Simulation of synthetic ground motions for specified earthquake and site characteristics

A method for generating a suite of synthetic ground motion time‐histories for specified earthquake and site characteristics defining a design scenario is presented. The method employs a parameterized stochastic model that is based on a modulated, filtered white‐noise process. The model parameters characterize the evolving intensity, predominant frequency, and bandwidth of the acceleration time‐history, and can be identified by matching the statistics of the model to the statistics of a target‐recorded accelerogram. Sample ‘observations’ of the parameters are obtained by fitting the model to a subset of the NGA database for far‐field strong ground motion records on firm ground. Using this sample, predictive equations are developed for the model parameters in terms of the faulting mechanism, earthquake magnitude, source‐to‐site distance, and the site shear‐wave velocity. For any specified set of these earthquake and site characteristics, sets of the model parameters are generated, which are in turn used in the stochastic model to generate the ensemble of synthetic ground motions. The resulting synthetic acceleration as well as corresponding velocity and displacement time‐histories capture the main features of real earthquake ground motions, including the intensity, duration, spectral content, and peak values. Furthermore, the statistics of their resulting elastic response spectra closely agree with both the median and the variability of response spectra of recorded ground motions, as reflected in the existing prediction equations based on the NGA database. The proposed method can be used in seismic design and analysis in conjunction with or instead of recorded ground motions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic model for simulation of near‐fault ground motions

A parameterized stochastic model of near‐fault ground motion in two orthogonal horizontal directions is developed. The major characteristics of recorded near‐fault ground motions are represented. These include near‐fault effects of directivity and fling step; temporal and spectral non‐stationarity; intensity, duration, and frequency content characteristics; directionality of components; and the natural variability of ground motions. Not all near‐fault ground motions contain a forward directivity pulse, even when the conditions for such a pulse are favorable. The proposed model accounts for both pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like cases. The model is fitted to recorded near‐fault ground motions by matching important characteristics, thus generating an ‘observed’ set of model parameters for different earthquake source and site characteristics. A method to generate and post‐process synthetic motions for specified model parameters is also presented. Synthetic ground motion time series are generated using fitted parameter values. They are compared with corresponding recorded motions to validate the proposed model and simulation procedure. The use of synthetic motions in addition to or in place of recorded motions is desirable in performance‐based earthquake engineering applications, particularly when recorded motions are scarce or when they are unavailable for a specified design scenario. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of orthogonal horizontal components of near‐fault ground motion for specified earthquake source and site characteristics

A procedure to generate horizontal pairs of synthetic near‐fault ground motion components for specified earthquake source and site characteristics is presented. Some near‐fault ground motions contain a forward directivity pulse; others do not, even when the conditions for such a pulse are favorable. The proposed procedure generates pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like motions in appropriate proportions. We use our recent stochastic models of pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like near‐fault ground motions that are formulated in terms of physically meaningful parameters. The parameters of these models are fitted to databases of recorded pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like motions. Using these empirical “observations,” predictive relations are developed for the model parameters in terms of the earthquake source and site characteristics (type of faulting, earthquake magnitude, depth to top of rupture plane, source‐to‐site distance, site characteristics, and directivity parameters). The correlation coefficients between the model parameters are also estimated. For a given earthquake scenario, the probability of occurrence of a directivity pulse is first computed; pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like motions are then simulated according to the predicted proportions using the empirical predictive models. The resulting time series are realistic and reproduce important features of recorded near‐fault ground motions, including the natural variability. Moreover, the statistics of their elastic response spectra agree with those of the NGA‐West2 dataset, with the additional feature of distinguishing between pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like cases and between forward and backward directivity scenarios. The synthetic motions can be used in addition to or in place of recorded motions in performance‐based earthquake engineering, particularly when recorded motions are scarce.     

Analysis of three-dimensional strong ground motions along principal axes,San Fernando earthquake

An orthogonal set of principal axes is defined for earthquake ground motions. These principal axes are obtained such that the corresponding variances of motion have maximum, minimum and intermediate values and the covariances equal zero. This indicates that the corresponding components of motion along the principal axes are uncorrelated with respect to each other. Since real earthquake accelerograms are assumed to be reasonably well represented by Gaussian random processes, the three components of motion along the principal axes are statistically independent of each other. Using these principal axes and applying the moving-window technique to the ground accelerograms recorded during the San Fernando earthquake of 9 February 1971, time-dependent characteristics of three-dimensional ground motions along principal axes are determined. Results of the analysis indicate significant correlation between directions of principal axes and directions from the recording stations to the fault slip zone. It is concluded that three components of ground motion can be generated stochastically with statistical independence being maintained, provided they are assumed to be directed along principal axes.     

