The limits of earthquake early warning: Timeliness of ground motion estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Minson, Sarah E.; Meier, Men-Andrin; Baltay, Annemarie S.; Hanks, Thomas C.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.

2018-01-01

The basic physics of earthquakes is such that strong ground motion cannot be expected from an earthquake unless the earthquake itself is very close or has grown to be very large. We use simple seismological relationships to calculate the minimum time that must elapse before such ground motion can be expected at a distance from the earthquake, assuming that the earthquake magnitude is not predictable. Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are in operation or development for many regions around the world, with the goal of providing enough warning of incoming ground shaking to allow people and automated systems to take protective actions to mitigate losses. However, the question of how much warning time is physically possible for specified levels of ground motion has not been addressed. We consider a zero-latency EEW system to determine possible warning times a user could receive in an ideal case. In this case, the only limitation on warning time is the time required for the earthquake to evolve and the time for strong ground motion to arrive at a user’s location. We find that users who wish to be alerted at lower ground motion thresholds will receive more robust warnings with longer average warning times than users who receive warnings for higher ground motion thresholds. EEW systems have the greatest potential benefit for users willing to take action at relatively low ground motion thresholds, whereas users who set relatively high thresholds for taking action are less likely to receive timely and actionable information.

The earthquake problem in engineering design: generating earthquake design basis information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, R.D.

1987-01-01

Designing earthquake resistant structures requires certain design inputs specific to the seismotectonic status of the region, in which a critical facility is to be located. Generating these inputs requires collection of earthquake related information using present day techniques in seismology and geology, and processing the collected information to integrate it to arrive at a consolidated picture of the seismotectonics of the region. The earthquake problem in engineering design has been outlined in the context of a seismic design of nuclear power plants vis a vis current state of the art techniques. The extent to which the accepted procedures of assessing seismic risk in the region and generating the design inputs have been adherred to determine to a great extent the safety of the structures against future earthquakes. The document is a step towards developing an aproach for generating these inputs, which form the earthquake design basis. (author)

Assessment of precast beam-column using capacity demand response spectrum subject to design basis earthquake and maximum considered earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Ghani, Kay Dora Abd.; Tukiar, Mohd Azuan; Hamid, Nor Hayati Abdul

2017-08-01

Malaysia is surrounded by the tectonic feature of the Sumatera area which consists of two seismically active inter-plate boundaries, namely the Indo-Australian and the Eurasian Plates on the west and the Philippine Plates on the east. Hence, Malaysia experiences tremors from far distant earthquake occurring in Banda Aceh, Nias Island, Padang and other parts of Sumatera Indonesia. In order to predict the safety of precast buildings in Malaysia under near field ground motion the response spectrum analysis could be used for dealing with future earthquake whose specific nature is unknown. This paper aimed to develop of capacity demand response spectrum subject to Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) in order to assess the performance of precast beam column joint. From the capacity-demand response spectrum analysis, it can be concluded that the precast beam-column joints would not survive when subjected to earthquake excitation with surface-wave magnitude, Mw, of more than 5.5 Scale Richter (Type 1 spectra). This means that the beam-column joint which was designed using the current code of practice (BS8110) would be severely damaged when subjected to high earthquake excitation. The capacity-demand response spectrum analysis also shows that the precast beam-column joints in the prototype studied would be severely damaged when subjected to Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) with PGA=0.22g having a surface-wave magnitude of more than 5.5 Scale Richter, or Type 1 spectra.

Ground Motion Characteristics of Induced Earthquakes in Central North America

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, G. M.; Assatourians, K.; Novakovic, M.

2017-12-01

The ground motion characteristics of induced earthquakes in central North America are investigated based on empirical analysis of a compiled database of 4,000,000 digital ground-motion records from events in induced-seismicity regions (especially Oklahoma). Ground-motion amplitudes are characterized non-parametrically by computing median amplitudes and their variability in magnitude-distance bins. We also use inversion techniques to solve for regional source, attenuation and site response effects. Ground motion models are used to interpret the observations and compare the source and attenuation attributes of induced earthquakes to those of their natural counterparts. Significant conclusions are that the stress parameter that controls the strength of high-frequency radiation is similar for induced earthquakes (depth of h 5 km) and shallow (h 5 km) natural earthquakes. By contrast, deeper natural earthquakes (h 10 km) have stronger high-frequency ground motions. At distances close to the epicenter, a greater focal depth (which increases distance from the hypocenter) counterbalances the effects of a larger stress parameter, resulting in motions of similar strength close to the epicenter, regardless of event depth. The felt effects of induced versus natural earthquakes are also investigated using USGS "Did You Feel It?" reports; 400,000 reports from natural events and 100,000 reports from induced events are considered. The felt reports confirm the trends that we expect based on ground-motion modeling, considering the offsetting effects of the stress parameter versus focal depth in controlling the strength of motions near the epicenter. Specifically, felt intensity for a given magnitude is similar near the epicenter, on average, for all event types and depths. At distances more than 10 km from the epicenter, deeper events are felt more strongly than shallow events. These ground-motion attributes imply that the induced-seismicity hazard is most critical for facilities in

Examination of earthquake Ground Motion in the deep underground environment of Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goto, J.; Tsuchi, H.; Mashimo, M.

2009-01-01

Among the possible impacts of earthquakes on the geological disposal system, ground motion is not included in the criteria for selecting a candidate repository site because, in general, ground motion deep underground is considered to be smaller than at the surface. Also, after backfilling/closure, the repository moves together with the surrounding rock. We have carried out a detailed examination of earthquake ground motion deep underground using extensive data from recent observation networks to support the above assumption. As a result, it has been reconfirmed that earthquake ground motion deep underground is relatively smaller than at the surface. Through detailed analysis of data, we have identified the following important parameters for evaluating earthquake ground motion deep underground: depth and velocity distribution of the rock formations of interest, the intensity of the short period component of earthquakes and incident angle of seismic waves to the rock formations. (authors)

Spatial correlation of probabilistic earthquake ground motion and loss

Science.gov (United States)

Wesson, R.L.; Perkins, D.M.

2001-01-01

Spatial correlation of annual earthquake ground motions and losses can be used to estimate the variance of annual losses to a portfolio of properties exposed to earthquakes A direct method is described for the calculations of the spatial correlation of earthquake ground motions and losses. Calculations for the direct method can be carried out using either numerical quadrature or a discrete, matrix-based approach. Numerical results for this method are compared with those calculated from a simple Monte Carlo simulation. Spatial correlation of ground motion and loss is induced by the systematic attenuation of ground motion with distance from the source, by common site conditions, and by the finite length of fault ruptures. Spatial correlation is also strongly dependent on the partitioning of the variability, given an event, into interevent and intraevent components. Intraevent variability reduces the spatial correlation of losses. Interevent variability increases spatial correlation of losses. The higher the spatial correlation, the larger the variance in losses to a port-folio, and the more likely extreme values become. This result underscores the importance of accurately determining the relative magnitudes of intraevent and interevent variability in ground-motion studies, because of the strong impact in estimating earthquake losses to a portfolio. The direct method offers an alternative to simulation for calculating the variance of losses to a portfolio, which may reduce the amount of calculation required.

An open repository of earthquake-triggered ground-failure inventories

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Robert G.; Tanyas, Hakan; Nowicki Jessee, M. Anna; Zhu, Jing; Biegel, Katherine M.; Allstadt, Kate E.; Jibson, Randall W.; Thompson, Eric M.; van Westen, Cees J.; Sato, Hiroshi P.; Wald, David J.; Godt, Jonathan W.; Gorum, Tolga; Xu, Chong; Rathje, Ellen M.; Knudsen, Keith L.

2017-12-20

Earthquake-triggered ground failure, such as landsliding and liquefaction, can contribute significantly to losses, but our current ability to accurately include them in earthquake-hazard analyses is limited. The development of robust and widely applicable models requires access to numerous inventories of ground failures triggered by earthquakes that span a broad range of terrains, shaking characteristics, and climates. We present an openly accessible, centralized earthquake-triggered groundfailure inventory repository in the form of a ScienceBase Community to provide open access to these data with the goal of accelerating research progress. The ScienceBase Community hosts digital inventories created by both U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and non-USGS authors. We present the original digital inventory files (when available) as well as an integrated database with uniform attributes. We also summarize the mapping methodology and level of completeness as reported by the original author(s) for each inventory. This document describes the steps taken to collect, process, and compile the inventories and the process for adding additional ground-failure inventories to the ScienceBase Community in the future.

Ground motion modeling of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake II: Ground motion estimates for the 1906 earthquake and scenario events

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aagaard, B; Brocher, T; Dreger, D; Frankel, A; Graves, R; Harmsen, S; Hartzell, S; Larsen, S; McCandless, K; Nilsson, S; Petersson, N A; Rodgers, A; Sjogreen, B; Tkalcic, H; Zoback, M L

2007-02-09

We estimate the ground motions produced by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake making use of the recently developed Song et al. (2008) source model that combines the available geodetic and seismic observations and recently constructed 3D geologic and seismic velocity models. Our estimates of the ground motions for the 1906 earthquake are consistent across five ground-motion modeling groups employing different wave propagation codes and simulation domains. The simulations successfully reproduce the main features of the Boatwright and Bundock (2005) ShakeMap, but tend to over predict the intensity of shaking by 0.1-0.5 modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) units. Velocity waveforms at sites throughout the San Francisco Bay Area exhibit characteristics consistent with rupture directivity, local geologic conditions (e.g., sedimentary basins), and the large size of the event (e.g., durations of strong shaking lasting tens of seconds). We also compute ground motions for seven hypothetical scenarios rupturing the same extent of the northern San Andreas fault, considering three additional hypocenters and an additional, random distribution of slip. Rupture directivity exerts the strongest influence on the variations in shaking, although sedimentary basins do consistently contribute to the response in some locations, such as Santa Rosa, Livermore, and San Jose. These scenarios suggest that future large earthquakes on the northern San Andreas fault may subject the current San Francisco Bay urban area to stronger shaking than a repeat of the 1906 earthquake. Ruptures propagating southward towards San Francisco appear to expose more of the urban area to a given intensity level than do ruptures propagating northward.

Evaluation of stability of foundation ground during earthquake, 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanatani, Mamoru; Nishi, Koichi

1988-01-01

The aseismatic capability of nuclear power plants located on Quaternary grounds, which consist of dense sand or sandy gravel, is heavily dependent on the stability of foundation grounds during earthquakes. In order to investigate into the stability of ground more in detail, it is necessary to develop the nonlinear earthquake response analysis method which can simulate the inelastic behavior of soil. In this report, the newly developed nonlinear response analysis method based on the effective stress, the results of simulation using the results of vibration table test and centrifuge test, and the case studies on two-dimensional soil-structure interaction problems are described. Soil was regarded as the two-phase mixture composed of soil particle skeleton and pore water. In the equation of motion taking their interaction into account, the elastoplastic constitutive equation that can simulate the inelastic deformation behavior of soil at the time of repeated shearing in two or three-dimensional field was introduced, and the analysis code which successively traces the behavior of ground at the time of earthquakes using FEM was developed. (K.I.)

Approach to developing a ground-motion design basis for facilities important to safety at Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, J.L.

1990-01-01

This paper discusses a methodology for developing a ground-motion design basis for prospective facilities at Yucca Mountain that are important to safety. The methodology utilizes a guasi-deterministic construct called the 10,000-year cumulative-slip earthquake that is designed to provide a conservative, robust, and reproducible estimate of ground motion that has a one-in-ten chance of occurring during the preclosure period. This estimate is intended to define a ground-motion level for which the seismic design would ensure minimal disruption to operations engineering analyses to ensure safe performance are included

Hybrid Broadband Ground-Motion Simulation Using Scenario Earthquakes for the Istanbul Area

KAUST Repository

Reshi, Owais A.

2016-04-13

Seismic design, analysis and retrofitting of structures demand an intensive assessment of potential ground motions in seismically active regions. Peak ground motions and frequency content of seismic excitations effectively influence the behavior of structures. In regions of sparse ground motion records, ground-motion simulations provide the synthetic seismic records, which not only provide insight into the mechanisms of earthquakes but also help in improving some aspects of earthquake engineering. Broadband ground-motion simulation methods typically utilize physics-based modeling of source and path effects at low frequencies coupled with high frequency semi-stochastic methods. I apply the hybrid simulation method by Mai et al. (2010) to model several scenario earthquakes in the Marmara Sea, an area of high seismic hazard. Simulated ground motions were generated at 75 stations using systematically calibrated model parameters. The region-specific source, path and site model parameters were calibrated by simulating a w4.1 Marmara Sea earthquake that occurred on November 16, 2015 on the fault segment in the vicinity of Istanbul. The calibrated parameters were then used to simulate the scenario earthquakes with magnitudes w6.0, w6.25, w6.5 and w6.75 over the Marmara Sea fault. Effects of fault geometry, hypocenter location, slip distribution and rupture propagation were thoroughly studied to understand variability in ground motions. A rigorous analysis of waveforms reveal that these parameters are critical for determining the behavior of ground motions especially in the near-field. Comparison of simulated ground motion intensities with ground-motion prediction quations indicates the need of development of the region-specific ground-motion prediction equation for Istanbul area. Peak ground motion maps are presented to illustrate the shaking in the Istanbul area due to the scenario earthquakes. The southern part of Istanbul including Princes Islands show high amplitudes

Ground-motion modeling of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, part II: Ground-motion estimates for the 1906 earthquake and scenario events

Science.gov (United States)

Aagaard, Brad T.; Brocher, T.M.; Dolenc, D.; Dreger, D.; Graves, R.W.; Harmsen, S.; Hartzell, S.; Larsen, S.; McCandless, K.; Nilsson, S.; Petersson, N.A.; Rodgers, A.; Sjogreen, B.; Zoback, M.L.

2008-01-01

We estimate the ground motions produce by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake making use of the recently developed Song et al. (2008) source model that combines the available geodetic and seismic observations and recently constructed 3D geologic and seismic velocity models. Our estimates of the ground motions for the 1906 earthquake are consistent across five ground-motion modeling groups employing different wave propagation codes and simulation domains. The simulations successfully reproduce the main features of the Boatwright and Bundock (2005) ShakeMap, but tend to over predict the intensity of shaking by 0.1-0.5 modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) units. Velocity waveforms at sites throughout the San Francisco Bay Area exhibit characteristics consistent with rupture directivity, local geologic conditions (e.g., sedimentary basins), and the large size of the event (e.g., durations of strong shaking lasting tens of seconds). We also compute ground motions for seven hypothetical scenarios rupturing the same extent of the northern San Andreas fault, considering three additional hypocenters and an additional, random distribution of slip. Rupture directivity exerts the strongest influence on the variations in shaking, although sedimentary basins do consistently contribute to the response in some locations, such as Santa Rosa, Livermore, and San Jose. These scenarios suggest that future large earthquakes on the northern San Andreas fault may subject the current San Francisco Bay urban area to stronger shaking than a repeat of the 1906 earthquake. Ruptures propagating southward towards San Francisco appear to expose more of the urban area to a given intensity level than do ruptures propagating northward.

Implications of ground water chemistry and flow patterns for earthquake studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Guangcai, Wang; Zuochen, Zhang; Min, Wang; Cravotta, Charles A; Chenglong, Liu

2005-01-01

Ground water can facilitate earthquake development and respond physically and chemically to tectonism. Thus, an understanding of ground water circulation in seismically active regions is important for earthquake prediction. To investigate the roles of ground water in the development and prediction of earthquakes, geological and hydrogeological monitoring was conducted in a seismogenic area in the Yanhuai Basin, China. This study used isotopic and hydrogeochemical methods to characterize ground water samples from six hot springs and two cold springs. The hydrochemical data and associated geological and geophysical data were used to identify possible relations between ground water circulation and seismically active structural features. The data for delta18O, deltaD, tritium, and 14C indicate ground water from hot springs is of meteoric origin with subsurface residence times of 50 to 30,320 years. The reservoir temperature and circulation depths of the hot ground water are 57 degrees C to 160 degrees C and 1600 to 5000 m, respectively, as estimated by quartz and chalcedony geothermometers and the geothermal gradient. Various possible origins of noble gases dissolved in the ground water also were evaluated, indicating mantle and deep crust sources consistent with tectonically active segments. A hard intercalated stratum, where small to moderate earthquakes frequently originate, is present between a deep (10 to 20 km), high-electrical conductivity layer and the zone of active ground water circulation. The ground water anomalies are closely related to the structural peculiarity of each monitoring point. These results could have implications for ground water and seismic studies in other seismogenic areas.

Characteristics of Earthquake Ground Motion Attenuation in Korea and Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, In-Kil; Choun, Young-Sun; Nakajima, Masato; Ohtori, Yasuki; Yun, Kwan-Hee

2006-01-01

The characteristics of a ground motion attenuation in Korea and Japan were estimated by using the earthquake ground motions recorded at the equal distance observation station by KMA, K-NET and KiK-net of Korea and Japan. The ground motion attenuation equations proposed for Korea and Japan were evaluated by comparing the predicted value for the Fukuoka earthquake with the observed records. The predicted values from the attenuation equations show a good agreement with the observed records and each other. It can be concluded from this study that the ground motion attenuation equations can be used for the prediction of strong ground motion attenuation and for an evaluation of the attenuation equations proposed for Korea

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake's ground motion is a function of the earthquake's magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. Therefore, empirically based approaches that are used for other regions, such as Western North America, are not appropriate for Eastern North America. Moreover, recent advances in science and technology have now made it possible to combine theoretical and empirical methods to develop new procedures and models for estimating ground motion. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. Specifically considered are magnitudes M from 5 to 8, distances from 0 to 500 km, and frequencies from 1 to 35 Hz

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake's ground motion is a function of the earthquake's magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. This document, Volume II, contains Appendices 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 covering the following topics: Eastern North American Empirical Ground Motion Data; Examination of Variance of Seismographic Network Data; Soil Amplification and Vertical-to-Horizontal Ratios from Analysis of Strong Motion Data From Active Tectonic Regions; Revision and Calibration of Ou and Herrmann Method; Generalized Ray Procedure for Modeling Ground Motion Attenuation; Crustal Models for Velocity Regionalization; Depth Distribution Models; Development of Generic Site Effects Model; Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Site Response Methodologies; Plots of Amplification Factors; Assessment of Coupling Between Vertical ampersand Horizontal Motions in Nonlinear Site Response Analysis; and Modeling of Dynamic Soil Properties

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake's ground motion is a function of the earthquake's magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. Therefore, empirically based approaches that are used for other regions, such as Western North America, are not appropriate for Eastern North America. Moreover, recent advances in science and technology have now made it possible to combine theoretical and empirical methods to develop new procedures and models for estimating ground motion. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. Specifically considered are magnitudes M from 5 to 8, distances from 0 to 500 km, and frequencies from 1 to 35 Hz. This document, Volume IV, provides Appendix 8.B, Laboratory Investigations of Dynamic Properties of Reference Sites

Non-Stationary Modelling and Simulation of Near-Source Earthquake Ground Motion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjærbæk, P. S.; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Fouskitakis, G. N.

1997-01-01

This paper is concerned with modelling and simulation of near-source earthquake ground motion. Recent studies have revealed that these motions show heavy non-stationary behaviour with very low frequencies dominating parts of the earthquake sequence. Modeling and simulation of this behaviour...... by an epicentral distance of 16 km and measured during the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake in California (U .S .A.). The results of the study indicate that while all three approaches can successfully predict near-source ground motions, the Neural Network based one gives somewhat poorer simulation results....

Non-Stationary Modelling and Simulation of Near-Source Earthquake Ground Motion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjærbæk, P. S.; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Fouskitakis, G. N.

This paper is concerned with modelling and simulation of near-source earthquake ground motion. Recent studies have revealed that these motions show heavy non-stationary behaviour with very low frequencies dominating parts of the earthquake sequence. Modelling and simulation of this behaviour...... by an epicentral distance of 16 km and measured during the 1979 Imperial valley earthquake in California (USA). The results of the study indicate that while all three approaches can succesfully predict near-source ground motions, the Neural Network based one gives somewhat poorer simulation results....

Data Files for Ground-Motion Simulations of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Scenario Earthquakes on the Northern San Andreas Fault

Science.gov (United States)

Aagaard, Brad T.; Barall, Michael; Brocher, Thomas M.; Dolenc, David; Dreger, Douglas; Graves, Robert W.; Harmsen, Stephen; Hartzell, Stephen; Larsen, Shawn; McCandless, Kathleen; Nilsson, Stefan; Petersson, N. Anders; Rodgers, Arthur; Sjogreen, Bjorn; Zoback, Mary Lou

2009-01-01

This data set contains results from ground-motion simulations of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, seven hypothetical earthquakes on the northern San Andreas Fault, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The bulk of the data consists of synthetic velocity time-histories. Peak ground velocity on a 1/60th degree grid and geodetic displacements from the simulations are also included. Details of the ground-motion simulations and analysis of the results are discussed in Aagaard and others (2008a,b).

Ground Motion Prediction for Great Interplate Earthquakes in Kanto Basin Considering Variation of Source Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Sekiguchi, H.; Yoshimi, M.; Horikawa, H.

2011-12-01

Broadband ground motions are estimated in the Kanto sedimentary basin which holds Tokyo metropolitan area inside for anticipated great interplate earthquakes along surrounding plate boundaries. Possible scenarios of great earthquakes along Sagami trough are modeled combining characteristic properties of the source area and adequate variation in source parameters in order to evaluate possible ground motion variation due to next Kanto earthquake. South to the rupture area of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake along the Japan trench, we consider possible M8 earthquake. The ground motions are computed with a four-step hybrid technique. We first calculate low-frequency ground motions at the engineering basement. We then calculate higher-frequency ground motions at the same position, and combine the lower- and higher-frequency motions using a matched filter. We finally calculate ground motions at the surface by computing the response of the alluvium-diluvium layers to the combined motions at the engineering basement.

Evaluation of stability of foundation ground during earthquake, (5)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishi, Koh-ichi; Kanatani, Mamoru

1987-01-01

The Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry advances the research on the method of evaluating foundation grounds from the standpoint of developing in-situ ground survey testing method and the method of evaluating mechanical properties in the studies on the technology for siting nuclear power stations on Quaternary grounds. The newly developed analytical technique on ground stability by the results of the analytical method for equivalent linear response was already reported. In this paper, the analytical method for nonlinear response to investigate into the more detailed behavior of ground due to strong earthquake motion is reported. In particular, the constitutive relation based on elastoplasticity was newly proposed in order to represent the deformation behavior during cyclic loading, and the examples of its application to the response of horizontally leveled sandy ground to earthquake are described. The dialatancy characteristics of soil are constituted by yield function, plastic potential functioin and hardening function. The material constants in proposed constitutive relation are easily determined by laboratory tests. One-dimensional response analysis was conducted, using the constitutive relation. (Kako, I.)

The 2011 Mineral, VA M5.8 Earthquake Ground Motions and Stress Drop: An Important Contribution to the NGA East Ground Motion Database

Science.gov (United States)

Cramer, C. H.; Kutliroff, J.; Dangkua, D.

2011-12-01

The M5.8 Mineral, Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011 is the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in eastern North America since the 1988 M5.9 Saguenay, Canada earthquake. Historically, a similar magnitude earthquake occurred on May 31, 1897 at 18:58 UCT in western Virginia west of Roanoke. Paleoseismic evidence for larger magnitude earthquakes has also been found in the central Virginia region. The Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) East project to develop new ground motion prediction equations for stable continental regions (SCRs), including eastern North America (ENA), is ongoing at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The available recordings from the M5.8 Virginia are being added to the NGA East ground motion database. Close in (less than 100 km) strong motion recordings are particularly interesting for both ground motion and stress drop estimates as most close-in broadband seismometers clipped on the mainshock. A preliminary estimate for earthquake corner frequency for the M5.8 Virginia earthquake of ~0.7 Hz has been obtained from a strong motion record 57 km from the mainshock epicenter. For a M5.8 earthquake this suggests a Brune stress drop of ~300 bars for the Virginia event. Very preliminary comparisons using accelerometer data suggest the ground motions from the M5.8 Virginia earthquake agree well with current ENA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) at short periods (PGA, 0.2 s) and are below the GMPEs at longer periods (1.0 s), which is the same relationship seen from other recent M5 ENA earthquakes. We will present observed versus GMPE ground motion comparisons for all the ground motion observations and stress drop estimates from strong motion recordings at distances less than 100 km. A review of the completed NGA East ENA ground motion database will also be provided.

Earthquake strong ground motion studies at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, Ivan; Silva, W.; Darragh, R.; Stark, C.; Wright, D.; Jackson, S.; Carpenter, G.; Smith, R.; Anderson, D.; Gilbert, H.; Scott, D.

1989-01-01

Site-specific strong earthquake ground motions have been estimated for the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory assuming that an event similar to the 1983 M s 7.3 Borah Peak earthquake occurs at epicentral distances of 10 to 28 km. The strong ground motion parameters have been estimated based on a methodology incorporating the Band-Limited-White-Noise ground motion model coupled with Random Vibration Theory. A 16-station seismic attenuation and site response survey utilizing three-component portable digital seismographs was also performed for a five-month period in 1989. Based on the recordings of regional earthquakes, the effects of seismic attenuation in the shallow crust and along the propagation path and local site response were evaluated. This data combined with a detailed geologic profile developed for each site based principally on borehole data, was used in the estimation of the strong ground motion parameters. The preliminary peak horizontal ground accelerations for individual sites range from approximately 0.15 to 0.35 g. Based on the authors analysis, the thick sedimentary interbeds (greater than 20 m) in the basalt section attenuate ground motions as speculated upon in a number of previous studies

The Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989: Strong Ground Motion and Ground Failure

Science.gov (United States)

Coordinated by Holzer, Thomas L.

1992-01-01

Professional Paper 1551 describes the effects at the land surface caused by the Loma Prieta earthquake. These effects: include the pattern and characteristics of strong ground shaking, liquefaction of both floodplain deposits along the Pajaro and Salinas Rivers in the Monterey Bay region and sandy artificial fills along the margins of San Francisco Bay, landslides in the epicentral region, and increased stream flow. Some significant findings and their impacts were: * Strong shaking that was amplified by a factor of about two by soft soils caused damage at up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the epicenter. * Instrumental recordings of the ground shaking have been used to improve how building codes consider site amplification effects from soft soils. * Liquefaction at 134 locations caused $99.2 million of the total earthquake loss of $5.9 billion. Liquefaction of floodplain deposits and sandy artificial fills was similar in nature to that which occurred in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and indicated that many areas remain susceptible to liquefaction damage in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay regions. * Landslides caused $30 million in earthquake losses, damaging at least 200 residences. Many landslides showed evidence of movement in previous earthquakes. * Recognition of the similarities between liquefaction and landslides in 1906 and 1989 and research in intervening years that established methodologies to map liquefaction and landslide hazards prompted the California legislature to pass in 1990 the Seismic Hazards Mapping Act that required the California Geological Survey to delineate regulatory zones of areas potentially susceptible to these hazards. * The earthquake caused the flow of many streams in the epicentral region to increase. Effects were noted up to 88 km from the epicenter. * Post-earthquake studies of the Marina District of San Francisco provide perhaps the most comprehensive case history of earthquake effects at a specific site developed for

Fault Structural Control on Earthquake Strong Ground Motions: The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake as an Example

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Dongli; Li, Xiaojun; Huang, Bei; Zheng, Wenjun; Wang, Yuejun

2018-02-01

Continental thrust faulting earthquakes pose severe threats to megacities across the world. Recent events show the possible control of fault structures on strong ground motions. The seismogenic structure of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake is associated with high-angle listric reverse fault zones. Its peak ground accelerations (PGAs) show a prominent feature of fault zone amplification: the values within the 30- to 40-km-wide fault zone block are significantly larger than those on both the hanging wall and the footwall. The PGA values attenuate asymmetrically: they decay much more rapidly in the footwall than in the hanging wall. The hanging wall effects can be seen on both the vertical and horizontal components of the PGAs, with the former significantly more prominent than the latter. All these characteristics can be adequately interpreted by upward extrusion of the high-angle listric reverse fault zone block. Through comparison with a low-angle planar thrust fault associated with the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, we conclude that different fault structures might have controlled different patterns of strong ground motion, which should be taken into account in seismic design and construction.

Strong ground motion in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Takai, Nobuo; Shigefuji, Michiko; Rajaure, Sudhir; Bijukchhen, Subeg; Ichiyanagi, Masayoshi; Dhital, Megh Raj; Sasatani, Tsutomu

2016-01-01

On 25 April 2015, a large earthquake of Mw 7.8 occurred along the Main Himalayan Thrust fault in central Nepal. It was caused by a collision of the Indian Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate. The epicenter was near the Gorkha region, 80 km northwest of Kathmandu, and the rupture propagated toward east from the epicentral region passing through the sediment-filled Kathmandu Valley. This event resulted in over 8000 fatalities, mostly in Kathmandu and the adjacent districts. We succeeded in observing strong ground motions at our four observation sites (one rock site and three sedimentary sites) in the Kathmandu Valley during this devastating earthquake. While the observed peak ground acceleration values were smaller than the predicted ones that were derived from the use of a ground motion prediction equation, the observed peak ground velocity values were slightly larger than the predicted ones. The ground velocities observed at the rock site (KTP) showed a simple velocity pulse, resulting in monotonic-step displacements associated with the permanent tectonic offset. The vertical ground velocities observed at the sedimentary sites had the same pulse motions that were observed at the rock site. In contrast, the horizontal ground velocities as well as accelerations observed at three sedimentary sites showed long duration with conspicuous long-period oscillations, due to the valley response. The horizontal valley response was characterized by large amplification (about 10) and prolonged oscillations. However, the predominant period and envelope shape of their oscillations differed from site to site, indicating a complicated basin structure. Finally, on the basis of the velocity response spectra, we show that the horizontal long-period oscillations on the sedimentary sites had enough destructive power to damage high-rise buildings with natural periods of 3 to 5 s.

Earthquake response characteristics of large structure 'JOYO' deeply embedded in quaternary ground, (3)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yajima, Hiroshi; Sawada, Yoshihiro; Hanada, Kazutake; Sawada, Makoto.

1987-01-01

In order to examine aseismicity of embedded structure and to clarify embedment effect, earthquake observations of the large structure 'JOYO' are carried out which is deeply embedded in quaternary ground, and the results are summarized as follows. (1) Amplification factors of horizontal component in ground surface is about 3 to 4 times against the bedrock. Contrastively on the structure, any amplification is not observed at the underground portion, however, little amplification exists at the ground portion of structure. (2) Transfer function of structure has several predominant peaks at frequencies of 4.3 Hz and 8.0 Hz which are well coincided with values obtained from force excitation tests. It is shown that transfer function between basement and ground surface is similar to that between ground of same level to basement and ground surface, suggesting the behavior of basement to be able to estimate by these under ground earthquake motion. (3) According to earthquake motion analysis using S-R models, without regard to consider or not the side ground stiffness, the calculated response values do not so much differ in each model and mostly correspond with observation data, provided that the underground earthquake motion at same level to basement is used as a input wave. Consequently, the behavior of these deeply embedded structure is subject to setting method of input wave rather than modeling method, and it is very useful in design that the most simple model without side ground stiffness can roughly represent the embedment effect. (author)

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions. Volume 2, Appendices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-03-18

This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake`s ground motion is a function of the earthquake`s magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. This document, Volume II, contains Appendices 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 covering the following topics: Eastern North American Empirical Ground Motion Data; Examination of Variance of Seismographic Network Data; Soil Amplification and Vertical-to-Horizontal Ratios from Analysis of Strong Motion Data From Active Tectonic Regions; Revision and Calibration of Ou and Herrmann Method; Generalized Ray Procedure for Modeling Ground Motion Attenuation; Crustal Models for Velocity Regionalization; Depth Distribution Models; Development of Generic Site Effects Model; Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Site Response Methodologies; Plots of Amplification Factors; Assessment of Coupling Between Vertical & Horizontal Motions in Nonlinear Site Response Analysis; and Modeling of Dynamic Soil Properties.

Earthquake Strong Ground Motion Scenario at the 2008 Olympic Games Sites, Beijing, China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; Rohrbach, E. A.; Chen, Q.; Chen, Y.

2006-12-01

Historic earthquake record indicates mediate to strong earthquakes have been frequently hit greater Beijing metropolitan area where is going to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games. For the readiness preparation of emergency response to the earthquake shaking for a mega event in a mega city like Beijing in summer 2008, this paper tries to construct the strong ground motion scenario at a number of gymnasium sites for the 2008 Olympic Games. During the last 500 years (the Ming and Qing Dynasties) in which the historic earthquake record are thorough and complete, there are at least 12 earthquake events with the maximum intensity of VI or greater occurred within 100 km radius centered at the Tiananmen Square, the center of Beijing City. Numerical simulation of the seismic wave propagation and surface strong ground motion is carried out by the pseudospectral time domain methods with viscoelastic material properties. To improve the modeling efficiency and accuracy, a multi-scale approach is adapted: the seismic wave propagation originated from an earthquake rupture source is first simulated by a model with larger physical domain with coarser grids. Then the wavefield at a given plane is taken as the source input for the small-scale, fine grid model for the strong ground motion study at the sites. The earthquake source rupture scenario is based on two particular historic earthquake events: One is the Great 1679 Sanhe-Pinggu Earthquake (M~8, Maximum Intensity XI at the epicenter and Intensity VIII in city center)) whose epicenter is about 60 km ENE of the city center. The other one is the 1730 Haidian Earthquake (M~6, Maximum Intensity IX at the epicenter and Intensity VIII in city center) with the epicentral distance less than 20 km away from the city center in the NW Haidian District. The exist of the thick Tertiary-Quaternary sediments (maximum thickness ~ 2 km) in Beijing area plays a critical role on estimating the surface ground motion at the Olympic Games sites, which

Addressing earthquakes strong ground motion issues at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, I.G.; Silva, W.J.; Stark, C.L.; Jackson, S.; Smith, R.P.

1991-01-01

In the course of reassessing seismic hazards at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), several key issues have been raised concerning the effects of the earthquake source and site geology on potential strong ground motions that might be generated by a large earthquake. The design earthquake for the INEL is an approximate moment magnitude (M w ) 7 event that may occur on the southern portion of the Lemhi fault, a Basin and Range normal fault that is located on the northwestern boundary of the eastern Snake River Plain and the INEL, within 10 to 27 km of several major facilities. Because the locations of these facilities place them at close distances to a large earthquake and generally along strike of the causative fault, the effects of source rupture dynamics (e.g., directivity) could be critical in enhancing potential ground shaking at the INEL. An additional source issue that has been addressed is the value of stress drop to use in ground motion predictions. In terms of site geology, it has been questioned whether the interbedded volcanic stratigraphy beneath the ESRP and the INEL attenuates ground motions to a greater degree than a typical rock site in the western US. These three issues have been investigated employing a stochastic ground motion methodology which incorporates the Band-Limited-White-Noise source model for both a point source and finite fault, random vibration theory and an equivalent linear approach to model soil response

Broadband Ground Motion Reconstruction for the Kanto Basin during the 1923 Kanto Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Sekiguchi, Haruko; Yoshimi, Masayuki

2011-03-01

Ground motions of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake inside the Kanto Basin are numerically simulated in a wide frequency range (0-10 Hz) based on new knowledge of the earthquake's source processes, the sedimentary structure of the basin, and techniques for generating broadband source models of great earthquakes. The Kanto Earthquake remains one of the most important exemplars for ground motion prediction in Japan due to its size, faulting geometry, and location beneath the densely populated Kanto sedimentary basin. We reconstruct a broadband source model of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake from inversion results by introducing small-scale heterogeneities. The corresponding ground motions are simulated using a hybrid technique comprising the following four calculations: (1) low-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a finite difference method; (2) high-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a stochastic Green's function method; (3) total ground motion of the engineering basement (i.e. 1 + 2); and (4) ground motion at the surface in response to the total basement ground motion. We employ a recently developed three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure model of the Kanto Basin that incorporates prospecting data, microtremor observations and measurements derived from strong ground motion records. Our calculations reveal peak ground velocities (PGV) exceeding 50 cm/s in the area above the fault plane: to the south, where the fault plane is shallowest, PGV reaches 150-200 cm/s at the engineering basement and 200-250 cm/s at the surface. Intensity 7, the maximum value in the Japan Meteorological Agency's intensity scale, is calculated to have occurred widely in Sagami Bay, which corresponds well with observed house-collapse rates due to the 1923 event. The modeling reveals a pronounced forward directivity effect for the area lying above the southern, shallow part of the fault plane. The high PGV and intensity seen above the

Identification of strong earthquake ground motion by using pattern recognition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Kohei; Tozawa, Shoji; Temmyo, Yoshiharu.

1983-01-01

The method of grasping adequately the technological features of complex waveform of earthquake ground motion and utilizing them as the input to structural systems has been proposed by many researchers, and the method of making artificial earthquake waves to be used for the aseismatic design of nuclear facilities has not been established in the unified form. In this research, earthquake ground motion was treated as an irregular process with unsteady amplitude and frequency, and the running power spectral density was expressed as a dark and light image on a plane of the orthogonal coordinate system with both time and frequency axes. The method of classifying this image into a number of technologically important categories by pattern recognition was proposed. This method is based on the concept called compound similarity method in the image technology, entirely different from voice diagnosis, and it has the feature that the result of identification can be quantitatively evaluated by the analysis of correlation of spatial images. Next, the standard pattern model of the simulated running power spectral density corresponding to the representative classification categories was proposed. Finally, the method of making unsteady simulated earthquake motion was shown. (Kako, I.)

Predicted Attenuation Relation and Observed Ground Motion of Gorkha Nepal Earthquake of 25 April 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, R. P.; Ahmad, R.

2015-12-01

A comparison of recent observed ground motion parameters of recent Gorkha Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015 (Mw 7.8) with the predicted ground motion parameters using exitsing attenuation relation of the Himalayan region will be presented. The recent earthquake took about 8000 lives and destroyed thousands of poor quality of buildings and the earthquake was felt by millions of people living in Nepal, China, India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The knowledge of ground parameters are very important in developing seismic code of seismic prone regions like Himalaya for better design of buildings. The ground parameters recorded in recent earthquake event and aftershocks are compared with attenuation relations for the Himalayan region, the predicted ground motion parameters show good correlation with the observed ground parameters. The results will be of great use to Civil engineers in updating existing building codes in the Himlayan and surrounding regions and also for the evaluation of seismic hazards. The results clearly show that the attenuation relation developed for the Himalayan region should be only used, other attenuation relations based on other regions fail to provide good estimate of observed ground motion parameters.

Prediction of site specific ground motion for large earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamae, Katsuhiro; Irikura, Kojiro; Fukuchi, Yasunaga.

1990-01-01

In this paper, we apply the semi-empirical synthesis method by IRIKURA (1983, 1986) to the estimation of site specific ground motion using accelerograms observed at Kumatori in Osaka prefecture. Target earthquakes used here are a comparatively distant earthquake (Δ=95 km, M=5.6) caused by the YAMASAKI fault and a near earthquake (Δ=27 km, M=5.6). The results obtained are as follows. 1) The accelerograms from the distant earthquake (M=5.6) are synthesized using the aftershock records (M=4.3) for 1983 YAMASAKI fault earthquake whose source parameters have been obtained by other authors from the hypocentral distribution of the aftershocks. The resultant synthetic motions show a good agreement with the observed ones. 2) The synthesis for a near earthquake (M=5.6, we call this target earthquake) are made using a small earthquake which occurred in the neighborhood of the target earthquake. Here, we apply two methods for giving the parameters for synthesis. One method is to use the parameters of YAMASAKI fault earthquake which has the same magnitude as the target earthquake, and the other is to use the parameters obtained from several existing empirical formulas. The resultant synthetic motion with the former parameters shows a good agreement with the observed one, but that with the latter does not. 3) We estimate the source parameters from the source spectra of several earthquakes which have been observed in this site. Consequently we find that the small earthquakes (M<4) as Green's functions should be carefully used because the stress drops are not constant. 4) We propose that we should designate not only the magnitudes but also seismic moments of the target earthquake and the small earthquake. (J.P.N.)

