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ARTQUAKE, a new software for generation of artificial timehistories

Article · January 2014

DOI: 10.4231/D3QV3C44P

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 Tenth U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering
Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering
July 21-25, 2014
10NCEE Anchorage, Alaska

ARTQUAKE, A NEW SOFTWARE FOR

GENERATION OF ARTIFICIAL TIME-
HISTORIES

Sergio Hampshire C. Santos1, Silvio Souza Lima1 and Rodrigo M. R.

Rodrigues 2

ABSTRACT

For the seismic design of some important structures, such as reactors in Nuclear Power Plants, it
is often required by the regulatory bodies the generation of artificial time-histories compatible
with a given design response spectrum that shall however retain the characteristics of actual
seismic records. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for the generation of such
time-histories, circumventing some problems that frequently occur when using procedures that
are more usual. The following steps are followed: a) generation of the time-history following the
traditional Levy-Wilkinson procedure, in which the time-histories are defined as a superposition
of harmonic components distributed in a typical range of frequencies. It has found that linearly
increasing distances between the considered frequencies produce better results than the non-
uniformly distributed values set proposed by USNRC. The initial values of the frequency
components are taken as a function of a power spectrum density function compatible with the
given response spectrum; b) adjusting of velocity and displacement values to zero in the
beginning and end of the time-history, using a forth degree polynomial function for the
displacements with coefficients adjusted by a least squares numerical process; c) since after this
process accelerations values are not equal to zero at the beginning and at the end of the time-
history, they are manually adjusted in the vicinity of these points; d) after this, a conventional
baseline correction is applied, using a fifth degree polynomial function for the displacements.
With this procedure, the necessary adjustment of step d) is drastically reduced and the distortion
caused by the high frequency components is practically annulated. The proposed methodology is
automatized in a program called ARTQUAKE. Examples of generated time-histories are
presented, for illustrating the application of the considered procedures.

1
Associate Professor, D. Sc., Department of Structures, Polytechnic School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
(UFRJ) Centro de Tecnologia, Sala D205, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 21945-970
2
Civil Engineer, PCE - Projetos e Consultorias de Engenharia, Av. Pres. Wilson, 165 - Centro, Rio de Janeiro,
20030-021

Santos SHC, LimaSS, Rodrigues RMR. ARTQUAKE, a new software for generation of artificial time-histories.
Proceedings of the 10th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research
Institute, Anchorage, AK, 2014.
 ARTQUAKE, A New Software For Generation Of Artificial Time-
Histories

Sergio Hampshire C. Santos1, Silvio de Souza Lima1 and Rodrigo M. R. Rodrigues2

ABSTRACT

For the seismic design of some important structures, such as reactors in Nuclear Power Plants, it is
often required by the regulatory bodies the generation of artificial time-histories compatible with a
given design response spectrum that shall however retain the characteristics of actual seismic
records. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for the generation of such time-
histories, circumventing some problems that frequently occur when using procedures that are more
usual. The following steps are followed: a) generation of the time-history following the traditional
Levy-Wilkinson procedure, in which the time-histories are defined as a superposition of harmonic
components distributed in a typical range of frequencies. It is found that linearly increasing
distances between the considered frequencies produce better results than the non-uniformly
distributed values set proposed by USNRC. The initial values of the frequency components are
taken as a function of a power spectrum density function compatible with the given response
spectrum; b) adjusting of velocity and displacement values to zero in the beginning and end of the
time-history, using a forth degree polynomial function for the displacements with coefficients
adjusted by a least squares numerical process; c) since after this process accelerations values are
not equal to zero at the beginning and at the end of the time-history, they are manually adjusted in
the vicinity of these points; d) after this, a conventional baseline correction is applied, using a fifth
degree polynomial function for the displacements. With this procedure, the necessary adjustment
of step d) is drastically reduced and the distortion caused by the high frequency components is
practically annulated. The proposed methodology is automatized in a program called
ARTQUAKE. Examples of generated time-histories are presented, for illustrating the application
of the considered procedures.