Simulation of three-dimensional strong ground motions along principal axes,San Fernando earthquake

Power spectral density which describes frequency content is considered one of the most significant properties to be taken into account when generating ground motions through the use of stochastic processes. Using a smoothed and normalized Fourier amplitude spectrum, frequency content for components of motion along a set of principal axes is estimated. Fourier amplitude spectra obtained by this moving-window technique are presented which show the time dependency of frequency content for motions produced by the San Fernando earthquake of 9 February 1971. A mathematical model to simulate ground motion processes is proposed for which both the intensity and frequency content are non-stationary. Using this mathematical model with parameter characteristics along principal axes similar to those of the motions recorded during the San Fernando earthquake, three-dimensional ground motions are synthetically generated. The properties of the simulated motions show general characteristics similar to the characteristics observed in real accelerograms. The suggested model is considered adequate for engineering purposes.     

A stochastic ground motion model with separable temporal and spectral nonstationarities

A fully nonstationary stochastic model for strong earthquake ground motion is developed. The model employs filtering of a discretized white‐noise process. Nonstationarity is achieved by modulating the intensity and varying the filter properties in time. The formulation has the important advantage of separating the temporal and spectral nonstationary characteristics of the process, thereby allowing flexibility and ease in modeling and parameter estimation. The model is fitted to target ground motions by matching a set of statistical characteristics, including the mean‐square intensity, the cumulative mean number of zero‐level up‐crossings and a measure of the bandwidth, all expressed as functions of time. Post‐processing by a second filter assures zero residual velocity and displacement, and improves the match to response spectral ordinates for long periods. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of 3-dimensional earthquake ground motions

An orthogonal set of principal axes is defined for earthquake ground motions along which the component variances have maximum, minimum and intermediate values and the covariances equal zero. Corresponding axes are defined which yield maximum values for the covariances. The orthogonal transformations involved are identical in form to those used in the transformation of stress. Examination of real accelerograms reveals that the major principal axis points in the general direction of the epicentre and the minor principal axis is nearly vertical. It is concluded that artificially generated components of ground motion need not be correlated statistically provided they are directed along a set of principal axes.     

Damage response of multistorey r/c buildings with different structural systems subjected to seismic motion of arbitrary orientation

In the present study the combined influence of seismic orientation and a number of parameters characterizing the structural system of Reinforced Concrete (R/C) buildings on the level of expected damages are examined. For the purposes of the above investigation eight medium‐rise buildings are designed on the basis of the current seismic codes. The structural characteristics examined are the ratio of the base shear received by the structural walls, the ratio of horizontal stiffness in two orthogonal directions and the structural eccentricity. Then, the buildings are analyzed by nonlinear time response analysis using 100 bidirectional earthquake ground motions. The two horizontal accelerograms of each ground motion are applied along horizontal orthogonal axes, forming 72 different angles with the structural axes. The structural damage is expressed in terms of the Park and Ang damage index. The results of the analyses revealed that the damage level of the buildings is strongly affected by the incident angle of the ground motion. The extent at which the orientation of the seismic records influences the damage response depends on the structural system and the distance of the record to the fault rupture. As a consequence, the common practice of applying the earthquake records along the structural axes can lead to significant underestimation of structural damage. Also, it was shown that the structural eccentricity can significantly differentiate the seismic damage level, as well as the impact of the earthquake orientation on the structural damage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modification of stochastic ground motion models for matching target intensity measures

Stochastic ground motion models produce synthetic time‐histories by modulating a white noise sequence through functions that address spectral and temporal properties of the excitation. The resultant ground motions can be then used in simulation‐based seismic risk assessment applications. This is established by relating the parameters of the aforementioned functions to earthquake and site characteristics through predictive relationships. An important concern related to the use of these models is the fact that through current approaches in selecting these predictive relationships, compatibility to the seismic hazard is not guaranteed. This work offers a computationally efficient framework for the modification of stochastic ground motion models to match target intensity measures (IMs) for a specific site and structure of interest. This is set as an optimization problem with a dual objective. The first objective minimizes the discrepancy between the target IMs and the predictions established through the stochastic ground motion model for a chosen earthquake scenario. The second objective constraints the deviation from the model characteristics suggested by existing predictive relationships, guaranteeing that the resultant ground motions not only match the target IMs but are also compatible with regional trends. A framework leveraging kriging surrogate modeling is formulated for performing the resultant multi‐objective optimization, and different computational aspects related to this optimization are discussed in detail. The illustrative implementation shows that the proposed framework can provide ground motions with high compatibility to target IMs with small only deviation from existing predictive relationships and discusses approaches for selecting a final compromise between these two competing objectives.     