Earthquake ground-motion in presence of source and medium heterogeneities

KAUST Repository

Vyas, Jagdish Chandra

2017-01-01

This dissertation work investigates the effects of earthquake rupture complexity and heterogeneities in Earth structure on near-field ground-motions. More specifically, we address two key issues in seismology: (1) near-field ground-shaking variability as function of distance and azimuth for unilateral directive ruptures, and (2) impact of rupture complexity and seismic scattering on Mach wave coherence associated with supershear rupture propagation. We examine earthquake ground-motion variability associated with unilateral ruptures based on ground-motion simulations of the MW 7.3 1992 Landers earthquake, eight simplified source models, and a MW 7.8 rupture simulation (ShakeOut) for the San Andreas fault. Our numerical modeling reveals that the ground-shaking variability in near-fault distances (< 20 km) is larger than that given by empirical ground motion prediction equations. In addition, the variability decreases with increasing distance from the source, exhibiting a power-law decay. The high near-field variability can be explained by strong directivity effects whose influence weaken as we move away from the fault. At the same time, the slope of the power-law decay is found to be dominantly controlled by slip heterogeneity. Furthermore, the ground-shaking variability is high in the rupture propagation direction whereas low in the directions perpendicular to it. However, the variability expressed as a function of azimuth is not only sensitive to slip heterogeneity, but also to rupture velocity. To study Mach wave coherence for supershear ruptures, we consider heterogeneities in rupture parameters (variations in slip, rise time and rupture speed) and 3D scattering media having small-scale random heterogeneities. The Mach wave coherence is reduced at near-fault distances (< 10 km) by the source heterogeneities. At the larger distances from the source, medium scattering plays the dominant role in reducing the Mach wave coherence. Combined effect of the source and

A flatfile of ground motion intensity measurements from induced earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas

Science.gov (United States)

Rennolet, Steven B.; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Thompson, Eric M.; Yeck, William

2018-01-01

We have produced a uniformly processed database of orientation-independent (RotD50, RotD100) ground motion intensity measurements containing peak horizontal ground motions (accelerations and velocities) and 5-percent-damped pseudospectral accelerations (0.1–10 s) from more than 3,800 M ≥ 3 earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas that occurred between January 2009 and December 2016. Ground motion time series were collected from regional, national, and temporary seismic arrays out to 500 km. We relocated the majority of the earthquake hypocenters using a multiple-event relocation algorithm to produce a set of near-uniformly processed hypocentral locations. Ground motion processing followed standard methods, with the primary objective of reducing the effects of noise on the measurements. Regional wave-propagation features and the high seismicity rate required careful selection of signal windows to ensure that we captured the entire ground motion record and that contaminating signals from extraneous earthquakes did not contribute to the database. Processing was carried out with an automated scheme and resulted in a database comprising more than 174,000 records (https://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F73B5X8N). We anticipate that these results will be useful for improved understanding of earthquake ground motions and for seismic hazard applications.

Earthquake hazard zonation using peak ground acceleration (PGA) approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irwansyah, E; Winarko, E; Rasjid, Z E; Bekti, R D

2013-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop seismic hazard area zones in the building infrastructure of the Banda Aceh City Indonesia using peak ground acceleration (PGA) measured using global and local attenuation function. PGA is calculated using attenuation function that describes the correlation between the local ground movement intensity the earthquake magnitude and the distance from the earthquake's epicentre. The data used comes from the earthquake damage catalogue available from the Indonesia meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) with range from year 1973 – 2011. The research methodology consists of six steps, which is developing the grid, calculation of the distance from the epicentre to the centroid of the grid, calculation of PGA values, developing the computer application, plotting the PGA values to the centroid grid, and developing the earthquake hazard zones using kriging algorithm. The conclusion of this research is that the global attenuation function that was developed by [20] can be applied to calculate the PGA values in the city of Banda Aceh. Banda Aceh city in micro scale can be divided into three hazard zones which is low hazard zone with PGA value of 0.8767 gals up to 0.8780 gals, medium hazard zone with PGA values of 0.8781 up to 0.8793 gals and high hazard zone with PGA values of 0.8794 up to 0.8806 gals.

Evaluation of stability of foundation ground during earthquake, (1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishi, Koichi; Kanatani, Mamoru; Matsui, Ietaka; Touma, Jun-ichi

1986-01-01

The Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry has advanced the research on the new location technology for nuclear power stations in order to cope with the lack of sites expected in near future. The sites on rock mass are usually used for nuclear power stations, but the location on quaternary ground, particularly on gravel ground, is one of such new technology, to which attention has been paid. It has been pointed out that this location has the advantage in the earthquake response of reactor buildings and equipment, and the prospect to ensure the stability by lowering underground water level and pile penetration has been obtained, therefore, the possibility of its realization is high. At present, the research aiming at the establishment of the method of evaluating foundation ground stability is in progress, and it is expected that the quantitative evaluation means for the aseismatic stability of quaternary ground is obtained. In this paper, the analysis techniques for forecasting the amount of subsidence at the time of earthquakes occurring accompanying the generation of excessive pore water pressure and its disappearance are reported. Also the applicability of the forecasting techniques was experimentally verified. (Kako, I.)

A Hybrid Ground-Motion Prediction Equation for Earthquakes in Western Alberta

Science.gov (United States)

Spriggs, N.; Yenier, E.; Law, A.; Moores, A. O.

2015-12-01

Estimation of ground-motion amplitudes that may be produced by future earthquakes constitutes the foundation of seismic hazard assessment and earthquake-resistant structural design. This is typically done by using a prediction equation that quantifies amplitudes as a function of key seismological variables such as magnitude, distance and site condition. In this study, we develop a hybrid empirical prediction equation for earthquakes in western Alberta, where evaluation of seismic hazard associated with induced seismicity is of particular interest. We use peak ground motions and response spectra from recorded seismic events to model the regional source and attenuation attributes. The available empirical data is limited in the magnitude range of engineering interest (M>4). Therefore, we combine empirical data with a simulation-based model in order to obtain seismologically informed predictions for moderate-to-large magnitude events. The methodology is two-fold. First, we investigate the shape of geometrical spreading in Alberta. We supplement the seismic data with ground motions obtained from mining/quarry blasts, in order to gain insights into the regional attenuation over a wide distance range. A comparison of ground-motion amplitudes for earthquakes and mining/quarry blasts show that both event types decay at similar rates with distance and demonstrate a significant Moho-bounce effect. In the second stage, we calibrate the source and attenuation parameters of a simulation-based prediction equation to match the available amplitude data from seismic events. We model the geometrical spreading using a trilinear function with attenuation rates obtained from the first stage, and calculate coefficients of anelastic attenuation and site amplification via regression analysis. This provides a hybrid ground-motion prediction equation that is calibrated for observed motions in western Alberta and is applicable to moderate-to-large magnitude events.

Ground failure in the 2001 Mw 8.4 southern Peru earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Rondinel-Oviedo, Efrain Alejandro

On June 23rd 2001 a moment magnitude (M W) 8.4, earthquake shook the southern portion of Peru. This rare large-magnitude event provided a unique opportunity to develop a suite of high quality case histories and also to test and calibrate existing geotechnical earthquake engineering analysis procedures and models against observations from the earthquake. The work presented in this thesis is focused on three topics pertaining to ground failure (i.e., the permanent deformation of the ground resulting from an earthquake) observed during the event: (1) surface ground damage in small basin geometries, (2) seismic compression, and (3) performance of a concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRD) dam. Surface ground strain damage patterns in small basin geometries has previously been typically studied at the large (i.e., geological) scale, but not at the scale of civil engineering infrastructure. During seismic events basin geometries containing soft material confined by stiffer material trap the seismic waves and generate surface waves that travel on the ground along the soft material. Numerical modeling shows that surface waves are generated at basin edges and travel on the ground creating higher duration, higher response (peak ground acceleration, PGA), higher energy (Arias Intensity) and higher angular distortion, especially in zones close to the edges. The impedance contrast between the stiff material and the soft material, and the dip angle play an important role in basin response. Seismic compression (i.e., the shaking induced densification of unsaturated soil) was observed in many highway embankments in the region of the earthquake. In many instances, this phenomenon was exasperated by soil-structure interaction with adjacent bridge or culvert structures. Numerical modeling conducted as part of this research showed (i) a significantly different response when the structure (culvert) is considered, (ii) impedance contrast plays a role in the system responses, and (iii) low

Response of base isolated structure during strong ground motions beyond design earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yabana, Shuichi; Ishida, Katsuhiko; Shiojiri, Hiroo

1991-01-01

In Japan, some base isolated structures for fast breeder reactors (FBR) are tried to design. When a base isolated structure are designed, the relative displacement of isolators are generally limited so sa to be remain in linear state of those during design earthquakes. But to estimate safety margin of a base isolated structure, the response of that until the failure must be obtained experimentally to analytically during strong ground motions of beyond design earthquake. The aim of this paper is to investigate the response of a base isolated structure when the stiffness of the isolators hardens and to simulate the response during strong ground motions of beyond design earthquakes. The optimum characteristics of isolators, with which the margin of the structure are increased, are discussed. (author)

Chapter A. The Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989 - Strong Ground Motion

Science.gov (United States)

Borcherdt, Roger D.

1994-01-01

Strong ground motion generated by the Loma Prieta, Calif., earthquake (MS~7.1) of October 17, 1989, resulted in at least 63 deaths, more than 3,757 injuries, and damage estimated to exceed $5.9 billion. Strong ground motion severely damaged critical lifelines (freeway overpasses, bridges, and pipelines), caused severe damage to poorly constructed buildings, and induced a significant number of ground failures associated with liquefaction and landsliding. It also caused a significant proportion of the damage and loss of life at distances as far as 100 km from the epicenter. Consequently, understanding the characteristics of the strong ground motion associated with the earthquake is fundamental to understanding the earthquake's devastating impact on society. The papers assembled in this chapter address this problem. Damage to vulnerable structures from the earthquake varied substantially with the distance from the causative fault and the type of underlying geologic deposits. Most of the damage and loss of life occurred in areas underlain by 'soft soil'. Quantifying these effects is important for understanding the tragic concentrations of damage in such areas as Santa Cruz and the Marina and Embarcadero Districts of San Francisco, and the failures of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Interstate Highway 880 overpass. Most importantly, understanding these effects is a necessary prerequisite for improving mitigation measures for larger earthquakes likely to occur much closer to densely urbanized areas in the San Francisco Bay region. The earthquake generated an especially important data set for understanding variations in the severity of strong ground motion. Instrumental strong-motion recordings were obtained at 131 sites located from about 6 to 175 km from the rupture zone. This set of recordings, the largest yet collected for an event of this size, was obtained from sites on various geologic deposits, including a unique set on 'soft soil' deposits

Exceptional Ground Accelerations and Velocities Caused by Earthquakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson, John

2008-01-17

This project aims to understand the characteristics of the free-field strong-motion records that have yielded the 100 largest peak accelerations and the 100 largest peak velocities recorded to date. The peak is defined as the maximum magnitude of the acceleration or velocity vector during the strong shaking. This compilation includes 35 records with peak acceleration greater than gravity, and 41 records with peak velocities greater than 100 cm/s. The results represent an estimated 150,000 instrument-years of strong-motion recordings. The mean horizontal acceleration or velocity, as used for the NGA ground motion models, is typically 0.76 times the magnitude of this vector peak. Accelerations in the top 100 come from earthquakes as small as magnitude 5, while velocities in the top 100 all come from earthquakes with magnitude 6 or larger. Records are dominated by crustal earthquakes with thrust, oblique-thrust, or strike-slip mechanisms. Normal faulting mechanisms in crustal earthquakes constitute under 5% of the records in the databases searched, and an even smaller percentage of the exceptional records. All NEHRP site categories have contributed exceptional records, in proportions similar to the extent that they are represented in the larger database.

Source mechanism inversion and ground motion modeling of induced earthquakes in Kuwait - A Bayesian approach

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, C.; Toksoz, M. N.; Marzouk, Y.; Al-Enezi, A.; Al-Jeri, F.; Buyukozturk, O.

2016-12-01

The increasing seismic activity in the regions of oil/gas fields due to fluid injection/extraction and hydraulic fracturing has drawn new attention in both academia and industry. Source mechanism and triggering stress of these induced earthquakes are of great importance for understanding the physics of the seismic processes in reservoirs, and predicting ground motion in the vicinity of oil/gas fields. The induced seismicity data in our study are from Kuwait National Seismic Network (KNSN). Historically, Kuwait has low local seismicity; however, in recent years the KNSN has monitored more and more local earthquakes. Since 1997, the KNSN has recorded more than 1000 earthquakes (Mw Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and KNSN, and widely felt by people in Kuwait. These earthquakes happen repeatedly in the same locations close to the oil/gas fields in Kuwait (see the uploaded image). The earthquakes are generally small (Mw stress of these earthquakes was calculated based on the source mechanisms results. In addition, we modeled the ground motion in Kuwait due to these local earthquakes. Our results show that most likely these local earthquakes occurred on pre-existing faults and were triggered by oil field activities. These events are generally smaller than Mw 5; however, these events, occurring in the reservoirs, are very shallow with focal depths less than about 4 km. As a result, in Kuwait, where oil fields are close to populated areas, these induced earthquakes could produce ground accelerations high enough to cause damage to local structures without using seismic design criteria.

Statistical analysis of earthquake ground motion parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-12-01

Several earthquake ground response parameters that define the strength, duration, and frequency content of the motions are investigated using regression analyses techniques; these techniques incorporate statistical significance testing to establish the terms in the regression equations. The parameters investigated are the peak acceleration, velocity, and displacement; Arias intensity; spectrum intensity; bracketed duration; Trifunac-Brady duration; and response spectral amplitudes. The study provides insight into how these parameters are affected by magnitude, epicentral distance, local site conditions, direction of motion (i.e., whether horizontal or vertical), and earthquake event type. The results are presented in a form so as to facilitate their use in the development of seismic input criteria for nuclear plants and other major structures. They are also compared with results from prior investigations that have been used in the past in the criteria development for such facilities

Bayesian hierarchical model for variations in earthquake peak ground acceleration within small-aperture arrays

KAUST Repository

Rahpeyma, Sahar

2018-04-17

Knowledge of the characteristics of earthquake ground motion is fundamental for earthquake hazard assessments. Over small distances, relative to the source–site distance, where uniform site conditions are expected, the ground motion variability is also expected to be insignificant. However, despite being located on what has been characterized as a uniform lava‐rock site condition, considerable peak ground acceleration (PGA) variations were observed on stations of a small‐aperture array (covering approximately 1 km2) of accelerographs in Southwest Iceland during the Ölfus earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on May 29, 2008 and its sequence of aftershocks. We propose a novel Bayesian hierarchical model for the PGA variations accounting separately for earthquake event effects, station effects, and event‐station effects. An efficient posterior inference scheme based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations is proposed for the new model. The variance of the station effect is certainly different from zero according to the posterior density, indicating that individual station effects are different from one another. The Bayesian hierarchical model thus captures the observed PGA variations and quantifies to what extent the source and recording sites contribute to the overall variation in ground motions over relatively small distances on the lava‐rock site condition.

Bayesian hierarchical model for variations in earthquake peak ground acceleration within small-aperture arrays

KAUST Repository

Rahpeyma, Sahar; Halldorsson, Benedikt; Hrafnkelsson, Birgir; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2018-01-01

Knowledge of the characteristics of earthquake ground motion is fundamental for earthquake hazard assessments. Over small distances, relative to the source–site distance, where uniform site conditions are expected, the ground motion variability is also expected to be insignificant. However, despite being located on what has been characterized as a uniform lava‐rock site condition, considerable peak ground acceleration (PGA) variations were observed on stations of a small‐aperture array (covering approximately 1 km2) of accelerographs in Southwest Iceland during the Ölfus earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on May 29, 2008 and its sequence of aftershocks. We propose a novel Bayesian hierarchical model for the PGA variations accounting separately for earthquake event effects, station effects, and event‐station effects. An efficient posterior inference scheme based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations is proposed for the new model. The variance of the station effect is certainly different from zero according to the posterior density, indicating that individual station effects are different from one another. The Bayesian hierarchical model thus captures the observed PGA variations and quantifies to what extent the source and recording sites contribute to the overall variation in ground motions over relatively small distances on the lava‐rock site condition.

Ground motion modeling of Hayward fault scenario earthquakes II:Simulation of long-period and broadband ground motions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aagaard, B T; Graves, R W; Rodgers, A; Brocher, T M; Simpson, R W; Dreger, D; Petersson, N A; Larsen, S C; Ma, S; Jachens, R C

2009-11-04

We simulate long-period (T > 1.0-2.0 s) and broadband (T > 0.1 s) ground motions for 39 scenarios earthquakes (Mw 6.7-7.2) involving the Hayward, Calaveras, and Rodgers Creek faults. For rupture on the Hayward fault we consider the effects of creep on coseismic slip using two different approaches, both of which reduce the ground motions compared with neglecting the influence of creep. Nevertheless, the scenario earthquakes generate strong shaking throughout the San Francisco Bay area with about 50% of the urban area experiencing MMI VII or greater for the magnitude 7.0 scenario events. Long-period simulations of the 2007 Mw 4.18 Oakland and 2007 Mw 4.5 Alum Rock earthquakes show that the USGS Bay Area Velocity Model version 08.3.0 permits simulation of the amplitude and duration of shaking throughout the San Francisco Bay area, with the greatest accuracy in the Santa Clara Valley (San Jose area). The ground motions exhibit a strong sensitivity to the rupture length (or magnitude), hypocenter (or rupture directivity), and slip distribution. The ground motions display a much weaker sensitivity to the rise time and rupture speed. Peak velocities, peak accelerations, and spectral accelerations from the synthetic broadband ground motions are, on average, slightly higher than the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) ground-motion prediction equations. We attribute at least some of this difference to the relatively narrow width of the Hayward fault ruptures. The simulations suggest that the Spudich and Chiou (2008) directivity corrections to the NGA relations could be improved by including a dependence on the rupture speed and increasing the areal extent of rupture directivity with period. The simulations also indicate that the NGA relations may under-predict amplification in shallow sedimentary basins.

Design basis earthquakes for critical industrial facilities and their characteristics, and the Southern Hyogo prefecture earthquake, 17 January 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shibata, Heki

1998-12-01

This paper deals with how to establish the concept of the design basis earthquake (DBE) for critical industrial facilities such as nuclear power plants in consideration of disasters such as the Southern Hyogo prefecture earthquake, the so-called Kobe earthquake in 1995. The author once discussed various DBEs at the 7th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. At that time, the author assumed that the strongest effective PGA would be 0.7 G, and compared the values of accelerations of a structure obtained by various codes in Japan and other countries. The maximum PGA observed by an instrument at the Southern Hyogo prefecture earthquake in 1995 exceeded the previous assumption of the author, even though the results of the previous paper had been pessimistic. According to the experience of the Kobe event, the author will point out the necessity of the third earthquake S{sub s} adding to S{sub 1} and S{sub 2} of previous DBEs.

Expectable Earthquakes and their ground motions in the Van Norman Reservoirs Area

Science.gov (United States)

Wesson, R.L.; Page, R.A.; Boore, D.M.; Yerkes, R.F.

1974-01-01

The upper and lower Van Norman dams, in northwesternmost San Fernando Valley about 20 mi (32 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, were severely damaged during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. An investigation of the geologic-seismologic setting of the Van Norman area indicates that an earthquake of at least M 7.7 may be expected in the Van Norman area. The expectable transitory effects in the Van Norman area of such an earthquake are as follows: peak horizontal acceleration of at least 1.15 g, peak velocity of displacement of 4.43 ft/sec (135 cm/sec), peak displacement of 2.3 ft (70 cm), and duration of shaking at accelerations greater than 0.05 g, 40 sec. A great earthquake (M 8+) on the San Andreas fault, 25 mi distant, also is expectable. Transitory effects in the Van Norman area from such an earthquake are estimated as follows: peak horizontal acceleration of 0.5 g, peak velocity of 1.97 ft/sec (60 cm/sec), displacement of 1.31 ft (40 cm), and duration of shaking at accelerations greater than 0.05 g, 80 sec. The permanent effects of the expectable local earthquake could include simultaneous fault movement at the lower damsite, the upper damsite, and the site proposed for a replacement dam halfway between the upper and lower dams. The maximum differential displacements due to such movements are estimated at 16.4 ft (5 m) at the lower damsite and about 9.6 ft (2.93 m) at the upper and proposed damsites. The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (M 6?) was accompanied by the most intense ground motions ever recorded instrumentally for a natural earthquake. At the lower Van Norman dam, horizontal accelerations exceeded 0.6 g, and shaking greater than 0.25 g lasted for about 13 see; at Pacoima dam, 6 mi (10 km) northeast of the lower dam, high-frequency peak horizontal accelerations of 1.25 g were recorded in two directions, and shaking greater than 0.25 g lasted for about 7 sec. Permanent effects of the earthquake include slope failures in the embankments of the upper

Earthquake ground-motion in presence of source and medium heterogeneities

KAUST Repository

Vyas, Jagdish Chandra

2017-01-01

-motion variability associated with unilateral ruptures based on ground-motion simulations of the MW 7.3 1992 Landers earthquake, eight simplified source models, and a MW 7.8 rupture simulation (ShakeOut) for the San Andreas fault. Our numerical modeling reveals

A cooperative NRC/CEA research project on earthquake ground motion on soil sites: overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, A.J.; Mohammadioun, B.

1989-10-01

This paper provides an overview of a multi-phase experiment being conducted jointly by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique. The objective of the experiment is to collect a comprehensive set of data on the propagation of earthquake ground motions vertically through a shallow soil column (on the order of several tens of meters). The data will be used to validate several of the available engineering computer codes for modeling earthquake ground motion. The data set will also be used to develop an improved understanding of the earthquake source function and the potential for non-linear effects controlling the propagation through the shallow soil column

Our response to the earthquake at Onagawa Nuclear Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirakawa, Tomoshi

2008-01-01

When the Miyagi Offshore earthquake occurred on August 16, 2005, all three units at the Onagawa NPS were shut down automatically according to the Strong Seismic Acceleration' signal. Our inspection after the earthquake confirmed there was no damage to the equipment of the nuclear power plants, but the analysis of the response spectrum observed at the bedrock showed the earthquake had exceeded the 'design-basis earthquake', at certain periods, so that we implemented a review of the seismic safety of plant facilities. In the review, the ground motion of Miyagi Offshore Earthquake which are predicted to occur in the near future were reexamined based on the observation data, and then 'The Ground Motion for Safety Check' surpassing the supposed ground motion of the largest earthquake was established. The seismic safety of plant facilities, important for safety, was assured. At present, No.1 to No.3 units at Onagawa NPS have returned to normal operation. (author)

Facts learnt from the Hanshin-Awaji disaster and consideration on design basis earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibata, Heki

1997-01-01

This paper will deal with how to establish the concept of the design basis earthquake for critical industrial facilities such as nuclear power plants in consideration of disasters induced by the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake (Southern Hyogo-prefecture Earthquake-1995), so-called Kobe earthquake. The author once discussed various DBEs at 7 WCEE. At that time, the author assumed that the strongest effective PGA would be 0.7 G, and compared to the values of accelerations to a structure obtained by various codes in Japan and other countries. The maximum PGA observed by an instrument at the Southern Hyogo-pref. Earthquake-1995 exceeded the previous assumption of the author, even though the evaluation results of the previous paper had been pessimistic. According to the experience of Kobe event, the author will point out the necessity of the third earthquake S s adding to S 1 and S 2 , previous DBEs. (author)

Comparison of the inelastic response of steel building frames to strong earthquake and underground nuclear explosion ground motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murray, R.C.; Tokarz, F.J.

1976-01-01

Analytic studies were made of the adequacy of simulating earthquake effects at the Nevada Test Site for structural testing purposes. It is concluded that underground nuclear explosion ground motion will produce inelastic behavior and damage comparable to that produced by strong earthquakes. The generally longer duration of earthquakes compared with underground nuclear explosions does not appear to significantly affect the structural behavior of the building frames considered. A comparison of maximum ductility ratios, maximum story drifts, and maximum displacement indicate similar structural behavior for both types of ground motion. Low yield (10 - kt) underground nuclear explosions are capable of producing inelastic behavior in large structures. Ground motion produced by underground nuclear explosions can produce inelastic earthquake-like effects in large structures and could be used for testing large structures in the inelastic response regime. The Nevada Test Site is a feasible earthquake simulator for testing large structures

Widespread ground motion distribution caused by rupture directivity during the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Koketsu, Kazuki; Miyake, Hiroe; Guo, Yujia; Kobayashi, Hiroaki; Masuda, Tetsu; Davuluri, Srinagesh; Bhattarai, Mukunda; Adhikari, Lok Bijaya; Sapkota, Soma Nath

2016-06-01

The ground motion and damage caused by the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake can be characterized by their widespread distributions to the east. Evidence from strong ground motions, regional acceleration duration, and teleseismic waveforms indicate that rupture directivity contributed significantly to these distributions. This phenomenon has been thought to occur only if a strike-slip or dip-slip rupture propagates to a site in the along-strike or updip direction, respectively. However, even though the earthquake was a dip-slip faulting event and its source fault strike was nearly eastward, evidence for rupture directivity is found in the eastward direction. Here, we explore the reasons for this apparent inconsistency by performing a joint source inversion of seismic and geodetic datasets, and conducting ground motion simulations. The results indicate that the earthquake occurred on the underthrusting Indian lithosphere, with a low dip angle, and that the fault rupture propagated in the along-strike direction at a velocity just slightly below the S-wave velocity. This low dip angle and fast rupture velocity produced rupture directivity in the along-strike direction, which caused widespread ground motion distribution and significant damage extending far eastwards, from central Nepal to Mount Everest.

Near-fault earthquake ground motion prediction by a high-performance spectral element numerical code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paolucci, Roberto; Stupazzini, Marco

2008-01-01

Near-fault effects have been widely recognised to produce specific features of earthquake ground motion, that cannot be reliably predicted by 1D seismic wave propagation modelling, used as a standard in engineering applications. These features may have a relevant impact on the structural response, especially in the nonlinear range, that is hard to predict and to be put in a design format, due to the scarcity of significant earthquake records and of reliable numerical simulations. In this contribution a pilot study is presented for the evaluation of seismic ground-motions in the near-fault region, based on a high-performance numerical code for 3D seismic wave propagation analyses, including the seismic fault, the wave propagation path and the near-surface geological or topographical irregularity. For this purpose, the software package GeoELSE is adopted, based on the spectral element method. The set-up of the numerical benchmark of 3D ground motion simulation in the valley of Grenoble (French Alps) is chosen to study the effect of the complex interaction between basin geometry and radiation mechanism on the variability of earthquake ground motion

Earthquake cycle modeling of multi-segmented faults: dynamic rupture and ground motion simulation of the 1992 Mw 7.3 Landers earthquake.

Science.gov (United States)

Petukhin, A.; Galvez, P.; Somerville, P.; Ampuero, J. P.

2017-12-01

We perform earthquake cycle simulations to study the characteristics of source scaling relations and strong ground motions and in multi-segmented fault ruptures. For earthquake cycle modeling, a quasi-dynamic solver (QDYN, Luo et al, 2016) is used to nucleate events and the fully dynamic solver (SPECFEM3D, Galvez et al., 2014, 2016) is used to simulate earthquake ruptures. The Mw 7.3 Landers earthquake has been chosen as a target earthquake to validate our methodology. The SCEC fault geometry for the three-segmented Landers rupture is included and extended at both ends to a total length of 200 km. We followed the 2-D spatial correlated Dc distributions based on Hillers et. al. (2007) that associates Dc distribution with different degrees of fault maturity. The fault maturity is related to the variability of Dc on a microscopic scale. Large variations of Dc represents immature faults and lower variations of Dc represents mature faults. Moreover we impose a taper (a-b) at the fault edges and limit the fault depth to 15 km. Using these settings, earthquake cycle simulations are performed to nucleate seismic events on different sections of the fault, and dynamic rupture modeling is used to propagate the ruptures. The fault segmentation brings complexity into the rupture process. For instance, the change of strike between fault segments enhances strong variations of stress. In fact, Oglesby and Mai (2012) show the normal stress varies from positive (clamping) to negative (unclamping) between fault segments, which leads to favorable or unfavorable conditions for rupture growth. To replicate these complexities and the effect of fault segmentation in the rupture process, we perform earthquake cycles with dynamic rupture modeling and generate events similar to the Mw 7.3 Landers earthquake. We extract the asperities of these events and analyze the scaling relations between rupture area, average slip and combined area of asperities versus moment magnitude. Finally, the

Broadband Ground Motion Observation and Simulation for the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Miyake, H.; Chimoto, K.; Yamanaka, H.; Tsuno, S.; Korenaga, M.; Yamada, N.; Matsushima, T.; Miyakawa, K.

2016-12-01

During the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, strong motion data were widely recorded by the permanent dense triggered strong motion network of K-NET/KiK-net and seismic intensity meters installed by local government and JMA. Seismic intensities close to the MMI 9-10 are recorded twice at the Mashiki town, and once at the Nishihara village and KiK-net Mashiki (KMMH16 ground surface). Near-fault records indicate extreme ground motion exceeding 400 cm/s in 5% pSv at a period of 1 s for the Mashiki town and 3-4 s for the Nishihara village. Fault parallel velocity components are larger between the Mashiki town and the Nishihara village, on the other hand, fault normal velocity components are larger inside the caldera of the Aso volcano. The former indicates rupture passed through along-strike stations, and the latter stations located at the forward rupture direction (e.g., Miyatake, 1999). In addition to the permanent observation, temporary continuous strong motion stations were installed just after the earthquake in the Kumamoto city, Mashiki town, Nishihara village, Minami-Aso village, and Aso town, (e.g., Chimoto et al., 2016; Tsuno et al., 2016; Yamanaka et al. 2016). This study performs to estimate strong motion generation areas for the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence using the empirical Green's function method, then to simulate broadband ground motions for both the permanent and temporary strong motion stations. Currently the target period range is between 0.1 s to 5-10 s due to the signal-to-noise ratio of element earthquakes used for the empirical Green's functions. We also care fault dimension parameters N within 4 to 10 to avoid spectral sags and artificial periodicity. The simulated seismic intensities as well as fault normal and parallel velocity components will be discussed.

Facts learnt from the Hanshin-Awaji disaster and consideration on design basis earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shibata, Heki [Yokohama National Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Engineering

1997-03-01

This paper will deal with how to establish the concept of the design basis earthquake for critical industrial facilities such as nuclear power plants in consideration of disasters induced by the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake (Southern Hyogo-prefecture Earthquake-1995), so-called Kobe earthquake. The author once discussed various DBEs at 7 WCEE. At that time, the author assumed that the strongest effective PGA would be 0.7 G, and compared to the values of accelerations to a structure obtained by various codes in Japan and other countries. The maximum PGA observed by an instrument at the Southern Hyogo-pref. Earthquake-1995 exceeded the previous assumption of the author, even though the evaluation results of the previous paper had been pessimistic. According to the experience of Kobe event, the author will point out the necessity of the third earthquake S{sub s} adding to S{sub 1} and S{sub 2}, previous DBEs. (author)

Effects of earthquake rupture shallowness and local soil conditions on simulated ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apsel, Randy J.; Hadley, David M.; Hart, Robert S.

1983-03-01

The paucity of strong ground motion data in the Eastern U.S. (EUS), combined with well recognized differences in earthquake source depths and wave propagation characteristics between Eastern and Western U.S. (WUS) suggests that simulation studies will play a key role in assessing earthquake hazard in the East. This report summarizes an extensive simulation study of 5460 components of ground motion representing a model parameter study for magnitude, distance, source orientation, source depth and near-surface site conditions for a generic EUS crustal model. The simulation methodology represents a hybrid approach to modeling strong ground motion. Wave propagation is modeled with an efficient frequency-wavenumber integration algorithm. The source time function used for each grid element of a modeled fault is empirical, scaled from near-field accelerograms. This study finds that each model parameter has a significant influence on both the shape and amplitude of the simulated response spectra. The combined effect of all parameters predicts a dispersion of response spectral values that is consistent with strong ground motion observations. This study provides guidelines for scaling WUS data from shallow earthquakes to the source depth conditions more typical in the EUS. The modeled site conditions range from very soft soil to hard rock. To the extent that these general site conditions model a specific site, the simulated response spectral information can be used to either correct spectra to a site-specific environment or used to compare expected ground motions at different sites. (author)

Ground-motion modeling of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, part I: Validation using the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Aagaard, Brad T.; Brocher, T.M.; Dolenc, D.; Dreger, D.; Graves, R.W.; Harmsen, S.; Hartzell, S.; Larsen, S.; Zoback, M.L.

2008-01-01

We compute ground motions for the Beroza (1991) and Wald et al. (1991) source models of the 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake using four different wave-propagation codes and recently developed 3D geologic and seismic velocity models. In preparation for modeling the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, we use this well-recorded earthquake to characterize how well our ground-motion simulations reproduce the observed shaking intensities and amplitude and durations of recorded motions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. All of the simulations generate ground motions consistent with the large-scale spatial variations in shaking associated with rupture directivity and the geologic structure. We attribute the small variations among the synthetics to the minimum shear-wave speed permitted in the simulations and how they accommodate topography. Our long-period simulations, on average, under predict shaking intensities by about one-half modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) units (25%-35% in peak velocity), while our broadband simulations, on average, under predict the shaking intensities by one-fourth MMI units (16% in peak velocity). Discrepancies with observations arise due to errors in the source models and geologic structure. The consistency in the synthetic waveforms across the wave-propagation codes for a given source model suggests the uncertainty in the source parameters tends to exceed the uncertainty in the seismic velocity structure. In agreement with earlier studies, we find that a source model with slip more evenly distributed northwest and southeast of the hypocenter would be preferable to both the Beroza and Wald source models. Although the new 3D seismic velocity model improves upon previous velocity models, we identify two areas needing improvement. Nevertheless, we find that the seismic velocity model and the wave-propagation codes are suitable for modeling the 1906 earthquake and scenario events in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ground motions estimates for a cascadia earthquake from liquefaction evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Dickenson, S.E.; Obermeier, S.F.

1998-01-01

Paleoseismic studies conducted in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest in the past decade have revealed evidence of crustal downdropping and subsequent tsunami inundation, attributable to a large earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone which occurred approximately 300 years ago, and most likely in 1700 AD. In order to characterize the severity of ground motions from this earthquake, we report on results of a field search for seismically induced liquefaction features. The search was made chiefly along the coastal portions of several river valleys in Washington, rivers along the central Oregon coast, as well as on islands in the Columbia River of Oregon and Washington. In this paper we focus only on the results of the Columbia River investigation. Numerous liquefaction features were found in some regions, but not in others. The regional distribution of liquefaction features is evaluated as a function of geologic and geotechnical factors at each site in order to estimate the intensity of ground shaking.

Rapid earthquake hazard and loss assessment for Euro-Mediterranean region

Science.gov (United States)

Erdik, Mustafa; Sesetyan, Karin; Demircioglu, Mine; Hancilar, Ufuk; Zulfikar, Can; Cakti, Eser; Kamer, Yaver; Yenidogan, Cem; Tuzun, Cuneyt; Cagnan, Zehra; Harmandar, Ebru

2010-10-01

The almost-real time estimation of ground shaking and losses after a major earthquake in the Euro-Mediterranean region was performed in the framework of the Joint Research Activity 3 (JRA-3) component of the EU FP6 Project entitled "Network of Research Infra-structures for European Seismology, NERIES". This project consists of finding the most likely location of the earthquake source by estimating the fault rupture parameters on the basis of rapid inversion of data from on-line regional broadband stations. It also includes an estimation of the spatial distribution of selected site-specific ground motion parameters at engineering bedrock through region-specific ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) or physical simulation of ground motion. By using the Earthquake Loss Estimation Routine (ELER) software, the multi-level methodology developed for real time estimation of losses is capable of incorporating regional variability and sources of uncertainty stemming from GMPEs, fault finiteness, site modifications, inventory of physical and social elements subjected to earthquake hazard and the associated vulnerability relationships.

Empirical ground-motion relations for subduction-zone earthquakes and their application to Cascadia and other regions

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, G.M.; Boore, D.M.

2003-01-01

Ground-motion relations for earthquakes that occur in subduction zones are an important input to seismic-hazard analyses in many parts of the world. In the Cascadia region (Washington, Oregon, northern California, and British Columbia), for example, there is a significant hazard from megathrust earthquakes along the subduction interface and from large events within the subducting slab. These hazards are in addition to the hazard from shallow earthquakes in the overlying crust. We have compiled a response spectra database from thousands of strong-motion recordings from events of moment magnitude (M) 5-8.3 occurring in subduction zones around the world, including both interface and in-slab events. The 2001 M 6.8 Nisqually and 1999 M 5.9 Satsop earthquakes are included in the database, as are many records from subduction zones in Japan (Kyoshin-Net data), Mexico (Guerrero data), and Central America. The size of the database is four times larger than that available for previous empirical regressions to determine ground-motion relations for subduction-zone earthquakes. The large dataset enables improved determination of attenuation parameters and magnitude scaling, for both interface and in-slab events. Soil response parameters are also better determined by the data. We use the database to develop global ground-motion relations for interface and in-slab earthquakes, using a maximum likelihood regression method. We analyze regional variability of ground-motion amplitudes across the global database and find that there are significant regional differences. In particular, amplitudes in Cascadia differ by more than a factor of 2 from those in Japan for the same magnitude, distance, event type, and National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) soil class. This is believed to be due to regional differences in the depth of the soil profile, which are not captured by the NEHRP site classification scheme. Regional correction factors to account for these differences are

Development of Probabilistic Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) Parameters for Moderate and High Hazard Facilities at INEEL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Payne, S. M.; Gorman, V. W.; Jensen, S. A.; Nitzel, M. E.; Russell, M. J.; Smith, R. P.

2000-01-01

Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) horizontal and vertical response spectra are developed for moderate and high hazard facilities or Performance Categories (PC) 3 and 4, respectively, at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The probabilistic DBE response spectra will replace the deterministic DBE response spectra currently in the U.S. Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) Architectural Engineering Standards that govern seismic design criteria for several facility areas at the INEEL. Probabilistic DBE response spectra are recommended to DOE Naval Reactors for use at the Naval Reactor Facility at INEEL. The site-specific Uniform Hazard Spectra (UHS) developed by URS Greiner Woodward Clyde Federal Services are used as the basis for developing the DBE response spectra. In 1999, the UHS for all INEEL facility areas were recomputed using more appropriate attenuation relationships for the Basin and Range province. The revised UHS have lower ground motions than those produced in the 1996 INEEL site-wide probabilistic ground motion study. The DBE response spectra were developed by incorporating smoothed broadened regions of the peak accelerations, velocities, and displacements defined by the site-specific UHS. Portions of the DBE response spectra were adjusted to ensure conservatism for the structural design process

Earthquake ground motion research in Sapporo city; Sapporoshi ni okeru jishindo no kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sasatani, T [Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Japan)

1997-10-22

The Research Group on Earthquake Ground Motion in Sapporo City established in May 1996 has inaugurated collection of information on ground structures and observations of strong earthquakes in Sapporo City. The Research Group on Earthquake Ground Motion in Sapporo City has carried out geological investigations, electric logging and PS logging to date in three boring holes each with a depth of about 100 m, 200 m and 600 m. According to the result of the logging in the new Ishikari Bay port (600-m deep hole), the S-wave velocity has increased slowly as it starts from the ground surface to greater depths, but showed no noticeable velocity boundaries in this range of the depth. The Sapporo municipal office has drilled three observation wells (500-m deep) for the purpose of determining focal points of microtremors directly under the city area. Hole-bottom observation has been inaugurated since the beginning of this year. According to comparison of the results of loggings at great depths, a depth at which the S-wave velocity reaches about 700 m/s becomes greater toward the sea area. The result of calculations on amplification characteristics of the SH wave on rock beds revealed that a seismic wave of about 0.5 Hz is amplified by a little more than two times. 1 ref., 5 figs., 1 tab.

Magnitude Estimation for Large Earthquakes from Borehole Recordings

Science.gov (United States)

Eshaghi, A.; Tiampo, K. F.; Ghofrani, H.; Atkinson, G.