Introduction

From the basic concept that any periodic function (and hence any stationary process) can be
expanded in a harmonic series, LEVY and WILKINSON (1976) [1] proposed a method for
generation of artificial seismic accelerograms through the superposition of several harmonic
components within a specific frequency range as follows:

̈ ( ) ( )∑ ( ) (1)

1
Associate Professor, D. Sc., Dept. of Structures, Polytechnic School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Centro de Tecnologia, Sala D205, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 21945-970
2
Civil Engineer, PCE - Projetos e Consultorias de Engenharia, Av. Pres. Wilson, 165 - Centro, Rio de Janeiro,
20030-021

Santos SHC, Lima SS, Rodrigues RMR. ARTQUAKE, a new software for generation of artificial time-histories.
Proceedings of the 10th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research
Institute, Anchorage, AK, 2014.
 Where:
̈ ( ) is the soil acceleration history for the generated seism, as a time function;
( ) is an envelope function, that assures the non-stationary character;
are the harmonic terms considered;
are the amplitude of each term, to be determined iteratively;
are the circular frequency of each term;
are the phase angles, randomly generated.

Amplitude values for all the harmonics are adjusted through an interactive process until a
series is obtained whose response spectrum in accelerations sufficiently matches the design
response spectrum, based on some criteria to be defined. Randomly generated phase angles
between and assures the aleatory character of the process. This stationary process itself
shall contain most of the required properties for a simulated accelerogram. So, the main purpose
of the envelope function is to define how the maximum intensity of the accelerations will vary
along time. Thus, the decision of which shape shall be adopted for the envelope function is to be
done by the engineer.

Frequency Discretization

In order to achieve an accurate representation of the seismic movements, both time and
frequency domains shall be carefully discretized, and the latter one must produce reasonable
results also in terms of structural periods. Frequencies of generated harmonic components must
be limited in their extreme values in order to reproduce the characteristics of real seismic events.
A stronger participation of high frequency components in the accelerogram may increase the
number of cycles and affect non-linear analysis. On the other hand, excessive low frequency
components are the main cause of undesired deviations in the velocity and displacement time-
histories.

Because of this, the USNRC [2] establishes a pre-defined set of frequency values, non-
uniformly distributed, to be used in the time-history generations. The inconvenience of using this
frequency set is that it defines frequency increments in an invariant way, resulting that the total
number of points increases only with the raise of the upper bound frequency. For instance,
limiting the upper value at would result into only 75 frequency values for the construction
of the response spectra. As this range is also used for defining the harmonic components in the
generation process, a greater number of points shall be defined for obtaining better results.

As an alternative approach for overcoming this issue, it is suggested herein an equation

that defines the frequency increments as a function of the frequency itself, in a non-uniform
pattern that depends only on the desired upper and lower bound values. Consider a linear
function described by Eq. 2 and 3. For an interval , any pair of and values could
be a valid solution for the expanded expression Eq. 4. The simplest case is that in which ,
and therefore being obtained by Eq. 5.

(2)

() ( ) (3)
Where:
is the index of the frequency point inside a range;
is the frequency value of the set;
is the frequency increment;
are the components of orders 0 and 1 in the linear function.

[ ( ) ] ( )( ) (4)

( )
(5)
( )( )

Arbitrating a frequency range , which is supposed to be divided in steps by the

proposed method in the interval , the increment function will be given by the Eq. 6. That
is, from the choice of the bound frequencies, all the intermediate values can be obtained in a non-
uniform distribution, for any number or any density of points. Figs. 1 and 2 compare results
obtained from this formulation (a), the set of values stated by USNRC (b), and also a uniformly
spaced set (c), for the same number of points.

(6)
( )

(7)

Figure 1. Comparison of the density of points in terms of frequencies.

Figure 2. Comparison of the density of points in terms of periods of vibration.

