Effects of aftershocks on peak ductility demand due to strong ground motion records from shallow crustal earthquakes

Aftershocks induced by a large mainshock can cause additional damage to structures and infrastructure, hampering building reoccupation and restoration activities in a post‐disaster situation. To assess the nonlinear damage potential due to aftershocks, this study investigates the effects of aftershocks by using real as well as artificially generated mainshock–aftershock sequences. The real mainshock–aftershock sequences are constructed from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center—Next Generation Attenuation database for worldwide shallow crustal earthquakes; however, they are deemed to be incomplete because of missing records. To supplement incomplete real dataset, artificial sequences are generated on the basis of the generalized Omori's law, and a suitable aftershock record selection procedure is then devised to simulate time‐series data for mainshock–aftershock sequences. The results from nonlinear dynamic analysis of inelastic single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems using real and artificial sequences indicate that the incremental effects of aftershocks on peak ductility demand using the real sequences are relatively minor and that peak ductility demand estimates based on the generalized Omori's law are greater, particularly in the upper tail, than those for the real sequences. The results based on the generalized Omori's law also suggest that the aftershock effects based on the real sequences might underestimate the aftershock impact because of the incompleteness of the real dataset. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.