2012-12-01

We present a simple and fast method for magnitude determination technique for earthquake and tsunami early warning systems based on strong ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) in Japan. This method incorporates borehole strong motion records provided by the Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net) stations. We analyzed strong ground motion data from large magnitude earthquakes (5.0 ≤ M ≤ 8.1) with focal depths < 50 km and epicentral distances of up to 400 km from 1996 to 2010. Using both peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) we derived GMPEs in Japan. These GMPEs are used as the basis for regional magnitude determination. Predicted magnitudes from PGA values (Mpga) and predicted magnitudes from PGV values (Mpgv) were defined. Mpga and Mpgv strongly correlate with the moment magnitude of the event, provided sufficient records for each event are available. The results show that Mpgv has a smaller standard deviation in comparison to Mpga when compared with the estimated magnitudes and provides a more accurate early assessment of earthquake magnitude. We test this new method to estimate the magnitude of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and we present the results of this estimation. PGA and PGV from borehole recordings allow us to estimate the magnitude of this event 156 s and 105 s after the earthquake onset, respectively. We demonstrate that the incorporation of borehole strong ground-motion records immediately available after the occurrence of large earthquakes significantly increases the accuracy of earthquake magnitude estimation and the associated improvement in earthquake and tsunami early warning systems performance. Moment magnitude versus predicted magnitude (Mpga and Mpgv).

The ShakeOut earthquake source and ground motion simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, R.W.; Houston, Douglas B.; Hudnut, K.W.

2011-01-01

The ShakeOut Scenario is premised upon the detailed description of a hypothetical Mw 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault and the associated simulated ground motions. The main features of the scenario, such as its endpoints, magnitude, and gross slip distribution, were defined through expert opinion and incorporated information from many previous studies. Slip at smaller length scales, rupture speed, and rise time were constrained using empirical relationships and experience gained from previous strong-motion modeling. Using this rupture description and a 3-D model of the crust, broadband ground motions were computed over a large region of Southern California. The largest simulated peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) generally range from 0.5 to 1.0 g and 100 to 250 cm/s, respectively, with the waveforms exhibiting strong directivity and basin effects. Use of a slip-predictable model results in a high static stress drop event and produces ground motions somewhat higher than median level predictions from NGA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs).

Earthquake Ground Motion Measures for Seismic Response Evaluation of Structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, In-Kil; Ahn, Seong-Moon; Choun, Young-Sun; Seo, Jeong-Moon

2007-03-15

This study used the assessment results of failure criteria - base shear, story drift, top acceleration and top displacement - for a PSC containment building subjected to 30 sets of near-fault ground motions to evaluate the earthquake ground motion intensity measures. Seven intensity measures, peak ground acceleration(PGA), peak ground velocity(PGV), spectral acceleration(Sa), velocity(Sv), spectrum intensity for acceleration(SIa), velocity(SIv) and displacement(SId), were used to represent alternative ground motion. The regression analyses of the failure criteria for a PSC containment building were carried out to evaluate a proper intensity measure by using two regression models and seven ground motion parameters. The regression analysis results demonstrate the correlation coefficients of the failure criteria in terms of the candidate IM. From the results, spectral acceleration(Sa) is estimated as the best parameter for a evaluation of the structural safety for a seismic PSA.

Effects of the northern Ohio earthquake on the Perry nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, J.D.

1987-01-01

On January 31, 1986 at 11:47 A.M. EST, a brief strong motion duration and shallow (10 km focal depth) earthquake with a 5.0 Richter magnitude occurred. Its epicenter was located near Leroy, Ohio which is south of Lake Erie, at a distance of approximately ten (10) miles from the Perry Nuclear Power Plant site at Perry, Ohio. The potential safety significance of the Leroy 1986 earthquake is that it produced a recorded component of earthquake motion zero period acceleration approximately equal to the 0.15g zero period ground acceleration defined as the Safe Shutdown Earthquake for the site. The Leroy 1986 earthquake is the first recorded instance in the U.S. of a nuclear power plant being subjected to some level of OBE exceedance. In general, the short duration and high frequency non-damaging character of the Leroy 1986 earthquake cannot be equated directly on the basis of peak ground acceleration alone with the longer duration, lower frequency content of earthquakes which are expected to do structural damage. However, all the available evidence suggests that the Leroy 1986 is not atypical of what might be expected earthquake activity in the area of the eastern U.S. with 1-10 year return periods. On this basis, it is essential that new methods be developed which properly characterized the damage potential of these types of earthquakes and not simply process the raw data associated with recorded peak acceleration as the basis of nuclear plant shutdown and potentially lengthly examination

Evaluation of seismic source, ground motion, tsunami based on the Tohoku earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

Our source models for the Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake either inferred using tsunami data or from seismic data are featured with large slip along the Japan Trench. Our results indicated that the tsunami water levels at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini NPPs were dominated by the large slip along the Japan Trench. Our analysis suggested that the difference in water levels at these two sites were caused by the waveform overlap effects due to delays of rupture starting times and wave propagation time. It also follows that the short period ground motions recorded during such an Mw9.0 mega thrust earthquake were comparable with those of an Mw8.0 earthquake. (author)

Deconvolution effect of near-fault earthquake ground motions on stochastic dynamic response of tunnel-soil deposit interaction systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Hacıefendioğlu

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The deconvolution effect of the near-fault earthquake ground motions on the stochastic dynamic response of tunnel-soil deposit interaction systems are investigated by using the finite element method. Two different earthquake input mechanisms are used to consider the deconvolution effects in the analyses: the standard rigid-base input and the deconvolved-base-rock input model. The Bolu tunnel in Turkey is chosen as a numerical example. As near-fault ground motions, 1999 Kocaeli earthquake ground motion is selected. The interface finite elements are used between tunnel and soil deposit. The mean of maximum values of quasi-static, dynamic and total responses obtained from the two input models are compared with each other.

Effect of earthquake and tsunami. Ground motion and tsunami observed at nuclear power station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hijikata, Katsuichirou

2012-01-01

Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Power Stations (NPSs) were struck by the earthquake off the pacific coast in the Tohoku District, which occurred at 14:46 on March 11, 2011. Afterwards, tsunamis struck the Tohoku District. In terms of the earthquake observed at the Fukushima NPSs, the acceleration response spectra of the earthquake movement observed on the basic board of reactor buildings exceeded the acceleration response spectra of the response acceleration to the standard seismic ground motion Ss for partial periodic bands at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS. As for the Fukushima Daini NPS, the acceleration response spectra of the earthquake movement observed on the basic board of the reactor buildings was below the acceleration response spectra of the response acceleration to the standard seismic ground motion Ss. Areas inundated by Tsunami at each NPS were investigated and tsunami inversion analysis was made to build tsunami source model to reproduce tide record, tsunami height, crustal movement and inundated area, based on tsunami observation records in the wide areas from Hokkaido to Chiba prefectures. Tsunami heights of Fukushima Daiichi and Daini NPSs were recalculated as O.P. +13m and +9m respectively and tsunami peak height difference was attributed to the extent of superposition of tsunami waves of tsunami earthquake type of wave source in the area along interplane trench off the coast in the Fukushima prefecture and interplane earthquake type of wave source in rather deep interplate area off the coast in the Miyagi prefecture. (T. Tanaka)

The design procedures on brick building against surface ground deformations due to mining and earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhong, J.; Yang, S. (China University of Mining and Technology (China))

1992-05-01

By analysing the effects of ground motion and deformation on surface buildings, and drawing on the experience of damages caused by the Tangshan and Chenhai earthquakes, the authors discuss the design of brick and concrete buildings which are protected against the damaging effects of both earthquakes and mining activities. 5 figs.

Liquefaction evidence for the strength of ground motions resulting from Late Holocene Cascadia subduction earthquakes, with emphasis on the event of 1700 A.D.

Science.gov (United States)

Obermeier, S.F.; Dickenson, S.E.

2000-01-01

During the past decade, paleoseismic studies done by many researchers in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest have shown that regional downdropping and subsequent tsunami inundation occurred in response to a major earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone. This earthquake occurred almost certainly in 1700 A.D., and is believed by many to have been of M 8.5-9 or perhaps larger. In order to characterize the severity of ground motions from this earthquake, we report on a field search and analysis of seismically induced liquefaction features. The search was conducted chiefly along the banks of islands in the lowermost Columbia River of Oregon and Washington and in stream banks along smaller rivers throughout southwestern Washington. To a lesser extent, the investigation included rivers in central Oregon. Numerous small- to moderate-sized liquefaction features from the earthquake of 1700 A.D. were found in some regions, but there was a notable lack of liquefaction features in others. The regional distribution of liquefaction features is evaluated as a function of geologic and geotechnical factors in different field settings near the coast. Our use of widely different field settings, each in which we independently assess the strength of shaking and arrive at the same conclusion, enhances the credibility of our interpretations. Our regional inventory of liquefaction features and preliminary geotechnical analysis of liquefaction potential provide substantial evidence for only moderate levels of ground shaking in coastal Washington and Oregon during the subduction earthquake of 1700 A.D. Additionally, it appears that a similar conclusion can be reached for an earlier subduction earthquake that occurred within the past 1100 years, which also has been characterized by others as being M 8 or greater. On the basis of more limited data for older events collected in our regional study, it appears that seismic shaking has been no stronger throughout Holocene time. Our

ARMA models for earthquake ground motions. Seismic Safety Margins Research Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Mark K.; Kwiatkowski, Jan W.; Nau, Robert F.; Oliver, Robert M.; Pister, Karl S.

1981-02-01

This report contains an analysis of four major California earthquake records using a class of discrete linear time-domain processes commonly referred to as ARMA (Autoregressive/Moving-Average) models. It has been possible to analyze these different earthquakes, identify the order of the appropriate ARMA model(s), estimate parameters and test the residuals generated by these models. It has also been possible to show the connections, similarities and differences between the traditional continuous models (with parameter estimates based on spectral analyses) and the discrete models with parameters estimated by various maximum likelihood techniques applied to digitized acceleration data in the time domain. The methodology proposed in this report is suitable for simulating earthquake ground motions in the time domain and appears to be easily adapted to serve as inputs for nonlinear discrete time models of structural motions. (author)

Seismic design technology for breeder reactor structures. Volume 1. Special topics in earthquake ground motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reddy, D.P.

1983-04-01

This report is divided into twelve chapters: seismic hazard analysis procedures, statistical and probabilistic considerations, vertical ground motion characteristics, vertical ground response spectrum shapes, effects of inclined rock strata on site response, correlation of ground response spectra with intensity, intensity attenuation relationships, peak ground acceleration in the very mean field, statistical analysis of response spectral amplitudes, contributions of body and surface waves, evaluation of ground motion characteristics, and design earthquake motions

On a method of evaluation of failure rate of equipment and pipings under excess-earthquake loadings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibata, H.; Okamura, H.

1979-01-01

This paper deals with a method of evaluation of the failure rate of equipment and pipings in nuclear power plants under an earthquake which is exceeding the design basis earthquake. If we put the ratio of the maximum ground acceleration of an earthquake to that of the design basis earthquake as n, then the failure rate or the probability of failure is the function of n as p(n). The purpose of this study is establishing the procedure of evaluation of the relation n vs. p(n). (orig.)

On the relation of earthquake stress drop and ground motion variability

Science.gov (United States)

Oth, Adrien; Miyake, Hiroe; Bindi, Dino

2017-07-01

One of the key parameters for earthquake source physics is stress drop since it can be directly linked to the spectral level of ground motion. Stress drop estimates from moment corner frequency analysis have been shown to be extremely variable, and this to a much larger degree than expected from the between-event ground motion variability. This discrepancy raises the question whether classically determined stress drop variability is too large, which would have significant consequences for seismic hazard analysis. We use a large high-quality data set from Japan with well-studied stress drop data to address this issue. Nonparametric and parametric reference ground motion models are derived, and the relation of between-event residuals for Japan Meteorological Agency equivalent seismic intensity and peak ground acceleration with stress drop is analyzed for crustal earthquakes. We find a clear correlation of the between-event residuals with stress drops estimates; however, while the island of Kyushu is characterized by substantially larger stress drops than Honshu, the between-event residuals do not reflect this observation, leading to the appearance of two event families with different stress drop levels yet similar range of between-event residuals. Both the within-family and between-family stress drop variations are larger than expected from the ground motion between-event variability. A systematic common analysis of these parameters holds the potential to provide important constraints on the relative robustness of different groups of data in the different parameter spaces and to improve our understanding on how much of the observed source parameter variability is likely to be true source physics variability.

Overview of the relations earthquake source parameters and the specification of strong ground motion for design purposes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernreuter, D.L.

1977-08-01

One of the most important steps in the seismic design process is the specification of the appropriate ground motion to be input into the design analysis. From the point-of-view of engineering design analysis, the important parameters are peak ground acceleration, spectral shape and peak spectral levels. In a few cases, ground displacement is a useful parameter. The earthquake is usually specified by giving its magnitude and either the epicentral distance or the distance of the closest point on the causitive fault to the site. Typically, the appropriate ground motion parameters are obtained using the specified magnitude and distance in equations obtained from regression analysis among the appropriate variables. Two major difficulties with such an approach are: magnitude is not the best parameter to use to define the strength of an earthquake, and little near-field data is available to establish the appropriate form for the attenuation of the ground motion with distance, source size and strength. These difficulties are important for designing a critical facility; i.e., one for which a very low risk of exceeding the design ground motion is required. Examples of such structures are nuclear power plants, schools and hospitals. for such facilities, a better understanding of the relation between the ground motion and the important earthquake source parameters could be very useful for several reasons

Data base pertinent to earthquake design basis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, R.D.

1988-01-01

Mitigation of earthquake risk from impending strong earthquakes is possible provided the hazard can be assessed, and translated into appropriate design inputs. This requires defining the seismic risk problem, isolating the risk factors and quantifying risk in terms of physical parameters, which are suitable for application in design. Like all other geological phenomena, past earthquakes hold the key to the understanding of future ones. Quantificatio n of seismic risk at a site calls for investigating the earthquake aspects of the site region and building a data base. The scope of such investigations is il lustrated in Figure 1 and 2. A more detailed definition of the earthquake problem in engineering design is given elsewhere (Sharma, 1987). The present document discusses the earthquake data base, which is required to support a seismic risk evaluation programme in the context of the existing state of the art. (author). 8 tables, 10 figs., 54 refs

Effect of vertical ground motion on earthquake-induced derailment of railway vehicles over simply-supported bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Zhibin; Pei, Shiling; Li, Xiaozhen; Liu, Hongyan; Qiang, Shizhong

2016-11-01

The running safety of railway vehicles on bridges can be negatively affected by earthquake events. This phenomenon has traditionally been investigated with only the lateral ground excitation component considered. This paper presented results from a numerical investigation on the contribution of vertical ground motion component to the derailment of vehicles on simply-supported bridges. A full nonlinear wheel-rail contact model was used in the investigation together with the Hertzian contact theory and nonlinear creepage theory, which allows the wheel to jump vertically and separate from the rail. The wheel-rail relative displacement was used as the criterion for derailment events. A total of 18 ground motion records were used in the analysis to account for the uncertainty of ground motions. The results showed that inclusion of vertical ground motion will likely increase the chance of derailment. It is recommended to include vertical ground motion component in earthquake induced derailment analysis to ensure conservative estimations. The derailment event on bridges was found to be more closely related to the deck acceleration rather than the ground acceleration.

The HayWired Earthquake Scenario—Earthquake Hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Detweiler, Shane T.; Wein, Anne M.

2017-04-24

The HayWired scenario is a hypothetical earthquake sequence that is being used to better understand hazards for the San Francisco Bay region during and after an earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Hayward Fault. The 2014 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities calculated that there is a 33-percent likelihood of a large (magnitude 6.7 or greater) earthquake occurring on the Hayward Fault within three decades. A large Hayward Fault earthquake will produce strong ground shaking, permanent displacement of the Earth’s surface, landslides, liquefaction (soils becoming liquid-like during shaking), and subsequent fault slip, known as afterslip, and earthquakes, known as aftershocks. The most recent large earthquake on the Hayward Fault occurred on October 21, 1868, and it ruptured the southern part of the fault. The 1868 magnitude-6.8 earthquake occurred when the San Francisco Bay region had far fewer people, buildings, and infrastructure (roads, communication lines, and utilities) than it does today, yet the strong ground shaking from the earthquake still caused significant building damage and loss of life. The next large Hayward Fault earthquake is anticipated to affect thousands of structures and disrupt the lives of millions of people. Earthquake risk in the San Francisco Bay region has been greatly reduced as a result of previous concerted efforts; for example, tens of billions of dollars of investment in strengthening infrastructure was motivated in large part by the 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake. To build on efforts to reduce earthquake risk in the San Francisco Bay region, the HayWired earthquake scenario comprehensively examines the earthquake hazards to help provide the crucial scientific information that the San Francisco Bay region can use to prepare for the next large earthquake, The HayWired Earthquake Scenario—Earthquake Hazards volume describes the strong ground shaking modeled in the scenario and the hazardous movements of

Lower bound earthquake magnitude for probabilistic seismic hazard evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCann, M.W. Jr.; Reed, J.W.

1990-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study that develops an engineering and seismological basis for selecting a lower-bound magnitude (LBM) for use in seismic hazard assessment. As part of a seismic hazard analysis the range of earthquake magnitudes that are included in the assessment of the probability of exceedance of ground motion must be defined. The upper-bound magnitude is established by earth science experts based on their interpretation of the maximum size of earthquakes that can be generated by a seismic source. The lower-bound or smallest earthquake that is considered in the analysis must also be specified. The LBM limits the earthquakes that are considered in assessing the probability that specified ground motion levels are exceeded. In the past there has not been a direct consideration of the appropriate LBM value that should be used in a seismic hazard assessment. This study specifically looks at the selection of a LBM for use in seismic hazard analyses that are input to the evaluation/design of nuclear power plants (NPPs). Topics addressed in the evaluation of a LBM are earthquake experience data at heavy industrial facilities, engineering characteristics of ground motions associated with small-magnitude earthquakes, probabilistic seismic risk assessments (seismic PRAs), and seismic margin evaluations. The results of this study and the recommendations concerning a LBM for use in seismic hazard assessments are discussed. (orig.)

Earthquake forewarning — A multidisciplinary challenge from the ground up to space

Science.gov (United States)

Freund, Friedemann

2013-08-01

Most destructive earthquakes nucleate at between 5-7 km and about 35-40 km depth. Before earthquakes, rocks are subjected to increasing stress. Not every stress increase leads to rupture. To understand pre-earthquake phenomena we note that igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks contain defects which, upon stressing, release defect electrons in the oxygen anion sublattice, known as positive holes. These charge carriers are highly mobile, able to flow out of stressed rocks into surrounding unstressed rocks. They form electric currents, which emit electromagnetic radiation, sometimes in pulses, sometimes sustained. The arrival of positive holes at the ground-air interface can lead to air ionization, often exclusively positive. Ionized air rising upward can lead to cloud condensation. The upward flow of positive ions can lead to instabilities in the mesosphere, to mesospheric lightning, to changes in the Total Electron Content (TEC) at the lower edge of the ionosphere, and electric field turbulences. Advances in deciphering the earthquake process can only be achieved in a broadly multidisciplinary spirit.

Earthquake ground motion simulation at Zoser pyramid using the stochastic method: A step toward the preservation of an ancient Egyptian heritage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amin E. Khalil

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Strong ground shaking during earthquakes can greatly affect the ancient monuments and subsequently demolish the human heritage. On October 12th 1992, a moderate earthquake (Ms = 5.8 shocked the greater Cairo area causing widespread damages. Unfortunately, the focus of that earthquake is located about 14 km to the south of Zoser pyramid. After the earthquake, the Egyptian Supreme council of antiquities issued an alarm that Zoser pyramid is partially collapsed and international and national efforts are exerted to restore this important human heritage that was built about 4000 years ago. Engineering and geophysical work is thus needed for the restoration process. The definition of the strong motion parameters is one of the required studies since seismically active zone is recorded in its near vicinity. The present study adopted the stochastic method to determine the peak ground motion (acceleration, velocity and displacement for the three largest earthquakes recorded in the Egypt’s seismological history. These earthquakes are Shedwan earthquake with magnitude Ms = 6.9, Aqaba earthquake with magnitude Mw = 7.2 and Cairo (Dahshour earthquake with magnitude Ms = 5.8. The former two major earthquakes took place few hundred kilometers away. It is logic to have the predominant effects from the epicentral location of the Cairo earthquake; however, the authors wanted to test also the long period effects of the large distance earthquakes expected from the other two earthquakes under consideration. In addition, the dynamic site response was studied using the Horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR technique. HVSR can provide information about the fundamental frequency successfully; however, the amplification estimation is not accepted. The result represented as either peak ground motion parameters or response spectra indicates that the effects from Cairo earthquake epicenter are the largest for all periods considered in the present study. The

Earthquake ground motion simulation at Zoser pyramid using the stochastic method: A step toward the preservation of an ancient Egyptian heritage

Science.gov (United States)

Khalil, Amin E.; Abdel Hafiez, H. E.; Girgis, Milad; Taha, M. A.

2017-06-01

Strong ground shaking during earthquakes can greatly affect the ancient monuments and subsequently demolish the human heritage. On October 12th 1992, a moderate earthquake (Ms = 5.8) shocked the greater Cairo area causing widespread damages. Unfortunately, the focus of that earthquake is located about 14 km to the south of Zoser pyramid. After the earthquake, the Egyptian Supreme council of antiquities issued an alarm that Zoser pyramid is partially collapsed and international and national efforts are exerted to restore this important human heritage that was built about 4000 years ago. Engineering and geophysical work is thus needed for the restoration process. The definition of the strong motion parameters is one of the required studies since seismically active zone is recorded in its near vicinity. The present study adopted the stochastic method to determine the peak ground motion (acceleration, velocity and displacement) for the three largest earthquakes recorded in the Egypt's seismological history. These earthquakes are Shedwan earthquake with magnitude Ms = 6.9, Aqaba earthquake with magnitude Mw = 7.2 and Cairo (Dahshour earthquake) with magnitude Ms = 5.8. The former two major earthquakes took place few hundred kilometers away. It is logic to have the predominant effects from the epicentral location of the Cairo earthquake; however, the authors wanted to test also the long period effects of the large distance earthquakes expected from the other two earthquakes under consideration. In addition, the dynamic site response was studied using the Horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) technique. HVSR can provide information about the fundamental frequency successfully; however, the amplification estimation is not accepted. The result represented as either peak ground motion parameters or response spectra indicates that the effects from Cairo earthquake epicenter are the largest for all periods considered in the present study. The level of strong motion as

Site Effect Assessment of Earthquake Ground Motion Based on Advanced Data Processing of Microtremor Array Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; He, K.; Mehl, R.; Wang, W.; Chen, Q.

2008-12-01

High-resolution near-surface geologic information is essential for earthquake ground motion prediction. The near-surface geology forms the critical constituent to influence seismic wave propagation, which is known as the local site effects. We have collected microtremor data over 1000 sites in Beijing area for extracting the much needed earthquake engineering parameters (primarily sediment thickness, with the shear wave velocity profiling at a few important control points) in this heavily populated urban area. Advanced data processing algorithms are employed in various stages in assessing the local site effect on earthquake ground motion. First, we used the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), also known as the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT), to enhance the microtremor data analysis by excluding the local transients and continuous monochromic industrial noises. With this enhancement we have significantly increased the number of data points to be useful in delineating sediment thickness in this area. Second, we have used the cross-correlation of microtremor data acquired for the pairs of two adjacent sites to generate a 'pseudo-reflection' record, which can be treated as the Green function of the 1D layered earth model at the site. The sediment thickness information obtained this way is also consistent with the results obtained by the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio method (HVSR). For most sites in this area, we can achieve 'self consistent' results among different processing skechems regarding to the sediment thickness - the fundamental information to be used in assessing the local site effect. Finally, the pseudo-spectral time domain method was used to simulate the seismic wave propagation caused by a scenario earthquake in this area - the 1679 M8 Sanhe-pinggu earthquake. The characteristics of the simulated earthquake ground motion have found a general correlation with the thickness of the sediments in this area. And more importantly, it is also in agreement

A global earthquake discrimination scheme to optimize ground-motion prediction equation selection

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Daniel; Wald, David J.; Hearne, Michael

2012-01-01

We present a new automatic earthquake discrimination procedure to determine in near-real time the tectonic regime and seismotectonic domain of an earthquake, its most likely source type, and the corresponding ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) class to be used in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global ShakeMap system. This method makes use of the Flinn–Engdahl regionalization scheme, seismotectonic information (plate boundaries, global geology, seismicity catalogs, and regional and local studies), and the source parameters available from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in the minutes following an earthquake to give the best estimation of the setting and mechanism of the event. Depending on the tectonic setting, additional criteria based on hypocentral depth, style of faulting, and regional seismicity may be applied. For subduction zones, these criteria include the use of focal mechanism information and detailed interface models to discriminate among outer-rise, upper-plate, interface, and intraslab seismicity. The scheme is validated against a large database of recent historical earthquakes. Though developed to assess GMPE selection in Global ShakeMap operations, we anticipate a variety of uses for this strategy, from real-time processing systems to any analysis involving tectonic classification of sources from seismic catalogs.

Latur earthquake and its impact on the aseismic design of structures in India

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basu, P C [Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (India)

1995-07-01

The Latur earthquake occurred on September 30, 1995. The epicentre was located near the Killari village of Latur District which is situated in the stable continental region of Southern Peninsular India. The earthquake caused a wide range of damage though its magnitude (MS) was 6.4. Intensive damage survey was carried out and a number of geophysical and seismological studies had been undertaken. It has been concluded from the results, available so far from these studies, that the hypocentre of the earthquake was on the lineament dipping NW-SE. The rock matrix in the hypocentral region was weakened due to the presence of fluid and rupture of this weak region caused the event. The ground motion produced by the earthquake was of complex nature comprising of horizontal and vertical component. The ground acceleration in the epicentral region was estimated as 0.2 g. Latur earthquake raised several issues with respect to aseismic design of structures in India which need further deliberation. These issues are related to seismic zoning of India, determination of design basis ground motion, design/detailing of structures, etc. (author)

Latur earthquake and its impact on the aseismic design of structures in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basu, P.C.

1995-01-01

The Latur earthquake occurred on September 30, 1995. The epicentre was located near the Killari village of Latur District which is situated in the stable continental region of Southern Peninsular India. The earthquake caused a wide range of damage though its magnitude (MS) was 6.4. Intensive damage survey was carried out and a number of geophysical and seismological studies had been undertaken. It has been concluded from the results, available so far from these studies, that the hypocentre of the earthquake was on the lineament dipping NW-SE. The rock matrix in the hypocentral region was weakened due to the presence of fluid and rupture of this weak region caused the event. The ground motion produced by the earthquake was of complex nature comprising of horizontal and vertical component. The ground acceleration in the epicentral region was estimated as 0.2 g. Latur earthquake raised several issues with respect to aseismic design of structures in India which need further deliberation. These issues are related to seismic zoning of India, determination of design basis ground motion, design/detailing of structures, etc. (author)

Seismic Hazard Analysis based on Earthquake Vulnerability and Peak Ground Acceleration using Microseismic Method at Universitas Negeri Semarang

Science.gov (United States)

Sulistiawan, H.; Supriyadi; Yulianti, I.

2017-02-01

Microseismic is a harmonic vibration of land that occurs continuously at a low frequency. The characteristics of microseismic represents the characteristics of the soil layer based on the value of its natural frequency. This paper presents the analysis of seismic hazard at Universitas Negeri Semarang using microseismic method. The data acquisition was done at 20 points with distance between points 300 m by using three component’s seismometer. The data was processed using Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) method to obtain the natural frequency and amplification value. The value of the natural frequency and amplification used to determine the value of the earthquake vulnerability and peak ground acceleration (PGA). The result shows then the earthquake vulnerability value range from 0.2 to 7.5, while the value of the average peak ground acceleration (PGA) is in the range 10-24 gal. Therefore, the average peak ground acceleration equal to earthquake intensity IV MMI scale.

Seismic hazard in Hawaii: High rate of large earthquakes and probabilistics ground-motion maps

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, F.W.; Frankel, A.D.; Mueller, C.S.; Wesson, R.L.; Okubo, P.G.

2001-01-01

The seismic hazard and earthquake occurrence rates in Hawaii are locally as high as that near the most hazardous faults elsewhere in the United States. We have generated maps of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration (SA) (at 0.2, 0.3 and 1.0 sec, 5% critical damping) at 2% and 10% exceedance probabilities in 50 years. The highest hazard is on the south side of Hawaii Island, as indicated by the MI 7.0, MS 7.2, and MI 7.9 earthquakes, which occurred there since 1868. Probabilistic values of horizontal PGA (2% in 50 years) on Hawaii's south coast exceed 1.75g. Because some large earthquake aftershock zones and the geometry of flank blocks slipping on subhorizontal decollement faults are known, we use a combination of spatially uniform sources in active flank blocks and smoothed seismicity in other areas to model seismicity. Rates of earthquakes are derived from magnitude distributions of the modem (1959-1997) catalog of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's seismic network supplemented by the historic (1868-1959) catalog. Modern magnitudes are ML measured on a Wood-Anderson seismograph or MS. Historic magnitudes may add ML measured on a Milne-Shaw or Bosch-Omori seismograph or MI derived from calibrated areas of MM intensities. Active flank areas, which by far account for the highest hazard, are characterized by distributions with b slopes of about 1.0 below M 5.0 and about 0.6 above M 5.0. The kinked distribution means that large earthquake rates would be grossly under-estimated by extrapolating small earthquake rates, and that longer catalogs are essential for estimating or verifying the rates of large earthquakes. Flank earthquakes thus follow a semicharacteristic model, which is a combination of background seismicity and an excess number of large earthquakes. Flank earthquakes are geometrically confined to rupture zones on the volcano flanks by barriers such as rift zones and the seaward edge of the volcano, which may be expressed by a magnitude

Evaluation and summary of seismic response of above ground nuclear power plant piping to strong motion earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, J.D.

1985-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the observations and experience which has been developed relative to the seismic behavior of above-ground, building-supported, industrial type piping (similar to piping used in nuclear power plants) in strong motion earthquakes. The paper also contains observations regarding the response of piping in experimental tests which attempted to excite the piping to failure. Appropriate conclusions regarding the behavior of such piping in large earthquakes and recommendations as to future design of such piping to resist earthquake motion damage are presented based on observed behavior in large earthquakes and simulated shake table testing

Make an Earthquake: Ground Shaking!

Science.gov (United States)

Savasci, Funda

2011-01-01

The main purposes of this activity are to help students explore possible factors affecting the extent of the damage of earthquakes and learn the ways to reduce earthquake damages. In these inquiry-based activities, students have opportunities to develop science process skills and to build an understanding of the relationship among science,…

Instantaneous spectrum estimation of earthquake ground motions based on unscented Kalman filter method

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2007-01-01

Representing earthquake ground motion as time varying ARMA model, the instantaneous spectrum can only be determined by the time varying coefficients of the corresponding ARMA model. In this paper, unscented Kalman filter is applied to estimate the time varying coefficients. The comparison between the estimation results of unscented Kalman filter and Kalman filter methods shows that unscented Kalman filter can more precisely represent the distribution of the spectral peaks in time-frequency plane than Kalman filter, and its time and frequency resolution is finer which ensures its better ability to track the local properties of earthquake ground motions and to identify the systems with nonlinearity or abruptness. Moreover, the estimation results of ARMA models with different orders indicate that the theoretical frequency resolving power ofARMA model which was usually ignored in former studies has great effect on the estimation precision of instantaneous spectrum and it should be taken as one of the key factors in order selection of ARMA model.

Real Time Earthquake Information System in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Doi, K.; Kato, T.

2003-12-01

monitors earthquake data and analyzes earthquake activities and tsunami occurrence round-the-clock on a real-time basis. In addition to the above, JMA has been developing a system of Nowcast Earthquake Information which can provide its users with occurrence of an earthquake prior to arrival of strong ground motion for a decade. Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, is preparing a demonstrative experiment in collaboration with JMA, for a better utilization of Nowcast Earthquake Information to apply actual measures to reduce earthquake disasters caused by strong ground motion.

Physics-Based Hazard Assessment for Critical Structures Near Large Earthquake Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Hutchings, L.; Mert, A.; Fahjan, Y.; Novikova, T.; Golara, A.; Miah, M.; Fergany, E.; Foxall, W.

2017-09-01

We argue that for critical structures near large earthquake sources: (1) the ergodic assumption, recent history, and simplified descriptions of the hazard are not appropriate to rely on for earthquake ground motion prediction and can lead to a mis-estimation of the hazard and risk to structures; (2) a physics-based approach can address these issues; (3) a physics-based source model must be provided to generate realistic phasing effects from finite rupture and model near-source ground motion correctly; (4) wave propagations and site response should be site specific; (5) a much wider search of possible sources of ground motion can be achieved computationally with a physics-based approach; (6) unless one utilizes a physics-based approach, the hazard and risk to structures has unknown uncertainties; (7) uncertainties can be reduced with a physics-based approach, but not with an ergodic approach; (8) computational power and computer codes have advanced to the point that risk to structures can be calculated directly from source and site-specific ground motions. Spanning the variability of potential ground motion in a predictive situation is especially difficult for near-source areas, but that is the distance at which the hazard is the greatest. The basis of a "physical-based" approach is ground-motion syntheses derived from physics and an understanding of the earthquake process. This is an overview paper and results from previous studies are used to make the case for these conclusions. Our premise is that 50 years of strong motion records is insufficient to capture all possible ranges of site and propagation path conditions, rupture processes, and spatial geometric relationships between source and site. Predicting future earthquake scenarios is necessary; models that have little or no physical basis but have been tested and adjusted to fit available observations can only "predict" what happened in the past, which should be considered description as opposed to prediction

Earthquake and welded structures 5: Earthquake damages and anti-earthquake measures of oil storage tanks; 5 kikenbutsu chozo tank no jishin higai to taishin taisaku

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawano, K. [Chiyoda Chemical Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1997-09-05

The result of field investigation carried out on the state of damages of 236 hazardous material storage tanks out of 687 caused by the Hyogoken Nambu Earthquake in 1995 is introduced together with the cases of damage and the description of the countermeasures. The events of inclination and settlement of tank bodies were confirmed in 44% among those investigated in particular with tanks having a capacity of less than 1000kl and as for the basement and ground settlement, the fact that sand spouted as a result of their fluidization was witnessed as much as 81% among those investigated and the area surrounding tanks was roughly agreed with the area where ground crack appeared. A great number of other damages such as cracking of preventive seals against rain water, breakdown of oil defense banks and so forth were also confirmed. In the latter half of the report, aseismatic standards of old and new regulations as well as on the new criterion concerning the outdoor storage tank body, its basement and ground are tabulated and 4 items of anti-earthquake measures such as the final structural check up with regard to an earthquake exceeding the designed permissible stress, consolidation of tank body structure on the basis of the revised seismic coefficient method, assurance of the steadfast basement, prevention of the elevated platform from falling down and strengthening of water-proof seals and oil defense banks are enumerated in accordance with the report of investigation and examination on the resistibility of hazardous material storage equipment against the earthquake. 3 refs., 5 figs., 3 tabs.

Study on the Forecast of Ground Motion Parameters from Real Time Earthquake Information Based on Wave Form Data at the Front Site

OpenAIRE

萩原, 由訓; 源栄, 正人; 三辻, 和弥; 野畑, 有秀; Yoshinori, HAGIWARA; Masato, MOTOSAKA; Kazuya, MITSUJI; Arihide, NOBATA; (株)大林組 技術研究所; 東北大学大学院工学研究科; 山形大学地域教育文化学部生活総合学科生活環境科学コース; (株)大林組 技術研究所; Obayashi Corporation Technical Research Institute; Graduate School of Eng., Tohoku University; Faculty of Education, Art and Science, Yamagata University

2011-01-01

The Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) provides Earthquake Early Warnings(EEW) for advanced users from August 1, 2006. Advanced EEW users can forecaste seismic ground motion (example: Seismic Intensity, Peak Ground Acceleration) from information of the earthquake in EEW. But there are limits to the accuracy and the earliness of the forecasting. This paper describes regression equation to decrease the error and to increase rapidity of the forecast of ground motion parameters from Real Time Earth...

Moment Magnitudes and Local Magnitudes for Small Earthquakes: Implications for Ground-Motion Prediction and b-values

Science.gov (United States)

Baltay, A.; Hanks, T. C.; Vernon, F.

2016-12-01

We illustrate two essential consequences of the systematic difference between moment magnitude and local magnitude for small earthquakes, illuminating the underlying earthquake physics. Moment magnitude, M 2/3 log M0, is uniformly valid for all earthquake sizes [Hanks and Kanamori, 1979]. However, the relationship between local magnitude ML and moment is itself magnitude dependent. For moderate events, 3> fmax. Just as importantly, if this relation is overlooked, prediction of large-magnitude ground motion from small earthquakes will be misguided. We also consider the effect of this magnitude scale difference on b-value. The oft-cited b-value of 1 should hold for small magnitudes, given M. Use of ML necessitates b=2/3 for the same data set; use of mixed, or unknown, magnitudes complicates the matter further. This is of particular import when estimating the rate of large earthquakes when one has limited data on their recurrence, as is the case for induced earthquakes in the central US.

The effect of regional variation of seismic wave attenuation on the strong ground motion from earthquakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, D H; Bernreuter, D L

1981-10-01

Attenuation is caused by geometric spreading and absorption. Geometric spreading is almost independent of crustal geology and physiographic region, but absorption depends strongly on crustal geology and the state of the earth's upper mantle. Except for very high frequency waves, absorption does not affect ground motion at distances less than about 25 to 50 km. Thus, in the near-field zone, the attenuation in the eastern United States is similar to that in the western United States. Beyond the near field, differences in ground motion can best be accounted for by differences in attenuation caused by differences in absorption. The stress drop of eastern earthquakes may be higher than for western earthquakes of the same seismic moment, which would affect the high-frequency spectral content. But we believe this factor is of much less significance than differences in absorption in explaining the differences in ground motion between the East and the West. The characteristics of strong ground motion in the conterminous United States are discussed in light of these considerations, and estimates are made of the epicentral ground motions in the central and eastern United States. (author)

Evaluation of ground deformations induced by the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake (Turkey) at selected sites on shorelines

Science.gov (United States)

Aydan, Ömer; Ulusay, Reşat; Atak, Veysel Okan

2008-03-01

The Kocaeli earthquake ( M w = 7.4) of 17 August 1999 occurred in the Eastern Marmara Region of Turkey along the North Anadolu Fault and resulted in a very serious loss of life and property. One of the most important geotechnical issues of this event was the permanent ground deformations because of both liquefaction and faulting. These deformations occurred particularly along the southern shores of İzmit Bay and Sapanca Lake between the cities of Yalova and Adapazarı in the west and east, respectively. In this study, three sites founded on delta fans, namely Değirmendere Nose, Yeniköy tea garden at Seymen on the coast of İzmit Bay, and Vakıf Hotel site on the coast of Sapanca Lake were selected as typical cases. The main causes of the ground deformations at these sites were then investigated. Geotechnical characterization of the ground, derivation of displacement vectors from the pre- and post-earthquake aerial photographs, liquefaction assessments based on field performance data, and analyses carried out using the sliding body method have been fundamental in this study. The displacement vectors determined from photogrammetric evaluations conducted at Değirmendere and Seymen showed a combined movement of faulting and liquefaction. But except the movements in the close vicinity of shorelines, the dominant factor in this movement was faulting. The results obtained from the analyses suggested that the ground failure at Değirmendere was a submarine landslide mainly because of earthquake shaking rather than liquefaction. On the other hand, the ground failures at the Yeniköy tea garden on the coast of Seymen and the hotel area in Sapanca town resulted from liquefaction-induced lateral spreading. It was also obtained that the ground deformations estimated from the sliding body method were quite close to those measured by aerial photogrammetry technique.

Methods for prediction of strong earthquake ground motion. Final technical report, October 1, 1976--September 30, 1977

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trifunac, M.D.

1977-09-01

The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of the work on characterization of strong earthquake ground motion. The objective of this effort has been to initiate presentation of simple yet detailed methodology for characterization of strong earthquake ground motion for use in licensing and evaluation of operating Nuclear Power Plants. This report will emphasize the simplicity of the methodology by presenting only the end results in a format that may be useful for the development of the site specific criteria in seismic risk analysis, for work on the development of modern standards and regulatory guides, and for re-evaluation of the existing power plant sites

Sloshing of water in torus pressure-suppression pool of boiling water reactors under earthquake ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslam, M.; Godden, W.G.; Scalise, D.T.

