In this chapter you will learn:

Amplitude Parameters
Frequency Content Parameters
Duration Parameters
Near-fault Effects (Directivity and Fling)
Orientation-Independent Ground Motion
Measures

Earthquake engineers mostly interested in strong ground

motion (motion sufficient strength to affect people and
the enviroment)
Earthquake effects on a site

strong ground motion

Three components of motion

Huge amount of information

Complicated

objective
and
quantitative way of
describing is needed

Strong
ground
motions are mosty
measured
by
acceleographs.
Several
agencies placed
acceleographs all
around
Turkey,
especially close to
the active faults.
For information about
the active faults you
can check
www.mta.gov.tr
Remember:

http://daphne.deprem.gov.tr/

Raw strong ground motion data may include errors from several sources that
require correction to produce accurate strong motion records. Strong motion
processing is often required to minimize back ground noise, correct for the
dynamic response of the transducer and to correct for measurement errors.

Fortunately, it is not necessary to reproduce

every time history to describe the ground
motions adequately for engineering purposes.
Instead we can describe the
characteristics of ground motions:

Amplitude
Frequency content
parameters
Duration

important

ground motion

We need to know something about more than

one of them to describe a ground motion

The common way of

describing
a
ground
motion is time history
The motion parameter
may
be
acceleration,
velocity or displacement.
PHA

Typically, one of these

parameters are measured
and the others will be
computed by integration
or differentation.

a(t )dt
d (t ) v (t ) dt

v (t )

Most popular ground motion parameter for

amplitude is peak horizontal acceleration
(PHA) which is the largest acceleration from
the history.

Why PHA is so important?

mu cu ku mug

Largest component of the force

induced on the structure!
PHA

Is PHA directly correlated

with the damage? How
about the duration...

Can be correlated with the size of

the earthquake...
As the magnitude increases...
As the MMI increases...

Note: The PHA representing the horizontal motion is found by the

geometric mean of two horizontal ground motion components.

PHA ( PHA) H 1 ( PHA) H 2

Peak horizontal velocity (PHV) and peak horizontal

displacement (PHD) are defined as the largest velocity
and displacement values taken from the time history.

PHV

A good measure for potential

damage to tall buildings, bridges etc.
Correlated to earthquake magnitude
or intensity

PHD

Less popular measure of

amplitude

We know that the response of the structures is very

sensitive to the frequency of the loading...
Earthquakes produce complicated loading with
components of motion over a broad range of
frequencies.
Frequency content describes how the amplitude of
ground motions is distributed among different
frequencies.

Frequency content is measured by the three

different spectra of the ground motion:
Fourier Spectra
Power Spectra
Response Spectra

The Fourier spectrum consists of series of harmonic

terms with different amplitude, frequency and phase.

Q(t ) Q0 sin( t )
amplitude

Q(t ) Q0 sin( t )

frequency

phase

Many
Q(t)
terms
will
add up to get
the
accelerationtime history.

The Fourier amplitude spectrum may be narrow or

broad.
A
narrow
Fourier
spectrum implies that
the
motion
has
a
dominant frequency and
a
smooth,
almost
sinusoidal time history
A broad spectrum shows
that the amplitude of
the motion is distributed
with
respect
to
frequency and more
jagged, irregular time
history

When the Fourier amplitude spectrum is plotted on log-log scale,

characteristic shape can be seen more easily.

Fc corner frequency

the

Largest over the

intermediate
frequencies

The frequency content of a ground motion can also be

described by power spectrum.
The total intensity of a ground motion in the time domain is
described by the area under the time history of squared
acceleration.
Td

Io

a
(
t
)
dt

1
Io

It is also expressed in frequency domain:

The average intensity is equal

to:
Td
n

1
o
Td

1
2
0 a(t ) dt Td

Qo d
2

where Td is the duration of the

earthquake, n is the highest
frequency in the Fourier series and
G() is the power spectral density.

Q0 d
2

G ( )d
0

1
2
G ( )
Q0
Td

The response spectrum describes the maximum

response of a SDOF system to a particular input motion
as a function of natural frequency and damping.
Remember,
the
response spectra
represents only the
maximum
responses
of
a
number
of
different
structures!

Duration of strong ground motion can have a strong influence on

earthquake damage.
WHY?
Since many physical processes such as stiffness and strength
degradation of structures, build up of pore water pressures in sands etc. is
sensitive to the number of loading cycles.