Stochastic procedure for the simulation of synthetic main shock‐aftershock ground motion sequences

According to the current seismic codes, structures are designed to resist the first damaging earthquake during their service life. However, after a strong main shock, a structure may still face damaging aftershocks. The main shock‐aftershock sequence may result in major damage and eventually the collapse of a structure. Current studies on seismic hazard mainly focus on the modeling and simulation of main shocks. This paper proposes a 3‐step procedure to generate main shock‐aftershock sequences of pairs of horizontal components of a ground motion at a site of interest. The first step generates ground motions for the main shock using either a source‐based or site‐based model. The second step generates sequences of aftershocks' magnitudes, locations, and times of occurrence using either a fault‐based or seismicity‐based model. The third step simulates pairs of ground motion components using a new empirical model proposed in this paper. We develop prediction equations for the controlling parameters of a ground motion model, where the predictors are the site condition and the aftershock characteristics from the second step. The coefficients in the prediction equations and the correlation between the model parameters (of the 2 horizontal components of 1 record and of several records in 1 sequence) are estimated using a database of aftershock accelerograms. A backward stepwise deletion method is used to simplify the initial candidate prediction equations and avoid overfitting the data. The procedure, based on easily identifiable engineering parameters, is a useful tool to incorporate effects of aftershocks into seismic analysis and design.     

Rotation-invariant measures of earthquake response spectra

A new procedure for combining the response spectra of two horizontal components of recorded ground motion is presented. The presented formulation accounts for different orientations of accelerometer sensors and derives the maximum and the expected (mean) horizontal response spectra at a site, both of which are invariant to rotation of sensor axes. The maximum response spectrum is derived as the peak resultant response of single degree of freedom oscillators subjected to the as-recorded ground acceleration. The expected spectrum is derived by projecting the displacement response (due to as-recorded motion) along two orthogonal axes to a principal axes in which the displacement responses are uncorrelated. This property is used to formulate an approximation for the expected response spectrum over all possible sensor orientations. A large set of accelerometric data from Europe and the Middle East is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed response spectral measures.     

Influence of time‐varying frequency content in earthquake ground motions on seismic response of linear elastic systems

Earthquake ground motion records are nonstationary in both amplitude and frequency content. However, the latter nonstationarity is typically neglected mainly for the sake of mathematical simplicity. To study the stochastic effects of the time‐varying frequency content of earthquake ground motions on the seismic response of structural systems, a pair of closely related stochastic ground motion models is adopted here. The first model (referred to as ground motion model I) corresponds to a fully nonstationary stochastic earthquake ground motion model previously developed by the authors. The second model (referred to as ground motion model II) is nonstationary in amplitude only and is derived from the first model. Ground motion models I and II have the same mean‐square function and global frequency content but different features of time variation in the frequency content, in that no time variation of the frequency content exists in ground motion model II. New explicit closed‐form solutions are derived for the response of linear elastic SDOF and MDOF systems subjected to stochastic ground motion model II. New analytical solutions for the evolutionary cross‐correlation and cross‐PSD functions between the ground motion input and the structural response are also derived for linear systems subjected to ground motion model I. Comparative analytical results are presented to quantify the effects of the time‐varying frequency content of earthquake ground motions on the structural response of linear elastic systems. It is found that the time‐varying frequency content in the seismic input can have significant effects on the stochastic properties of system response. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlations of three-component ground motions from the 23 June 2010 Val-des-Bois, Québec, earthquake

In this paper, we investigate the characteristics of three-component ground motions recorded during the $M_\text{w}\,5.2$ Val-des-Bois (Québec) earthquake, which occurred on the 23 June 2010. The earthquake is the largest recorded event in eastern Canada within the last decade. The records analyzed were provided by a strong motion monitoring network, comprising accelerometers located at sites with different soil conditions. The two orthogonal horizontal components and one vertical component at each recording station are uncorrelated to determine their principal directions, and the results obtained are used to characterize intensity ratios between the three uncorrelated components. A new hodograph representation is proposed to highlight the correlation between accelerations and displacement trajectories along various time increments at each recording station. The principal components are discussed in light of seismographic data, local site conditions, and trajectories. Time–frequency analyses of the uncorrelated records are also conducted to compare the distribution of spectral amplitudes and frequency content along the three principal components during the shaking. The results of this work shed more light on the characteristics of three-component ground motions from an important Eastern North America earthquake, and could be used to calibrate simulated multicomponent ground motions in this region.     