1978-08-01

This report presents an analytical and experimental investigation into the sloshing of water in torus tanks under horizontal earthquake ground motions. This study was motivated because of the use of torus tanks for pressure-suppression pools in Boiling Water Reactors. Such a pressure-suppression pool would typically have 80 ft and 140 ft inside and outside diameters, a 30 ft diameter section, and a water depth of 15 ft. A general finite element analysis was developed for all axisymmetric tanks and a computer program was written to obtain time-history plots of sloshing displacements of water and dynamic pressures. Tests were carried out on a 1/60th scale model under sinusoidal as well as simulated earthquake ground motions. Tests and analytical results regarding natural frequencies, surface water displacements, and dynamic pressures were compared and a good agreement was found within the range of displacements studied. The computer program gave satisfactory results within a maximum range of sloshing displacements in the full-size prototype of 30 in. which is greater than the value obtained under the full intensity of the El Centro earthquake (N-S component 1940). The range of linear behavior was studied experimentally by subjecting the torus model to increasing intensities of the El Centro earthquake

Ground-rupturing earthquakes on the northern Big Bend of the San Andreas Fault, California, 800 A.D. to Present

Science.gov (United States)

Scharer, Katherine M.; Weldon, Ray; Biasi, Glenn; Streig, Ashley; Fumal, Thomas E.

2017-01-01

Paleoseismic data on the timing of ground-rupturing earthquakes constrain the recurrence behavior of active faults and can provide insight on the rupture history of a fault if earthquakes dated at neighboring sites overlap in age and are considered correlative. This study presents the evidence and ages for 11 earthquakes that occurred along the Big Bend section of the southern San Andreas Fault at the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site. The most recent earthquake to rupture the site was the Mw7.7–7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857. We use over 30 trench excavations to document the structural and sedimentological evolution of a small pull-apart basin that has been repeatedly faulted and folded by ground-rupturing earthquakes. A sedimentation rate of 0.4 cm/yr and abundant organic material for radiocarbon dating contribute to a record that is considered complete since 800 A.D. and includes 10 paleoearthquakes. Earthquakes have ruptured this location on average every ~100 years over the last 1200 years, but individual intervals range from ~22 to 186 years. The coefficient of variation of the length of time between earthquakes (0.7) indicates quasiperiodic behavior, similar to other sites along the southern San Andreas Fault. Comparison with the earthquake chronology at neighboring sites along the fault indicates that only one other 1857-size earthquake could have occurred since 1350 A.D., and since 800 A.D., the Big Bend and Mojave sections have ruptured together at most 50% of the time in Mw ≥ 7.3 earthquakes.

A study on generation of simulated earthquake ground motion for seismic design of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichiki, Tadaharu; Matsumoto, Takuji; Kitada, Yoshio; Osaki, Yorihiko; Kanda, Jun; Masao, Toru.

1985-01-01

The aseismatic design of nuclear power generation facilities carried out in Japan at present must conform to the ''Guideline for aseismatic design examination regarding power reactor facilities'' decided by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1978. In this guideline, the earthquake motion used for the analysis of dynamic earthquake response is to be given in the form of the magnitude determined on the basis of the investigation of historical earthquakes and active faults around construction sites and the response spectra corresponding to the distance from epicenters. Accordingly when the analysis of dynamic earthquake response is actually carried out, the simulated earthquake motion made in conformity with these set up response spectra is used as the input earthquake motion for the design. For the purpose of establishing the techniques making simulated earthquake motion which is more appropriate and rational from engineering viewpoint, the research was carried out, and the results are summarized in this paper. The techniques for making simulated earthquake motion, the response of buildings and the response spectra of floors are described. (Kako, I.)

Turkish Compulsory Earthquake Insurance and "Istanbul Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Durukal, E.; Sesetyan, K.; Erdik, M.

2009-04-01

The city of Istanbul will likely experience substantial direct and indirect losses as a result of a future large (M=7+) earthquake with an annual probability of occurrence of about 2%. This paper dwells on the expected building losses in terms of probable maximum and average annualized losses and discusses the results from the perspective of the compulsory earthquake insurance scheme operational in the country. The TCIP system is essentially designed to operate in Turkey with sufficient penetration to enable the accumulation of funds in the pool. Today, with only 20% national penetration, and about approximately one-half of all policies in highly earthquake prone areas (one-third in Istanbul) the system exhibits signs of adverse selection, inadequate premium structure and insufficient funding. Our findings indicate that the national compulsory earthquake insurance pool in Turkey will face difficulties in covering incurring building losses in Istanbul in the occurrence of a large earthquake. The annualized earthquake losses in Istanbul are between 140-300 million. Even if we assume that the deductible is raised to 15%, the earthquake losses that need to be paid after a large earthquake in Istanbul will be at about 2.5 Billion, somewhat above the current capacity of the TCIP. Thus, a modification to the system for the insured in Istanbul (or Marmara region) is necessary. This may mean an increase in the premia and deductible rates, purchase of larger re-insurance covers and development of a claim processing system. Also, to avoid adverse selection, the penetration rates elsewhere in Turkey need to be increased substantially. A better model would be introduction of parametric insurance for Istanbul. By such a model the losses will not be indemnified, however will be directly calculated on the basis of indexed ground motion levels and damages. The immediate improvement of a parametric insurance model over the existing one will be the elimination of the claim processing

A Mw 6.3 earthquake scenario in the city of Nice (southeast France): ground motion simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Salichon, Jérome; Kohrs-Sansorny, Carine; Bertrand, Etienne; Courboulex, Françoise

2010-07-01

The southern Alps-Ligurian basin junction is one of the most seismically active zone of the western Europe. A constant microseismicity and moderate size events (3.5 case of an offshore Mw 6.3 earthquake located at the place where two moderate size events (Mw 4.5) occurred recently and where a morphotectonic feature has been detected by a bathymetric survey. We used a stochastic empirical Green’s functions (EGFs) summation method to produce a population of realistic accelerograms on rock and soil sites in the city of Nice. The ground motion simulations are calibrated on a rock site with a set of ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) in order to estimate a reasonable stress-drop ratio between the February 25th, 2001, Mw 4.5, event taken as an EGF and the target earthquake. Our results show that the combination of the GMPEs and EGF techniques is an interesting tool for site-specific strong ground motion estimation.

Prediction of strong ground motion based on scaling law of earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamae, Katsuhiro; Irikura, Kojiro; Fukuchi, Yasunaga.

1991-01-01

In order to predict more practically strong ground motion, it is important to study how to use a semi-empirical method in case of having no appropriate observation records for actual small-events as empirical Green's functions. We propose a prediction procedure using artificially simulated small ground motions as substitute for the actual motions. First, we simulate small-event motion by means of stochastic simulation method proposed by Boore (1983) in considering pass effects such as attenuation, and broadening of waveform envelope empirically in the objective region. Finally, we attempt to predict the strong ground motion due to a future large earthquake (M 7, Δ = 13 km) using the same summation procedure as the empirical Green's function method. We obtained the results that the characteristics of the synthetic motion using M 5 motion were in good agreement with those by the empirical Green's function method. (author)

Earthquakes and Earthquake Engineering. LC Science Tracer Bullet.

Science.gov (United States)

Buydos, John F., Comp.

An earthquake is a shaking of the ground resulting from a disturbance in the earth's interior. Seismology is the (1) study of earthquakes; (2) origin, propagation, and energy of seismic phenomena; (3) prediction of these phenomena; and (4) investigation of the structure of the earth. Earthquake engineering or engineering seismology includes the…

Hybrid Simulations of the Broadband Ground Motions for the 2008 MS8.0 Wenchuan, China, Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, X.; Zhang, W.

2012-12-01

The Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake occurred on 12 May 2008 at 14:28 Beijing Time. It is the largest event happened in the mainland of China since the 1976, Mw7.6, Tangshan earthquake. Due to occur in the mountainous area, this great earthquake and the following thousands aftershocks also caused many other geological disasters, such as landslide, mud-rock flow and "quake lakes" which formed by landslide-induced reservoirs. These resulted in tremendous losses of life and property. Casualties numbered more than 80,000 people, and there were major economic losses. However, this earthquake is the first Ms 8 intraplate earthquake with good close fault strong motion coverage. Over four hundred strong motion stations of the National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) recorded the mainshock. Twelve of them located within 20 km of the fault traces and another 33 stations located within 100 km. These observations, accompanying with the hundreds of GPS vectors and multiple ALOS INSAR images, provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the rupture process of such a great intraplate earthquake. In this study, we calculate broadband near-field ground motion synthetic waveforms of this great earthquake using a hybrid broadband ground-motion simulation methodology, which combines a deterministic approach at low frequencies (f < 1.0 Hz) with a theoretic Green's function calculation approach at high frequency ( ~ 10.0 Hz). The fault rupture is represented kinematically and incorporates spatial heterogeneity in slip, rupture speed, and rise time that were obtained by an inversion kinematic source model. At the same time, based on the aftershock data, we analyze the site effects for the near-field stations. Frequency-dependent site-amplification values for each station are calculated using genetic algorithms. For the calculation of the synthetic waveforms, at first, we carry out simulations using the hybrid methodology for the frequency up to 10.0 Hz. Then, we consider for

An empirical assessment of near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 mb (7.5 MS) earthquake in the Eastern United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, Kenneth W.

1984-06-01

To help assess the impact of the current U.S. Geological Survey position on the seismic safety of nuclear power plants in the Eastern United States (EUS), several techniques for estimating near-source strong ground motion for a Charleston size earthquake were evaluated. The techniques for estimating the near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m b (7.5 M S ) in the Eastern United States which were assessed are methods based on site specific analyses, semi-theoretical scaling techniques, and intensity-based estimates. The first involves the statistical analysis of ground motion records from earthquakes and recording stations having the same general characteristics (earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.5 M S or larger, epicentral distances of 25 km or less, and sites of either soil or rock). Some recommendations for source and characterization scaling of the bias resulting primarily from an inadequate sample of near-source recordings from earthquakes of large magnitude are discussed. The second technique evaluated requires that semi-theoretical estimates of peak ground motion parameters for a 6.6 m b (7.5 M S ) earthquake be obtained from scaling relations. Each relation uses a theoretical expression between peak acceleration magnitude and distance together with available strong motion data (majority coming from California) to develop a scaling relation appropriate for the Eastern United States. None of the existing ground motion models for the EUS include the potential effects of source or site characteristics. Adjustments to account for fault mechanisms, site topography, site geology, and the size and embedment of buildings are discussed. The final approach used relations between strong ground motion parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in conjunction with two methods to estimate peak parameters for a 6.6 m s (7.5 M S ) earthquake. As with other techniques, adjustment of peak acceleration estimates are discussed. Each method differently approaches the problem

Ionospheric turbulence from ground-based and satellite VLF/LF transmitter signal observations for the Simushir earthquake (November 15, 2006

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pier Francesco Biagi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available

Signals from very low frequency (VLF/ low frequency (LF transmitters recorded on the ground station at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and on board the French DEMETER satellite were analyzed for the Simushir earthquake (M 8.3; November 15, 2006. The period of analysis was from October 1, 2006, to January 31, 2007. The ground and satellite data were processed by a method based on the difference between the real signal at night-time and the model signal. The model for the ground observations was the monthly averaged signal amplitudes and phases, as calculated for the quiet days of every month. For the satellite data, a two-dimensional model of the signal distribution over the selected area was constructed. Preseismic effects were found several days before the earthquake, in both the ground and satellite observations.

Earthquake Ground Motion Selection

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

Nonlinear analyses of soils, structures, and soil-structure systems offer the potential for more accurate characterization of geotechnical and structural response under strong earthquake shaking. The increasing use of advanced performance-based desig...

A study of Guptkashi, Uttarakhand earthquake of 6 February 2017 ( M w 5.3) in the Himalayan arc and implications for ground motion estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Srinagesh, Davuluri; Singh, Shri Krishna; Suresh, Gaddale; Srinivas, Dakuri; Pérez-Campos, Xyoli; Suresh, Gudapati

2018-05-01

The 2017 Guptkashi earthquake occurred in a segment of the Himalayan arc with high potential for a strong earthquake in the near future. In this context, a careful analysis of the earthquake is important as it may shed light on source and ground motion characteristics during future earthquakes. Using the earthquake recording on a single broadband strong-motion seismograph installed at the epicenter, we estimate the earthquake's location (30.546° N, 79.063° E), depth ( H = 19 km), the seismic moment ( M 0 = 1.12×1017 Nm, M w 5.3), the focal mechanism ( φ = 280°, δ = 14°, λ = 84°), the source radius ( a = 1.3 km), and the static stress drop (Δ σ s 22 MPa). The event occurred just above the Main Himalayan Thrust. S-wave spectra of the earthquake at hard sites in the arc are well approximated (assuming ω -2 source model) by attenuation parameters Q( f) = 500 f 0.9, κ = 0.04 s, and f max = infinite, and a stress drop of Δ σ = 70 MPa. Observed and computed peak ground motions, using stochastic method along with parameters inferred from spectral analysis, agree well with each other. These attenuation parameters are also reasonable for the observed spectra and/or peak ground motion parameters in the arc at distances ≤ 200 km during five other earthquakes in the region (4.6 ≤ M w ≤ 6.9). The estimated stress drop of the six events ranges from 20 to 120 MPa. Our analysis suggests that attenuation parameters given above may be used for ground motion estimation at hard sites in the Himalayan arc via the stochastic method.

A preliminary assessment of earthquake ground shaking hazard at Yucca Mountain, Nevada and implications to the Las Vegas region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, I.G.; Green, R.K.; Sun, J.I.; Pezzopane, S.K.; Abrahamson, N.A.; Quittmeyer, R.C.

1996-01-01

As part of early design studies for the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the authors have performed a preliminary probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of ground shaking. A total of 88 Quaternary faults within 100 km of the site were considered in the hazard analysis. They were characterized in terms of their probability o being seismogenic, and their geometry, maximum earthquake magnitude, recurrence model, and slip rate. Individual faults were characterized by maximum earthquakes that ranged from moment magnitude (M w ) 5.1 to 7.6. Fault slip rates ranged from a very low 0.00001 mm/yr to as much as 4 mm/yr. An areal source zone representing background earthquakes up to M w 6 1/4 = 1/4 was also included in the analysis. Recurrence for these background events was based on the 1904--1994 historical record, which contains events up to M w 5.6. Based on this analysis, the peak horizontal rock accelerations are 0.16, 0.21, 0.28, and 0.50 g for return periods of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 10,000 years, respectively. In general, the dominant contributor to the ground shaking hazard at Yucca Mountain are background earthquakes because of the low slip rates of the Basin and Range faults. A significant effect on the probabilistic ground motions is due to the inclusion of a new attenuation relation developed specifically for earthquakes in extensional tectonic regimes. This relation gives significantly lower peak accelerations than five other predominantly California-based relations used in the analysis, possibly due to the lower stress drops of extensional earthquakes compared to California events. Because Las Vegas is located within the same tectonic regime as Yucca Mountain, the seismic sources and path and site factors affecting the seismic hazard at Yucca Mountain also have implications to Las Vegas. These implications are discussed in this paper

Ground-Motion Simulations of the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan, China, Earthquake Using Empirical Green's Function Method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, W.; Zhang, Y.; Yao, X.

2010-12-01

On May 12, 2008, a huge earthquake with magnitude Ms8.0 occurred in the Wenhuan, Sichuan Province of China. This event was the most devastating earthquake in the mainland of China since the 1976 M7.8 Tangshan earthquake. It resulted in tremendous losses of life and property. There were about 90,000 persons killed. Due to occur in the mountainous area, this great earthquake and the following thousands aftershocks also caused many other geological disasters, such as landslide, mud-rock flow and “quake lakes” which formed by landslide-induced reservoirs. This earthquake occurred along the Longmenshan fault, as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicenter and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China. In this study, we simulate the near-field strong ground motions of this great event based on the empirical Green’s function method (EGF). Referring to the published inversion source models, at first, we assume that there are three asperities on the rupture area and choose three different small events as the EGFs. Then, we identify the parameters of the source model using a genetic algorithm (GA). We calculate the synthetic waveforms based on the obtained source model and compare with the observed records. Our result shows that for most of the synthetic waveforms agree very well with the observed ones. The result proves the validity and the stability of the method. Finally, we forward the near-field strong ground motions near the source region and try to explain the damage distribution caused by the great earthquake.

Report of Earthquake Drills with Experiences of Ground Motion in Childcare for Young Children, Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Yamada, N.

2013-12-01

After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, this disaster has become one of the opportunities to raise awareness of earthquake and tsunami disaster prevention, and the improvement of disaster prevention education is to be emphasized. The influences of these bring the extension to the spatial axis in Japan, and also, it is important to make a development of the education with continuous to the expansion of time axes. Although fire or earthquake drills as the disaster prevention education are often found in Japan, the children and teachers only go from school building to outside. Besides, only the shortness of the time to spend for the drill often attracts attention. The complementary practice education by the cooperation with experts such as the firefighting is practiced, but the verification of the effects is not enough, and it is the present conditions that do not advance to the study either. Although it is expected that improvement and development of the disaster prevention educations are accomplished in future, there are a lot of the problems. Our target is construction and utilization of material contributing to the education about "During the strong motion" in case of the earthquake which may experience even if wherever of Japan. One of the our productions is the handicraft shaking table to utilize as teaching tools of the education to protect the body which is not hurt at the time of strong motion. This made much of simplicity than high reproduction of the earthquake ground motions. We aimed to helping the disaster prevention education including not only the education for young children but also for the school staff and their parents. In this report, the focusing on a way of the non-injured during the time of the earthquake ground motion, and adopting activity of the play, we are going to show the example of the framework of earthquake disaster prevention childcare through the virtual experience. This presentation has a discussion as a practice study with

Peak ground motion distribution in Romania due to Vrancea earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grecu, B.; Rizescu, M.; Radulian, M.; Mandrescu, N.; Moldovan, I.-A.; Bonjer, K.-P

2002-01-01

Vrancea is a particular seismic region situated at the SE-Carpathians bend (Romania). It is characterized by persistent seismicity in a concentrated focal volume, at depths of 60-200 km, with 2 to 3 major earthquakes per century (M W >7). The purpose of our study is to investigate in detail the ground motion patterns for small and moderate Vrancea events (M W = 3.5 to 5.3) occurred during 1999, taking advantage of the unique data set offered by the Calixto'99 Project and the permanent Vrancea-K2 network (150 stations). The observed patterns are compared with available macroseismic maps of large Vrancea earthquakes, showing similar general patterns elongated in the NE-SW direction which mimic the S-waves source radiation, but patches with pronounced maxima are also evidenced rather far from the epicenter, at the NE and SW edges of the Focsani sedimentary basin, as shown firstly by Atanasiu (1961). This feature is also visible on instrumental data of strong events (Mandrescu and Radulian, 1999) as well as for moderate events recently recorded by digital K2 network (Bonjer et al., 2001) and correlates with the distribution of predominant response frequencies of shallow sedimentary layers. The influence of the local structure and/or focussing effects, caused by deeper lithospheric structure, on the observed site effects and the implications on the seismic hazard assessment for Vrancea earthquakes are discussed. (authors)

PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC ASSESSMENT OF BASE-ISOLATED NPPS SUBJECTED TO STRONG GROUND MOTIONS OF TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AHMER ALI

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

Probabilistic seismic assessment of base-isolated NPPs subjected to strong ground motions of Tohoku earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ali, Ahmer; Hayah, Nadin Abu; Kim, Doo Kie [Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kunsan National University, Kunsan (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Sung Gook [R and D Center, JACE KOREA Company, Gyeonggido (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA) as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

Sloshing of water in annular pressure-suppression pool of boiling water reactors under earthquake ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslam, M.; Godden, W.G.; Scalise, D.T.

1979-10-01

This report presents an analytical investigation of the sloshing response of water in annular-circular as well as simple-circular tanks under horizontal earthquake ground motions, and the results are verified with tests. This study was motivated because of the use of annular tanks for pressure-suppression pools in Boiling Water Reactors. Such a pressure-suppression pool would typically have 80 ft and 120 ft inside and outside diameters and a water depth of 20 ft. The analysis was based upon potential flow theory and a computer program was written to obtain time-history plots of sloshing displacements of water and the dynamic pressures. Tests were carried out on 1/80th and 1/15th scale models under sinusoidal as well as simulated earthquake ground motions. Tests and analytical results regarding the natural frequencies, surface water displacements, and dynamic pressures were compared and a good agreement was found for relatively small displacements. The computer program gave satisfactory results as long as the maximum water surface displacements were less than 30 in., which is roughly the value obtained under full intensity of El Centro earthquake

Validation of Atmosphere/Ionosphere Signals Associated with Major Earthquakes by Multi-Instrument Space-Borne and Ground Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, Dimitar; Pulinets, Sergey; Hattori, Katsumi; Parrot, Michel; Liu, J. Y.; Yang, T. F.; Arellano-Baeza, Alonso; Kafatos, M.; Taylor, Patrick

2012-01-01

regions of the atmosphere and the modifications, by dc electric fields, in the ionosphere-atmosphere electric circuit. We retrospectively analyzed temporal and spatial variations of four different physical parameters (gas/radon counting rate, lineaments change, long-wave radiation transitions and ionospheric electron density/plasma variations) characterizing the state of the lithosphere/atmosphere coupling several days before the onset of the earthquakes. Validation processes consist in two phases: A. Case studies for seven recent major earthquakes: Japan (M9.0, 2011), China (M7.9, 2008), Italy (M6.3, 2009), Samoa (M7, 2009), Haiti (M7.0, 2010) and, Chile (M8.8, 2010) and B. A continuous retrospective analysis was preformed over two different regions with high seismicity- Taiwan and Japan for 2003-2009. Satellite, ground surface, and troposphere data were obtained from Terra/ASTER, Aqua/AIRS, POES and ionospheric variations from DEMETER and COSMIC-I data. Radon and GPS/TEC were obtaining from monitoring sites in Taiwan, Japan and Italy and from global ionosphere maps (GIM) respectively. Our analysis of ground and satellite data during the occurrence of 7 global earthquakes has shown the presence of anomalies in the atmosphere. Our results for Tohoku M9.0 earthquake show that on March 7th, 2011 (4 days before the main shock and 1 day before the M7.2 foreshock of March 8, 2011) a rapid increase of emitted infrared radiation was observed by the satellite data and an anomaly was developed near the epicenter. The GPS/TEC data indicate an increase and variation in electron density reaching a maximum value on March 8. From March 3 to 11 a large increase in electron concentration was recorded at all four Japanese ground-based ionosondes, which returned to normal after the main earthquake. Similar approach for analyzing atmospheric and ionospheric parameters has been applied for China (M7.9, 2008), Italy (M6.3, 2009), Samoa (M7, 2009), Haiti (M7.0, 2010) and Chile (M8.8, 2010

The evolution of hillslope strength following large earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Brain, Matthew; Rosser, Nick; Tunstall, Neil

2017-04-01

Earthquake-induced landslides play an important role in the evolution of mountain landscapes. Earthquake ground shaking triggers near-instantaneous landsliding, but has also been shown to weaken hillslopes, preconditioning them for failure during subsequent seismicity and/or precipitation events. The temporal evolution of hillslope strength during and following primary seismicity, and if and how this ultimately results in failure, is poorly constrained due to the rarity of high-magnitude earthquakes and limited availability of suitable field datasets. We present results obtained from novel geotechnical laboratory tests to better constrain the mechanisms that control strength evolution in Earth materials of differing rheology. We consider how the strength of hillslope materials responds to ground-shaking events of different magnitude and if and how this persists to influence landslide activity during interseismic periods. We demonstrate the role of stress path and stress history, strain rate and foreshock and aftershock sequences in controlling the evolution of hillslope strength and stability. Critically, we show how hillslopes can be strengthened rather than weakened in some settings, challenging conventional assumptions. On the basis of our laboratory data, we consider the implications for earthquake-induced geomorphic perturbations in mountain landscapes over multiple timescales and in different seismogenic settings.

Development of Earthquake Ground Motion Input for Preclosure Seismic Design and Postclosure Performance Assessment of a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, NV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

I. Wong

2004-01-01

This report describes a site-response model and its implementation for developing earthquake ground motion input for preclosure seismic design and postclosure assessment of the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model implements a random-vibration theory (RVT), one-dimensional (1D) equivalent-linear approach to calculate site response effects on ground motions. The model provides results in terms of spectral acceleration including peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and dynamically-induced strains as a function of depth. In addition to documenting and validating this model for use in the Yucca Mountain Project, this report also describes the development of model inputs, implementation of the model, its results, and the development of earthquake time history inputs based on the model results. The purpose of the site-response ground motion model is to incorporate the effects on earthquake ground motions of (1) the approximately 300 m of rock above the emplacement levels beneath Yucca Mountain and (2) soil and rock beneath the site of the Surface Facilities Area. A previously performed probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) (CRWMS M and O 1998a [DIRS 103731]) estimated ground motions at a reference rock outcrop for the Yucca Mountain site (Point A), but those results do not include these site response effects. Thus, the additional step of applying the site-response ground motion model is required to develop ground motion inputs that are used for preclosure and postclosure purposes

Development of Earthquake Ground Motion Input for Preclosure Seismic Design and Postclosure Performance Assessment of a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, NV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

I. Wong

2004-11-05

This report describes a site-response model and its implementation for developing earthquake ground motion input for preclosure seismic design and postclosure assessment of the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model implements a random-vibration theory (RVT), one-dimensional (1D) equivalent-linear approach to calculate site response effects on ground motions. The model provides results in terms of spectral acceleration including peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and dynamically-induced strains as a function of depth. In addition to documenting and validating this model for use in the Yucca Mountain Project, this report also describes the development of model inputs, implementation of the model, its results, and the development of earthquake time history inputs based on the model results. The purpose of the site-response ground motion model is to incorporate the effects on earthquake ground motions of (1) the approximately 300 m of rock above the emplacement levels beneath Yucca Mountain and (2) soil and rock beneath the site of the Surface Facilities Area. A previously performed probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) (CRWMS M&O 1998a [DIRS 103731]) estimated ground motions at a reference rock outcrop for the Yucca Mountain site (Point A), but those results do not include these site response effects. Thus, the additional step of applying the site-response ground motion model is required to develop ground motion inputs that are used for preclosure and postclosure purposes.

Earthquake free design of pipe lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurihara, Chizuko; Sakurai, Akio

1974-01-01

Long structures such as cooling sea water pipe lines of nuclear power plants have a wide range of extent along the ground surface, and are incurred by not only the inertia forces but also forces due to ground deformations or the seismic wave propagation during earthquakes. Since previous reports indicated the earthquake free design of underground pipe lines, it is discussed in this report on behaviors of pipe lines on the ground during earthquakes and is proposed the aseismic design of pipe lines considering the effects of both inertia forces and ground deformations. (author)

2001 Bhuj, India, earthquake engineering seismoscope recordings and Eastern North America ground-motion attenuation relations

Science.gov (United States)

Cramer, C.H.; Kumar, A.

2003-01-01

Engineering seismoscope data collected at distances less than 300 km for the M 7.7 Bhuj, India, mainshock are compatible with ground-motion attenuation in eastern North America (ENA). The mainshock ground-motion data have been corrected to a common geological site condition using the factors of Joyner and Boore (2000) and a classification scheme of Quaternary or Tertiary sediments or rock. We then compare these data to ENA ground-motion attenuation relations. Despite uncertainties in recording method, geological site corrections, common tectonic setting, and the amount of regional seismic attenuation, the corrected Bhuj dataset agrees with the collective predictions by ENA ground-motion attenuation relations within a factor of 2. This level of agreement is within the dataset uncertainties and the normal variance for recorded earthquake ground motions.

Shaking Table Tests on the Seismic Behavior of Steel Frame Structures Subjected to Various Earthquake Ground Motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, In Kil; Kim, Min Kyu; Choun, Young Sun; Seo, Jeong Moon

2004-05-01

The standard response spectrum proposed by US NRC has been used as a design earthquake for the design of Korean nuclear power plant structures. Recent large earthquakes occurred in near-fault zone have done significant damage and loss of life to earthquake area. A survey on some of the Quaternary fault segments near the Korean nuclear power plants is ongoing. If the faults are confirmed as active ones, it will be necessary to reevaluate the seismic safety of the nuclear power plants located near the fault. In this study, the shaking table tests of three steel frame structures were performed. Three types of input motions, artificial time histories that envelop the US NRC Regulatory Guide 1.60 spectrum and the probability based scenario earthquake spectra developed for the Korean nuclear power plant site and a typical near-fault earthquake recorded at Chi-Chi earthquake, were used as input motions. The acceleration and displacement responses of the structure due to the design earthquake were larger than those due to the other input earthquakes. It seems that the design earthquake for the Korean nuclear power plants is conservative, and that the near-fault earthquake and scenario earthquake are not so damageable for the nuclear power plant structures, because the fundamental frequencies of the nuclear power plant structures are generally greater than 5 Hz. The high frequency ground motions that appeared in the scenario earthquake can be more damageable for the equipment installed on the high floors in a building. This means that the design earthquake is not so conservative for the safety of the safety related nuclear power plant equipment

Uncertainties in Earthquake Loss Analysis: A Case Study From Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Mahdyiar, M.; Guin, J.

2005-12-01

Probabilistic earthquake hazard and loss analyses play important roles in many areas of risk management, including earthquake related public policy and insurance ratemaking. Rigorous loss estimation for portfolios of properties is difficult since there are various types of uncertainties in all aspects of modeling and analysis. It is the objective of this study to investigate the sensitivity of earthquake loss estimation to uncertainties in regional seismicity, earthquake source parameters, ground motions, and sites' spatial correlation on typical property portfolios in Southern California. Southern California is an attractive region for such a study because it has a large population concentration exposed to significant levels of seismic hazard. During the last decade, there have been several comprehensive studies of most regional faults and seismogenic sources. There have also been detailed studies on regional ground motion attenuations and regional and local site responses to ground motions. This information has been used by engineering seismologists to conduct regional seismic hazard and risk analysis on a routine basis. However, one of the more difficult tasks in such studies is the proper incorporation of uncertainties in the analysis. From the hazard side, there are uncertainties in the magnitudes, rates and mechanisms of the seismic sources and local site conditions and ground motion site amplifications. From the vulnerability side, there are considerable uncertainties in estimating the state of damage of buildings under different earthquake ground motions. From an analytical side, there are challenges in capturing the spatial correlation of ground motions and building damage, and integrating thousands of loss distribution curves with different degrees of correlation. In this paper we propose to address some of these issues by conducting loss analyses of a typical small portfolio in southern California, taking into consideration various source and ground

Use of Ground Motion Simulations of a Historical Earthquake for the Assessment of Past and Future Urban Risks

Science.gov (United States)

Kentel, E.; Çelik, A.; karimzadeh Naghshineh, S.; Askan, A.

2017-12-01

Erzincan city located in the Eastern part of Turkey at the conjunction of three active faults is one of the most hazardous regions in the world. In addition to several historical events, this city has experienced one of the largest earthquakes during the last century: The 27 December 1939 (Ms=8.0) event. With limited knowledge of the tectonic structure by then, the city center was relocated to the North after the 1939 earthquake by almost 5km, indeed closer to the existing major strike slip fault. This decision coupled with poor construction technologies, led to severe damage during a later event that occurred on 13 March 1992 (Mw=6.6). The 1939 earthquake occurred in the pre-instrumental era in the region with no available local seismograms whereas the 1992 event was only recorded by 3 nearby stations. There are empirical isoseismal maps from both events indicating indirectly the spatial distribution of the damage. In this study, we focus on this region and present a multidisciplinary approach to discuss the different components of uncertainties involved in the assessment and mitigation of seismic risk in urban areas. For this initial attempt, ground motion simulation of the 1939 event is performed to obtain the anticipated ground motions and shaking intensities. Using these quantified results along with the spatial distribution of the observed damage, the relocation decision is assessed and suggestions are provided for future large earthquakes to minimize potential earthquake risks.

New characteristics of intensity assessment of Sichuan Lushan "4.20" M s7.0 earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Baitao; Yan, Peilei; Chen, Xiangzhao

2014-08-01

The post-earthquake rapid accurate assessment of macro influence of seismic ground motion is of significance for earthquake emergency relief, post-earthquake reconstruction and scientific research. The seismic intensity distribution map released by the Lushan earthquake field team of the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) five days after the strong earthquake ( M7.0) occurred in Lushan County of Sichuan Ya'an City at 8:02 on April 20, 2013 provides a scientific basis for emergency relief, economic loss assessment and post-earthquake reconstruction. In this paper, the means for blind estimation of macroscopic intensity, field estimation of macro intensity, and review of intensity, as well as corresponding problems are discussed in detail, and the intensity distribution characteristics of the Lushan "4.20" M7.0 earthquake and its influential factors are analyzed, providing a reference for future seismic intensity assessments.

Comparison of Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPE) for Chile and Canada With Recent Chilean Megathust Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Herrera, C.; Cassidy, J. F.; Dosso, S. E.

2017-12-01

The ground shaking assessment allows quantifying the hazards associated with the occurrence of earthquakes. Chile and western Canada are two areas that have experienced, and are susceptible to imminent large crustal, in-slab and megathrust earthquakes that can affect the population significantly. In this context, we compare the current GMPEs used in the 2015 National Building Code of Canada and the most recent GMPEs calculated for Chile, with observed accelerations generated by four recent Chilean megathrust earthquakes (MW ≥ 7.7) that have occurred during the past decade, which is essential to quantify how well current models predict observations of major events.We collected the 3-component waveform data of more than 90 stations from the Centro Sismologico Nacional and the Universidad de Chile, and processed them by removing the trend and applying a band-pass filter. Then, for each station, we obtained the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), and by using a damped response spectra, we calculated the Pseudo Spectral Acceleration (PSA). Finally, we compared those observations with the most recent Chilean and Canadian GMPEs. Given the lack of geotechnical information for most of the Chilean stations, we also used a new method to obtain the VS30 by inverting the H/V ratios using a trans-dimensional Bayesian inversion, which allows us to improve the correction of observations according to soil conditions.As expected, our results show a good fit between observations and the Chilean GMPEs, but we observe that although the shape of the Canadian GMPEs is coherent with the distribution of observations, in general they under predict the observations for PGA and PSA at shorter periods for most of the considered earthquakes. An example of this can be seen in the attached figure for the case of the 2014 Iquique earthquake.These results present important implications related to the hazards associated to large earthquakes, especially for western Canada, where the probability of a

On fundamental concept of anti-earthquake design of equipment and pipings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibata, H.; Kato, M.

1979-01-01

This paper deals with a new concept of anti-earthquake design of equipment and pipings in nuclear power plants. Usual anti-earthquake design of such items starts from the design basis ground motions, via floor responses and ends at the stress analysis of each structural element. However, the same type of equipment are used for plants under various site conditions. The ordinarily used method obliges the repetition of such design procedure on each plant. This new design method has been developed to avoid such time-consuming repetitions. (orig.)

A preliminary assessment of earthquake ground shaking hazard at Yucca Mountain, Nevada and implications to the Las Vegas region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wong, I.G.; Green, R.K.; Sun, J.I. [Woodward-Clyde Federal Services, Oakland, CA (United States); Pezzopane, S.K. [Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States); Abrahamson, N.A. [Abrahamson (Norm A.), Piedmont, CA (United States); Quittmeyer, R.C. [Woodward-Clyde Federal Services, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

1996-12-31

As part of early design studies for the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the authors have performed a preliminary probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of ground shaking. A total of 88 Quaternary faults within 100 km of the site were considered in the hazard analysis. They were characterized in terms of their probability o being seismogenic, and their geometry, maximum earthquake magnitude, recurrence model, and slip rate. Individual faults were characterized by maximum earthquakes that ranged from moment magnitude (M{sub w}) 5.1 to 7.6. Fault slip rates ranged from a very low 0.00001 mm/yr to as much as 4 mm/yr. An areal source zone representing background earthquakes up to M{sub w} 6 1/4 = 1/4 was also included in the analysis. Recurrence for these background events was based on the 1904--1994 historical record, which contains events up to M{sub w} 5.6. Based on this analysis, the peak horizontal rock accelerations are 0.16, 0.21, 0.28, and 0.50 g for return periods of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 10,000 years, respectively. In general, the dominant contributor to the ground shaking hazard at Yucca Mountain are background earthquakes because of the low slip rates of the Basin and Range faults. A significant effect on the probabilistic ground motions is due to the inclusion of a new attenuation relation developed specifically for earthquakes in extensional tectonic regimes. This relation gives significantly lower peak accelerations than five other predominantly California-based relations used in the analysis, possibly due to the lower stress drops of extensional earthquakes compared to California events. Because Las Vegas is located within the same tectonic regime as Yucca Mountain, the seismic sources and path and site factors affecting the seismic hazard at Yucca Mountain also have implications to Las Vegas. These implications are discussed in this paper.

Implications of next generation attenuation ground motion prediction equations for site coefficients used in earthquake resistant design

Science.gov (United States)

Borcherdt, Roger D.

2014-01-01

Proposals are developed to update Tables 11.4-1 and 11.4-2 of Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures published as American Society of Civil Engineers Structural Engineering Institute standard 7-10 (ASCE/SEI 7–10). The updates are mean next generation attenuation (NGA) site coefficients inferred directly from the four NGA ground motion prediction equations used to derive the maximum considered earthquake response maps adopted in ASCE/SEI 7–10. Proposals include the recommendation to use straight-line interpolation to infer site coefficients at intermediate values of (average shear velocity to 30-m depth). The NGA coefficients are shown to agree well with adopted site coefficients at low levels of input motion (0.1 g) and those observed from the Loma Prieta earthquake. For higher levels of input motion, the majority of the adopted values are within the 95% epistemic-uncertainty limits implied by the NGA estimates with the exceptions being the mid-period site coefficient, Fv, for site class D and the short-period coefficient, Fa, for site class C, both of which are slightly less than the corresponding 95% limit. The NGA data base shows that the median value  of 913 m/s for site class B is more typical than 760 m/s as a value to characterize firm to hard rock sites as the uniform ground condition for future maximum considered earthquake response ground motion estimates. Future updates of NGA ground motion prediction equations can be incorporated easily into future adjustments of adopted site coefficients using procedures presented herein. 

Seismic response of the Pickering pressure relief duct to the 1985 Nahanni earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghobarah, A.

1995-05-01

The objective of this study is to examine the structural response of the Pickering pressure relief duct when subjected to the ground motion records of the 1985 Nahanni earthquake (December 23, 05:16 GMT, Site 1 - Iverson, N.W.T.). It also includes an estimate of the possible impact on the nuclear safety function of the duct. The structural models developed in an earlier study were used in this analysis. The response to the earthquake ground motion was determined on the basis of the estimated capacities of various components of the duct. The ability of the structure to fulfill its nuclear safety function is discussed. (author). 6 refs., 1 tab., 17 figs

Swedish earthquakes and acceleration probabilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slunga, R.

1979-03-01

A method to assign probabilities to ground accelerations for Swedish sites is described. As hardly any nearfield instrumental data is available we are left with the problem of interpreting macroseismic data in terms of acceleration. By theoretical wave propagation computations the relation between seismic strength of the earthquake, focal depth, distance and ground accelerations are calculated. We found that most Swedish earthquake of the area, the 1904 earthquake 100 km south of Oslo, is an exception and probably had a focal depth exceeding 25 km. For the nuclear power plant sites an annual probability of 10 -5 has been proposed as interesting. This probability gives ground accelerations in the range 5-20 % for the sites. This acceleration is for a free bedrock site. For consistency all acceleration results in this study are given for bedrock sites. When applicating our model to the 1904 earthquake and assuming the focal zone to be in the lower crust we get the epicentral acceleration of this earthquake to be 5-15 % g. The results above are based on an analyses of macrosismic data as relevant instrumental data is lacking. However, the macroseismic acceleration model deduced in this study gives epicentral ground acceleration of small Swedish earthquakes in agreement with existent distant instrumental data. (author)

Historic Eastern Canadian earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asmis, G.J.K.; Atchinson, R.J.

