Verification of precarious rock methodology using shake table tests of rock models

Precariously balanced rocks in seismically active regions are effectively upper-limit strong motion seismoscopes that have been in place for thousands of years. Thus, estimates of the dynamic toppling acceleration of these rocks (through rigid body rocking) can provide constraints on the peak ground accelerations experienced during past earthquakes. We have developed a methodology that uses a two-dimensional numerical code to calculate the dynamic rocking response of precarious rocks to realistic ground acceleration time histories. Statistical analyses of the dynamic response of these rocks to a range of synthetic seismograms, as well as strong motion records, can provide important information about the ground motion attenuation curves and seismic hazard maps. We use shake table tests to investigate the dynamic rocking response of 13 wooden rectangular blocks of various sizes and aspect ratios subjected to realistic seismograms and compare the results with those of numerical tests. Our results indicate good agreement between the shake table and numerical results.