Chapter 4 – ST104

Chapter 4

SIMULATED GROUND MOTION DUE TO AN EARTHQUAKE

S.N. Bhattacharya,
Department of Geology & Geophysics,
IIT, Kharagpur.

1. INTRODUCTION

Earthquakes continue to be a hazard to man and structure. Earthquake engineers need from
seismologists realistic strong ground motion for structural analysis and designing earthquake
resistant structure. Main difficulty is the rare availability of recorded ground motion under
conditions similar to design earthquake in terms of tectonic structure, earthquake size, local
geology and near fault conditions for the required area.

There are several approaches for modeling and simulation of strong ground motion. Each
approach accommodates to varying degree the following: (1) the seismic wave radiation from a
fault rupture, (2) propagation through the crust and (3) modifications by local site conditions.
There are mainly three methods for such simulation which we shall discuss here.

2. DETERMINISTIC METHOD

A number of different approaches have been used for deterministic methods which is based purely
on the equation of motion of elastic wave. The approaches include the wave number integration,
modal summation. Essentially, in all these deterministic methods synthetic Green’s functions are
generated; Green’s functions characterize the ground motion at a given location for a given
source. The ground motion for a design earthquake is obtained by weighted sum of the Green's
functions.

For a shear dislocation point source we obtain Green’s functions uIJK(∆,t) ( where I =Z, R or T
components; JK = DD, DS or SS which are reference source mechanisms) is obtained
theoretically for a particular dislocation and for particular receiver azimuth from strike directions;
the source is represented by a stress-displacement discontinuity and uIJK(∆,t) takes care of the
source time function. The vertical (Z), radial (R ) and transverse (T) ground acceleration (figure 1)
at an epicentral distance ∆ due to a point source shear dislocation at a depth h is given by
uZ(∆,t,h) = M0 [ a uZDD(∆,t,h) + b uZDS(∆,t,h) +c uZSS(∆,t,h) ]
uR(∆,t,h) = M0 [ a uRDD(∆,t,h) + b uRDS(∆,t,h) + c uRSS(∆,t,h) ]
uT(∆,t,h) = M0 [ a′ uTDS(∆,t,h) + b′ uTSS(∆,t,h) ] (1)
where M0 is the seismic moment and the coefficients are
a = sin λ sin 2δ
b = - cos λ cos δ cos φ + sin λ cos 2δ sin φ
c = 0.5 sin λ sin 2δ cos 2φ + cos λ sin δ sin 2φ (2)
and
a′ = sin λ cos 2δ cos φ + cos λ cos δ sin φ
b′ = cos λ sin δ cos 2φ - 0.5 sin λ sin 2δ sin 2φ (3)
where λ, δ, φ are slip angle, dip and azimuth of the site from the strike direction of the design
earthquake.
For finite rupture area of design earthquake, the area is divided into n cells and ground
acceleration is given by
n
uK(∆0,t,h) = ∑ M u (∆ i , t − t , h ) (4)
i K ri i
i =1
where for the ith cell ∆i is the epicentral distance, hi is the focal depth, Mi is seismic moment so
that Σ Mi = M0 , the seismic moment of the design earthquake, ∆0 is the epicentral distance of
design earthquake, tri is the time taken for rupture to propagate from hypocentre to the cell and K
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Chapter 4 – ST104
can be either Z, R or T. However, for the total rupture time τd of design earthquake, the corner
frequency is f0 = 2/τd ; as such to get proper low frequency spectral ratio the Fourier transform of
(4) is to be multiplied with
S(f) = [1 + (f/f0cell)2 ] / [1 + (f/f0)2 ] (5)

and again brought to time domain by inverse Fourier transformation. The Fourier transform s(t) of
S(f) is known as a relative slip velocity function. Thus the time history of the finite earthquake with
finite rupture area is given by
UK(∆0,t,h) = uK(∆0,t,h) * s(t) (6)

Up N
W

Epc. θ Strike dir.

φ
V
Receiver
R
T

δ D A Fault
λ plane

Figure 1. Geometry of a fault. A: area affected on the fault plane, D: slip of the rock above the
fault plane in the direction shown. The synthetic seismograms are generated in the
vertical (V), radial (R ) and transverse (T) directions as shown.