1981-01-01

Nuclear power plants licensed in Canada have been designed to resist earthquakes: not all plants, however, have been explicitly designed to the same level of earthquake induced forces. Understanding the nature of strong ground motion near the source of the earthquake is still very tentative. This paper reviews historical and scientific accounts of the three strongest earthquakes - St. Lawrence (1925), Temiskaming (1935), Cornwall (1944) - that have occurred in Canada in 'modern' times, field studies of near-field strong ground motion records and their resultant damage or non-damage to industrial facilities, and numerical modelling of earthquake sources and resultant wave propagation to produce accelerograms consistent with the above historical record and field studies. It is concluded that for future construction of NPP's near-field strong motion must be explicitly considered in design

Sensitivity of broad-band ground-motion simulations to earthquake source and Earth structure variations: an application to the Messina Straits (Italy)

KAUST Repository

Imperatori, W.; Mai, Paul Martin

2012-01-01

We find that ground-motion variability associated to differences in crustal models is constant and becomes important at intermediate and long periods. On the other hand, source-induced ground-motion variability is negligible at long periods and strong at intermediate-short periods. Using our source-modelling approach and the three different 1-D structural models, we investigate shaking levels for the 1908 Mw 7.1 Messina earthquake adopting a recently proposed model for fault geometry and final slip. Our simulations suggest that peak levels in Messina and Reggio Calabria must have reached 0.6-0.7 g during this earthquake.

Guidelines for ground motion definition for the eastern United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gwaltney, R.C.; Aramayo, G.A.; Williams, R.T.

1985-06-01

Guidelines for the determination of earthquake ground motion definition for the eastern United States are established here. Both far-field and near-field guidelines are given. The guidelines were based on an extensive review of the current procedures for specifying ground motion in the United States. Both empirical and theoretical procedures were used in establishing the guidelines because of the low seismicity in the eastern United States. Only a few large- to great-sized earthquakes (M/sub s/ > 7.5) have occurred in this region, no evidence of tectonic surface ruptures related to historic or Holocene earthquakes has been found, and no currently active plate boundaries of any kind are known in this region. Very little instrumented data have been gathered in the East. Theoretical procedures are proposed so that in regions of almost no data, a reasonable level of seismic ground motion activity can be assumed. The guidelines are to be used to develop the safe shutdown earthquake (SSE). A new procedure for establishing the operating basis earthquake (OBE) is proposed, in particular for the eastern United States. The OBE would be developed using a probabilistic assessment of the geological conditions and the recurrence of seismic events at a site. These guidelines should be useful in development of seismic design requirements for future reactors. 17 refs., figs., tabs

Ground-Motion Simulations of Scenario Earthquakes on the Hayward Fault

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aagaard, B; Graves, R; Larsen, S; Ma, S; Rodgers, A; Ponce, D; Schwartz, D; Simpson, R; Graymer, R

2009-03-09

We compute ground motions in the San Francisco Bay area for 35 Mw 6.7-7.2 scenario earthquake ruptures involving the Hayward fault. The modeled scenarios vary in rupture length, hypocenter, slip distribution, rupture speed, and rise time. This collaborative effort involves five modeling groups, using different wave propagation codes and domains of various sizes and resolutions, computing long-period (T > 1-2 s) or broadband (T > 0.1 s) synthetic ground motions for overlapping subsets of the suite of scenarios. The simulations incorporate 3-D geologic structure and illustrate the dramatic increase in intensity of shaking for Mw 7.05 ruptures of the entire Hayward fault compared with Mw 6.76 ruptures of the southern two-thirds of the fault. The area subjected to shaking stronger than MMI VII increases from about 10% of the San Francisco Bay urban area in the Mw 6.76 events to more than 40% of the urban area for the Mw 7.05 events. Similarly, combined rupture of the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults in a Mw 7.2 event extends shaking stronger than MMI VII to nearly 50% of the urban area. For a given rupture length, the synthetic ground motions exhibit the greatest sensitivity to the slip distribution and location inside or near the edge of sedimentary basins. The hypocenter also exerts a strong influence on the amplitude of the shaking due to rupture directivity. The synthetic waveforms exhibit a weaker sensitivity to the rupture speed and are relatively insensitive to the rise time. The ground motions from the simulations are generally consistent with Next Generation Attenuation ground-motion prediction models but contain long-period effects, such as rupture directivity and amplification in shallow sedimentary basins that are not fully captured by the ground-motion prediction models.

Wideband simulation of earthquake ground motion by a spectrum-matching, multiple-pulse technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gusev, A.; Pavlov, V.

2006-04-01

To simulate earthquake ground motion, we combine a multiple-point stochastic earthquake fault model and a suite of Green functions. Conceptually, our source model generalizes the classic one of Haskell (1966). At any time instant, slip occurs over a narrow strip that sweeps the fault area at a (spatially variable) velocity. This behavior defines seismic signals at lower frequencies (LF), and describes directivity effects. High-frequency (HF) behavior of source signal is defined by local slip history, assumed to be a short segment of pulsed noise. For calculations, this model is discretized as a grid of point subsources. Subsource moment rate time histories, in their LF part, are smooth pulses whose duration equals to the rise time. In their HF part, they are segments of non-Gaussian noise of similar duration. The spectral content of subsource time histories is adjusted so that the summary far-field signal follows certain predetermined spectral scaling law. The results of simulation depend on random seeds, and on particular values of such parameters as: stress drop; average and dispersion parameter for rupture velocity; rupture nucleation point; slip zone width/rise time, wavenumber-spectrum parameter defining final slip function; the degrees of non-Gaussianity for random slip rate in time, and for random final slip in space, and more. To calculate ground motion at a site, Green functions are calculated for each subsource-site pair, then convolved with subsource time functions and at last summed over subsources. The original Green function calculator for layered weakly inelastic medium is of discrete wavenumber kind, with no intrinsic limitations with respect to layer thickness or bandwidth. The simulation package can generate example motions, or used to study uncertainties of the predicted motion. As a test, realistic analogues of recorded motions in the epicentral zone of the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake were synthesized, and related uncertainties were

Spatiotemporal seismic velocity change in the Earth's subsurface associated with large earthquake: contribution of strong ground motion and crustal deformation

Science.gov (United States)

Sawazaki, K.

2016-12-01

It is well known that seismic velocity of the subsurface medium changes after a large earthquake. The cause of the velocity change is roughly attributed to strong ground motion (dynamic strain change), crustal deformation (static strain change), and fracturing around the fault zone. Several studies have revealed that the velocity reduction down to several percent concentrates at the depths shallower than several hundred meters. The amount of velocity reduction correlates well with the intensity of strong ground motion, which indicates that the strong motion is the primary cause of the velocity reduction. Although some studies have proposed contributions of coseismic static strain change and fracturing around fault zone to the velocity change, separation of their contributions from the site-related velocity change is usually difficult. Velocity recovery after a large earthquake is also widely observed. The recovery process is generally proportional to logarithm of the lapse time, which is similar to the behavior of "slow dynamics" recognized in laboratory experiments. The time scale of the recovery is usually months to years in field observations, while it is several hours in laboratory experiments. Although the factor that controls the recovery speed is not well understood, cumulative strain change due to post-seismic deformation, migration of underground water, mechanical and chemical reactions on the crack surface could be the candidate. In this study, I summarize several observations that revealed spatiotemporal distribution of seismic velocity change due to large earthquakes; especially I focus on the case of the M9.0 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Combining seismograms of Hi-net (high-sensitivity) and KiK-net (strong motion), geodetic records of GEONET and the seafloor GPS/Acoustic ranging, I investigate contribution of the strong ground motion and crustal deformation to the velocity change associated with the Tohoku earthquake, and propose a gross view of

Environmentally Friendly Solution to Ground Hazards in Design of Bridges in Earthquake Prone Areas Using Timber Piles

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, H.

2015-12-01

Bridges are major elements of infrastructure in all societies. Their safety and continued serviceability guaranties the transportation and emergency access in urban and rural areas. However, these important structures are subject to earthquake induced damages in structure and foundations. The basic approach to the proper support of foundations are a) distribution of imposed loads to foundation in a way they can resist those loads without excessive settlement and failure; b) modification of foundation ground with various available methods; and c) combination of "a" and "b". The engineers has to face the task of designing the foundations meeting all safely and serviceability criteria but sometimes when there are numerous environmental and financial constrains, the use of some traditional methods become inevitable. This paper explains the application of timber piles to improve ground resistance to liquefaction and to secure the abutments of short to medium length bridges in an earthquake/liquefaction prone area in Bohol Island, Philippines. The limitations of using the common ground improvement methods (i.e., injection, dynamic compaction) because of either environmental or financial concerns along with the abundance of timber in the area made the engineers to use a network of timber piles behind the backwalls of the bridge abutments. The suggested timber pile network is simulated by numerical methods and its safety is examined. The results show that the compaction caused by driving of the piles and bearing capacity provided by timbers reduce the settlement and lateral movements due to service and earthquake induced loads.

Evaluation of the recorded ground motions for the unusual earthquake of 13 August 2006 ( M w 5.3) in Michoacán México

Science.gov (United States)

Ramírez-Gaytán, Alejandro; Jaimes, Miguel A.; Bandy, William L.; Huerfano, Victor M.; Salido-Ruiz, Ricardo A.

2015-10-01

The focal mechanism of the moderate earthquake of 13 August 2006 M w = 5.3, which occurred in the border coastal area between Michoacán and Colima, México, is unusual. As shown by the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) project and the Servicio Sismológico Nacional de Mexico (SSN), the thrust mechanism is striking almost perpendicularly to the majority of earthquakes occurring along the subduction zone of the Mexican Pacific continental margin which commonly strike nearly parallel to the trench. The purpose of this study is to analyze the observed ground motions of this particular event relative to those of the common events. First, we apply the H/V technique to verify that the stations involved in this study are nearly free of site effects. Then, we compare the observed ground motions with (i) three empirical ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) appropriate for the region, (ii) ground motions of four real earthquakes with the common mechanism, and (iii) the Fourier spectrum of a selected common event.

Websim3d: A Web-based System for Generation, Storage and Dissemination of Earthquake Ground Motion Simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, K. B.

2003-12-01

Synthetic time histories from large-scale 3D ground motion simulations generally constitute large 'data' sets which typically require 100's of Mbytes or Gbytes of storage capacity. For the same reason, getting access to a researchers simulation output, for example for an earthquake engineer to perform site analysis, or a seismologist to perform seismic hazard analysis, can be a tedious procedure. To circumvent this problem we have developed a web-based ``community model'' (websim3D) for the generation, storage, and dissemination of ground motion simulation results. Websim3D allows user-friendly and fast access to view and download such simulation results for an earthquake-prone area. The user selects an earthquake scenario from a map of the region, which brings up a map of the area where simulation data is available. Now, by clicking on an arbitrary site location, synthetic seismograms and/or soil parameters for the site can be displayed at fixed or variable scaling and/or downloaded. Websim3D relies on PHP scripts for the dynamic plots of synthetic seismograms and soil profiles. Although not limited to a specific area, we illustrate the community model for simulation results from the Los Angeles basin, Wellington (New Zealand), and Mexico.

3D Ground-Motion Simulations for Magnitude 9 Earthquakes on the Cascadia Megathrust: Sedimentary Basin Amplification, Rupture Directivity, and Ground-Motion Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Frankel, A. D.; Wirth, E. A.; Marafi, N.; Vidale, J. E.; Stephenson, W. J.

2017-12-01

We have produced broadband (0-10 Hz) synthetic seismograms for Mw 9 earthquakes on the Cascadia subduction zone by combining synthetics from 3D finite-difference simulations at low frequencies (≤ 1 Hz) and stochastic synthetics at high frequencies (≥ 1 Hz). These synthetic ground motions are being used to evaluate building response, liquefaction, and landslides, as part of the M9 Project of the University of Washington, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey. The kinematic rupture model is composed of high stress drop sub-events with Mw 8, similar to those observed in the Mw 9.0 Tohoku, Japan and Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile earthquakes, superimposed on large background slip with lower slip velocities. The 3D velocity model is based on active and passive-source seismic tomography studies, seismic refraction and reflection surveys, and geologic constraints. The Seattle basin portion of the model has been validated by simulating ground motions from local earthquakes. We have completed 50 3D simulations of Mw 9 earthquakes using a variety of hypocenters, slip distributions, sub-event locations, down-dip limits of rupture, and other parameters. For sites not in deep sedimentary basins, the response spectra of the synthetics for 0.1-6.0 s are similar, on average, to the values from the BC Hydro ground motion prediction equations (GMPE). For periods of 7-10 s, the synthetic response spectra exceed these GMPE, partially due to the shallow dip of the plate interface. We find large amplification factors of 2-5 for response spectra at periods of 1-10 s for locations in the Seattle and Tacoma basins, relative to sites outside the basins. This amplification depends on the direction of incoming waves and rupture directivity. The basin amplification is caused by surface waves generated at basin edges from incoming S-waves, as well as amplification and focusing of S-waves and surface waves by the 3D basin structure. The inter-event standard deviation of response spectral

Ground acceleration in a nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pena G, P.; Balcazar, M.; Vega R, E.

2015-09-01

A methodology that adopts the recommendations of international organizations for determining the ground acceleration at a nuclear power plant is outlined. Systematic presented here emphasizes the type of geological, geophysical and geotechnical studies in different areas of influence, culminating in assessments of Design Basis earthquake and the earthquake Operating Base. The methodology indicates that in regional areas where the site of the nuclear power plant is located, failures are identified in geological structures, and seismic histories of the region are documented. In the area of detail geophysical tools to generate effects to determine subsurface propagation velocities and spectra of the induced seismic waves are used. The mechanical analysis of drill cores allows estimating the efforts that generate and earthquake postulate. Studies show that the magnitude of the Fukushima earthquake, did not affect the integrity of nuclear power plants due to the rocky settlement found. (Author)

An empirical assessment of near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake in the Eastern United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Campbell, Kenneth W

1984-06-01

To help assess the impact of the current U.S. Geological Survey position on the seismic safety of nuclear power plants in the Eastern United States (EUS), several techniques for estimating near-source strong ground motion for a Charleston size earthquake were evaluated. The techniques for estimating the near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) in the Eastern United States which were assessed are methods based on site specific analyses, semi-theoretical scaling techniques, and intensity-based estimates. The first involves the statistical analysis of ground motion records from earthquakes and recording stations having the same general characteristics (earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.5 M{sub S} or larger, epicentral distances of 25 km or less, and sites of either soil or rock). Some recommendations for source and characterization scaling of the bias resulting primarily from an inadequate sample of near-source recordings from earthquakes of large magnitude are discussed. The second technique evaluated requires that semi-theoretical estimates of peak ground motion parameters for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake be obtained from scaling relations. Each relation uses a theoretical expression between peak acceleration magnitude and distance together with available strong motion data (majority coming from California) to develop a scaling relation appropriate for the Eastern United States. None of the existing ground motion models for the EUS include the potential effects of source or site characteristics. Adjustments to account for fault mechanisms, site topography, site geology, and the size and embedment of buildings are discussed. The final approach used relations between strong ground motion parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in conjunction with two methods to estimate peak parameters for a 6.6 m{sub s} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake. As with other techniques, adjustment of peak acceleration estimates are discussed. Each method

Generation of Earthquake Ground Motion Considering Local Site Effects and Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis of Ancient Structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jae Kwan; Lee, J. S.; Yang, T. S.; Cho, J. R.; R, H. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1997-09-01

In order to establish a correct correlation between them, mechanical characteristics of the ancient structures need to be investigated. Since sedimentary basins are preferred dwelling sites in ancient times, it is necessary to perform SSI analysis to derive correct correlation between the damage and ground motion intensity. Contents of Project are as follows: (1) Generation of stochastic earthquake ground motion considering source mechanism and site effects. (2) Analysis of seismic response of sedimentary basin. (3) Soil-structure interaction analysis of ancient structures (4) Investigation of dynamic response characteristics of ancient structure considering soil-structure interaction effects. A procedure is presented for generation of stochastic earthquake ground motion considering source mechanism and site effects. The simulation method proposed by Boore is used to generate the outcropping rock motion. The free field motion at the soil site is obtained by a convolution analysis. And for the study of wood structures, a nonlinear SDOF model is developed. The effects of soil-structure interaction on the behavior of the wood structures are found to be very minor. But the response can be significantly affected due to the intensity and frequency contents of the input motion. 13 refs., 6 tabs., 31 figs. (author)

Parallel Earthquake Simulations on Large-Scale Multicore Supercomputers

KAUST Repository

Wu, Xingfu

2011-01-01

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural hazards on our planet Earth. Hugh earthquakes striking offshore may cause devastating tsunamis, as evidenced by the 11 March 2011 Japan (moment magnitude Mw9.0) and the 26 December 2004 Sumatra (Mw9.1) earthquakes. Earthquake prediction (in terms of the precise time, place, and magnitude of a coming earthquake) is arguably unfeasible in the foreseeable future. To mitigate seismic hazards from future earthquakes in earthquake-prone areas, such as California and Japan, scientists have been using numerical simulations to study earthquake rupture propagation along faults and seismic wave propagation in the surrounding media on ever-advancing modern computers over past several decades. In particular, ground motion simulations for past and future (possible) significant earthquakes have been performed to understand factors that affect ground shaking in populated areas, and to provide ground shaking characteristics and synthetic seismograms for emergency preparation and design of earthquake-resistant structures. These simulation results can guide the development of more rational seismic provisions for leading to safer, more efficient, and economical50pt]Please provide V. Taylor author e-mail ID. structures in earthquake-prone regions.

Implications of the Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake for ground motion scaling with source, path, and site parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Jonathan P.; Midorikawa, Saburoh; Graves, Robert W.; Khodaverdi, Khatareh; Kishida, Tadahiro; Miura, Hiroyuki; Bozorgnia, Yousef; Campbell, Kenneth W.

2013-01-01

The Mw9.0 Tohoku-oki Japan earthquake produced approximately 2,000 ground motion recordings. We consider 1,238 three-component accelerograms corrected with component-specific low-cut filters. The recordings have rupture distances between 44 km and 1,000 km, time-averaged shear wave velocities of VS30 = 90 m/s to 1,900 m/s, and usable response spectral periods of 0.01 sec to >10 sec. The data support the notion that the increase of ground motions with magnitude saturates at large magnitudes. High-frequency ground motions demonstrate faster attenuation with distance in backarc than in forearc regions, which is only captured by one of the four considered ground motion prediction equations for subduction earthquakes. Recordings within 100 km of the fault are used to estimate event terms, which are generally positive (indicating model underprediction) at short periods and zero or negative (overprediction) at long periods. We find site amplification to scale minimally with VS30 at high frequencies, in contrast with other active tectonic regions, but to scale strongly with VS30 at low frequencies.

Three-Dimensional Finite Difference Simulation of Ground Motions from the August 24, 2014 South Napa Earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodgers, Arthur J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Dreger, Douglas S. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Pitarka, Arben [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2015-06-15

We performed three-dimensional (3D) anelastic ground motion simulations of the South Napa earthquake to investigate the performance of different finite rupture models and the effects of 3D structure on the observed wavefield. We considered rupture models reported by Dreger et al. (2015), Ji et al., (2015), Wei et al. (2015) and Melgar et al. (2015). We used the SW4 anelastic finite difference code developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Petersson and Sjogreen, 2013) and distributed by the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics. This code can compute the seismic response for fully 3D sub-surface models, including surface topography and linear anelasticity. We use the 3D geologic/seismic model of the San Francisco Bay Area developed by the United States Geological Survey (Aagaard et al., 2008, 2010). Evaluation of earlier versions of this model indicated that the structure can reproduce main features of observed waveforms from moderate earthquakes (Rodgers et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2010). Simulations were performed for a domain covering local distances (< 25 km) and resolution providing simulated ground motions valid to 1 Hz.

On development and improvement of evaluation techniques for strong ground motion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

Issues regarding evaluation of active fault and ground motion for formulation of design basis ground motion (Ss) were identified during NISA and NSC seismic safety reviewing activities, which have been conducted in the light of the revision of the relevant seismic regulatory guide in 2006 and the experiences of the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007 and the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake. In this theme following four subjects were investigated to resolve the important problems for ground motion evaluation, (1) advanced evaluation of ground motion using fault model and uncertainty; (2) improving evaluation of ground motion using attenuation relation of response spectrum; (3) development of advanced technique for ground motion observation and observation tool in deep borehole; (4) improving the evaluation of site effect and seismic wave propagation characteristics. Obtained results will be incorporated into the national safety review and also in the safety standard guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) using its Extra-Budgetary Program (IAEA EBP), thereby contributing to technical cooperation in global nuclear seismic safety. (author)

A Deterministic Approach to Earthquake Prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vittorio Sgrigna

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at giving suggestions for a deterministic approach to investigate possible earthquake prediction and warning. A fundamental contribution can come by observations and physical modeling of earthquake precursors aiming at seeing in perspective the phenomenon earthquake within the framework of a unified theory able to explain the causes of its genesis, and the dynamics, rheology, and microphysics of its preparation, occurrence, postseismic relaxation, and interseismic phases. Studies based on combined ground and space observations of earthquake precursors are essential to address the issue. Unfortunately, up to now, what is lacking is the demonstration of a causal relationship (with explained physical processes and looking for a correlation between data gathered simultaneously and continuously by space observations and ground-based measurements. In doing this, modern and/or new methods and technologies have to be adopted to try to solve the problem. Coordinated space- and ground-based observations imply available test sites on the Earth surface to correlate ground data, collected by appropriate networks of instruments, with space ones detected on board of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO satellites. Moreover, a new strong theoretical scientific effort is necessary to try to understand the physics of the earthquake.

Selection of earthquake resistant design criteria for nuclear power plants: Methodology and technical cases: Dislocation models of near-source earthquake ground motion: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luco, J.E.

1987-05-01

The solutions available for a number of dynamic dislocation fault models are examined in an attempt at establishing some of the expected characteristics of earthquake ground motion in the near-source region. In particular, solutions for two-dimensional anti-plane shear and plane-strain models as well as for three-dimensional fault models in full space, uniform half-space and layered half-space media are reviewed

Characterization of earthquake-induced ground motion from the L'Aquila seismic sequence of 2009, Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Malagnini, Luca; Akinci, Aybige; Mayeda, Kevin; Munafo', Irene; Herrmann, Robert B.; Mercuri, Alessia

2011-01-01

Based only on weak-motion data, we carried out a combined study on region-specific source scaling and crustal attenuation in the Central Apennines (Italy). Our goal was to obtain a reappraisal of the existing predictive relationships for the ground motion, and to test them against the strong-motion data [peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV) and spectral acceleration (SA)] gathered during the Mw 6.15 L'Aquila earthquake (2009 April 6, 01:32 UTC). The L'Aquila main shock was not part of the predictive study, and the validation test was an extrapolation to one magnitude unit above the largest earthquake of the calibration data set. The regional attenuation was determined through a set of regressions on a data set of 12 777 high-quality, high-gain waveforms with excellent S/N ratios (4259 vertical and 8518 horizontal time histories). Seismograms were selected from the recordings of 170 foreshocks and aftershocks of the sequence (the complete set of all earthquakes with ML≥ 3.0, from 2008 October 1 to 2010 May 10). All waveforms were downloaded from the ISIDe web page (), a web site maintained by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). Weak-motion data were used to obtain a moment tensor solution, as well as a coda-based moment-rate source spectrum, for each one of the 170 events of the L'Aquila sequence (2.8 ≤Mw≤ 6.15). Source spectra were used to verify the good agreement with the source scaling of the Colfiorito seismic sequence of 1997-1998 recently described by Malagnini (2008). Finally, results on source excitation and crustal attenuation were used to produce the absolute site terms for the 23 stations located within ˜80 km of the epicentral area. The complete set of spectral corrections (crustal attenuation and absolute site effects) was used to implement a fast and accurate tool for the automatic computation of moment magnitudes in the Central Apennines.

Exploration of deep S-wave velocity structure using microtremor array technique to estimate long-period ground motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Hiroaki; Higashi, Sadanori; Sato, Kiyotaka

2007-01-01

In this study, microtremor array measurements were conducted at 9 sites in the Niigata plain to explore deep S-wave velocity structures for estimation of long-period earthquake ground motion. The 1D S-wave velocity profiles in the Niigata plain are characterized by 5 layers with S-wave velocities of 0.4, 0.8, 1.5, 2.1 and 3.0 km/s, respectively. The depth to the basement layer is deeper in the Niigata port area located at the Japan sea side of the Niigata plain. In this area, the basement depth is about 4.8 km around the Seirou town and about 4.1 km around the Niigata city, respectively. These features about the basement depth in the Niigata plain are consistent with the previous surveys. In order to verify the profiles derived from microtremor array exploration, we estimate the group velocities of Love wave for four propagation paths of long-period earthquake ground motion during Niigata-ken tyuetsu earthquake by multiple filter technique, which were compared with the theoretical ones calculated from the derived profiles. As a result, it was confirmed that the group velocities from the derived profiles were in good agreement with the ones from long-period earthquake ground motion records during Niigata-ken tyuetsu earthquake. Furthermore, we applied the estimation method of design basis earthquake input for seismically isolated nuclear power facilities by using normal mode solution to estimate long-period earthquake ground motion during Niigata-ken tyuetsu earthquake. As a result, it was demonstrated that the applicability of the above method for the estimation of long-period earthquake ground motion were improved by using the derived 1D S-wave velocity profile. (author)

Hazard-to-Risk: High-Performance Computing Simulations of Large Earthquake Ground Motions and Building Damage in the Near-Fault Region

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, M.; Rodgers, A. J.; McCallen, D.; Petersson, N. A.; Pitarka, A.

2017-12-01

We are running high-performance computing (HPC) simulations of ground motions for large (magnitude, M=6.5-7.0) earthquakes in the near-fault region (steel moment frame buildings throughout the near-fault domain. For ground motions, we are using SW4, a fourth order summation-by-parts finite difference time-domain code running on 10,000-100,000's of cores. Earthquake ruptures are generated using the Graves and Pitarka (2017) method. We validated ground motion intensity measurements against Ground Motion Prediction Equations. We considered two events (M=6.5 and 7.0) for vertical strike-slip ruptures with three-dimensional (3D) basin structures, including stochastic heterogeneity. We have also considered M7.0 scenarios for a Hayward Fault rupture scenario which effects the San Francisco Bay Area and northern California using both 1D and 3D earth structure. Dynamic, inelastic response of canonical buildings is computed with the NEVADA, a nonlinear, finite-deformation finite element code. Canonical buildings include 3-, 9-, 20- and 40-story steel moment frame buildings. Damage potential is tracked by the peak inter-story drift (PID) ratio, which measures the maximum displacement between adjacent floors of the building and is strongly correlated with damage. PID ratios greater 1.0 generally indicate non-linear response and permanent deformation of the structure. We also track roof displacement to identify permanent deformation. PID (damage) for a given earthquake scenario (M, slip distribution, hypocenter) is spatially mapped throughout the SW4 domain with 1-2 km resolution. Results show that in the near fault region building damage is correlated with peak ground velocity (PGV), while farther away (> 20 km) it is better correlated with peak ground acceleration (PGA). We also show how simulated ground motions have peaks in the response spectra that shift to longer periods for larger magnitude events and for locations of forward directivity, as has been reported by

Deterministic ground motion modelling at Russe, NE Bulgaria, associated to the Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes

CERN Document Server

Kouteva, M; Paskaleva, I; Romanelli, F

2003-01-01

An analytical deterministic technique, based on the detailed knowledge of the seismic source process and of the propagation of seismic waves, has been applied to generate synthetic seismic signals at Russe, NE Bulgaria, associated to the strongest intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes, which occurred during the last century (1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990). The obtained results show that all ground motion components contribute significantly to the seismic loading and that the seismic source parameters influence the shape and the amplitude of the seismic signal. The approach we used proves that realistic seismic input (also at remote distances) can be constructed via waveform modelling, considering all the possible factors influencing the ground motion.

Ground Motion Characteristics of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Survey of Damage to Stone Masonry Structures and Structural Field Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rishi Ram Parajuli

2015-11-01

Full Text Available On April 25, 2015, a M7.8 earthquake rattled central Nepal; ground motion recorded in Kantipath, Kathmandu, 76.86 km east of the epicenter suggested that the low frequency component was dominant. We consider data from eight aftershocks following the Gorkha earthquake and analyze ground motion characteristics; we found that most of the ground motion records are dominated by low frequencies for events with a moment magnitude greater than 6. The Gorkha earthquake devastated hundreds of thousands of structures. In the countryside, and especially in rural mountainous areas, most of the buildings that collapsed were stone masonry constructions. Detailed damage assessments of stone masonry buildings in Harmi Gorkha had done, with an epicentral distance of about 17 km. Structures were categorized as large, medium and small depending on their plinth area size and number of stories. Most of the structures in the area were damaged; interestingly, all ridge-line structures were heavily damaged. Moreover, Schmidt hammer tests were undertaken to determine the compressive strength of stone masonry, brick masonry with mud mortar for normal buildings and historical monuments. The compressive strengths of stone and brick masonry were found to be 12.38 and 18.75 MPa, respectively. Historical structures constructed with special bricks had a compressive strength of 29.50 MPa. Pullout tests were also conducted to determine the stone masonry-mud mortar bond strength. The cohesive strength of mud mortar and the coefficient of friction were determined.

Earthquake related dynamic groundwater pressure changes observed at the Kamaishi Mine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasaki, Shunji; Yasuike, Shinji; Komada, Hiroya; Kobayashi, Yoshimasa; Kawamura, Makoto; Aoki, Kazuhiro

1999-01-01

From 342 seismic records observed at the Kamaishi Mine form 1990 to 1998, a total of 92 data whose acceleration is greater than 1 gal or ground water pressure is greater than 1 kPa were selected and dynamic ground water pressure changes associated with earthquakes were studied. The results obtained are as follows: (1) A total of 27 earthquakes accompanied by static ground water pressure changes were observed. Earthquake-related static ground water pressure changes are smaller than 1/10 of the annual range of ground water pressure changes. There is also a tendency that the ground water pressure changes recovers to its original trend in several weeks after earthquakes. (2) Dynamic ground water pressure changes associated with earthquakes occur when P-waves arrive. However, the largest dynamic ground water pressure changes occur on S-wave part arrivals where the amplitude of seismic wave is the largest. A positive correlation is recognized between the maximum value of velocity wave form and that of dynamic ground water pressure changes. (3) The characteristic of dynamic change in ground water pressure due to earthquakes can be explained qualitatively by mechanism in which the P-wave converted from an incident SV wave propagates along the borehole. (author)

Rupture dynamics and ground motions from earthquakes in 2-D heterogeneous media

KAUST Repository

Bydlon, Samuel A.

2015-03-21

©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. We perform 2-D simulations of earthquakes on rough faults in media with random heterogeneities (with von Karman distribution) to study the effects of geometric and material heterogeneity on the rupture process and resulting high-frequency ground motions in the near-fault region (out to ∼20km). Variations in slip and rupture velocity can arise from material heterogeneity alone but are dominantly controlled by fault roughness. Scattering effects become appreciable beyond ∼3km from the fault. Near-fault scattering extends the duration of incoherent, high-frequency ground motions and, at least in our 2-D simulations, elevates root-mean-square accelerations (i.e., Arias intensity) with negligible reduction in peak velocities. We also demonstrate that near-fault scattering typically occurs in the power law tail of the power spectral density function, quantified by the Hurst exponent and another parameter combining standard deviation and correlation length. Key Points Fault roughness, not material heterogeneity, dominates rupture process Introduce parameter that can be used to quantify near-fault scattering Scattering affects the duration and amplitude of high-frequency ground motions

The threat of silent earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Cervelli, Peter

2004-01-01

Not all earthquakes shake the ground. The so-called silent types are forcing scientists to rethink their understanding of the way quake-prone faults behave. In rare instances, silent earthquakes that occur along the flakes of seaside volcanoes may cascade into monstrous landslides that crash into the sea and trigger towering tsunamis. Silent earthquakes that take place within fault zones created by one tectonic plate diving under another may increase the chance of ground-shaking shocks. In other locations, however, silent slip may decrease the likelihood of destructive quakes, because they release stress along faults that might otherwise seem ready to snap.

Seismic Margin of 500MWe PFBR Beyond Safe Shutdown Earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sajish, S.D.; Chellapandi, P.; Chetal, S.C.

2012-01-01

Summary: • Seismic design aspects of safety related systems and components of PFBR is discussed with a focus on reactor assembly components. • PFBR is situated in a low seismic area with a peak ground acceleration value of 0.156 g. • The design basis ground motion parameters for the seismic design are evaluated by deterministic method and confirmed by probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. • Review of the seismic design of various safety related systems and components indicate that margin is available to meet any demand due to an earthquake beyond SSE. • Reactor assembly vessels are the most critical components w.r.t seismic loading. • Minimum safety margin is 1.41 for plastic deformation and 1.46 against buckling. • From the preliminary investigation we come to the conclusion that PFBR can withstand an earthquake up to 0.22 g without violating any safety limits. • Additional margin can be estimated by detailed fragility analysis and seismic margin assessment methods

Slip reactivation during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake: Dynamic rupture and ground motion simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Galvez, P.; Dalguer, L. A.

2013-12-01

The 2011 Mw9 Tohoku earthquake generated such as vast geophysical data that allows studying with an unprecedented resolution the spatial-temporal evolution of the rupture process of a mega thrust event. Joint source inversion of teleseismic, near-source strong motion and coseismic geodetic data , e.g [Lee et. al, 2011], reveal an evidence of slip reactivation process at areas of very large slip. The slip of snapshots of this source model shows that after about 40 seconds the big patch above to the hypocenter experienced an additional push of the slip (reactivation) towards the trench. These two possible repeating slip exhibited by source inversions can create two waveform envelops well distinguished in the ground motion pattern. In fact seismograms of the KiK-Net Japanese network contained this pattern. For instance a seismic station around Miyagi (MYGH10) has two main wavefronts separated between them by 40 seconds. A possible physical mechanism to explain the slip reactivation could be a thermal pressurization process occurring in the fault zone. In fact, Kanamori & Heaton, (2000) proposed that for large earthquakes frictional melting and fluid pressurization can play a key role of the rupture dynamics of giant earthquakes. If fluid exists in a fault zone, an increase of temperature can rise up the pore pressure enough to significantly reduce the frictional strength. Therefore, during a large earthquake the areas of big slip persuading strong thermal pressurization may result in a second drop of the frictional strength after reaching a certain value of slip. Following this principle, we adopt for slip weakening friction law and prescribe a certain maximum slip after which the friction coefficient linearly drops down again. The implementation of this friction law has been done in the latest unstructured spectral element code SPECFEM3D, Peter et. al. (2012). The non-planar subduction interface has been taken into account and place on it a big asperity patch inside

Using Simulated Ground Motions to Constrain Near-Source Ground Motion Prediction Equations in Areas Experiencing Induced Seismicity

Science.gov (United States)

Bydlon, S. A.; Dunham, E. M.

2016-12-01

Recent increases in seismic activity in historically quiescent areas such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, including large, potentially induced events such as the 2011 Mw 5.6 Prague, OK, earthquake, have spurred the need for investigation into expected ground motions associated with these seismic sources. The neoteric nature of this seismicity increase corresponds to a scarcity of ground motion recordings within 50 km of earthquakes Mw 3.0 and greater, with increasing scarcity at larger magnitudes. Gathering additional near-source ground motion data will help better constraints on regional ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and will happen over time, but this leaves open the possibility of damaging earthquakes occurring before potential ground shaking and seismic hazard in these areas are properly understood. To aid the effort of constraining near-source GMPEs associated with induced seismicity, we integrate synthetic ground motion data from simulated earthquakes into the process. Using the dynamic rupture and seismic wave propagation code waveqlab3d, we perform verification and validation exercises intended to establish confidence in simulated ground motions for use in constraining GMPEs. We verify the accuracy of our ground motion simulator by performing the PEER/SCEC layer-over-halfspace comparison problem LOH.1 Validation exercises to ensure that we are synthesizing realistic ground motion data include comparisons to recorded ground motions for specific earthquakes in target areas of Oklahoma between Mw 3.0 and 4.0. Using a 3D velocity structure that includes a 1D structure with additional small-scale heterogeneity, the properties of which are based on well-log data from Oklahoma, we perform ground motion simulations of small (Mw 3.0 - 4.0) earthquakes using point moment tensor sources. We use the resulting synthetic ground motion data to develop GMPEs for small earthquakes in Oklahoma. Preliminary results indicate that ground motions can be amplified

Pattern of ground deformation in Kathmandu valley during 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, central Nepal

Science.gov (United States)

Ghimire, S.; Dwivedi, S. K.; Acharya, K. K.

2016-12-01

The 25th April 2015 Gorkha Earthquake (Mw=7.8) epicentered at Barpak along with thousands of aftershocks released seismic moment nearly equivalent to an 8.0 Magnitude earthquake rupturing a 150km long fault segment. Although Kathmandu valley was supposed to be severely devastated by such major earthquake, post earthquake scenario is completely different. The observed destruction is far less than anticipated as well as the spatial pattern is different than expected. This work focuses on the behavior of Kathmandu valley sediments during the strong shaking by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. For this purpose spatial pattern of destruction is analyzed at heavily destructed sites. To understand characteristics of subsurface soil 2D-MASW survey was carried out using a 24-channel seismograph system. An accellerogram recorded by Nepal Seismological Center was analyzed to characterize the strong ground motion. The Kathmandu valley comprises fluvio-lacustrine deposit with gravel, sand, silt and clay along with few exposures of basement rocks within the sediments. The observations show systematic repetition of destruction at an average interval of 2.5km mostly in sand, silt and clay dominated formations. Results of 2D-MASW show the sites of destruction are characterized by static deformation of soil (liquefaction and southerly dipping cracks). Spectral analysis of the accelerogram indicates maximum power associated with frequency of 1.0Hz. The result of this study explains the observed spatial pattern of destruction in Kathmandu valley. This is correlated with the seismic energy associated with the frequency of 1Hz, which generates an average wavelength of 2.5km with an average S-wave velocity of 2.5km/s. The cumulative effect of dominant frequency and associated wavelength resulted in static deformation of surface soil layers at an average interval of 2.5km. This phenomenon clearly describes the reason for different scenario than that was anticipated in Kathmandu valley.

Investigating landslides caused by earthquakes - A historical review

Science.gov (United States)

Keefer, D.K.

2002-01-01

Post-earthquake field investigations of landslide occurrence have provided a basis for understanding, evaluating, and mapping the hazard and risk associated with earthquake-induced landslides. This paper traces the historical development of knowledge derived from these investigations. Before 1783, historical accounts of the occurrence of landslides in earthquake are typically so incomplete and vague that conclusions based on these accounts are of limited usefulness. For example, the number of landslides triggered by a given event is almost always greatly underestimated. The first formal, scientific post-earthquake investigation that included systematic documentation of the landslides was undertaken in the Calabria region of Italy after the 1783 earthquake swarm. From then until the mid-twentieth century, the best information on earthquake-induced landslides came from a succession of post-earthquake investigations largely carried out by formal commissions that undertook extensive ground-based field studies. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, when the use of aerial photography became widespread, comprehensive inventories of landslide occurrence have been made for several earthquakes in the United States, Peru, Guatemala, Italy, El Salvador, Japan, and Taiwan. Techniques have also been developed for performing "retrospective" analyses years or decades after an earthquake that attempt to reconstruct the distribution of landslides triggered by the event. The additional use of Geographic Information System (GIS) processing and digital mapping since about 1989 has greatly facilitated the level of analysis that can applied to mapped distributions of landslides. Beginning in 1984, synthesis of worldwide and national data on earthquake-induced landslides have defined their general characteristics and relations between their occurrence and various geologic and seismic parameters. However, the number of comprehensive post-earthquake studies of landslides is still

Earthquake risk assessment of Alexandria, Egypt

Science.gov (United States)

Badawy, Ahmed; Gaber, Hanan; Ibrahim, Hamza

2015-01-01

Throughout historical and recent times, Alexandria has suffered great damage due to earthquakes from both near- and far-field sources. Sometimes, the sources of such damages are not well known. During the twentieth century, the city was shaken by several earthquakes generated from inland dislocations (e.g., 29 Apr. 1974, 12 Oct. 1992, and 28 Dec. 1999) and the African continental margin (e.g., 12 Sept. 1955 and 28 May 1998). Therefore, this study estimates the earthquake ground shaking and the consequent impacts in Alexandria on the basis of two earthquake scenarios. The simulation results show that Alexandria affected by both earthquakes scenarios relatively in the same manner despite the number of casualties during the first scenario (inland dislocation) is twice larger than the second one (African continental margin). An expected percentage of 2.27 from Alexandria's total constructions (12.9 millions, 2006 Census) will be affected, 0.19 % injuries and 0.01 % deaths of the total population (4.1 millions, 2006 Census) estimated by running the first scenario. The earthquake risk profile reveals that three districts (Al-Montazah, Al-Amriya, and Shark) lie in high seismic risks, two districts (Gharb and Wasat) are in moderate, and two districts (Al-Gomrok and Burg El-Arab) are in low seismic risk level. Moreover, the building damage estimations reflect that Al-Montazah is the highest vulnerable district whereas 73 % of expected damages were reported there. The undertaken analysis shows that the Alexandria urban area faces high risk. Informal areas and deteriorating buildings and infrastructure make the city particularly vulnerable to earthquake risks. For instance, more than 90 % of the estimated earthquake risks (buildings damages) are concentrated at the most densely populated (Al-Montazah, Al-Amriya, and Shark) districts. Moreover, about 75 % of casualties are in the same districts.