If duration is low, the

earthquake
may
not
produce enough load
even if the amplitude is
high.
If duration is high, even
moderate
amplitudes
can
produce
enough
load
to
create
substantial damage .

Duration of strong ground motion is directly related

to the time required to release the accumulated strain
energy by the rupture along the fault.
As area or length of the fault rupture increases, the
time required to rupture and the duration increases.
How about the magnitude?
For engineering applications, only strong ground
motion portion of the acceleogram is of interest.
Total duration=Tstart Tend
Tend is difficult to determine since the weak motion
continues for a long time in far field.

The bracketed duration is defined as the time

between the first and last exceedences of a treshold
acceleration (usually 0.05 g)

Cumulative Energy Duration

(Trifunac and Brady, 1975) is
defined as the time interval
between the points at which 5%
and 95% of the total intensity
has been recorded.

The total intensity of the ground motion is

given by:
The average intensityo
is :

1
Td

Td

Td

a
(
t
)

dt

Io

Td

a(t )

dt

which is also defined as

mean-squared
acceleration

Td

a
(
t
)
dt arms

The arms is the root mean-squared

acceleration.

A parameter closely related to arms is the Arias

intensity (Ia):

Ia
2g

a
(
t
)
dt ( m / s )

The predominant period (Tp) is defined as the period of vibration

corresponding to the highest fourier amplitude.

Directivity
Related to the direction of the rupture
front
Forward directivity: rupture toward the
site
(site away from the epicenter)
Backward directivity: rupture away from
the site (site near the epicenter)
Fling
Related to the permanent tectonic
deformation at the site

Forward Directivity
Two-sided velocity pulse due to constructive
interference of SH waves from generated from
parts of the rupture located between the site
and epicenter
Constructive interference occurs if slip
direction is aligned with the rupture direction
Occurs at sites located close to the fault but
away from the epicenter for strike-slip
Fling
One-sided velocity pulse due to tectonic
deformation
Occurs at sites located near the fault rupture
independent of the epicenter location

Sense of Slip

Directivity

Fling

Strike-Slip

Fault Normal Fault Parallel

Dip-Slip

Fault Normal Fault Normal

Acc (g)

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0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
5

10

15

YPT EW
YPT NS
20

25

30

35

Vel (cm/s)

100
0

Dis (cm)

-100
5
300

YPT EW
YPT NS
10

15

20

25

30

35

200
100

YPT EW
YPT NS

0
-100
5

10

15

20
Time (sec)

25

30

35

Two Effects on Ground Motion Amplitudes

Changes in the average horizontal component as
compared to standard attenuation relations
Increase in the amplitude of long period
ground motion for rupture toward the site
Decrease in the amplitude of long period
ground motion for rupture away from the site

Systematic differences in the ground motions on

the two horizontal components
Fault normal component is larger than the
fault parallel component at long periods

Additional Parameters Required

Strike-Slip Fault ( simple model)
S = length of rupture toward site
X = fraction of fault rupture between the
epicenter and the site
= angle between the fault strike and the
epicentral direction from the site
Complex model
Radiation pattern

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1.8
1.6
1.4

Scale Factor

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.01

X Cos(theta) = 0
X Cos(theta) = 0.1
X cos(theta) = 0.2
X cos(theta) = 0.3
X Cos(theta) >= 0.4
0.1

Period (sec)

10

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1.5
1.4
1.3

Scale Factor

1.2
1.1
1
0.9

theta = 0

0.8

theta = 15

0.7

theta = 30
theta = 45

0.6
0.5
0.1

1
Period (sec)

10

Acc (g)

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0.25
0

-0.25
0

IZT NS
IZT EW
5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Vel (cm/s)

50
0

Dis (cm)

-50
0
30

IZT NS
IZT EW
5

10

15

20

25

0
-30
0

30

35

IZT NS
IZT EW
5

10

15

20
Time (sec)

25

30

35

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10
IZT-NS
IZT-EW

Spectral Acceleration (g)

0.1

0.01

0.001
0.01

0.1

Period (sec)

10

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0.25
0

-0.25
5

ARC EW
ARC NS
10

15

20

25

30

35

Vel (cm/s)

50
0

Dis (cm)

-50
5
60

ARC EW
ARC NS
10

15

20

25

30

35

30
0

ARC EW
ARC NS

-30
-60
5

10

15

20
Time (sec)

25

30

35

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1
ARC-NS

Spectral Acceleration (g)