3. EMPIRICAL GREEN’S FUNCTION

Although earth models and computational techniques have become quite sophisticated, there are
many instances where our ability to compute accurate theoretical Green’s functions is inadequate
particularly due to lateral complexity of the medium. Empirical Green’s function (EGF) method
uses records of microearthquakes as Green’s function of point dislocation. It is assumed that the
focal mechanism and wave path of the design earthquake and the microearthquake are nearly
identical.

To simplify our idea let us consider the method with a single micro-earthquake record. Figure 2
shows the basic procedure to simulate large earthquake with finite rupture area. The large
earthquake fault plane is divided into cells or subevents of same moment of microearthquake.
Each cell produces the seismogram of the micro-earthquake with time delay corresponding to
propagating rupture delay in each cell from the hypocentre where rupture begins. Summing up the
delayed EGFs will produce the time series as shown in figure 2c. The next step is to convolve
‘EGF sum’ with relative slip velocity function (figure 2d) that boosts low-frequency without altering
the high frequency spectral content. This results in the simulated large earthquake seismogram
(Figure 2e). Thus we shall proceed as follows:

STEP1. Choose the length and breadth of the large earthquake for which the ground motion is to
be simulated. Let M0 be the moment of large event and m0 be the moment of the micro-
earthquake. The large earthquake fault area Amain is divided into small square each of side of side

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Chapter 4 – ST104
h. We shall obtain h such that each cell is has seismic moment m0 by considering the stress drop
is same for both large and microearthquakes. We know
Stress drop of micro-earthquake = B m0 / (Amicro )3/2 = B m0 / (h2)3/2
Stress drop of large earthquake = B M0 / (Alarge)3/2
The equality of these two stress drops gives
h2 = (m0 / M0 )2/3 Alarge (7)
The number of cells N = Alarge / h2

STEP 2. We obtain acceleration at a distance R as

∑
N

U (R,t) = (R0 /Ri) g(t - ∆tsi – tri) (8)

i =1

where g(t) is the recorded accelerogram (EGF) at the receiver from microearthquake. For each
cell i, this accelerogram is delayed by

∆tsi = S-wave arrival time to the site from the ith cell -
S-wave arrival time to the receiver from the microearthquake,
i.e. it requires additional time ∆tsi to reach the site from the ith cell. In (8) tri is the time taken for
rupture to propagate from hypocenter (of large earthquake) to the cell.
tri = (distance between centre of the cell and hypocentre) / (rupture velocity).
At hypocentre tri = 0. A random Gaussian noise may be added to tri to give a real picture. In
equation (8), the waveform of the microearthquake is corrected for geometrical spreading based
on the ratio of the distance Ri between cell & site and R0 between microearthquake and receiver.

Figure 2. Procedure to simulate

mainshock from records of aftershocks.
(a) Fault model of mainshock showing
subfaults (cells). Shaded areas are
asperities and the star is the hypocenter.
(b) empirical Green function (EGF)
(record of a small aftershock). (c) Sums
of delayed Green’s functions. (d)
Relative slip velocity function. (e)
Simulated mainshock accelerogram
resulting from convolution of EGF sum
and relative slip velocity function.

STEP3. It is known that the acceleration amplitude spectra is flat after the corner frequency.
Thus summation in (8) simply rises the amplitude level but does not change the shape of EGF
spectrum (figure 3). However, high frequency spectral level of EGF sum equals that of the large
earthquake. To make corner frequency f0large we need to multiply the spectra of (8) by

S(f) = C [1 + (f/f0micro)2 ] / [1 + (f/f0large)2 ] (9)

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Chapter 4 – ST104
where f0micro is corner frequency of EGF and C is chosen so that the total moment of the summed
subevents is equal to the moment of the large earthquake i.e.
C = M0large/ ΣMomicro
Further for S(f) → 1 as f →∞ we need
f0large = f0micro /√C
Let s(t) be Fourier transformation of S(f). The S(f) and s(t) are shown in figure 4. The time
history of the finite earthquake with finite rupture area is given by
U(R,t) = u(R,t) * s(t)
where * denotes convolution.

4. STOCHASTIC METHOD

In stochastic method, the Fourier Amplitude Spectrum (FAS) of the horizontal component of
ground acceleration is described as
Ah(f,R) = Src(f) Attn(f,R) Amp(f) (10)
where
Src(f) describes earthquake source
Attn(f,R) describes the attenuation
Amp(f) describes response of medium beneath the site.
For vertical component, FAS normally follow empirical formula as
Av(f.r) = A(f,r)/(100.0519 f0.117 ) (11)

Inverse Fourier transformation of Ah(f,R) in (10) gives the time history of the horizontal component
of ground acceleration. Similarly vertical component may be obtained from Av(f.r) in (11).