Combining multiple earthquake models in real time for earthquake early warning

Science.gov (United States)

Minson, Sarah E.; Wu, Stephen; Beck, James L; Heaton, Thomas H.

2017-01-01

The ultimate goal of earthquake early warning (EEW) is to provide local shaking information to users before the strong shaking from an earthquake reaches their location. This is accomplished by operating one or more real‐time analyses that attempt to predict shaking intensity, often by estimating the earthquake’s location and magnitude and then predicting the ground motion from that point source. Other EEW algorithms use finite rupture models or may directly estimate ground motion without first solving for an earthquake source. EEW performance could be improved if the information from these diverse and independent prediction models could be combined into one unified, ground‐motion prediction. In this article, we set the forecast shaking at each location as the common ground to combine all these predictions and introduce a Bayesian approach to creating better ground‐motion predictions. We also describe how this methodology could be used to build a new generation of EEW systems that provide optimal decisions customized for each user based on the user’s individual false‐alarm tolerance and the time necessary for that user to react.

The GIS and analysis of earthquake damage distribution of the 1303 Hongtong M=8 earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Meng-Tan; Jin, Xue-Shen; An, Wei-Ping; Lü, Xiao-Jian

2004-07-01

The geography information system of the 1303 Hongton M=8 earthquake has been established. Using the spatial analysis function of GIS, the spatial distribution characteristics of damage and isoseismal of the earthquake are studies. By comparing with the standard earthquake intensity attenuation relationship, the abnormal damage distribution of the earthquake is found, so the relationship of the abnormal distribution with tectonics, site condition and basin are analyzed. In this paper, the influence on the ground motion generated by earthquake source and the underground structures near source also are studied. The influence on seismic zonation, anti-earthquake design, earthquake prediction and earthquake emergency responding produced by the abnormal density distribution are discussed.

Deterministic ground motion modelling at Russe, NE Bulgaria, associated to the Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kouteva, M.; Paskaleva, I.; Panza, G.F.; Romanelli, F.

2003-06-01

An analytical deterministic technique, based on the detailed knowledge of the seismic source process and of the propagation of seismic waves, has been applied to generate synthetic seismic signals at Russe, NE Bulgaria, associated to the strongest intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes, which occurred during the last century (1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990). The obtained results show that all ground motion components contribute significantly to the seismic loading and that the seismic source parameters influence the shape and the amplitude of the seismic signal. The approach we used proves that realistic seismic input (also at remote distances) can be constructed via waveform modelling, considering all the possible factors influencing the ground motion. (author)

Y-12 site-specific earthquake response analysis and soil liquefaction assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, S.B.; Hunt, R.J.; Manrod, W.E. III.

1995-01-01

A site-specific earthquake response analysis and soil liquefaction assessment were performed for the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The main purpose of these studies was to use the results of the analyses for evaluating the safety of the performance category -1, -2, and -3 facilities against the natural phenomena seismic hazards. Earthquake response was determined for seven (7), one dimensional soil columns (Fig. 12) using two horizontal components of the PC-3 design basis 2000-year seismic event. The computer program SHAKE 91 (Ref. 7) was used to calculate the absolute response accelerations on top of ground (soil/weathered shale) and rock outcrop. The SHAKE program has been validated for horizontal response calculations at periods less than 2.0 second at several sites and consequently is widely accepted in the geotechnical earthquake engineering area for site response analysis

Response of base-isolated nuclear structures to extreme earthquake shaking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumar, Manish, E-mail: mkumar2@buffalo.edu; Whittaker, Andrew S.; Constantinou, Michael C.

2015-12-15

Highlights: • Response-history analysis of nuclear structures base-isolated using lead–rubber bearings is performed. • Advanced numerical model of lead–rubber bearing is used to capture behavior under extreme earthquake shaking. • Results of response-history analysis obtained using simplified and advanced model of lead–rubber bearings are compared. • Heating of the lead core and variation in buckling load and axial stiffness affect the response. - Abstract: Seismic isolation using low damping rubber and lead–rubber bearings is a viable strategy for mitigating the effects of extreme earthquake shaking on safety-related nuclear structures. The mechanical properties of these bearings are not expected to change substantially in design basis shaking. However, under shaking more intense than design basis, the properties of the lead cores in lead–rubber bearings may degrade due to heating associated with energy dissipation, some bearings in an isolation system may experience net tension, and the compression and tension stiffness may be affected by the lateral displacement of the isolation system. The effects of intra-earthquake changes in mechanical properties on the response of base-isolated nuclear power plants (NPPs) are investigated using an advanced numerical model of a lead–rubber bearing that has been verified and validated, and implemented in OpenSees. A macro-model is used for response-history analysis of base-isolated NPPs. Ground motions are selected and scaled to be consistent with response spectra for design basis and beyond design basis earthquake shaking at the site of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station. Ten isolation systems of two periods and five characteristic strengths are analyzed. The responses obtained using simplified and advanced isolator models are compared. Strength degradation due to heating of lead cores and changes in buckling load most significantly affect the response of the base-isolated NPP.

Response of base-isolated nuclear structures to extreme earthquake shaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Manish; Whittaker, Andrew S.; Constantinou, Michael C.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Response-history analysis of nuclear structures base-isolated using lead–rubber bearings is performed. • Advanced numerical model of lead–rubber bearing is used to capture behavior under extreme earthquake shaking. • Results of response-history analysis obtained using simplified and advanced model of lead–rubber bearings are compared. • Heating of the lead core and variation in buckling load and axial stiffness affect the response. - Abstract: Seismic isolation using low damping rubber and lead–rubber bearings is a viable strategy for mitigating the effects of extreme earthquake shaking on safety-related nuclear structures. The mechanical properties of these bearings are not expected to change substantially in design basis shaking. However, under shaking more intense than design basis, the properties of the lead cores in lead–rubber bearings may degrade due to heating associated with energy dissipation, some bearings in an isolation system may experience net tension, and the compression and tension stiffness may be affected by the lateral displacement of the isolation system. The effects of intra-earthquake changes in mechanical properties on the response of base-isolated nuclear power plants (NPPs) are investigated using an advanced numerical model of a lead–rubber bearing that has been verified and validated, and implemented in OpenSees. A macro-model is used for response-history analysis of base-isolated NPPs. Ground motions are selected and scaled to be consistent with response spectra for design basis and beyond design basis earthquake shaking at the site of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station. Ten isolation systems of two periods and five characteristic strengths are analyzed. The responses obtained using simplified and advanced isolator models are compared. Strength degradation due to heating of lead cores and changes in buckling load most significantly affect the response of the base-isolated NPP.

Geodetic Finite-Fault-based Earthquake Early Warning Performance for Great Earthquakes Worldwide

Science.gov (United States)

Ruhl, C. J.; Melgar, D.; Grapenthin, R.; Allen, R. M.

2017-12-01

GNSS-based earthquake early warning (EEW) algorithms estimate fault-finiteness and unsaturated moment magnitude for the largest, most damaging earthquakes. Because large events are infrequent, algorithms are not regularly exercised and insufficiently tested on few available datasets. The Geodetic Alarm System (G-larmS) is a GNSS-based finite-fault algorithm developed as part of the ShakeAlert EEW system in the western US. Performance evaluations using synthetic earthquakes offshore Cascadia showed that G-larmS satisfactorily recovers magnitude and fault length, providing useful alerts 30-40 s after origin time and timely warnings of ground motion for onshore urban areas. An end-to-end test of the ShakeAlert system demonstrated the need for GNSS data to accurately estimate ground motions in real-time. We replay real data from several subduction-zone earthquakes worldwide to demonstrate the value of GNSS-based EEW for the largest, most damaging events. We compare predicted ground acceleration (PGA) from first-alert-solutions with those recorded in major urban areas. In addition, where applicable, we compare observed tsunami heights to those predicted from the G-larmS solutions. We show that finite-fault inversion based on GNSS-data is essential to achieving the goals of EEW.

IAEA safety guides in the light of recent developments in earthquake engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurpinar, A.

1988-11-01

The IAEA safety guides 50-SG-S1 and 50-SG-S2 emphasize on the determination of the design basis earthquake ground motion and earthquake resistant design considerations for nuclear power plants, respectively. Since the elaboration of these safety guides years have elapsed and a review of some of these concepts is necessary, taking into account the information collected and the technical developments. In this article, topics within the scope of these safety guides are discussed. In particular, the results of some recent research which may have a bearing on the nuclear industry are highlighted. Conclusions and recommendations are presented. 6 fig., 19 refs. (F.M.)

Ground Motion Saturation Evaluation (GMSE) Data Needs Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

NA

2004-01-01

The objective of the data needs workshop is to identify potential near-term (12-18 month) studies that would reduce uncertainty in extremely low probability ( -5 /yr) earthquake ground motions at Yucca Mountain. Recommendations made at the workshop will be considered by BSC and DOE management in formulating plans for FY05 seismic-related investigations. Based on studies done earlier this year, a bound on peak ground velocities (PGVs), consisting of a uniform distribution from 150 cm/s to 500 cm/s, has been applied to the existing PGV hazard curve for the underground repository horizon, for use in the forthcoming License Application. The technical basis for this bounding distribution is being documented, along with the basis for a slightly less conservative bound in the form of a roughly triangular distribution from 153 cm/s to 451 cm/s. The objective of the GMSE studies is to provide a technical basis for reducing remaining excessive conservatism, if any, in the extremely low probability ground motions that are used in postclosure performance assessments. Potential studies that have already been suggested include: (1) Additional tests of failure-strains of repository rocks, at, above, and below the repository horizon; (2) Identification and evaluation of nuclear explosion data that may help establish strain limits in tuff; (3) Numerical modeling of seismic wave propagation through repository rock column to test hypothesis that nonwelded tuffs below the repository horizon would fail in tension and prevent extreme strains from being transmitted to the repository; (4) Evaluation of seismic failure threshold of bladed, fragile-appearing lithophysal crystals; (5) Evaluation of whether a ground motion parameter other than PGV would correlate better with calculated drip-shield and waste-package damage states; (6) Qualification and use of finite seismic-source model to evaluate probabilities of extreme ground motions from extreme scenario earthquakes (e.g., magnitude 6

Investigating Landslides Caused by Earthquakes A Historical Review

Science.gov (United States)

Keefer, David K.

Post-earthquake field investigations of landslide occurrence have provided a basis for understanding, evaluating, and mapping the hazard and risk associated withearthquake-induced landslides. This paper traces thehistorical development of knowledge derived from these investigations. Before 1783, historical accounts of the occurrence of landslides in earthquakes are typically so incomplete and vague that conclusions based on these accounts are of limited usefulness. For example, the number of landslides triggered by a given event is almost always greatly underestimated. The first formal, scientific post-earthquake investigation that included systematic documentation of the landslides was undertaken in the Calabria region of Italy after the 1783 earthquake swarm. From then until the mid-twentieth century, the best information on earthquake-induced landslides came from a succession ofpost-earthquake investigations largely carried out by formal commissions that undertook extensive ground-based field studies. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, when the use of aerial photography became widespread, comprehensive inventories of landslide occurrence have been made for several earthquakes in the United States, Peru, Guatemala, Italy, El Salvador, Japan, and Taiwan. Techniques have also been developed for performing ``retrospective'' analyses years or decades after an earthquake that attempt to reconstruct the distribution of landslides triggered by the event. The additional use of Geographic Information System (GIS) processing and digital mapping since about 1989 has greatly facilitated the level of analysis that can applied to mapped distributions of landslides. Beginning in 1984, syntheses of worldwide and national data on earthquake-induced landslides have defined their general characteristics and relations between their occurrence and various geologic and seismic parameters. However, the number of comprehensive post-earthquake studies of landslides is still

Seismic fragility analysis of a CANDU containment structure for near-fault ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, In Kil; Choun, Young Sun; Seo, Jeong Moon; Ahn, Seong Moon

2005-01-01

The R. G. 1.60 spectrum used for the seismic design of Korean nuclear power plants provides a generally conservative design basis due to its broadband nature. A survey on some of the Quaternary fault segments near Korean nuclear power plants is ongoing. It is likely that these faults will be identified as active ones. If the faults are confirmed as active ones, it will be necessary to reevaluate the seismic safety of the nuclear power plants located near these faults. The probability based scenario earthquakes were identified as near-field earthquakes. In general, the near-fault ground motion records exhibit a distinctive long period pulse like time history with very high peak velocities. These features are induced by the slip of the earthquake fault. Near-fault ground motions, which have caused much of the damage in recent major earthquakes, can be characterized by a pulse-like motion that exposes the structure to a high input energy at the beginning of the motion. It is necessary to estimate the near-fault ground motion effects on the nuclear power plant structures and components located near the faults. In this study, the seismic fragility analysis of a CANDU containment structure was performed based on the results of nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses

Ground motion estimation for the elevated bridges of the Kyushu Shinkansen derailment caused by the foreshock of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake based on the site-effect substitution method

Science.gov (United States)

Hata, Yoshiya; Yabe, Masaaki; Kasai, Akira; Matsuzaki, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Yoshikazu; Akiyama, Mitsuyoshi

2016-12-01

An earthquake of JMA magnitude 6.5 (first event) hit Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, at 21:26 JST, April 14, 2016. Subsequently, an earthquake of JMA magnitude 7.3 (second event) hit Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures at 01:46 JST, April 16, 2016. An out-of-service Kyushu Shinkansen train carrying no passengers traveling on elevated bridges was derailed by the first event. This was the third derailment caused by an earthquake in the history of the Japanese Shinkansen, after one caused by the 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake and another triggered by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. To analyze the mechanism of this third derailment, it is crucial to evaluate the strong ground motion at the derailment site with high accuracy. For this study, temporary earthquake observations were first carried out at a location near the bridge site; these observations were conducted because although the JMA Kumamoto Station site and the derailment site are closely located, the ground response characteristics at these sites differ. Next, empirical site amplification and phase effects were evaluated based on the obtained observation records. Finally, seismic waveforms during the first event at the bridge site of interest were estimated based on the site-effect substitution method. The resulting estimated acceleration and velocity waveforms for the derailment site include much larger amplitudes than the waveforms recorded at the JMA Kumamoto and MLIT Kumamoto station sites. The reliability of these estimates is confirmed by the finding that the same methods reproduce strong ground motions at the MLIT Kumamoto Station site accurately. These estimated ground motions will be useful for reasonable safety assessment of anti-derailment devices on elevated railway bridges.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Seismicity in the block mountains between Halle and Leipzig, Central Germany: centroid moment tensors, ground motion simulation, and felt intensities of two M ≈ 3 earthquakes in 2015 and 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Dahm, Torsten; Heimann, Sebastian; Funke, Sigward; Wendt, Siegfried; Rappsilber, Ivo; Bindi, Dino; Plenefisch, Thomas; Cotton, Fabrice

2018-05-01

On April 29, 2017 at 0:56 UTC (2:56 local time), an M W = 2.8 earthquake struck the metropolitan area between Leipzig and Halle, Germany, near the small town of Markranstädt. The earthquake was felt within 50 km from the epicenter and reached a local intensity of I 0 = IV. Already in 2015 and only 15 km northwest of the epicenter, a M W = 3.2 earthquake struck the area with a similar large felt radius and I 0 = IV. More than 1.1 million people live in the region, and the unusual occurrence of the two earthquakes led to public attention, because the tectonic activity is unclear and induced earthquakes have occurred in neighboring regions. Historical earthquakes south of Leipzig had estimated magnitudes up to M W ≈ 5 and coincide with NW-SE striking crustal basement faults. We use different seismological methods to analyze the two recent earthquakes and discuss them in the context of the known tectonic structures and historical seismicity. Novel stochastic full waveform simulation and inversion approaches are adapted for the application to weak, local earthquakes, to analyze mechanisms and ground motions and their relation to observed intensities. We find NW-SE striking normal faulting mechanisms for both earthquakes and centroid depths of 26 and 29 km. The earthquakes are located where faults with large vertical offsets of several hundred meters and Hercynian strike have developed since the Mesozoic. We use a stochastic full waveform simulation to explain the local peak ground velocities and calibrate the method to simulate intensities. Since the area is densely populated and has sensitive infrastructure, we simulate scenarios assuming that a 12-km long fault segment between the two recent earthquakes is ruptured and study the impact of rupture parameters on ground motions and expected damage.

Evaluation of Soil-Structure Interaction on the Seismic Response of Liquid Storage Tanks under Earthquake Ground Motions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Farajian

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Soil-structure interaction (SSI could affect the seismic response of structures. Since liquid storage tanks are vital structures and must continue their operation under severe earthquakes, their seismic behavior should be studied. Accordingly, the seismic response of two types of steel liquid storage tanks (namely, broad and slender, with aspect ratios of height to radius equal to 0.6 and 1.85 founded on half-space soil is scrutinized under different earthquake ground motions. For a better comparison, the six considered ground motions are classified, based on their pulse-like characteristics, into two groups, named far and near fault ground motions. To model the liquid storage tanks, the simplified mass-spring model is used and the liquid is modeled as two lumped masses known as sloshing and impulsive, and the interaction of fluid and structure is considered using two coupled springs and dashpots. The SSI effect, also, is considered using a coupled spring and dashpot. Additionally, four types of soils are used to consider a wide variety of soil properties. To this end, after deriving the equations of motion, MATLAB programming is employed to obtain the time history responses. Results show that although the SSI effect leads to a decrease in the impulsive displacement, overturning moment, and normalized base shear, the sloshing (or convective displacement is not affected by such effects due to its long period.

Consideration for standard earthquake vibration (1). The Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishibashi, Katsuhiko

2007-01-01

Outline of new guideline of quakeproof design standard of nuclear power plant and the standard earthquake vibration are explained. The improvement points of new guideline are discussed on the basis of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant incidents. The fundamental limits of new guideline are pointed. Placement of the quakeproof design standard of nuclear power plant, JEAG4601 of Japan Electric Association, new guideline, standard earthquake vibration of new guideline, the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007 and damage of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant are discussed. The safety criteria of safety review system, organization, standard and guideline should be improved on the basis of this earthquake and nuclear plant accident. The general knowledge, 'a nuclear power plant is not constructed in the area expected large earthquake', has to be realized. Preconditions of all nuclear power plants should not cause damage to anything. (S.Y.)

Modelling of the ground motion at Russe site (NE Bulgaria) due to the Vrancea earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kouteva, Mihaela; Panza, Giuliano F.; Paskaleva, Ivanka; Romanelli, Fabio

2001-11-01

An approach, capable of synthesising strong ground motion from a basic understanding of fault mechanism and of seismic wave propagation in the Earth, is applied to model the seismic input at a set of 25 sites along a chosen profile at Russe, NE Bulgaria, due to two intermediate-depth Vrancea events (August 30, 1986, Mw=7.2, and May 30, 1990, Mw=6.9). According to our results, once a strong ground motion parameter has been selected to characterise the ground motion, it is necessary to investigate the relationships between its values and the features of the earthquake source, the path to the site and the nature of the site. Therefore, a proper seismic hazard assessment requires an appropriate parametric study to define the different ground shaking scenarios corresponding to the relevant seismogenic zones affecting the given site. Site response assessment is provided simultaneously in frequency and space domains, and thus the applied procedure differs from the traditional engineering approach that discusses the site as a single point. The applied procedure can be efficiently used to estimate the ground motion for different purposes like microzonation, urban planning, retrofitting or insurance of the built environment. (author)

Application of τc*Pd for identifying damaging earthquakes for earthquake early warning

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, P. L.; Lin, T. L.; Wu, Y. M.

2014-12-01

Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS) is an effective approach to mitigate earthquake damage. In this study, we used the seismic record by the Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net), because it has dense station coverage and co-located borehole strong-motion seismometers along with the free-surface strong-motion seismometers. We used inland earthquakes with moment magnitude (Mw) from 5.0 to 7.3 between 1998 and 2012. We choose 135 events and 10950 strong ground accelerograms recorded by the 696 strong ground accelerographs. Both the free-surface and the borehole data are used to calculate τc and Pd, respectively. The results show that τc*Pd has a good correlation with PGV and is a robust parameter for assessing the potential of damaging earthquake. We propose the value of τc*Pd determined from seconds after the arrival of P wave could be a threshold for the on-site type of EEW.

Seismic ground motion modelling and damage earthquake scenarios: A bridge between seismologists and seismic engineers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panza, G.F.; Romanelli, F.; Vaccari. F.; . E-mails: Luis.Decanini@uniroma1.it; Fabrizio.Mollaioli@uniroma1.it)

2002-07-01

The input for the seismic risk analysis can be expressed with a description of 'roundshaking scenarios', or with probabilistic maps of perhaps relevant parameters. The probabilistic approach, unavoidably based upon rough assumptions and models (e.g. recurrence and attenuation laws), can be misleading, as it cannot take into account, with satisfactory accuracy, some of the most important aspects like rupture process, directivity and site effects. This is evidenced by the comparison of recent recordings with the values predicted by the probabilistic methods. We prefer a scenario-based, deterministic approach in view of the limited seismological data, of the local irregularity of the occurrence of strong earthquakes, and of the multiscale seismicity model, that is capable to reconcile two apparently conflicting ideas: the Characteristic Earthquake concept and the Self Organized Criticality paradigm. Where the numerical modeling is successfully compared with records, the synthetic seismograms permit the microzoning, based upon a set of possible scenario earthquakes. Where no recordings are available the synthetic signals can be used to estimate the ground motion without having to wait for a strong earthquake to occur (pre-disaster microzonation). In both cases the use of modeling is necessary since the so-called local site effects can be strongly dependent upon the properties of the seismic source and can be properly defined only by means of envelopes. The joint use of reliable synthetic signals and observations permits the computation of advanced hazard indicators (e.g. damaging potential) that take into account local soil properties. The envelope of synthetic elastic energy spectra reproduces the distribution of the energy demand in the most relevant frequency range for seismic engineering. The synthetic accelerograms can be fruitfully used for design and strengthening of structures, also when innovative techniques, like seismic isolation, are employed. For these

Dynamic fracture network around faults: implications for earthquake ruptures, ground motion and energy budget

Science.gov (United States)

Okubo, K.; Bhat, H. S.; Rougier, E.; Lei, Z.; Knight, E. E.; Klinger, Y.

2017-12-01

Numerous studies have suggested that spontaneous earthquake ruptures can dynamically induce failure in secondary fracture network, regarded as damage zone around faults. The feedbacks of such fracture network play a crucial role in earthquake rupture, its radiated wave field and the total energy budget. A novel numerical modeling tool based on the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM), which accounts for the main rupture propagation and nucleation/propagation of secondary cracks, was used to quantify the evolution of the fracture network and evaluate its effects on the main rupture and its associated radiation. The simulations were performed with the FDEM-based software tool, Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSSedu) developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory. We first modeled an earthquake rupture on a planar strike-slip fault surrounded by a brittle medium where secondary cracks can be nucleated/activated by the earthquake rupture. We show that the secondary cracks are dynamically generated dominantly on the extensional side of the fault, mainly behind the rupture front, and it forms an intricate network of fractures in the damage zone. The rupture velocity thereby significantly decreases, by 10 to 20 percent, while the supershear transition length increases in comparison to the one with purely elastic medium. It is also observed that the high-frequency component (10 to 100 Hz) of the near-field ground acceleration is enhanced by the dynamically activated fracture network, consistent with field observations. We then conducted the case study in depth with various sets of initial stress state, and friction properties, to investigate the evolution of damage zone. We show that the width of damage zone decreases in depth, forming "flower-like" structure as the characteristic slip distance in linear slip-weakening law, or the fracture energy on the fault, is kept constant with depth. Finally, we compared the fracture energy on the fault to the energy

Determination of many-electron basis functions for a quantum Hall ground state using Schur polynomials

Science.gov (United States)

Mandal, Sudhansu S.; Mukherjee, Sutirtha; Ray, Koushik

2018-03-01

A method for determining the ground state of a planar interacting many-electron system in a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane is described. The ground state wave-function is expressed as a linear combination of a set of basis functions. Given only the flux and the number of electrons describing an incompressible state, we use the combinatorics of partitioning the flux among the electrons to derive the basis wave-functions as linear combinations of Schur polynomials. The procedure ensures that the basis wave-functions form representations of the angular momentum algebra. We exemplify the method by deriving the basis functions for the 5/2 quantum Hall state with a few particles. We find that one of the basis functions is precisely the Moore-Read Pfaffian wave function.

Toward real-time regional earthquake simulation of Taiwan earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S.; Liu, Q.; Tromp, J.; Komatitsch, D.; Liang, W.; Huang, B.

2013-12-01

We developed a Real-time Online earthquake Simulation system (ROS) to simulate regional earthquakes in Taiwan. The ROS uses a centroid moment tensor solution of seismic events from a Real-time Moment Tensor monitoring system (RMT), which provides all the point source parameters including the event origin time, hypocentral location, moment magnitude and focal mechanism within 2 minutes after the occurrence of an earthquake. Then, all of the source parameters are automatically forwarded to the ROS to perform an earthquake simulation, which is based on a spectral-element method (SEM). We have improved SEM mesh quality by introducing a thin high-resolution mesh layer near the surface to accommodate steep and rapidly varying topography. The mesh for the shallow sedimentary basin is adjusted to reflect its complex geometry and sharp lateral velocity contrasts. The grid resolution at the surface is about 545 m, which is sufficient to resolve topography and tomography data for simulations accurate up to 1.0 Hz. The ROS is also an infrastructural service, making online earthquake simulation feasible. Users can conduct their own earthquake simulation by providing a set of source parameters through the ROS webpage. For visualization, a ShakeMovie and ShakeMap are produced during the simulation. The time needed for one event is roughly 3 minutes for a 70 sec ground motion simulation. The ROS is operated online at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica (http://ros.earth.sinica.edu.tw/). Our long-term goal for the ROS system is to contribute to public earth science outreach and to realize seismic ground motion prediction in real-time.

Near Fault Strong Ground Motion Records in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Takai, N.; Shigefuji, M.; Rajaure, S.; Bijukchhen, S.; Ichiyanagi, M.; Dhital, M. R.; Sasatani, T.

2015-12-01

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and is located in the Kathmandu Valley, which is formed by soft lake sediments of Plio-Pleistocene origin. Large earthquakes in the past have caused significant damage as the seismic waves were amplified in the soft sediments. To understand the site effect of the valley structure, we installed continuous recording accelerometers in four different parts of the valley. Four stations were installed along a west-to-east profile of the valley at KTP (Kirtipur; hill top), TVU (Kirtipur; hill side), PTN (Patan) and THM (Thimi). On 25 April 2015, a large interplate earthquake Mw 7.8 occurred in the Himalayan Range of Nepal. The focal area estimated was about 200 km long and 150 km wide, with a large slip area under the Kathmandu Valley where our strong motion observation stations were installed. The strong ground motions were observed during this large damaging earthquake. The maximum horizontal peak ground acceleration at the rock site was 271 cm s-2, and the maximum horizontal peak ground velocity at the sediment sites reached 112 cm s-1. We compared these values with the empirical attenuation formula for strong ground motions. We found the peak accelerations were smaller and the peak velocities were approximately the same as the predicted values. The rock site KTP motions are less affected by site amplification and were analysed further. The horizontal components were rotated to the fault normal (N205E) and fault parallel (N115E) directions using the USGS fault model. The velocity waveforms at KTP showed about 5 s triangular pulses on the N205E and the up-down components; however the N115E component was not a triangular pulse but one cycle sinusoidal wave. The velocity waveforms at KTP were integrated to derive the displacement waveforms. The derived displacements at KTP are characterized by a monotonic step on the N205E normal and up-down components. The displacement waveforms of KTP show permanent displacements of 130 cm in the fault

Performance of Irikura's Recipe Rupture Model Generator in Earthquake Ground Motion Simulations as Implemented in the Graves and Pitarka Hybrid Approach.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pitarka, A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-11-22

We analyzed the performance of the Irikura and Miyake (2011) (IM2011) asperity-­ based kinematic rupture model generator, as implemented in the hybrid broadband ground-­motion simulation methodology of Graves and Pitarka (2010), for simulating ground motion from crustal earthquakes of intermediate size. The primary objective of our study is to investigate the transportability of IM2011 into the framework used by the Southern California Earthquake Center broadband simulation platform. In our analysis, we performed broadband (0 -­ 20Hz) ground motion simulations for a suite of M6.7 crustal scenario earthquakes in a hard rock seismic velocity structure using rupture models produced with both IM2011 and the rupture generation method of Graves and Pitarka (2016) (GP2016). The level of simulated ground motions for the two approaches compare favorably with median estimates obtained from the 2014 Next Generation Attenuation-­West2 Project (NGA-­West2) ground-­motion prediction equations (GMPEs) over the frequency band 0.1–10 Hz and for distances out to 22 km from the fault. We also found that, compared to GP2016, IM2011 generates ground motion with larger variability, particularly at near-­fault distances (<12km) and at long periods (>1s). For this specific scenario, the largest systematic difference in ground motion level for the two approaches occurs in the period band 1 – 3 sec where the IM2011 motions are about 20 – 30% lower than those for GP2016. We found that increasing the rupture speed by 20% on the asperities in IM2011 produced ground motions in the 1 – 3 second bandwidth that are in much closer agreement with the GMPE medians and similar to those obtained with GP2016. The potential implications of this modification for other rupture mechanisms and magnitudes are not yet fully understood, and this topic is the subject of ongoing study.

A grounded theory study of 'turning into a strong nurse': Earthquake experiences and perspectives on disaster nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Turale, Sue; Stone, Teresa E; Petrini, Marcia

2015-09-01

While Asia has the dubious distinction of being the world's most natural disaster-prone area, disaster nursing education and training are sparse in many Asian countries, especially China where this study took place. To explore the earthquake disaster experiences of Chinese nurses and develop a substantive theory of earthquake disaster nursing that will help inform future development of disaster nursing education. A qualitative study employing grounded theory, informed by symbolic interactionism. Fifteen Chinese registered nurses from five hospitals in Jiangxi Province who undertook relief efforts after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. Data were collected in 2012-2013 in digitally-recorded, semi-structured, in-depth interviews and reflective field notes, and analyzed using Glaser's grounded theory method. Participants were unprepared educationally and psychologically for their disaster work. Supporting the emergent theory of "working in that terrible environment", was the core category of "turning into a strong nurse", a process of three stages: "going to the disaster"; "immersing in the disaster"; and "trying to let disaster experiences fade away". The participants found themselves thrust in "terrible" scenes of destruction, experienced personal dangers and ethical dilemmas, and tried the best they could to help survivors, communities and themselves, with limited resources and confronting professional work. Our rich findings confirm those of other studies in China and elsewhere, that attention must be paid to disaster education and training for nurses, as well as the mental health of nurses who work in disaster areas. Emergent theory helps to inform nurse educators, researchers, leaders and policy makers in China, and elsewhere in developing strategies to better prepare nurses for future disasters, and assist communities to prepare for and recover after earthquake disasters. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ASSESSMENT OF EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS ON WASTE LANDFILLS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zania, Varvara; Tsompanakis, Yiannis; Psarropoulos, Prodromos

Earthquake hazards may arise as a result of: (a) transient ground deformation, which is induced due to seismic wave propagation, and (b) permanent ground deformation, which is caused by abrupt fault dislocation. Since the adequate performance of waste landfills after an earthquake is of outmost...... importance, the current study examines the impact of both types of earthquake hazards by performing efficient finite-element analyses. These took also into account the potential slip displacement development along the geosynthetic interfaces of the composite base liner. At first, the development of permanent...

The deadly Morelos-Puebla, Mexico Intraslab Earthquake of 19 September 2017 (Mw7.1): Was the Earthquake Unexpected and Were the Ground Motions and Damage Pattern in Mexico City Abnormal?

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Campos, X.; Singh, S. K.; Arroyo, D.; Cruz-Atienza, V. M.; Ordaz, M.; Hjorleifsdottir, V.; Iglesias, A.

2017-12-01

On 19 September 2017, thirty two years after the 1985 Michoacan interplate earthquake (Mw8.0), the city was once again devastated but this time by a Mw7.1 intraslab earthquake. The 2017 earthquake was located near the border of the states of Morelos and Puebla (18.410N, -98.710E; H=57 km), to SSE of Mexico City, at a hypocentral distance of about 127 km. It caused great panic in Mexico City, collapse of 44 buildings, and severely damaged many others. More than 200 persons were killed in the city. It was the second most destructive earthquake in the history of Mexico City, next only to the 1985 earthquake. A strong-motion station at CU located on basalt lava flows on main campus UNAM has been in continuous operation since 1964. PGA of 59 gal at CU during the 2017 earthquake is the largest ever, two times greater than that recorded during the 1985 earthquake (29 gal). The 2017 earthquake raised questions that are critical in fathoming the seismic vulnerability of the city and in its reconstruction. Was such an intraslab earthquake (Mw 7 at a hypocentral distance of 127 km) unexpected? Were the recorded ground motions in the city unusually high for such an earthquake? Why did the damage pattern during the earthquake differ from that observed during the 1985 earthquake? The earthquake was the closest M>5 intraslab earthquake to Mexico City ever recorded. However, Mw 5.9 events have occurred in recent years in the vicinity of the 2017 earthquake (R 145 km). Three Mw≥6.9 earthquakes have occurred since 1964 in the distance range 184-225 km. Thus, Mw and R of the earthquake was not surprising. However, a comparison of Fourier acceleration spectra at CU of 10 intraslab earthquakes with largest PGA, reduced to a common distance of R=127 km, shows that the amplitudes of the 2017 events were abnormally high in 1-2s range. Spectra of intraslab events at CU are enriched at higher frequencies relative to interplate ones because of closer distance, greater depth and higher

Inter-Disciplinary Validation of Pre Earthquake Signals. Case Study for Major Earthquakes in Asia (2004-2010) and for 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, D.; Pulinets, S.; Hattori, K.; Liu, J.-Y.; Yang. T. Y.; Parrot, M.; Kafatos, M.; Taylor, P.

2012-01-01

We carried out multi-sensors observations in our investigation of phenomena preceding major earthquakes. Our approach is based on a systematic analysis of several physical and environmental parameters, which we found, associated with the earthquake processes: thermal infrared radiation, temperature and concentration of electrons in the ionosphere, radon/ion activities, and air temperature/humidity in the atmosphere. We used satellite and ground observations and interpreted them with the Lithosphere-Atmosphere- Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) model, one of possible paradigms we study and support. We made two independent continues hind-cast investigations in Taiwan and Japan for total of 102 earthquakes (M>6) occurring from 2004-2011. We analyzed: (1) ionospheric electromagnetic radiation, plasma and energetic electron measurements from DEMETER (2) emitted long-wavelength radiation (OLR) from NOAA/AVHRR and NASA/EOS; (3) radon/ion variations (in situ data); and 4) GPS Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements collected from space and ground based observations. This joint analysis of ground and satellite data has shown that one to six (or more) days prior to the largest earthquakes there were anomalies in all of the analyzed physical observations. For the latest March 11 , 2011 Tohoku earthquake, our analysis shows again the same relationship between several independent observations characterizing the lithosphere /atmosphere coupling. On March 7th we found a rapid increase of emitted infrared radiation observed from satellite data and subsequently an anomaly developed near the epicenter. The GPS/TEC data indicated an increase and variation in electron density reaching a maximum value on March 8. Beginning from this day we confirmed an abnormal TEC variation over the epicenter in the lower ionosphere. These findings revealed the existence of atmospheric and ionospheric phenomena occurring prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which indicated new evidence of a distinct

Demonstration of pb-PSHA with Ras-Elhekma earthquake, Egypt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsayed Fergany

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this work is to: (1 argue for the importance of a physically-based probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (pb-PSHA methodology and show examples to support the argument from recent events, (2 demonstrate the methodology with the ground motion simulations of May 28, 1998, Mw = 5.5 Ras-Elhekma earthquake, north Egypt. The boundaries for the possible rupture parameters that may have been identified prior to the 1998 Ras-Elhekma earthquake were estimated. A range of simulated ground-motions for the Ras-Elhekma earthquake was “predicted” for frequency 0.5–25 Hz at three sites, where the large earthquake was recorded, with average epicentral distances of 220 km. The best rupture model of the 1998 Ras-Elhekma earthquake was identified by calculated the goodness of fit between observed and synthesized records at sites FYM, HAG, and KOT. We used the best rupture scenario of the 1998 earthquake to synthesize the ground motions at interested sites where the main shock was not recorded. Based on the good fit of simulated and observed seismograms, we concluded that this methodology can provide realistic ground motion of an earthquake and highly recommended for engineering purposes in advance or foregoing large earthquakes at non record sites. We propose that there is a need for this methodology for good-representing the true hazard with reducing uncertainties.

Synthesis of High-Frequency Ground Motion Using Information Extracted from Low-Frequency Ground Motion

Science.gov (United States)

Iwaki, A.; Fujiwara, H.

2012-12-01

Broadband ground motion computations of scenario earthquakes are often based on hybrid methods that are the combinations of deterministic approach in lower frequency band and stochastic approach in higher frequency band. Typical computation methods for low-frequency and high-frequency (LF and HF, respectively) ground motions are the numerical simulations, such as finite-difference and finite-element methods based on three-dimensional velocity structure model, and the stochastic Green's function method, respectively. In such hybrid methods, LF and HF wave fields are generated through two different methods that are completely independent of each other, and are combined at the matching frequency. However, LF and HF wave fields are essentially not independent as long as they are from the same event. In this study, we focus on the relation among acceleration envelopes at different frequency bands, and attempt to synthesize HF ground motion using the information extracted from LF ground motion, aiming to propose a new method for broad-band strong motion prediction. Our study area is Kanto area, Japan. We use the K-NET and KiK-net surface acceleration data and compute RMS envelope at four frequency bands: 0.5-1.0 Hz, 1.0-2.0 Hz, 2.0-4.0 Hz, .0-8.0 Hz, and 8.0-16.0 Hz. Taking the ratio of the envelopes of adjacent bands, we find that the envelope ratios have stable shapes at each site. The empirical envelope-ratio characteristics are combined with low-frequency envelope of the target earthquake to synthesize HF ground motion. We have applied the method to M5-class earthquakes and a M7 target earthquake that occurred in the vicinity of Kanto area, and successfully reproduced the observed HF ground motion of the target earthquake. The method can be applied to a broad band ground motion simulation for a scenario earthquake by combining numerically-computed low-frequency (~1 Hz) ground motion with the empirical envelope ratio characteristics to generate broadband ground motion

Evidence of Multiple Ground-rupturing Earthquakes in the Past 4000 Years along the Pasuruan Fault, East Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Marliyani, G. I.; Arrowsmith, R.; Helmi, H.

