1994

Contours of spatial variations of the duration of strong earthquake ground motion during the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake are smooth over distances as large as tens of kilometers. Visual comparison of those contours with the depth of sediments and with vertical offsets of the basement rocks along the faults in the Los Angeles basin are in excellent qualitative agreement with the trends predicted by the previously published empirical scaling equations of strong-motion duration. It is argued that if the source-to-station distances were measured along the three-dimensional wave paths through the sedimentary wave-guides, rather than along straight lines as is common at present, the accuracy of empirical scaling equations could be improved significantly.     

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.     

地震烈度与地震动峰值的转换

本文以强震记录地面水平向平均峰值为基本数据,研究了在无条件、分别或同时考虑房屋层数和场地类别的前提下,地震烈度与地震动峰值的对应关系.并依据统计结果讨论了峰值均值随烈度的变化规律,给出了把烈度转换成地面峰速度、峰加速度或设计地震反应谱的建议方案.最后还讨论了把设计地震反应谱转换成地震烈度的方法,给出了建议的转换方案.