4.1 Source Spectrum Src(f)

Based on far field ground response due a double couple we can write the acceleration
source spectrum, arbitrarily at reference distance 1 km, as
Src(f) = (2πf)2 M0 S(f) (Rβ V Fc) / (4 π ρβ3) (12)

where the average shear-wave radiation pattern Rβ = 0.55; V = 1/√2 = 0.707 is the partition of
radiation energy into two orthogonal horizontal components, the amplification Fc due to the free
surface (Fc = 2 for SH wave) , ρ is density, β is shear wave velocity, M0 is seismic moment and
S(f) is the source displacement spectrum (or simply the source spectrum); the simplest
representation of the source spectrum is the one-corner, point source model:
S(f) = 1/ [1 + (f/f0)2 ]

where f0 is the corner frequency (the inflection point in the source spectrum). In a study it is noted
2.609 – 0.5 MW , for Midcontinent region
log f0 =
2.446 – 0.5 MW , for Gulf coast region

assuming focal depth =10 km, stress drop = 120 bar and β = 3.76 km/s for Midcontinent and β =
2.58 km/s for Gulf coast. Thus for MW = 5, f0 = 1.1 Hz in Midcontinent.

Some workers argue on theoretical grounds that if finite rupture plane is considered, the source
spectrum have two corner frequencies as
S(f) = (1 – w)/ [1 + (f/fa)2 ] + w/ [1 + (f/fb)2 ]

where

2.41 – 0.533 MW for MW ≥ 4.0

log fa =
2.678 – 0.5 MW for MW < 4.0

1.43 – 0.188 MW for MW ≥ 4.0

log fb =
2.678 – 0.5 MW for MW < 4.0

2.52 – 0.637 MW for MW ≥ 4.0

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Chapter 4 – ST104
log w =
0 for MW < 4.0

4.2 Crustal Attenuation

We may consider Attn(f,R) = G(R ) D(f) (13)

where G(R ) is geometrical attenuation and D(f) is diminution of ground motion with distance due
to crustal damping.
Geometrical attenuation is modeled as R-p , where R = rhypo or rrup and p varies according
to the dominant wave type (e.g. body wave p = 1, surface wave p = ½) and whether arrivals of
critical reflections at Moho or other strong crustal reflectors are included. Spherical spreading from
point source corresponds to p = 1. Thus the geometrical attenuation is given by
1/R for R < 70 km
G(R ) = 1/70 for 70 ≤ R < 130km
(1/70)√(130/R) for R ≥ 130 km

Crustal damping is modeled by

D(f) = exp [(-π f R) / (Q(f) β)]
where Q(f), the quality factor, is measure of anelastic attenuation and scattering within the crust.
We consider
Q(f) = Q0 f - η
where Q0 and η vary according to the tectonic environment.

4.3 Site Response

Site response, often called amplification, is calculated from

Amp(f) = √[(ρ β)/ (ρs(f) βs(f))] exp(-π κ0 f / 2)
where ρ and β are the density and the shear wave velocity of the crust beneath the site. The
effective velocity βs(f), effective density ρs(f) and site damping factor κ0 are expressed as

n1 n1 n1 n1 n2
β S ( f ) = ∑ di / ∑ (di / v si ) , ρ S ( f ) = ∑ ρ i di / ∑ di , κ 0 = ∑ [di /( v Si Q Si )
i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1

where n1 is the number of distinct velocity layers corresponding to a quarter wave length
n1
∑ (di / v si ) = T / 4 = 1 /( 4f )
i=1
and n2 is the number of layers above the crust (above basement). Estimate of κ0 can also be
obtained from recordings.

Further reading
Campbell K.W. (2003) Engineering models of Strong ground motion. In Earthquake Engineering
Handbook. Ed Chen W.F. and Scawthorn, CRC Press, London.

Erdik, M. and Durukal E. (2003) Simulation modeling of Strong Ground motion. In Earth-quake
Engineering Handbook. Ed Chen W.F. and Scawthorn, CRC Press, London.

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