2015-12-01

Instrumental and historical records of earthquakes, supplemented by paleoeseismic constraints can help reveal the earthquake potential of an area. The Pasuruan fault is a high angle normal fault with prominent youthful scarps cutting young deltaic sediments in the north coast of East Java, Indonesia and may pose significant hazard to the densely populated region. This fault has not been considered a significant structure, and mapped as a lineament with no sense of motion. Information regarding past earthquakes along this fault is not available. The fault is well defined both in the imagery and in the field as a ~13km long, 2-50m-high scarp. Open and filled fractures and natural exposures of the south-dipping fault plane indicate normal sense of motion. We excavated two fault-perpendicular trenches across a relay ramp identified during our surface mapping. Evidence for past earthquakes (documented in both trenches) includes upward fault termination with associated fissure fills, colluvial wedges and scarp-derived debris, folding, and angular unconformities. The ages of the events are constrained by 23 radiocarbon dates on detrital charcoal. We calibrated the dates using IntCal13 and used Oxcal to build the age model of the events. Our preliminary age model indicates that since 2006±134 B.C., there has been at least five ground rupturing earthquakes along the fault. The oldest event identified in the trench however, is not well-dated. Our modeled 95th percentile ranges of the next four earlier earthquakes (and their mean) are A.D. 1762-1850 (1806), A.D. 1646-1770 (1708), A.D. 1078-1648 (1363), and A.D. 726-1092 (909), yielding a rough recurrence rate of 302±63 yrs. These new data imply that Pasuruan fault is more active than previously thought. Additional well-dated earthquakes are necessary to build a solid earthquake recurrence model. Rupture along the whole section implies a minimum earthquake magnitude of 6.3, considering 13km as the minimum surface rupture

Passive containment system in high earthquake motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleimola, F.W.; Falls, O.B. Jr.

1977-01-01

High earthquake motion necessitates major design modifications in the complex of plant structures, systems and components in a nuclear power plant. Distinctive features imposed by seismic category, safety class and quality classification requirements for the high seismic ground acceleration loadings significantly reflect in plant costs. The design features in the Passive Containment System (PCS) responding to high earthquake ground motion are described

Seismic-resistant design of nuclear power stations in Japan, earthquake country. Lessons learned from Chuetsu-oki earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irikura, Kojiro

2008-01-01

The new assessment (back-check) of earthquake-proof safety was being conducted at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plants, Tokyo Electric Co. in response to a request based on the guideline for reactor evaluation for seismic-resistant design code, revised in 2006, when the 2007 Chuetsu-oki Earthquake occurred and brought about an unexpectedly huge tremor in this area, although the magnitude of the earthquake was only 6.8 but the intensity of earthquake motion exceeded 2.5-fold more than supposed. This paper introduces how and why the guideline for seismic-resistant design of nuclear facilities was revised in 2006, the outline of the Chuetsu-oki Earthquake, and preliminary findings and lessons learned from the Earthquake. The paper specifically discusses on (1) how we may specify in advance geologic active faults as has been overlooked this time, (2) how we can make adequate models for seismic origin from which we can extract its characteristics, and (3) how the estimation of strong ground motion simulation may be possible for ground vibration level of a possibly overlooked fault. (S. Ohno)

Hybrid broadband Ground Motion simulation based on a dynamic rupture model of the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvez, P.; Somerville, P.; Bayless, J.; Dalguer, L. A.

2015-12-01

The rupture process of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake exhibits depth-dependent variations in the frequency content of seismic radiation from the plate interface. This depth-varying rupture property has also been observed in other subduction zones (Lay et al, 2012). During the Tohoku earthquake, the shallow region radiated coherent low frequency seismic waves whereas the deeper region radiated high frequency waves. Several kinematic inversions (Suzuki et al, 2011; Lee et al, 2011; Bletery et al, 2014; Minson et al, 2014) detected seismic waves below 0.1 Hz coming from the shallow depths that produced slip larger than 40-50 meters close to the trench. Using empirical green functions, Asano & Iwata (2012), Kurahashi and Irikura (2011) and others detected regions of strong ground motion radiation at frequencies up to 10Hz located mainly at the bottom of the plate interface. A recent dynamic model that embodies this depth-dependent radiation using physical models has been developed by Galvez et al (2014, 2015). In this model the rupture process is modeled using a linear weakening friction law with slip reactivation on the shallow region of the plate interface (Galvez et al, 2015). This model reproduces the multiple seismic wave fronts recorded on the Kik-net seismic network along the Japanese coast up to 0.1 Hz as well as the GPS displacements. In the deep region, the rupture sequence is consistent with the sequence of the strong ground motion generation areas (SMGAs) that radiate high frequency ground motion at the bottom of the plate interface (Kurahashi and Irikura, 2013). It remains challenging to perform ground motions fully coupled with a dynamic rupture up to 10 Hz for a megathrust event. Therefore, to generate high frequency ground motions, we make use of the stochastic approach of Graves and Pitarka (2010) but add to the source spectrum the slip rate function of the dynamic model. In this hybrid-dynamic approach, the slip rate function is windowed with Gaussian

Earthquake simulation, actual earthquake monitoring and analytical methods for soil-structure interaction investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, H T [Seismic Center, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA (United States)

1988-07-01

Approaches for conducting in-situ soil-structure interaction experiments are discussed. High explosives detonated under the ground can generate strong ground motion to induce soil-structure interaction (SSI). The explosive induced data are useful in studying the dynamic characteristics of the soil-structure system associated with the inertial aspect of the SSI problem. The plane waves generated by the explosives cannot adequately address the kinematic interaction associated with actual earthquakes because of he difference in wave fields and their effects. Earthquake monitoring is ideal for obtaining SSI data that can address all aspects of the SSI problem. The only limitation is the level of excitation that can be obtained. Neither the simulated earthquake experiments nor the earthquake monitoring experiments can have exact similitude if reduced scale test structures are used. If gravity effects are small, reasonable correlations between the scaled model and the prototype can be obtained provided that input motion can be scaled appropriately. The key product of the in-situ experiments is the data base that can be used to qualify analytical methods for prototypical applications. (author)

Toward real-time regional earthquake simulation II: Real-time Online earthquake Simulation (ROS) of Taiwan earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Shiann-Jong; Liu, Qinya; Tromp, Jeroen; Komatitsch, Dimitri; Liang, Wen-Tzong; Huang, Bor-Shouh

2014-06-01

We developed a Real-time Online earthquake Simulation system (ROS) to simulate regional earthquakes in Taiwan. The ROS uses a centroid moment tensor solution of seismic events from a Real-time Moment Tensor monitoring system (RMT), which provides all the point source parameters including the event origin time, hypocentral location, moment magnitude and focal mechanism within 2 min after the occurrence of an earthquake. Then, all of the source parameters are automatically forwarded to the ROS to perform an earthquake simulation, which is based on a spectral-element method (SEM). A new island-wide, high resolution SEM mesh model is developed for the whole Taiwan in this study. We have improved SEM mesh quality by introducing a thin high-resolution mesh layer near the surface to accommodate steep and rapidly varying topography. The mesh for the shallow sedimentary basin is adjusted to reflect its complex geometry and sharp lateral velocity contrasts. The grid resolution at the surface is about 545 m, which is sufficient to resolve topography and tomography data for simulations accurate up to 1.0 Hz. The ROS is also an infrastructural service, making online earthquake simulation feasible. Users can conduct their own earthquake simulation by providing a set of source parameters through the ROS webpage. For visualization, a ShakeMovie and ShakeMap are produced during the simulation. The time needed for one event is roughly 3 min for a 70 s ground motion simulation. The ROS is operated online at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica (http://ros.earth.sinica.edu.tw/). Our long-term goal for the ROS system is to contribute to public earth science outreach and to realize seismic ground motion prediction in real-time.

The severity of an earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

,

1997-01-01

The severity of an earthquake can be expressed in terms of both intensity and magnitude. However, the two terms are quite different, and they are often confused. Intensity is based on the observed effects of ground shaking on people, buildings, and natural features. It varies from place to place within the disturbed region depending on the location of the observer with respect to the earthquake epicenter. Magnitude is related to the amount of seismic energy released at the hypocenter of the earthquake. It is based on the amplitude of the earthquake waves recorded on instruments

Regional earthquakes followed by delayed ground uplifts at Campi Flegrei Caldera, Italy: Arguments for a causal link

Science.gov (United States)

Lupi, Matteo; Frehner, Marcel; Weis, Philipp; Skelton, Alasdair; Saenger, Erik H.; Tisato, Nicola; Geiger, Sebastian; Chiodini, Giovanni; Driesner, Thomas

2017-09-01

Earthquake-triggered volcanic activity promoted by dynamic and static stresses are considered rare and difficult-to-capture geological processes. Calderas are ideal natural laboratories to investigate earthquake-volcano interactions due to their sensitivity to incoming seismic energy. The Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy, is one of the most monitored volcanic systems worldwide. We compare ground elevation time series at Campi Flegrei with earthquake catalogues showing that uplift events at Campi Flegrei are associated with large regional earthquakes. Such association is supported by (yet non-definitive) binomial tests. Over a 70-year time window we identify 14 uplift events, 12 of them were preceded by an earthquake, and for 8 of them the earthquake-to-uplift timespan ranges from immediate responses to 1.2 yr. Such variability in the response delay may be due to the preparedness of the system with faster responses probably occurring in periods during which the Campi Flegrei system was already in a critical state. To investigate the process that may be responsible for the proposed association we simulate the propagation of elastic waves and show that passing body waves impose high dynamic strains at the roof of the magmatic reservoir of the Campi Flegrei at about 7 km depth. This may promote a short-lived embrittlement of the magma reservoir's carapace otherwise marked by a ductile behaviour. Such failure allows magma and exsolved volatiles to be released from the magmatic reservoir. The fluids, namely exsolved volatiles and/or melts, ascend through a nominally plastic zone above the magmatic reservoir. This mechanism and the associated inherent uncertainties require further investigations but the new concept already implies that geological processes triggered by passing seismic waves may become apparent several months after passage of the seismic waves.

The guideline and practical procedures for earthquake-resistant design of nuclear power plants in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watabe, M.

1985-01-01

The Guideline for the aseismic design of nuclear reactor facilities, revised in 1981, is introduced. The basic philosophy entails structural integrity against a major earthquake, rigid structure for less deformation and foundation on rock. The classification of facilities is then explained. Some practical examples are tabulated. In the light of the above classifications, evaluation procedures for aseismic design are defined. Design basis earthquake ground motions, S1 and S2, are defined. S1 is the maximum possible earthquake ground motion, while S2 is the maximum credible one. The relation between active faults and S1, S2 motions is explained, seismic forces induced by S1 and S2 are expressed in terms of response spectra. Static seismic coefficient procedures are also applied to evaluate seismic forces, as a minimum guide-line based on dynamic analysis. Combinations of seismic forces and allowable limits are then explained. In the second part of the paper, seismic analysis for reactor buildings as a part of design practice is outlined. There are three major key points in practical aseismic design. The first one is input design earthquake motions, in which soil/foundation interaction problems are also included. In practice, ground motions at the free field rock surface have to be convoluted or deconvoluted to obtain base rock motions, which are applied to estimate input design earthquake motions by way of finite element analysis or a lumped mass lattice model. Also introduced is dynamic modelling of the reactor building with its non-linear behaviour represented by plastic deformation of reinforced concrete members as well as by uplift characteristics of foundations. Then an evaluation of aseismic safety is introduced. (author)

Investigation of the relationship between earthquakes and indoor radon concentrations at a building in Gyeongju, Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Wook Kim

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This article measured and analyzed the indoor radon concentrations at one university building in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, to investigate if there is any relationship between earthquakes and indoor radon concentration. Since 12 September 2016, when two 5.1 and 5.8 magnitude earthquakes occurred, hundreds of aftershocks affected Gyeongju until January 2017. The measurements were made at the ground floor of the Energy Engineering Hall of Dongguk University in Gyeongju over a period between February 2016 and January 2017. The measurements were made with an RAD7 detector on the basis of the US Environmental Protection Agency measurement protocol. Each measurement was continuously made every 30 minutes over the measurement period every month. Among earthquakes with 2.0 or greater magnitude, the earthquakes whose occurrence timings fell into the measurement periods were screened for further analysis. We observed similar spike-like patterns between the indoor radon concentration distributions and earthquakes: a sudden increase in the peak indoor radon concentration 1–4 days before an earthquake, gradual decrease before the earthquake, and sudden drop on the day of the earthquake if the interval between successive earthquakes was moderately longer, for example, 3 days in this article. Keywords: Earthquakes, Gyeongju, Indoor Radon Concentration, RAD7, Radon Anomaly

Stochastic ground motion simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaeian, Sanaz; Xiaodan, Sun; Beer, Michael; Kougioumtzoglou, Ioannis A.; Patelli, Edoardo; Siu-Kui Au, Ivan

2014-01-01

Strong earthquake ground motion records are fundamental in engineering applications. Ground motion time series are used in response-history dynamic analysis of structural or geotechnical systems. In such analysis, the validity of predicted responses depends on the validity of the input excitations. Ground motion records are also used to develop ground motion prediction equations(GMPEs) for intensity measures such as spectral accelerations that are used in response-spectrum dynamic analysis. Despite the thousands of available strong ground motion records, there remains a shortage of records for large-magnitude earthquakes at short distances or in specific regions, as well as records that sample specific combinations of source, path, and site characteristics.

Ground motions from the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake constrained by a detailed assessment of macroseismic data

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Stacey; Hough, Susan E.; Hung, Charleen

2015-01-01

To augment limited instrumental recordings of the Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake on 25 April 2015 (Nepali calendar: 12 Baisakh 2072, Bikram Samvat), we collected 3831 detailed media and first-person accounts of macroseismic effects that include sufficiently detailed information to assign intensities. The resulting intensity map reveals the distribution of shaking within and outside of Nepal, with the key result that shaking intensities throughout the near-field region only exceeded intensity 8 on the 1998 European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) in rare instances. Within the Kathmandu Valley, intensities were generally 6–7 EMS. This surprising (and fortunate) result can be explained by the nature of the mainshock ground motions, which were dominated by energy at periods significantly longer than the resonant periods of vernacular structures throughout the Kathmandu Valley. Outside of the Kathmandu Valley, intensities were also generally lower than 8 EMS, but the earthquake took a heavy toll on a number of remote villages, where many especially vulnerable masonry houses collapsed catastrophically in 7–8 EMS shaking. We further reconsider intensities from the 1833 earthquake sequence and conclude that it occurred on the same fault segment as the Gorkha earthquake.

Compilation, assessment and expansion of the strong earthquake ground motion data base. Seismic Safety Margins Research Program (SSMRP)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crouse, C.B.; Hileman, J.A.; Turner, B.E.; Martin, G.R.

1980-09-01

A catalog has been prepared which contains information for: (1) world-wide, ground-motion accelerograms (2) the accelerograph sites where these records were obtained, and (3) the seismological parameters of the causative earthquakes. The catalog is limited to data for those accelerograms which have been digitized and published. In addition, the quality and completeness of these data are assessed. This catalog is unique because it is the only publication which contains comprehensive information on the recording conditions of all known digitized accelerograms. However, information for many accelerograms is missing. Although some literature may have been overlooked, most of the missing data has not been published. Nevertheless, the catalog provides a convenient reference and useful tool for earthquake engineering research and applications. (author)

Study on the characteristics of earthquake ground motion in the Hanshin area based on microtremor measurements; Bido kansoku ni motozuku Hanshin chiiki no jiban shindo tokusei ni kansuru kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, H; Seo, K; Yamanaka, H [Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-05-27

The Hyogoken-nanbu earthquake in 1995 was a local earthquake that has hit directly a large urban area, having caused damages the greatest since the War mainly in the city of Kobe. The present study has noticed the areas of Sumiyoshi, Nada Ward, Kobe City and Nanbu, Nishinomiya City where damages show different distribution; elucidated the characteristics of earthquake ground motion based on microtremor measurements; and discussed the relation thereof with the earthquake damage distribution. It was verified that microtremors and seismic motions are in rough agreement in the Sumiyoshi area, by comparing and discussing the spectrum ratio between the microtremors and the seismic motions. No correspondence was recognized in the Sumiyoshi area between distribution of the average microtremor spectrum ratio with cycles of 0.2 to 0.8 second and distribution of damages caused by the Hyogoken-nanbu earthquake. The ground characteristics evaluation alone is insufficient to explain distribution of the damages in a relatively wide range in the city of Nishinomiya, for which effects of distance decay should be taken into consideration. 6 refs., 7 figs.

Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER): A System for Rapidly Determining the Impact of Earthquakes Worldwide

Science.gov (United States)

Earle, Paul S.; Wald, David J.; Jaiswal, Kishor S.; Allen, Trevor I.; Hearne, Michael G.; Marano, Kristin D.; Hotovec, Alicia J.; Fee, Jeremy

2009-01-01

Within minutes of a significant earthquake anywhere on the globe, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system assesses its potential societal impact. PAGER automatically estimates the number of people exposed to severe ground shaking and the shaking intensity at affected cities. Accompanying maps of the epicentral region show the population distribution and estimated ground-shaking intensity. A regionally specific comment describes the inferred vulnerability of the regional building inventory and, when available, lists recent nearby earthquakes and their effects. PAGER's results are posted on the USGS Earthquake Program Web site (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/), consolidated in a concise one-page report, and sent in near real-time to emergency responders, government agencies, and the media. Both rapid and accurate results are obtained through manual and automatic updates of PAGER's content in the hours following significant earthquakes. These updates incorporate the most recent estimates of earthquake location, magnitude, faulting geometry, and first-hand accounts of shaking. PAGER relies on a rich set of earthquake analysis and assessment tools operated by the USGS and contributing Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) regional networks. A focused research effort is underway to extend PAGER's near real-time capabilities beyond population exposure to quantitative estimates of fatalities, injuries, and displaced population.

Development of uniform hazard response spectra for rock sites considering line and point sources of earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, A.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.

2001-12-01

Traditionally, the seismic design basis ground motion has been specified by normalised response spectral shapes and peak ground acceleration (PGA). The mean recurrence interval (MRI) used to computed for PGA only. It is shown that the MRI associated with such response spectra are not the same at all frequencies. The present work develops uniform hazard response spectra i.e. spectra having the same MRI at all frequencies for line and point sources of earthquakes by using a large number of strong motion accelerograms recorded on rock sites. Sensitivity of the number of the results to the changes in various parameters has also been presented. This work is an extension of an earlier work for aerial sources of earthquakes. These results will help to determine the seismic hazard at a given site and the associated uncertainities. (author)

USGS approach to real-time estimation of earthquake-triggered ground failure - Results of 2015 workshop

Science.gov (United States)

Allstadt, Kate E.; Thompson, Eric M.; Wald, David J.; Hamburger, Michael W.; Godt, Jonathan W.; Knudsen, Keith L.; Jibson, Randall W.; Jessee, M. Anna; Zhu, Jing; Hearne, Michael; Baise, Laurie G.; Tanyas, Hakan; Marano, Kristin D.

2016-03-30

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards and Landslide Hazards Programs are developing plans to add quantitative hazard assessments of earthquake-triggered landsliding and liquefaction to existing real-time earthquake products (ShakeMap, ShakeCast, PAGER) using open and readily available methodologies and products. To date, prototype global statistical models have been developed and are being refined, improved, and tested. These models are a good foundation, but much work remains to achieve robust and defensible models that meet the needs of end users. In order to establish an implementation plan and identify research priorities, the USGS convened a workshop in Golden, Colorado, in October 2015. This document summarizes current (as of early 2016) capabilities, research and operational priorities, and plans for further studies that were established at this workshop. Specific priorities established during the meeting include (1) developing a suite of alternative models; (2) making use of higher resolution and higher quality data where possible; (3) incorporating newer global and regional datasets and inventories; (4) reducing barriers to accessing inventory datasets; (5) developing methods for using inconsistent or incomplete datasets in aggregate; (6) developing standardized model testing and evaluation methods; (7) improving ShakeMap shaking estimates, particularly as relevant to ground failure, such as including topographic amplification and accounting for spatial variability; and (8) developing vulnerability functions for loss estimates.

Fault geometry, rupture dynamics and ground motion from potential earthquakes on the North Anatolian Fault under the Sea of Marmara

KAUST Repository

Oglesby, David D.

2012-03-01

Using the 3-D finite-element method, we develop dynamic spontaneous rupture models of earthquakes on the North Anatolian Fault system in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, considering the geometrical complexity of the fault system in this region. We find that the earthquake size, rupture propagation pattern and ground motion all strongly depend on the interplay between the initial (static) regional pre-stress field and the dynamic stress field radiated by the propagating rupture. By testing several nucleation locations, we observe that those far from an oblique normal fault stepover segment (near Istanbul) lead to large through-going rupture on the entire fault system, whereas nucleation locations closer to the stepover segment tend to produce ruptures that die out in the stepover. However, this pattern can change drastically with only a 10° rotation of the regional stress field. Our simulations also reveal that while dynamic unclamping near fault bends can produce a new mode of supershear rupture propagation, this unclamping has a much smaller effect on the speed of the peak in slip velocity along the fault. Finally, we find that the complex fault geometry leads to a very complex and asymmetric pattern of near-fault ground motion, including greatly amplified ground motion on the insides of fault bends. The ground-motion pattern can change significantly with different hypocentres, even beyond the typical effects of directivity. The results of this study may have implications for seismic hazard in this region, for the dynamics and ground motion of geometrically complex faults, and for the interpretation of kinematic inverse rupture models.

Fault geometry, rupture dynamics and ground motion from potential earthquakes on the North Anatolian Fault under the Sea of Marmara

KAUST Repository

Oglesby, David D.; Mai, Paul Martin

2012-01-01

Using the 3-D finite-element method, we develop dynamic spontaneous rupture models of earthquakes on the North Anatolian Fault system in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, considering the geometrical complexity of the fault system in this region. We find that the earthquake size, rupture propagation pattern and ground motion all strongly depend on the interplay between the initial (static) regional pre-stress field and the dynamic stress field radiated by the propagating rupture. By testing several nucleation locations, we observe that those far from an oblique normal fault stepover segment (near Istanbul) lead to large through-going rupture on the entire fault system, whereas nucleation locations closer to the stepover segment tend to produce ruptures that die out in the stepover. However, this pattern can change drastically with only a 10° rotation of the regional stress field. Our simulations also reveal that while dynamic unclamping near fault bends can produce a new mode of supershear rupture propagation, this unclamping has a much smaller effect on the speed of the peak in slip velocity along the fault. Finally, we find that the complex fault geometry leads to a very complex and asymmetric pattern of near-fault ground motion, including greatly amplified ground motion on the insides of fault bends. The ground-motion pattern can change significantly with different hypocentres, even beyond the typical effects of directivity. The results of this study may have implications for seismic hazard in this region, for the dynamics and ground motion of geometrically complex faults, and for the interpretation of kinematic inverse rupture models.

Earthquake-induced liquefaction in Ferland, Quebec

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuttle, M.; Seeber, L.

1991-02-01

Detailed geological investigations are under way at a number of liquefaction sites in the Ferland-Boilleau valley, Quebec, where sand boils, ground cracks and liquefaction-related damages to homes were documented immediately following the Ms=6.0, Mblg=6.5 Saguenay earthquake of November 25, 1988. To date, results obtained from these subsurface investigations of sand boils at two sites in Ferland, located about 26 km from the epicentre, indicate that: the Saguenay earthquake induced liquefaction in late-Pleistocene and Holocene sediments which was recorded as sand dikes, sills and vents in near-surface sediments and soils; earthquake-induced liquefaction and ground failure have occurred in this area at least three times in the past 10,000 years; and, the size and morphology of liquefaction features and the liquefaction susceptibility of source layers of the features may be indicative of the intensity of ground shaking. These preliminary results are very promising and suggest that with continued research liquefaction features will become a useful tool in glaciated terrains, such as northeastern North America, for determining not only the timing and location but also the size of past earthquakes

An analysis of ground shaking and transmission loss from infra sound generated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, Kristoffer T.; Le Pichon, Alexis; Tae Sung Kim; Il-Young Che; Groot-Hedlin, Catherine de; Garces, Milton

2013-01-01

The 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake generated infra sound that was recorded by nine infrasonic arrays. Most arrays recorded a back azimuth variation with time due to the expanse of the source region. We use ray tracing to predict group velocities and back azimuth wind corrections. A Japan accelerometer network recorded ground shaking in unprecedented spatial resolution. We back projected infra sound from arrays IS44 (Kamchatka) and IS30 (Tokyo) to the source region and compare these results with acceleration data. IS44 illuminates the complex geometry of land areas that experienced shaking. IS30 illuminates two volcanoes and a flat area around the city of Sendai, where the maximum accelerations occurred. The arrays and epicentral region define three source-receiver profiles. The observed broadband energy transmission loss (TL) follows an exponential decay law. The best fitting model, which has parameters that are interpreted to include the effects of geometric spreading, scattering, and the maximum ratio of the effective sound speed in the stratosphere to that at the ground (accounts for stratospheric wind speed), yields a 65% variance reduction relative to predictions from a traditional TL relationship. This model is a simplified version of the model of Le Pichon et al. (2012), which yields an 83% variance reduction for a single frequency, implying that fine-scale atmospheric structure is required to explain the TL for stratospheric upwind propagation. Our results show that infrasonic arrays are sensitive to ground acceleration in the source region of mega-thrust earthquakes. The TL results may improve infrasonic amplitude scaling laws for explosive yield. (authors)

Scenario earthquake hazards for the Long Valley Caldera-Mono Lake area, east-central California (ver. 2.0, January 2018)

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Rui; Branum, David M.; Wills, Chris J.; Hill, David P.

2014-06-30

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) multi-hazards project in the Long Valley Caldera-Mono Lake area, the California Geological Survey (CGS) developed several earthquake scenarios and evaluated potential seismic hazards, including ground shaking, surface fault rupture, liquefaction, and landslide hazards associated with these earthquake scenarios. The results of these analyses can be useful in estimating the extent of potential damage and economic losses because of potential earthquakes and also for preparing emergency response plans.The Long Valley Caldera-Mono Lake area has numerous active faults. Five of these faults or fault zones are considered capable of producing magnitude ≥6.7 earthquakes according to the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, Version 2 (UCERF 2) developed by the 2007 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP) and the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Program. These five faults are the Fish Slough, Hartley Springs, Hilton Creek, Mono Lake, and Round Valley Faults. CGS developed earthquake scenarios for these five faults in the study area and for the White Mountains Fault Zone to the east of the study area.In this report, an earthquake scenario is intended to depict the potential consequences of significant earthquakes. A scenario earthquake is not necessarily the largest or most damaging earthquake possible on a recognized fault. Rather it is both large enough and likely enough that emergency planners should consider it in regional emergency response plans. In particular, the ground motion predicted for a given scenario earthquake does not represent a full probabilistic hazard assessment, and thus it does not provide the basis for hazard zoning and earthquake-resistant building design.Earthquake scenarios presented here are based on fault geometry and activity data developed by the WGCEP, and are consistent with the 2008 Update of the United States National Seismic Hazard Maps (NSHM). Alternatives

Earthquakes-Rattling the Earth's Plumbing System

Science.gov (United States)

Sneed, Michelle; Galloway, Devin L.; Cunningham, William L.

2003-01-01

Hydrogeologic responses to earthquakes have been known for decades, and have occurred both close to, and thousands of miles from earthquake epicenters. Water wells have become turbid, dry or begun flowing, discharge of springs and ground water to streams has increased and new springs have formed, and well and surface-water quality have become degraded as a result of earthquakes. Earthquakes affect our Earth’s intricate plumbing system—whether you live near the notoriously active San Andreas Fault in California, or far from active faults in Florida, an earthquake near or far can affect you and the water resources you depend on.

Preliminary Results on Earthquake Recurrence Intervals, Rupture Segmentation, and Potential Earthquake Moment Magnitudes along the Tahoe-Sierra Frontal Fault Zone, Lake Tahoe, California

Science.gov (United States)

Howle, J.; Bawden, G. W.; Schweickert, R. A.; Hunter, L. E.; Rose, R.

2012-12-01

frequency. Utilizing regressions of earthquake moment-magnitude (MW) and surface-rupture length from well-characterized historic normal faults by Wells and Coppersmith (1994), coseismic rupture of the range-front sections of the Echo Peak and Mt. Tallac segments would potentially generate an earthquake with Mw ranging from 6.5±0.25 and 6.7±0.25. If the entire mapped length of the Rubicon Peak segment were to rupture, Mw could range from 6.6±0.25 to 6.9±0.25. In a worst-case scenario, where the entire length of the Rubicon Peak fault ruptures coseismically with the Mt. Tallac fault, the potential Mw could range from 6.8±0.25 to 7.0±0.25. Fault scarps along the Mt. Tallac and Rubicon Peak segments differ in morphology, indicating that the Rubicon Peak segment probably did not rupture coseismically during the last ground-rupturing earthquake along the Mt. Tallac segment. On the basis of this qualitative comparison, the estimated timing of the most recent earthquake along the Mt. Tallac segment (4.3±0.7 ka), and the maximum estimate of earthquake recurrence intervals for the Rubicon Peak segment (2.8±1.0x103 years), we believe that the Rubicon Peak segment of the TSFFZ is overdue for a ground-rupturing earthquake

Intermediate-term earthquake prediction and seismic zoning in Northern Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panza, G.F.; Orozova Stanishkova, I.; Costa, G.; Vaccari, F.

1993-12-01

The algorithm CN for intermediate earthquake prediction has been applied to an area in Northern Italy, which has been chosen according to a recently proposed seismotectonic model. Earthquakes with magnitude ≥ 5.4 occur in the area with a relevant frequency and their occurrence is predicted by algorithm CN. Therefore a seismic hazard analysis has been performed using a deterministic procedure, based on the computation of complete synthetic seismograms. The results are summarized in a map giving the distribution of peak ground acceleration, but the complete time series are available, which can be used by civil engineers in the design of new seismo-resistant constructions and in the retrofitting of the existing ones. This risk reduction action should be intensified in connection with warnings issued on the basis of the forward predictions made by CN. (author). Refs, 7 figs, 1 tab

Earthquake behavior at deep underground observed by three-dimensional array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komada, Hiroya; Sawada, Yoshihiro; Aoyama, Shigeo.

1989-01-01

The earthquake observation has been carried out using an eight point three-dimensional array between on-ground and the depth of about 400 m at Hosokura Mine in Miyagi prefecture, for the purpose of obtaining the basic datum on the characteristics of the seismic waves for the earthquake resistance design of the deep underground disposal facility of high level waste. The following results ware obtained. (1) The maximum accelerations at the underground are damped to about 60 % of those at on-ground horizontal and to about 70 % vertical. (2) Although the frequency characteristics of the seismic waves varies for each earthquake, the transfer characteristics of seismic waves from deep underground to on-ground is the same for each earthquake. (3) The horizontal dirrections of seismic wave incidence are similar to the directions from epicenters of each earthquake. The vertical directions of seismic wave incidence are in the range of about 3deg to 35deg from vertical line. (author)

Modern earthquake engineering offshore and land-based structures

CERN Document Server

Jia, Junbo

2017-01-01

This book addresses applications of earthquake engineering for both offshore and land-based structures. It is self-contained as a reference work and covers a wide range of topics, including topics related to engineering seismology, geotechnical earthquake engineering, structural engineering, as well as special contents dedicated to design philosophy, determination of ground motions, shock waves, tsunamis, earthquake damage, seismic response of offshore and arctic structures, spatial varied ground motions, simplified and advanced seismic analysis methods, sudden subsidence of offshore platforms, tank liquid impacts during earthquakes, seismic resistance of non-structural elements, and various types of mitigation measures, etc. The target readership includes professionals in offshore and civil engineering, officials and regulators, as well as researchers and students in this field.

Ground Motion Prediction Trends For Eastern North America Based on the Next Generation Attenuation East Ground Motion Database

Science.gov (United States)

Cramer, C. H.; Kutliroff, J.; Dangkua, D.

2010-12-01

A five-year Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) East project to develop new ground motion prediction equations for stable continental regions (SCRs), including eastern North America (ENA), has begun at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the Department of Energy (DOE). The initial effort focused on database design and collection of appropriate M>4 ENA broadband and accelerograph records to populate the database. Ongoing work has focused on adding records from smaller ENA earthquakes and from other SCRs such as Europe, Australia, and India. Currently, over 6500 horizontal and vertical component records from 60 ENA earthquakes have been collected and prepared (instrument response removed, filtering to acceptable-signal band, determining peak and spectral parameter values, quality assurance, etc.) for the database. Geologic Survey of Canada (GSC) strong motion recordings, previously not available, have also been added to the NGA East database. The additional earthquakes increase the number of ground motion recordings in the 10 - 100 km range, particularly from the 2008 M5.2 Mt. Carmel, IL event, and the 2005 M4.7 Riviere du Loup and 2010 M5.0 Val des Bois earthquakes in Quebec, Canada. The goal is to complete the ENA database and make it available in 2011 followed by a SCR database in 2012. Comparisons of ground motion observations from four recent M5 ENA earthquakes with current ENA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) suggest that current GMPEs, as a group, reasonably agree with M5 observations at short periods, particularly at distances less than 200 km. However, at one second, current GMPEs over predict M5 ground motion observations. The 2001 M7.6 Bhuj, India, earthquake provides some constraint at large magnitudes, as geology and regional attenuation is analogous to ENA. Cramer and Kumar, 2003, have

A reconnaissance assessment of probabilistic earthquake accelerations at the Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perkins, D.M.; Thenhaus, P.C.; Hanson, S.L.; Algermissen, S.T.

1986-01-01

We have made two interim assessments of the probabilistic ground-motion hazard for the potential nuclear-waste disposal facility at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The first assessment used historical seismicity and generalized source zones and source faults in the immediate vicinity of the facility. This model produced relatively high probabilistic ground motions, comparable to the higher of two earlier estimates, which was obtained by averaging seismicity in a 400-km-radius circle around the site. The high ground-motion values appear to be caused in part by nuclear-explosion aftershocks remaining in the catalog even after the explosions themselves have been removed. The second assessment used particularized source zones and source faults in a region substantially larger than NTS to provide a broad context of probabilistic ground motion estimates at other locations of the study region. Source faults are mapped or inferred faults having lengths of 5 km or more. Source zones are defined by boundaries separating fault groups on the basis of direction and density. For this assessment, earthquake recurrence has been estimated primarily from historic seismicity prior to nuclear testing. Long-term recurrence for large-magnitude events is constrained by geological estimates of recurrence in a regime in which the large-magnitude earthquakes would occur with predominately normal mechanisms. 4 refs., 10 figs

Earthquake response of storey building in Jakarta using accelerographs data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Julius, Admiral Musa; Sunardi, Bambang

2015-01-01

As seismotectonic, the Jakarta city will be greatly affected by the earthquake which originated from the subduction zone of the Sunda Strait and south of Java. Some occurrences of earthquakes in these location are often perceived by the occupants in the upper floors of multi-storey buildings in Jakarta but was not perceived by the occupants on the ground floor. The case shows the difference in ground-motion parameters on each floor height. The analysis of the earthquake data recorded by accelerographs on different floors need to be done to know the differences in ground-motion parameters. Data used in this research is accelerograph data installed on several floors in the main building of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency with a case study of Kebumen earthquake on January 25 th 2014. Parameters analyzed include the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), Peak Ground Displacement (PGD), Peak Spectral Acceleration (PSA), Amplification (Ag), and the Effective Duration of earthquake (t e ). Research stages include accelerographs data acquisition in three (3) different floors, conversion and data partition for each component, conversion to units of acceleration, determination of PGA, PGD, PSA, Ag and t e as well as data analysis. The study shows the value of PGA on the ground floor, 7 th floor and 15 th floors, respectively are 0.016 g, 0.053 g and 0.116 g. PGD on the ground floor, 7 th floor and 15 th floor respectively are 2.15 cm, 2.98 cm and 4.92 cm. PSA on the ground floor, 7 th floor and 15 th floor respectively are 0.067 g, 0.308 g and 0.836 g. Amplification of the peak acceleration value on the ground floor, 7 th floor and 15 th floor to the surface rock are 4.37, 6.07 and 7.30. Effective duration of the earthquake on the ground floor, 7 th floor and 15 th floor respectively are 222.28 s, 202.28 s and 91.58 s. In general, with increasing floor of the building, the value of the peak ground acceleration, peak ground displacement, peak spectral

Earthquake response of storey building in Jakarta using accelerographs data analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Julius, Admiral Musa, E-mail: admiralmusajulius@yahoo.com [Study Program of Geophysics, Indonesia State College of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (STMKG), Jl. Perhubungan 1 No. 5, Bintaro 15221 (Indonesia); Jakarta Geophysics Observatory, Indonesia Agency of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), Jl. Angkasa 1 No. 2, Kemayoran, Jakarta 10720 (Indonesia); Sunardi, Bambang, E-mail: b.sunardi@gmail.com [Research and Development Center, Indonesia Agency of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), Jl. Angkasa 1 No. 2, Kemayoran, Jakarta 10720 (Indonesia)

2015-04-24

As seismotectonic, the Jakarta city will be greatly affected by the earthquake which originated from the subduction zone of the Sunda Strait and south of Java. Some occurrences of earthquakes in these location are often perceived by the occupants in the upper floors of multi-storey buildings in Jakarta but was not perceived by the occupants on the ground floor. The case shows the difference in ground-motion parameters on each floor height. The analysis of the earthquake data recorded by accelerographs on different floors need to be done to know the differences in ground-motion parameters. Data used in this research is accelerograph data installed on several floors in the main building of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency with a case study of Kebumen earthquake on January 25{sup th} 2014. Parameters analyzed include the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), Peak Ground Displacement (PGD), Peak Spectral Acceleration (PSA), Amplification (Ag), and the Effective Duration of earthquake (t{sub e}). Research stages include accelerographs data acquisition in three (3) different floors, conversion and data partition for each component, conversion to units of acceleration, determination of PGA, PGD, PSA, Ag and t{sub e} as well as data analysis. The study shows the value of PGA on the ground floor, 7{sup th} floor and 15{sup th} floors, respectively are 0.016 g, 0.053 g and 0.116 g. PGD on the ground floor, 7{sup th} floor and 15{sup th} floor respectively are 2.15 cm, 2.98 cm and 4.92 cm. PSA on the ground floor, 7{sup th} floor and 15{sup th} floor respectively are 0.067 g, 0.308 g and 0.836 g. Amplification of the peak acceleration value on the ground floor, 7{sup th} floor and 15{sup th} floor to the surface rock are 4.37, 6.07 and 7.30. Effective duration of the earthquake on the ground floor, 7{sup th} floor and 15{sup th} floor respectively are 222.28 s, 202.28 s and 91.58 s. In general, with increasing floor of the building, the value of the

a Collaborative Cyberinfrastructure for Earthquake Seismology

Science.gov (United States)

Bossu, R.; Roussel, F.; Mazet-Roux, G.; Lefebvre, S.; Steed, R.

2013-12-01

One of the challenges in real time seismology is the prediction of earthquake's impact. It is particularly true for moderate earthquake (around magnitude 6) located close to urbanised areas, where the slightest uncertainty in event location, depth, magnitude estimates, and/or misevaluation of propagation characteristics, site effects and buildings vulnerability can dramatically change impact scenario. The Euro-Med Seismological Centre (EMSC) has developed a cyberinfrastructure to collect observations from eyewitnesses in order to provide in-situ constraints on actual damages. This cyberinfrastructure takes benefit of the natural convergence of earthquake's eyewitnesses on EMSC website (www.emsc-csem.org), the second global earthquake information website within tens of seconds of the occurrence of a felt event. It includes classical crowdsourcing tools such as online questionnaires available in 39 languages, and tools to collect geolocated pics. It also comprises information derived from the real time analysis of the traffic on EMSC website, a method named flashsourcing; In case of a felt earthquake, eyewitnesses reach EMSC website within tens of seconds to find out the cause of the shaking they have just been through. By analysing their geographical origin through their IP address, we automatically detect felt earthquakes and in some cases map the damaged areas through the loss of Internet visitors. We recently implemented a Quake Catcher Network (QCN) server in collaboration with Stanford University and the USGS, to collect ground motion records performed by volunteers and are also involved in a project to detect earthquakes from ground motions sensors from smartphones. Strategies have been developed for several social media (Facebook, Twitter...) not only to distribute earthquake information, but also to engage with the Citizens and optimise data collection. A smartphone application is currently under development. We will present an overview of this

Prediction and evaluation of nonlinear site response with potentially liquefiable layers in the area of Nafplion (Peloponnesus, Greece for a repeat of historical earthquakes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. K. Karastathis

2010-11-01

Full Text Available We examine the possible non-linear behaviour of potentially liquefiable layers at selected sites located within the expansion area of the town of Nafplion, East Peloponnese, Greece. Input motion is computed for three scenario earthquakes, selected on the basis of historical seismicity data, using a stochastic strong ground motion simulation technique, which takes into account the finite dimensions of the earthquake sources. Site-specific ground acceleration synthetics and soil profiles are then used to evaluate the liquefaction potential at the sites of interest. The activation scenario of the Iria fault, which is the closest one to Nafplion (M=6.4, is found to be the most hazardous in terms of liquefaction initiation. In this scenario almost all the examined sites exhibit liquefaction features at depths of 6–12 m. For scenario earthquakes at two more distant seismic sources (Epidaurus fault – M6.3; Xylokastro fault – M6.7 strong ground motion amplification phenomena by the shallow soft soil layer are expected to be observed.