Initial frequency filter

Once that the final values for the harmonic amplitudes will be obtained in an interactive process,
their initial values shall be estimated as close as possible to last values. Therefore, they can be
got through the application of a filter of frequencies over a randomly generated white noise. This
filter could be a Power Spectral Density (PSD) defined for a specific region, taking into account
damping and soil properties according to the local conditions. Some traditional formulas, as the
ones cited by NIU et al. (2008) [3] propose a direct correlation between design response spectra
and PSD. From that, the initial amplitude values can be estimated by the equation:

√ ( ) (8)

Where:
is the initial amplitude of the term of the harmonic series;
( ) is the accelerations response spectrum of a stationary Gaussian process;
is the bandwidth of the frequency , in ⁄ , obtained by:

(9)

The PSD can be evaluated from the design spectrum to be reached with the expression:

( ) [ ( )]
(10)
[ [ ]]

Where:
( ) is the design spectrum of pseudo-accelerations for ;
is the assumed probability of exceedance (up to 15%).

Adjustment criteria

The original methodology of LEVY and WILKINSON consists in determining the values of the
coefficients in each iteration step by the product of its previous value times the ratio between
the desired spectrum value and the obtained response spectrum in the previous step, for each
harmonic frequency:

( )
(11)
( )

Where:
is the amplitude of the harmonic term, at iteration ;
( ) is the spectral pseudo-acceleration for the circular frequency ,
obtained from the dynamic response for the seismic signal on the
iteration .

USNRC establishes that values of accelerogram response spectrum can fall below the
design response spectrum in at most 5 points over the whole domain, provided that its suggested
frequencies set is employed. Similarly, the CSA N289.3 [4] allows up to 6% of the total of points
to fall below, which is compatible with the formulation of discretization proposed by USNRC. In
both cases the difference between expected and obtained values shall no exceed 10%.
 Baseline Correction

Time-histories simulated by the methodology presented previously usually yield reasonable

results. Nevertheless, histories of displacements and velocities obtained by integration of the
accelerogram may show considerable deviation in relation to the expected values, and the main
cause of this effect is the presence of long period components in the accelerograms contents.

Correction by Addition of Polynomials

The simplest solution for this problem consists in adding a polynomial to the acceleration time-
histories that makes their first and second integration meet the bound conditions of velocity and
displacement. A function of third degree for the correction of accelerations is sufficient to meet
those conditions, corresponding to an adjustment of fifth degree in displacements.

Figure 3. Correction of an accelerogram by polynomial addition.

The problem with this formulation is that the order of magnitude of the correction
function increases proportionally to the accelerogram duration. Therefore, for displacement time-
histories with great deviations, that magnitude can be of the same order or even many times
higher than the values of movement itself. Due to this, although the corrected time-history meets
the mandatory bound conditions, it may present unsuitable values of displacements, much greater
than the expected ones, over the earthquake duration. Fig. 3 shows a time-history adjusted by this
method and a soil displacement of over than can be observed after correction.

Correction by Least Squares with Non-Zero Baseline

The alternative solution proposed by NIU (2008) employs the least squares method in order to
simulate an average value of accelerations, resulting in a corrected accelerogram whose baseline
is non-null, i.e., it has acceleration values for initial and final instants of the earthquake that are
very small, but not zero. A polynomial of second degree is used for the adjustment of
accelerations (forth degree in displacements) because it is simple and it distributes the
displacements uniformly in both sides of the average baseline. Consider Eq. 13:

̅( ) (13)

In fact, defining the expression ̅ ( ) is equivalent to finding the minimum values of

( ) in ( ), in terms of differential calculus of multivariate functions. A
solution of this problem is satisfied by:

∑[ ̈ ( )]

∑ [ ̈ ( )] (14)

∑ [ ̈ ( )]
{

Eq. 14 may be rewritten as:

∑ ( )
, since (15)
∑ ̈ ( ) ( )
{

This method is highly efficient in eliminating baseline deviation from the displacements
time-history, which thereafter presents values that spread coherently around the time abscissa.
Likewise is the correct time-history of velocities. Fig. 4 illustrates the correction of the same
accelerogram shown before. Although it is not noticeable, acceleration values at initial and final
instants are not actually zero. In fact, zero values occur after the summation of the accelerogram
to the adjusting function described in Fig. 4(b), but the new register of accelerations is almost
undistinguishable from the original. Despite of this slight setback, both time-histories of
velocities and displacements are quite satisfactory after correction. Differently from the result of
polynomial addition shown before, the average value of this process is closer to zero, and the
maximum absolute value of displacement is near to , see Fig. 4(d).

