| Abstract: | Ground motions affected by directivity focusing at near-field stations contain distinct pulses in acceleration, velocity, and displacement histories. For the same Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) and duration of shaking, ground motions with directivity pulses can generate much higher base shears, inter-storey drifts, and roof displacements in high-rise buildings as compared to the 1940 El Centro ground motion which does not contain these pulses. Also, the ductility demand can be much higher and the effectiveness of supplemental damping lower for pulse-like ground motions. This paper presents a simple interpretation of the response characteristics of three recorded and one synthetic near-field ground motions. It is seen that for pulse-like ground motions—similar to any other ground motion—the Peak values of Ground Acceleration, Velocity, and Displacement (PGA, PGV and PGD) are the key response parameters. Near-field ground motions with directivity effects tend to have high PGV/PGA ratio, which dramatically influences their response characteristics. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
