Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering:

Ground Motions

Steve Kramer

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Ground Motions

PSHA (or DSHA) provides For linear structural analysis,

uniform hazard spectrum response spectrum is all you
Codes generally produce design need no need for individual
spectrum ground motions

For nonlinear analyses time histories are required

Nonlinear structural analyses
Nonlinear geotechnical analyses All are becoming
more common
Nonlinear SSI analyses

Goal
Goalisistotoidentify
identify/ /create
createone
oneor
ormore
moremotions
motionsthat
thathave
have
amplitudes,
amplitudes,frequency
frequencycontents,
contents,and
anddurations
durationsthat
thatare
areconsistent
consistent
with
withthe
theground
groundshaking
shakinghazard
hazardat
atthe
thesite
siteof
ofinterest.
interest.
Ground Motions

Sources: PEER NGA Database (http://peer.berkeley.edu/nga/)

Ground Motions

Sources: PEER NGA Database (http://peer.berkeley.edu/nga/search.html)

Can
Cansearch
searchfor
forrecords
records
with
withcharacteristics
characteristics
similar
similartotothose
those
controlling
controllinghazard
hazardatatsite
site
ofofinterest
interest
Ground Motions

Sources: COSMOS Database

http://db.cosmos-eq.org/scripts/search.plx

Can
Cansearch
searchfor forrecords
records
with
withcharacteristics
characteristicssimilar
similar
to
tothose
thosecontrolling
controllinghazard
hazard
atatsite
siteofofinterest
interest
Ground Motions

Problem: Find ground motion(s) that match target spectrum

Two common approaches:

Simulation single spectrum-compatible ground motion
Scaling suite of motions with matching ensemble average

Required information: Sa

Target spectrum
Uniform hazard spectrum (UHS)
Code spectrum
To T
Fundamental period of structure
Intent of analyses for which motions are to be used
Mean or median response
Mean / median and indication of variability of response
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Alter characteristics of motion to match target spectrum

Two common approaches:
Time domain wavelets (actually, time and frequency domains)
Example: RSPMATCH (Norm Abrahamson)
Frequency domain Fourier analysis
Example: RASCAL (Walt Silva)
Both approaches start with some initial ground motion
Important that initial motion has correct duration

Spectrum-compatible
Spectrum-compatiblemotions
motionsare
areuseful
usefulfor fordetermining
determining
the
themean
meanor ormedian
medianresponse
responseof ofaasystem.
system. TheyTheydodonot
not
provide
providedirect
directinsight
insightinto
intothe
thevariability
variabilityofofthat
thatresponse.
response.
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:

Spectrum
after Initial motion
matching too strong

Initial motion
After Norm
too weak Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:

Original

Modified
After Norm
Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:

Original

Modified
After Norm
Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:

Original

Modified
After Norm
Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:

After Norm
Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Simulation

Example:
Note:
Note: In
Inareas
areaswhere
whereseismic
seismichazards
hazardscome
comefrom
from
multiple
multiplesources,
sources,different
differentparts
parts of
of UHS
UHSmaymaybe be
controlled
controlled by
bydifferent
different sources
sources single
singlemotion
motionproducing
producing
entire
entireUHS
UHSmaymaynotnotbebephysically
physicallypossible.
possible. In
Inthat
that case,
case,
use
useofofspectrum-compatible
spectrum-compatible motion
motionmaymaybebequite
quite
conservative.
conservative.

After Norm
Abrahamson
COSMOS workshop
presentation
Ground Motion Scaling

Scaling

Alternatively, we can identify and scale actual recorded motions for

(ensemble average) consistency with a target spectrum
Use deaggregation to find representative (mean / modal) values of:
Magnitude Candidate motions should be
Distance consistent with these
characteristics
Style of faulting
Select consistent motions from database (e.g. PEER NGA database)
based on seismological properties
Similar magnitude (within +/- 0.5 provides reasonable duration)
Similar distance range
Similar spectral shape (or epsilon)
Same style of faulting
Ground Motion Scaling

Scaling

Scale motions by constant factor to match target spectrum

What constitutes a match?
Match is in average sense average of suite of motions
May be defined in terms of SRSS spectra (multi-directional components)
Usually need to exceed target over significant period range
For structures, typically 0.2To 1.5To

Lower periods (higher frequencies)

covers higher mode response

Higher periods (lower frequencies)

covers damage-induced softening
Ground Motion Scaling

Scaling

Select large suite of ground motions (50 100 or so)

Use deaggregation to find representative (mean / modal) values of:
Magnitude
Distance
Style of faulting
Select consistent motions from database (e.g. PEER NGA database)
based on seismological properties
Similar magnitude (within +/- 0.5 provides reasonable duration)
Similar distance range
Similar spectral shape (or epsilon)
Significant
Same style of faulting period range
Ground Motion Scaling
Epsilon

To To

Scaled negative
Be motion is too strong
Becareful
carefullook
lookfor
for
local peaks and valleys
local peaks and valleys
inincandidate
candidatemotions
motions Scaled positive
prior to scaling
prior to scaling motion is too weak

To
Ground Motion Scaling
Epsilon

Baker (2007) took 382 representative ground motions

Computed values for each, chose 20 highest and 20 lowest
Computed spectra after scaling to same Sa(T=0.8)
Hazard Analysis and Ground Motions

Summary
Design levels of ground motion determined by seismic hazard analysis
DSHA deterministic
PSHA probabilistic
Attenuation behavior is critical
Prediction of response spectrum may be sufficient
Ground motions may be required
Synthetic motions describe mean/median level of shaking
Scaled motions
Reflect actual earthquake characteristics
Suite of motion required can account for record-to-record
variability

Results
Resultsof
ofsite
siteresponse
responseanalyses
analyseswill
willbe
besensitive
sensitivetotoground
ground
motion
motioninputs
inputsneed
needto
topay
paycareful
carefulattention
attentionto
tothis
thisissue
issue