Correction by Composition of Solutions

The solution presented in this paper is a composition of both described methods, so as to

circumvent the drawbacks and enhance the benefits of them. So, the first step is the use of the
least squares method. As the leading and trailing accelerations values will not be equal to zero
after that, in the second step a manual adjustment in the vicinity of those points is done, forcing
them to reach zero. Since the acceleration shifts at beginning and end of the earthquake are small
in comparison with acceleration values itself, this modification cannot produce noticeable change
in the general aspect of accelerogram, as explained by JENNINGS and HOUSNER (1968) [5].

Figure 4. Correction of an accelerogram by least squares with non-zero baseline.

Judging by carried out tests, it was found that adjusting and adding linear functions in an
interval that comprehend 3% of total number of points at each extreme of the accelerogram is
satisfactory. Those interventions can be done so subtly that its interference is small in the time-
histories of velocities and displacements, which have been previously adjusted by least squares.

After this step, an artificial register of accelerations is obtained, almost identical to the
originally generated, in which initial and final values are equal to zero, but with slight baseline
shifts in velocities and displacement time-histories, much smaller than those got before the least
squares correction. Finally, the third step is the correction of the velocities and displacements by
the addition of a third degree polynomial to the acceleration time-history. The problem reported
before is not relevant anymore, since the deviation to be compensated is much smaller now. Note
the aspect of the acceleration adjustment function in Fig. 5 (b), with linear trims at the extremes.

Figure 5. Correction of an accelerogram by composition of solutions.

Example of Application

Results of the generation of an artificial time-history are shown, calculated through a program
written for this task, named ARTQUAKE. This artificial time history intends to represent a
strong earthquake, of magnitude around 7 and duration of . The design spectrum is
calculated using the definitions of Eurocode 8 [6], for a Class C terrain, damping ratio
and design base acceleration . A total of 400 frequency values were used, non-
uniformly distributed between and . In time domain, 8000 points were created.
Figure 6. Time-histories of acceleration, velocity and displacement for an artificial earthquake.

Figure 7. Response spectra of pseudo-acceleration, pseudo-velocity and displacement.

 The program took for generating the time-history, adjusting it to the design
spectrum in 16 iterations and writing back the results into a text file. The baseline correction
method produced the expected outcome, and all the bound conditions were fulfilled. The
maximum absolute values in the histories were ̈ , ̇ ⁄ and
. Figs. 6 and 7 show plotted time-histories and a comparison of the obtained
and expected design spectra.

Only 12 points of the acceleration response spectrum fell below the reference spectrum
( of the points of interest) ranging from % to of the expected values. Fig. 8 shows
a comparison between harmonic amplitudes, the PSD of the generated accelerogram and the PSD
estimated by Eq. 10, showing the convenience of using it as the amplitude estimation parameter.

Figure 8. Comparison between estimated PSD, calculated PSD and harmonic amplitudes.

Conclusions

The methodology proposed in this paper for time-history generation addresses some of the major
difficulties of this task, with alternative solutions that assures flexibility in the accelerograms
characteristics yet producing reasonable results. The presented example represents an artificial
earthquake which matches the desired response spectrum in good agreement and meets the
bound conditions for the histories of velocity and displacement, after integration.

References

1. Levy S, Wilkinson JPD. Generation of artificial time histories, rich in all frequencies, for a given response
spectra. Nuclear Engineering and Design, London, 1976. Vol. 38, pp.241-251.
2. USNRC, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Design response spectra for seismic design of nuclear
power plants. Regulatory Guide 1.60. Washington DC, 1973.
3. Niu Z, Li T, Hu S. The synthesis and correction of simulated earthquake waves. Proceedings of the 14th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Beijing, China, 2008;
4. CSA N289.3-M81 – Design procedures for seismic qualification of nuclear power plants. 2nd ed. Canadian
Standards Association, Ottawa, 2010.
5. Jennings PC, Housner GW, Tsai NC. Simulated Earthquake Motion. Report of Earthquake Engineering
Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 1968.
6. Eurocode 8. EN 1998-1: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - General rules, seismic actions and
rules for buildings. Commission of the European Community, 2005.

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