ARC-EW

0.1

0.01

0.001
0.01

0.1

Period (sec)

10

Acc (g)

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0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
5

10

15

YPT EW
YPT NS
20

25

30

35

Vel (cm/s)

100
0

Dis (cm)

-100
5
300

YPT EW
YPT NS
10

15

20

25

30

35

200
100

YPT EW
YPT NS

0
-100
5

10

15

20
Time (sec)

25

30

35

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24.5

TCU087
TCU068
TCU102
TCU101
TCU052
TCU049
TCU067
TCU065
24

TCU072

TCU075
TCU071

TCU074

TCU076 TCU089
TCU084
TCU129
TCU078

CHY028

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p icture.

SS

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0.4
0.3
TCU 049 E
0.2
TCO052 E
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3

Vel (cm/s)

-0.4
15
100

20

25

35

40

45

50

55

60

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

30

35
40
Time (sec)

45

50

55

60

-100

TCU 049 E
TCO052 E

-200
15
200

20

Dis (cm)

30

25

0
-200
-400

TCU 049 E
TCO052 E

-600
15

20

25

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Acc(g)

0.1

-0.1

6
Time (sec)

10

12

6
Time (sec)

10

12

6
Time (sec)

10

12

Vel (cm/s)

80
40
0
-40
-80

Disp (cm)

150

-150

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0.5
0.25
fling
TCU052E

0
-0.25
30

40

45

50

55

Vel (cm/s)

100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
30
100
0
-100
-200
-300
-400
-500
30

35

60

fling
TCU052E
35

40

45

50

55

60

Dis (cm)

fling
TCU052E

35

40

45
Time (sec)

50

55

60

Amplitude of Fling
From fault slip and geodetic data

Duration (period) of Fling

From strong motion data

Arrival Time of Fling

From numerical modeling
Relative timing of fling and S-waves

Good measure : Less aleatory uncertainty

compared to other measures.
It has one important disadvantage; it is
dependent on orientation of the orthogonal
components of accelerograph (Boore et al.
2006).
Boore et al. (2006) defined two orientationindependent measures for ground motion
intensity; GMRotDpp and GMRotIpp

GMRotDpp and GMRotIpp,

where;
GM stands for geometric mean,
Rot means rotations are used over
all non-redundant angles,
D states that period dependent
rotations are used; whereas I states
that the rotations are period
independent,
pp stands for percentile value of the
measure.

These measures are calculated through

rotated response spectra of as- recorded
motions as summarized below:
Calculation of GMRotIpp requires the use of
GMRotDpp. So latter one is calculated first.
Initially, response spectra for each
individual component are calculated for
rotation angle, , being equal to 0.
Then these response spectral values are
rotated by an increment .

Then, the geometric means are calculated from these rotated

response spectra for the new angle using below Equations :

where
Rs,1(t,) : Response Spectra of N-S
Rs,2(t,) : Response spectra of E-W

Response spectra Rs,1(t,) and Rs,2(t,) are defined for a

given oscillator damping and usable period range.
This GM Response spectrum is assigned to the specific angle .
This process is then repeated for the angle = + until
=900

After obtaining geometric mean response spectra for all

angle increments, spectral values for each period are ranked
by the ascending order.
GMRotDpp is obtained for the pp th percentile of ranked
values.
For example; GMRotD50 corresponds to the median of the ranked

values for a given period.

All GMRotDpp values are normalized by GMRotDpp for a

defined pp value that will be used in GMRotIpp calculation.
This GM Response spectrum is assigned to the specific
angle .
This process is then repeated for the angle = +
until =900

After that, a penalty function is calculated using the formula

given below:

where
Ti : Usable spectra period
GM(,Ti) : Geometric mean of response spectra for period
Ti at angle .

This penalty function is calculated for all values and the

rotation angle that gives the minimum penalty value is
determined .
Using the selected rotation angle, as-recorded motions are
rotated
Then, response spectra are calculated from each rotated
component motion.
Finally, the geometric mean of these response spectra is
calculated and this spectrum is defined as GMRotIpp.

Comparison of
GMRotI50 and
GMRotD50. Also shown
by the gray
curves are GMRotD00
and GMRotD100 (the
minimum and maximum
geometric
means using perioddependent rotation
angles).