The effects of torsion and motion coupling in site response estimation

Soil amplification characteristics are investigated using data from the Chibaken‐Toho‐Oki earthquake and its aftershocks recorded at Chiba dense array in Japan. The frequency‐dependent amplification function of soil is calculated using uphole‐to‐downhole spectral ratio analysis, considering the horizontal components of shear wave. The identified spectral ratios consistently demonstrate the splitting of peaks in their resonance frequencies and low amplification values in comparison with a 1D model. The torsional behaviour and horizontal ground motion coupling are clarified as the reasons for these phenomena at the site. To prove the hypothesis, the torsional motion is directly evaluated using the data of the horizontal dense array in different depths at the site. The comparison between Fourier spectra of torsional motion and identified transfer functions reveals the peaks at the same frequencies. The wave equation including torsion and horizontal motion coupling is introduced and solved for the layered media by applying wave propagation theory. Using the developed model, the effects of torsional motion with horizontal motion coupling on soil transfer function are numerically examined. Splitting and low amplification at resonance frequencies are confirmed by the results of numerical analysis. Furthermore, the ground motion in two horizontal directions at the site is simulated using site geotechnical specification and optimizing the model parameters. The simulated and recorded motions demonstrate good agreement that is used to validate the hypothesis. In addition, the spectral density of torsional ground motions are compared with the calculated one and found to be well predicted by the model. Finally, the results are used to explain the overestimation of damping in back‐calculation of dynamic soil properties using vertical array data in small strain level. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orientation effect on ground motion measurement for Mexican subduction earthquakes

The existence of the principal directions of the ground motion based on Arias intensity is well-known. These principal directions do not necessarily coincide with the orientations of recording sensors or with the orientations along which the ground motion parameters such as the peak ground acceleration and the pseudo-spectral acceleration (PSA) are maximum. This is evidenced by the fact that the maximum PSA at different natural vibration periods for horizontal excitations do not correspond to the same orientation. A recent analysis carried out for California earthquake records suggests that an orientation-dependent ground motion measurement for horizontal excitations can be developed. The main objective of this study is to investigate and provide seismic ground motion measurements in the horizontal plane, including bidirectional horizontal ground motions, for Mexican interplate and inslab earthquake records. Extensive statistical analyses of PSA are conducted for the assessment, The analysis results suggest that similar to the case of California records, the average behavior of the ratio of the PSA to the maximum resulting PSA can be approximated by a quarter of an ellipse in one quadrant; and that the ratio can be considered to be independent of the value of the maximum resulting PSA, earthquake magnitude, earthquake distance and the focal depth. Sets of response ratios and attenuation relationships that can be used to represent a bidirectional horizontal ground motion measurement for Mexican interplate and inslab earthquakes were also developed.     

地震地面运动模型的研究

地震地面运动被模拟成均值为零的两次过滤Ｇａｕｓｓ白噪声随机过程。第一次过滤削减白噪声的高频含量;第二次过滤削减白噪声的低频含量。根据地震记录的功率谱,使用非线性函数的最小二乘法,确定了两次过滤Ｇａｕｓｓ白噪声随机过程的功率谱密度函数的参数。     

Analysis of structural fuzzy random seismic response

Ａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｏｆｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒａｌｆｕｚｚｙｒａｎｄｏｍｓｅｉｓｍｉｃｒｅｓｐｏｎｓｅ张跃，王光远ＹｕｅＺＨＡＮＧａｎｄＧｕａｎｇ－ＹｕａｎＷＡＮＧ１）（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＣｉｖｉｌＥｎｇｉｎｅｅｒｉｎｇＴｓｉｎｇｈｕａＵｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔ...     

Seismic response of a cable‐stayed bridge deck under multi‐component non‐stationary random ground motion

A Markov method of analysis is presented for obtaining the seismic response of cable‐stayed bridges to non‐stationary random ground motion. A uniformly modulated non‐stationary model of the random ground motion is assumed which is specified by the evolutionary r.m.s. ground acceleration. Both vertical and horizontal components of the motion are considered to act simultaneously at the bridge supports. The analysis duly takes into account the angle of incidence of the earthquake, the spatial correlation of ground motion and the quasi‐static excitation. A cable‐stayed bridge is analysed under a set of parametric variations in order to study the non‐stationary response of the bridge. The results of the numerical study indicate that (i) frequency domain spectral analysis with peak r.m.s. acceleration as input could provide more r.m.s. response than the peak r.m.s. response obtained by the non‐stationary analysis; (ii) the longitudinal component of the ground motion significantly influences the vertical vibration of the bridge; and (iii) the angle of incidence of the earthquake has considerable influence on the deck response. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.