CyberShake-derived ground-motion prediction models for the Los Angeles region with application to earthquake early warning

Science.gov (United States)

Bose, Maren; Graves, Robert; Gill, David; Callaghan, Scott; Maechling, Phillip J.

2014-01-01

Real-time applications such as earthquake early warning (EEW) typically use empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) along with event magnitude and source-to-site distances to estimate expected shaking levels. In this simplified approach, effects due to finite-fault geometry, directivity and site and basin response are often generalized, which may lead to a significant under- or overestimation of shaking from large earthquakes (M > 6.5) in some locations. For enhanced site-specific ground-motion predictions considering 3-D wave-propagation effects, we develop support vector regression (SVR) models from the SCEC CyberShake low-frequency (415 000 finite-fault rupture scenarios (6.5 ≤ M ≤ 8.5) for southern California defined in UCERF 2.0. We use CyberShake to demonstrate the application of synthetic waveform data to EEW as a ‘proof of concept’, being aware that these simulations are not yet fully validated and might not appropriately sample the range of rupture uncertainty. Our regression models predict the maximum and the temporal evolution of instrumental intensity (MMI) at 71 selected test sites using only the hypocentre, magnitude and rupture ratio, which characterizes uni- and bilateral rupture propagation. Our regression approach is completely data-driven (where here the CyberShake simulations are considered data) and does not enforce pre-defined functional forms or dependencies among input parameters. The models were established from a subset (∼20 per cent) of CyberShake simulations, but can explain MMI values of all >400 k rupture scenarios with a standard deviation of about 0.4 intensity units. We apply our models to determine threshold magnitudes (and warning times) for various active faults in southern California that earthquakes need to exceed to cause at least ‘moderate’, ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’ shaking in the Los Angeles (LA) basin. These thresholds are used to construct a simple and robust EEW algorithm: to

Earthquake engineering for nuclear facilities

CERN Document Server

Kuno, Michiya

2017-01-01

This book is a comprehensive compilation of earthquake- and tsunami-related technologies and knowledge for the design and construction of nuclear facilities. As such, it covers a wide range of fields including civil engineering, architecture, geotechnical engineering, mechanical engineering, and nuclear engineering, for the development of new technologies providing greater resistance against earthquakes and tsunamis. It is crucial both for students of nuclear energy courses and for young engineers in nuclear power generation industries to understand the basics and principles of earthquake- and tsunami-resistant design of nuclear facilities. In Part I, "Seismic Design of Nuclear Power Plants", the design of nuclear power plants to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis is explained, focusing on buildings, equipment's, and civil engineering structures. In Part II, "Basics of Earthquake Engineering", fundamental knowledge of earthquakes and tsunamis as well as the dynamic response of structures and foundation ground...

Evaluation of earthquake vibration on aseismic design of nuclear power plant judging from recent earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dan, Kazuo

2006-01-01

The Regulatory Guide for Aseismic Design of Nuclear Reactor Facilities was revised on 19 th September, 2006. Six factors for evaluation of earthquake vibration are considered on the basis of the recent earthquakes. They are 1) evaluation of earthquake vibration by method using fault model, 2) investigation and approval of active fault, 3) direct hit earthquake, 4) assumption of the short active fault as the hypocentral fault, 5) locality of the earthquake and the earthquake vibration and 6) remaining risk. A guiding principle of revision required new evaluation method of earthquake vibration using fault model, and evaluation of probability of earthquake vibration. The remaining risk means the facilities and people get into danger when stronger earthquake than the design occurred, accordingly, the scattering has to be considered at evaluation of earthquake vibration. The earthquake belt of Hyogo-Nanbu earthquake and strong vibration pulse in 1995, relation between length of surface earthquake fault and hypocentral fault, and distribution of seismic intensity of off Kushiro in 1993 are shown. (S.Y.)

Common Observations for Near-Source Ground Motions and Seismo-Traveling Ionosphere Disturbances Following the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bor-Shouh Huang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The time history and spatial dependence of seismic-wave propagation on the ground surface and through the ionosphere following the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake were reconstructed from dense seismic networks and from Global Positioning System (GPS array observations, respectively. Using total electron content (TEC data recorded by a dense GPS receiver network, the near-source ionosphere perturbations induced by this giant earthquake were analyzed and high-resolution images of seismic-wave propagation in the ionosphere are presented. Similar spatial images of ground motions were reconstructed from observations by a dense seismic array. Observations of this event provide, for the first time, the opportunity to compare near-source ground motions with the near-field seismo-traveling ionosphere disturbance (STID excited by the ground motions. Based on the results, the nature of the source rupture and seismic-wave propagation are discussed. Both seismic and ionosphere observations indicate that seismic energy propagated radially outward initially from the hypocenter, but that the circular shape of the propagation front became gradually distorted as the source rupture became extended. Coherent wavefronts from the two analyses show contrasting patterns during the later stage of propagation, possibly due to different patterns of spatial variations in the physical properties of the solid earth and of the ionosphere.

A suite of exercises for verifying dynamic earthquake rupture codes

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Ruth A.; Barall, Michael; Aagaard, Brad T.; Ma, Shuo; Roten, Daniel; Olsen, Kim B.; Duan, Benchun; Liu, Dunyu; Luo, Bin; Bai, Kangchen; Ampuero, Jean-Paul; Kaneko, Yoshihiro; Gabriel, Alice-Agnes; Duru, Kenneth; Ulrich, Thomas; Wollherr, Stephanie; Shi, Zheqiang; Dunham, Eric; Bydlon, Sam; Zhang, Zhenguo; Chen, Xiaofei; Somala, Surendra N.; Pelties, Christian; Tago, Josue; Cruz-Atienza, Victor Manuel; Kozdon, Jeremy; Daub, Eric; Aslam, Khurram; Kase, Yuko; Withers, Kyle; Dalguer, Luis

2018-01-01

We describe a set of benchmark exercises that are designed to test if computer codes that simulate dynamic earthquake rupture are working as intended. These types of computer codes are often used to understand how earthquakes operate, and they produce simulation results that include earthquake size, amounts of fault slip, and the patterns of ground shaking and crustal deformation. The benchmark exercises examine a range of features that scientists incorporate in their dynamic earthquake rupture simulations. These include implementations of simple or complex fault geometry, off‐fault rock response to an earthquake, stress conditions, and a variety of formulations for fault friction. Many of the benchmarks were designed to investigate scientific problems at the forefronts of earthquake physics and strong ground motions research. The exercises are freely available on our website for use by the scientific community.

Synthetic strong ground motions for engineering design utilizing empirical Green`s functions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hutchings, L.J.; Jarpe, S.P.; Kasameyer, P.W.; Foxall, W.

1996-04-11

We present a methodology for developing realistic synthetic strong ground motions for specific sites from specific earthquakes. We analyzed the possible ground motion resulting from a M = 7.25 earthquake that ruptures 82 km of the Hayward fault for a site 1.4 km from the fault in the eastern San Francisco Bay area. We developed a suite of 100 rupture scenarios for the Hayward fault earthquake and computed the corresponding strong ground motion time histories. We synthesized strong ground motion with physics-based solutions of earthquake rupture and applied physical bounds on rupture parameters. By having a suite of rupture scenarios of hazardous earthquakes for a fixed magnitude and identifying the hazard to the site from the statistical distribution of engineering parameters, we introduce a probabilistic component into the deterministic hazard calculation. Engineering parameters of synthesized ground motions agree with those recorded from the 1995 Kobe, Japan and the 1992 Landers, California earthquakes at similar distances and site geologies.

Ground acceleration in a nuclear power plant; Aceleracion del suelo en una central nuclear

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pena G, P.; Balcazar, M.; Vega R, E., E-mail: pablo.pena@inin.gob.mx [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)

2015-09-15

A methodology that adopts the recommendations of international organizations for determining the ground acceleration at a nuclear power plant is outlined. Systematic presented here emphasizes the type of geological, geophysical and geotechnical studies in different areas of influence, culminating in assessments of Design Basis earthquake and the earthquake Operating Base. The methodology indicates that in regional areas where the site of the nuclear power plant is located, failures are identified in geological structures, and seismic histories of the region are documented. In the area of detail geophysical tools to generate effects to determine subsurface propagation velocities and spectra of the induced seismic waves are used. The mechanical analysis of drill cores allows estimating the efforts that generate and earthquake postulate. Studies show that the magnitude of the Fukushima earthquake, did not affect the integrity of nuclear power plants due to the rocky settlement found. (Author)

Earthquake early warning system using real-time signal processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leach, R.R. Jr.; Dowla, F.U.

1996-02-01

An earthquake warning system has been developed to provide a time series profile from which vital parameters such as the time until strong shaking begins, the intensity of the shaking, and the duration of the shaking, can be derived. Interaction of different types of ground motion and changes in the elastic properties of geological media throughout the propagation path result in a highly nonlinear function. We use neural networks to model these nonlinearities and develop learning techniques for the analysis of temporal precursors occurring in the emerging earthquake seismic signal. The warning system is designed to analyze the first-arrival from the three components of an earthquake signal and instantaneously provide a profile of impending ground motion, in as little as 0.3 sec after first ground motion is felt at the sensors. For each new data sample, at a rate of 25 samples per second, the complete profile of the earthquake is updated. The profile consists of a magnitude-related estimate as well as an estimate of the envelope of the complete earthquake signal. The envelope provides estimates of damage parameters, such as time until peak ground acceleration (PGA) and duration. The neural network based system is trained using seismogram data from more than 400 earthquakes recorded in southern California. The system has been implemented in hardware using silicon accelerometers and a standard microprocessor. The proposed warning units can be used for site-specific applications, distributed networks, or to enhance existing distributed networks. By producing accurate, and informative warnings, the system has the potential to significantly minimize the hazards of catastrophic ground motion. Detailed system design and performance issues, including error measurement in a simple warning scenario are discussed in detail.

Seismogeodesy for rapid earthquake and tsunami characterization

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, Y.

2016-12-01

Rapid estimation of earthquake magnitude and fault mechanism is critical for earthquake and tsunami warning systems. Traditionally, the monitoring of earthquakes and tsunamis has been based on seismic networks for estimating earthquake magnitude and slip, and tide gauges and deep-ocean buoys for direct measurement of tsunami waves. These methods are well developed for ocean basin-wide warnings but are not timely enough to protect vulnerable populations and infrastructure from the effects of local tsunamis, where waves may arrive within 15-30 minutes of earthquake onset time. Direct measurements of displacements by GPS networks at subduction zones allow for rapid magnitude and slip estimation in the near-source region, that are not affected by instrumental limitations and magnitude saturation experienced by local seismic networks. However, GPS displacements by themselves are too noisy for strict earthquake early warning (P-wave detection). Optimally combining high-rate GPS and seismic data (in particular, accelerometers that do not clip), referred to as seismogeodesy, provides a broadband instrument that does not clip in the near field, is impervious to magnitude saturation, and provides accurate real-time static and dynamic displacements and velocities in real time. Here we describe a NASA-funded effort to integrate GPS and seismogeodetic observations as part of NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers in Alaska and Hawaii. It consists of a series of plug-in modules that allow for a hierarchy of rapid seismogeodetic products, including automatic P-wave picking, hypocenter estimation, S-wave prediction, magnitude scaling relationships based on P-wave amplitude (Pd) and peak ground displacement (PGD), finite-source CMT solutions and fault slip models as input for tsunami warnings and models. For the NOAA/NASA project, the modules are being integrated into an existing USGS Earthworm environment, currently limited to traditional seismic data. We are focused on a network of

The Italian Project S2 - Task 4:Near-fault earthquake ground motion simulation in the Sulmona alluvial basin

Science.gov (United States)

Stupazzini, M.; Smerzini, C.; Cauzzi, C.; Faccioli, E.; Galadini, F.; Gori, S.

2009-04-01

Recently the Italian Department of Civil Protection (DPC), in cooperation with Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) has promoted the 'S2' research project (http://nuovoprogettoesse2.stru.polimi.it/) aimed at the design, testing and application of an open-source code for seismic hazard assessment (SHA). The tool envisaged will likely differ in several important respects from an existing international initiative (Open SHA, Field et al., 2003). In particular, while "the OpenSHA collaboration model envisions scientists developing their own attenuation relationships and earthquake rupture forecasts, which they will deploy and maintain in their own systems", the main purpose of S2 project is to provide a flexible computational tool for SHA, primarily suited for the needs of DPC, which not necessarily are scientific needs. Within S2, a crucial issue is to make alternative approaches available to quantify the ground motion, with emphasis on the near field region. The SHA architecture envisaged will allow for the use of ground motion descriptions other than those yielded by empirical attenuation equations, for instance user generated motions provided by deterministic source and wave propagation simulations. In this contribution, after a brief presentation of Project S2, we intend to illustrate some preliminary 3D scenario simulations performed in the alluvial basin of Sulmona (Central Italy), as an example of the type of descriptions that can be handled in the future SHA architecture. In detail, we selected some seismogenic sources (from the DISS database), believed to be responsible for a number of destructive historical earthquakes, and derive from them a family of simplified geometrical and mechanical source models spanning across a reasonable range of parameters, so that the extent of the main uncertainties can be covered. Then, purely deterministic (for frequencies Journal of Seismology, 1, 237-251. Field, E.H., T.H. Jordan, and C.A. Cornell (2003

Earthquake Warning Performance in Vallejo for the South Napa Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Wurman, G.; Price, M.

2014-12-01

In 2002 and 2003, Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. installed first-generation QuakeGuardTM earthquake warning devices at all eight fire stations in Vallejo, CA. These devices are designed to detect the P-wave of an earthquake and initiate predetermined protective actions if the impending shaking is estimated at approximately Modifed Mercalli Intensity V or greater. At the Vallejo fire stations the devices were set up to sound an audio alert over the public address system and to command the equipment bay doors to open. In August 2014, after more than 11 years of operating in the fire stations with no false alarms, the five units that were still in use triggered correctly on the MW 6.0 South Napa earthquake, less than 16 km away. The audio alert sounded in all five stations, providing fire fighters with 1.5 to 2.5 seconds of warning before the arrival of the S-wave, and the equipment bay doors opened in three of the stations. In one station the doors were disconnected from the QuakeGuard device, and another station lost power before the doors opened completely. These problems highlight just a small portion of the complexity associated with realizing actionable earthquake warnings. The issues experienced in this earthquake have already been addressed in subsequent QuakeGuard product generations, with downstream connection monitoring and backup power for critical systems. The fact that the fire fighters in Vallejo were afforded even two seconds of warning at these epicentral distances results from the design of the QuakeGuard devices, which focuses on rapid false positive rejection and ground motion estimates. We discuss the performance of the ground motion estimation algorithms, with an emphasis on the accuracy and timeliness of the estimates at close epicentral distances.

Research on advancement of technique for assessing ground seismic intensity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, Keiichi; Kaneko, Masahiro; Honda, Riki; Tabuchi, Yoshihiro

1997-01-01

In the aseismatic design of nuclear power stations, as the characteristics of earthquake motion inputted in released base surface, the maximum amplitude and the frequency characteristics of earthquake motion, the presumption of earthquake motion using fault model, the time of continuation and the change of amplitude envelope with time are to be examined. In this research, in order to upgrade the earthquake motion used for aseismatic design, the method of evaluating quantitatively the amplifying characteristics of earthquake motion in unfair ground and the technique of setting design earthquake motion that can consider the change of structural state were investigated. The course of the research carried out so far is outlined. As to the amplifying characteristics of earthquake motion in unfair ground, the technique of analysis, the index showing the degree of amplifying of earthquake motion, the index showing the degree of unfairness of ground, the amplifying characteristics of earthquake motion in tray type base, and the evaluation of frequency zone of large degree of amplifying are reported. As to the design earthquake motion taking the plasticizing of structures in consideration, the analysis condition, the equivalent peculiar frequency and the equivalent damping constant and the design earthquake motion taking the plasticizing of structures in consideration are reported. (K.I.)

Evaluating a kinematic method for generating broadband ground motions for great subduction zone earthquakes: Application to the 2003 Mw 8.3 Tokachi‐Oki earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Wirth, Erin A.; Frankel, Arthur; Vidale, John E.

2017-01-01

We compare broadband synthetic seismograms with recordings of the 2003 Mw">MwMw 8.3 Tokachi‐Oki earthquake to evaluate a compound rupture model, in which slip on the fault consists of multiple high‐stress‐drop asperities superimposed on a background slip distribution with longer rise times. Low‐frequency synthetics (frequency (>1  Hz">>1  Hz>1  Hz) stochastic synthetics using a matched filter at 1 Hz. We show that this compound rupture model and overall approach accurately reproduces waveform envelopes and observed response spectral accelerations (SAs) from the Tokachi‐Oki event. We find that sufficiently short subfault rise times (i.e., ∼1  Hz∼1  Hz. This is achieved by either (1) including distinct subevents with short rise times, as may be suggested by the Tokachi‐Oki data, or (2) imposing a fast‐slip velocity over the entire rupture area. We also include a systematic study on the effects of varying several kinematic rupture parameters. We find that simulated strong ground motions are sensitive to the average rupture velocity and coherence of the rupture front, with more coherent ruptures yielding higher response SAs. We also assess the effects of varying the average slip velocity and the character (i.e., area, magnitude, and location) of high‐stress‐drop subevents. Even in the absence of precise constraints on these kinematic rupture parameters, our simulations still reproduce major features in the Tokachi‐Oki earthquake data, supporting its accuracy in modeling future large earthquakes.

The 1985 central chile earthquake: a repeat of previous great earthquakes in the region?

Science.gov (United States)

Comte, D; Eisenberg, A; Lorca, E; Pardo, M; Ponce, L; Saragoni, R; Singh, S K; Suárez, G

1986-07-25

A great earthquake (surface-wave magnitude, 7.8) occurred along the coast of central Chile on 3 March 1985, causing heavy damage to coastal towns. Intense foreshock activity near the epicenter of the main shock occurred for 11 days before the earthquake. The aftershocks of the 1985 earthquake define a rupture area of 170 by 110 square kilometers. The earthquake was forecast on the basis of the nearly constant repeat time (83 +/- 9 years) of great earthquakes in this region. An analysis of previous earthquakes suggests that the rupture lengths of great shocks in the region vary by a factor of about 3. The nearly constant repeat time and variable rupture lengths cannot be reconciled with time- or slip-predictable models of earthquake recurrence. The great earthquakes in the region seem to involve a variable rupture mode and yet, for unknown reasons, remain periodic. Historical data suggest that the region south of the 1985 rupture zone should now be considered a gap of high seismic potential that may rupture in a great earthquake in the next few tens of years.

Estimation of Surface Deformation due to Pasni Earthquake Using SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, M.; Shahzad, M. I.; Nazeer, M.; Kazmi, J. H.

2018-04-01

Earthquake cause ground deformation in sedimented surface areas like Pasni and that is a hazard. Such earthquake induced ground displacements can seriously damage building structures. On 7 February 2017, an earthquake with 6.3 magnitudes strike near to Pasni. We have successfully distinguished widely spread ground displacements for the Pasni earthquake by using InSAR-based analysis with Sentinel-1 satellite C-band data. The maps of surface displacement field resulting from the earthquake are generated. Sentinel-1 Wide Swath data acquired from 9 December 2016 to 28 February 2017 was used to generate displacement map. The interferogram revealed the area of deformation. The comparison map of interferometric vertical displacement in different time period was treated as an evidence of deformation caused by earthquake. Profile graphs of interferogram were created to estimate the vertical displacement range and trend. Pasni lies in strong earthquake magnitude effected area. The major surface deformation areas are divided into different zones based on significance of deformation. The average displacement in Pasni is estimated about 250 mm. Maximum pasni area is uplifted by earthquake and maximum uplifting occurs was about 1200 mm. Some of areas was subsidized like the areas near to shoreline and maximum subsidence was estimated about 1500 mm. Pasni is facing many problems due to increasing sea water intrusion under prevailing climatic change where land deformation due to a strong earthquake can augment its vulnerability.

Characteristic behavior of underground and semi-underground structure at earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Yoshihiro; Komada, Hiroya

1985-01-01

An appropriate earthquake-resistant repository design is required to ensure the safety of the radioactive wastes (shallow or deep ground disposal of low- and high-level wastes, respectively). It is particularly important to understand the propagation characteristics of seismic waves and the behaviors of underground hollow structures at the time of an earthquake. This report deals with seismologic observations of rock beds and undergound structures. The maximum acceleration deep under the ground is found to be about 1/2 - 1/3 of that at the ground surface or along the rock bed in the horizontal direction and about 1/1 - 1/2 in the longitudinal direction. A large attenuation cannot be expected in shallow ground. The decrease in displacement amplitude is small compared to that in acceleration. The attenuation effect is larger for a small earthquake and at a short hypocentral distance. The attenuation factor reaches a maximum at a depth of several tens of meters. The seismic spectrum under the ground is flatter than that at the surface. The maximum acceleration along the side wall of a cavity is almost the same as that in the surrounding rock bed. An underground cavity shows complicated phase characteristics at the time of a small earthquake at a short hypocentral distance. (Nogami, K.)

Ground Motion Prediction Models for Caucasus Region

Science.gov (United States)

Jorjiashvili, Nato; Godoladze, Tea; Tvaradze, Nino; Tumanova, Nino

2016-04-01

Ground motion prediction models (GMPMs) relate ground motion intensity measures to variables describing earthquake source, path, and site effects. Estimation of expected ground motion is a fundamental earthquake hazard assessment. The most commonly used parameter for attenuation relation is peak ground acceleration or spectral acceleration because this parameter gives useful information for Seismic Hazard Assessment. Since 2003 development of Georgian Digital Seismic Network has started. In this study new GMP models are obtained based on new data from Georgian seismic network and also from neighboring countries. Estimation of models is obtained by classical, statistical way, regression analysis. In this study site ground conditions are additionally considered because the same earthquake recorded at the same distance may cause different damage according to ground conditions. Empirical ground-motion prediction models (GMPMs) require adjustment to make them appropriate for site-specific scenarios. However, the process of making such adjustments remains a challenge. This work presents a holistic framework for the development of a peak ground acceleration (PGA) or spectral acceleration (SA) GMPE that is easily adjustable to different seismological conditions and does not suffer from the practical problems associated with adjustments in the response spectral domain.

Recent applications for rapid estimation of earthquake shaking and losses with ELER Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demircioglu, M.B.; Erdik, M.; Kamer, Y.; Sesetyan, K.; Tuzun, C.

2012-01-01

A methodology and software package entitled Earthquake Loss Estimation Routine (ELER) was developed for rapid estimation of earthquake shaking and losses throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region. The work was carried out under the Joint Research Activity-3 (JRA3) of the EC FP6 project entitled Network of Research Infrastructures for European Seismology (NERIES). The ELER methodology anticipates: 1) finding of the most likely location of the source of the earthquake using regional seismo-tectonic data base; 2) estimation of the spatial distribution of selected ground motion parameters at engineering bedrock through region specific ground motion prediction models, bias-correcting the ground motion estimations with strong ground motion data, if available; 3) estimation of the spatial distribution of site-corrected ground motion parameters using regional geology database using appropriate amplification models; and 4) estimation of the losses and uncertainties at various orders of sophistication (buildings, casualties). The multi-level methodology developed for real time estimation of losses is capable of incorporating regional variability and sources of uncertainty stemming from ground motion predictions, fault finiteness, site modifications, inventory of physical and social elements subjected to earthquake hazard and the associated vulnerability relationships which are coded into ELER. The present paper provides brief information on the methodology of ELER and provides an example application with the recent major earthquake that hit the Van province in the east of Turkey on 23 October 2011 with moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.2. For this earthquake, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) provided almost real time estimations in terms of building damage and casualty distribution using ELER. (author)

Sensitivity of broad-band ground-motion simulations to earthquake source and Earth structure variations: an application to the Messina Straits (Italy)

KAUST Repository

Imperatori, W.

2012-03-01

In this paper, we investigate ground-motion variability due to different faulting approximations and crustal-model parametrizations in the Messina Straits area (Southern Italy). Considering three 1-D velocity models proposed for this region and a total of 72 different source realizations, we compute broad-band (0-10 Hz) synthetics for Mw 7.0 events using a fault plane geometry recently proposed. We explore source complexity in terms of classic kinematic (constant rise-time and rupture speed) and pseudo-dynamic models (variable rise-time and rupture speed). Heterogeneous slip distributions are generated using a Von Karman autocorrelation function. Rise-time variability is related to slip, whereas rupture speed variations are connected to static stress drop. Boxcar, triangle and modified Yoffe are the adopted source time functions. We find that ground-motion variability associated to differences in crustal models is constant and becomes important at intermediate and long periods. On the other hand, source-induced ground-motion variability is negligible at long periods and strong at intermediate-short periods. Using our source-modelling approach and the three different 1-D structural models, we investigate shaking levels for the 1908 Mw 7.1 Messina earthquake adopting a recently proposed model for fault geometry and final slip. Our simulations suggest that peak levels in Messina and Reggio Calabria must have reached 0.6-0.7 g during this earthquake.

Investigation for Strong Ground Shaking across the Taipei Basin during the MW 7.0 Eastern Taiwan Offshore Earthquake of 31 March 2002

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-Ling Huang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available According to reconstructed ground motion snapshots of the northern Taiwan area during the MW 7.0 eastern Taiwan offshore earthquake of 31 March 2002, the composite effects indicated complicated wave propagation behavior in the ground motion of the Taipei basin. A major low frequency pulse arose after the S-wave with the duration of about 20 seconds was observed in northern Taiwan and dominated the radial direction. Observed waveforms of a low frequency pulse show amplification during the seismic wave across the Taipei basin from its eastern edge to western portion. This effect has been considered to be generated by an unusual source radiation, deep Moho reflection or basin bottom surface. In this study, recorded ground motions from a dense seismic network were analyzed using a frequency-wavenumber spectrum analysis for seismic wave propagation properties. We investigated temporal and spatial variations in strong shaking in different frequency bands. Results show that a simple pulse incident seismic wave strongly interacts with inside soft sediments and the surrounding topography of the Taipei basin which in turn extends its shaking duration. Evidence showed that seismic waves have been reflected back from its western boundary of basin with a dominant frequency near one Hz. Findings in this study have been rarely reported and may provide useful information to further constrain a three-dimensional numerical simulation for the basin response and velocity structure, and to predict ground motions of further large earthquakes.

Dynamic strain and rotation ground motions of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake from dense high-rate GPS observations in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, B. S.; Rau, R. J.; Lin, C. J.; Kuo, L. C.

2017-12-01

Seismic waves generated by the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku, Japan earthquake were well recorded by continuous GPS in Taiwan. Those GPS were operated in one hertz sampling rate and densely distributed in Taiwan Island. Those continuous GPS observations and the precise point positioning technique provide an opportunity to estimate spatial derivatives from absolute ground motions of this giant teleseismic event. In this study, we process and investigate more than one and half hundred high-rate GPS displacements and its spatial derivatives, thus strain and rotations, to compare to broadband seismic and rotational sensor observations. It is shown that continuous GPS observations are highly consistent with broadband seismic observations during its surface waves across Taiwan Island. Several standard Geodesy and seismic array analysis techniques for spatial gradients have been applied to those continuous GPS time series to determine its dynamic strain and rotation time histories. Results show that those derivate GPS vertical axis ground rotations are consistent to seismic array determined rotations. However, vertical rotation-rate observations from the R1 rotational sensors have low resolutions and could not compared with GPS observations for this special event. For its dese spatial distribution of GPS stations in Taiwan Island, not only wavefield gradient time histories at individual site was obtained but also 2-D spatial ground motion fields were determined in this study also. In this study, we will report the analyzed results of those spatial gradient wavefields of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake across Taiwan Island and discuss its geological implications.

Ground motion attenuation during M 7.1 Darfield and M 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquakes and performance of global Ppedictive models

Science.gov (United States)

Segou, Margaret; Kalkan, Erol

2011-01-01

The M 7.1 Darfield earthquake occurred 40 km west of Christchurch (New Zealand) on 4 September 2010. Six months after, the city was struck again with an M 6.2 event on 22 February local time (21 February UTC). These events resulted in significant damage to infrastructure in the city and its suburbs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of global predictive models (GMPEs) using the strong motion data obtained from these two events to improve future seismic hazard assessment and building code provisions for the Canterbury region.The Canterbury region is located on the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates; its surface expression is the active right lateral Alpine fault (Berryman et al. 1993). Beneath the North Island and the north South Island, the Pacific plate subducts obliquely under the Australian plate, while at the southwestern part of the South Island, a reverse process takes place. Although New Zealand has experienced several major earthquakes in the past as a result of its complex seismotectonic environment (e.g., M 7.1 1888 North Canterbury, M 7.0 1929 Arthur's Pass, and M 6.2 1995 Cass), there was no evidence of prior seismic activity in Christchurch and its surroundings before the September event. The Darfield and Christchurch earthquakes occurred along the previously unmapped Greendale fault in the Canterbury basin, which is covered by Quaternary alluvial deposits (Forsyth et al. 2008). In Figure 1, site conditions of the Canterbury epicentral area are depicted on a VS30 map. This map was determined on the basis of topographic slope calculated from a 1-km grid using the method of Allen and Wald (2007). Also shown are the locations of strong motion stations.The Darfield event was generated as a result of a complex rupture mechanism; the recordings and geodetic data reveal that earthquake consists of three sub-events (Barnhart et al. 2011, page 815 of this issue). The first event was due to rupturing of a blind reverse

From Tornadoes to Earthquakes: Forecast Verification for Binary Events Applied to the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan,Earthquake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chien-Chih Chen

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Forecast verification procedures for statistical events with binary outcomes typically rely on the use of contingency tables and Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC diagrams. Originally developed for the statistical evaluation of tornado forecasts on a county-by-county basis, these methods can be adapted to the evaluation of competing earthquake forecasts. Here we apply these methods retrospectively to two forecasts for the M 7.3 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake. We show that a previously proposed forecast method that is based on evaluating changes in seismic intensity on a regional basis is superior to a forecast based only on the magnitude of seismic intensity in the same region. Our results confirm earlier suggestions that the earthquake preparation process for events such as the Chi-Chi earthquake involves anomalous activation or quiescence, and that signatures of these processes can be detected in seismicity data using appropriate methods.

Engineering characterization of ground motion. Task II: Soil structure interaction effects on structural response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luco, J E; Wong, H L [Structural and Earthquake Engineering Consultants, Inc., Sierra Madre, CA (United States); Chang, C -Y; Power, M S; Idriss, I M [Woodward-Clyde Consultants, Walnut Creek, CA (United States)

1986-08-01

This report presents the results of part of a two-task study on the engineering characterization of earthquake ground motion for nuclear power plant design. The overall objective of this research program sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) is to develop recommendations for methods for selecting design response spectra or acceleration time histories to be used to characterize motion at the foundation level of nuclear power plants. Task I of the study, which is presented in Vol. 1 of NUREG/CR-3805, developed a basis for selecting design response spectra taking into account the characteristics of free-field ground motion found to be significant in causing structural damage. Task II incorporates additional considerations of effects of spatial variations of ground motions and soil-structure interaction on foundation motions and structural response. The results of Task II are presented in Vols. 2 through of NUREG/CR-3805 as follows: Vol. 2 effects of ground motion characteristics on structural response considering localized structural nonlinearities and soil-structure interaction effects; Vol. 3 observational data on spatial variations of earthquake ground motions; Vol. 4 soil-structure interaction effects on structural response; and Vol. 5, summary based on Tasks I and II studies. This report presents the results of the Vol. 4 studies.

Learning Earthquake Design and Construction–Why are Open ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 10; Issue 10. Learning Earthquake Design and Construction – Why are Open-Ground Storey Buildings Vulnerable in Earthquakes? C V R Murty. Classroom Volume 10 Issue 10 October 2005 pp 84-87 ...

Effects of deep basins on structural collapse during large subduction earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Marafi, Nasser A.; Eberhard, Marc O.; Berman, Jeffrey W.; Wirth, Erin A.; Frankel, Arthur

2017-01-01

Deep sedimentary basins are known to increase the intensity of ground motions, but this effect is implicitly considered in seismic hazard maps used in U.S. building codes. The basin amplification of ground motions from subduction earthquakes is particularly important in the Pacific Northwest, where the hazard at long periods is dominated by such earthquakes. This paper evaluates the effects of basins on spectral accelerations, ground-motion duration, spectral shape, and structural collapse using subduction earthquake recordings from basins in Japan that have similar depths as the Puget Lowland basin. For three of the Japanese basins and the Puget Lowland basin, the spectral accelerations were amplified by a factor of 2 to 4 for periods above 2.0 s. The long-duration subduction earthquakes and the effects of basins on spectral shape combined, lower the spectral accelerations at collapse for a set of building archetypes relative to other ground motions. For the hypothetical case in which these motions represent the entire hazard, the archetypes would need to increase up to 3.3 times its strength to compensate for these effects.

A Trial for Earthquake Prediction by Precise Monitoring of Deep Ground Water Temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Nasuhara, Y.; Otsuki, K.; Yamauchi, T.

2006-12-01

A near future large earthquake is estimated to occur off Miyagi prefecture, northeast Japan within 20 years at a probability of about 80 %. In order to predict this earthquake, we have observed groundwater temperature in a borehole at Sendai city 100 km west of the asperity. This borehole penetrates the fault zone of NE-trending active reverse fault, Nagamachi-Rifu fault zone, at 820m depth. Our concept of the ground water observation is that fault zones are natural amplifier of crustal strain, and hence at 820m depth we set a very precise quartz temperature sensor with the resolution of 0.0002 deg. C. We confirmed our observation system to work normally by both the pumping up tests and the systematic temperature changes at different depths. Since the observation started on June 20 in 2004, we found mysterious intermittent temperature fluctuations of two types; one is of a period of 5-10 days and an amplitude of ca. 0.1 deg. C, and the other is of a period of 11-21 days and an amplitude of ca. 0.2 deg. C. Based on the examination using the product of Grashof number and Prantl number, natural convection of water can be occurred in the borehole. However, since these temperature fluctuations are observed only at the depth around 820 m, thus it is likely that they represent the hydrological natures proper to the Nagamachi-Rifu fault zone. It is noteworthy that the small temperature changes correlatable with earth tide are superposed on the long term and large amplitude fluctuations. The amplitude on the days of the full moon and new moon is ca. 0.001 deg. C. The bottoms of these temperature fluctuations always delay about 6 hours relative to peaks of earth tide. This is interpreted as that water in the borehole is sucked into the fault zone on which tensional normal stress acts on the days of the full moon and new moon. The amplitude of the crustal strain by earth tide was measured at ca. 2∗10^-8 strain near our observation site. High frequency temperature noise of

Comparison of two large earthquakes: the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake and the 2011 East Japan Earthquake.

Science.gov (United States)

Otani, Yuki; Ando, Takayuki; Atobe, Kaori; Haiden, Akina; Kao, Sheng-Yuan; Saito, Kohei; Shimanuki, Marie; Yoshimoto, Norifumi; Fukunaga, Koichi

2012-01-01

Between August 15th and 19th, 2011, eight 5th-year medical students from the Keio University School of Medicine had the opportunity to visit the Peking University School of Medicine and hold a discussion session titled "What is the most effective way to educate people for survival in an acute disaster situation (before the mental health care stage)?" During the session, we discussed the following six points: basic information regarding the Sichuan Earthquake and the East Japan Earthquake, differences in preparedness for earthquakes, government actions, acceptance of medical rescue teams, earthquake-induced secondary effects, and media restrictions. Although comparison of the two earthquakes was not simple, we concluded that three major points should be emphasized to facilitate the most effective course of disaster planning and action. First, all relevant agencies should formulate emergency plans and should supply information regarding the emergency to the general public and health professionals on a normal basis. Second, each citizen should be educated and trained in how to minimize the risks from earthquake-induced secondary effects. Finally, the central government should establish a single headquarters responsible for command, control, and coordination during a natural disaster emergency and should centralize all powers in this single authority. We hope this discussion may be of some use in future natural disasters in China, Japan, and worldwide.

Stress drops of induced and tectonic earthquakes in the central United States are indistinguishable.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yihe; Ellsworth, William L; Beroza, Gregory C

2017-08-01

Induced earthquakes currently pose a significant hazard in the central United States, but there is considerable uncertainty about the severity of their ground motions. We measure stress drops of 39 moderate-magnitude induced and tectonic earthquakes in the central United States and eastern North America. Induced earthquakes, more than half of which are shallower than 5 km, show a comparable median stress drop to tectonic earthquakes in the central United States that are dominantly strike-slip but a lower median stress drop than that of tectonic earthquakes in the eastern North America that are dominantly reverse-faulting. This suggests that ground motion prediction equations developed for tectonic earthquakes can be applied to induced earthquakes if the effects of depth and faulting style are properly considered. Our observation leads to the notion that, similar to tectonic earthquakes, induced earthquakes are driven by tectonic stresses.

Using structures of the August 24, 2016 Amatrice earthquake affected area as seismoscopes for assessing ground motion characteristics and parameters of the main shock and its largest aftershocks

Science.gov (United States)

Carydis, Panayotis; Lekkas, Efthymios; Mavroulis, Spyridon

2017-04-01

On August 24, 2016 an Mw 6.0 earthquake struck Central Apennines (Italy) resulting in 299 fatalities, 388 injuries and about 3000 homeless in Amatrice wider area. Normal faulting surface ruptures along the western slope of Mt Vettore along with provided focal mechanisms demonstrated a NW-SE striking and SE dipping causative normal fault. The dominant building types in the affected area are unreinforced masonry (URM) and reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Based on our macroseismic survey in the affected area immediately after the earthquake, RC buildings suffered non-structural damage including horizontal cracking of infill and internal partition walls, detachment of infill walls from the surrounding RC frame and detachment of large plaster pieces from infill walls as well as structural damage comprising soft story failure, symmetrical buckling of rods, compression damage at midheight of columns and bursting of over-stressed columns resulting in partial or total collapse. Damage in RC buildings was due to poor quality of concrete, inadequacy of reinforcement, inappropriate foundation close to the edge of slopes leading to differential settlements, poor workmanship and the destructive effect of vertical ground motions. Damage in URM buildings ranged from cracks and detachment of large plaster pieces from load-bearing walls to destruction due to poor workmanship with randomly placed materials bound by low-strength mortars, the effect of the vertical ground motion, inadequate repair and/or strengthening after previous earthquakes as well as inadequate interventions, additions and extensions to older URM buildings. During field surveying, the authors had the opportunity to observe damage induced not only by the main shock but also by its largest aftershocks (Mw 4.5-5.3) during the first three days of the aftershock sequence (August 24-26). Bearing in mind that: (a) soil conditions in foundations of the affected villages were more or less similar, (b) building damage

Earthquakes: Risk, Monitoring, Notification, and Research

Science.gov (United States)

2008-06-19

States are as much as 30% lower for certain types of ground motion, called long-period seismic waves, which affect taller , multistory buildings. Ground...jump between connected faults. Earthquakes that occur along the Sierra Madre Fault in southern California, for example, could trigger a series of

Modeling, Forecasting and Mitigating Extreme Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail-Zadeh, A.; Le Mouel, J.; Soloviev, A.

2012-12-01

Recent earthquake disasters highlighted the importance of multi- and trans-disciplinary studies of earthquake risk. A major component of earthquake disaster risk analysis is hazards research, which should cover not only a traditional assessment of ground shaking, but also studies of geodetic, paleoseismic, geomagnetic, hydrological, deep drilling and other geophysical and geological observations together with comprehensive modeling of earthquakes and forecasting extreme events. Extreme earthquakes (large magnitude and rare events) are manifestations of complex behavior of the lithosphere structured as a hierarchical system of blocks of different sizes. Understanding of physics and dynamics of the extreme events comes from observations, measurements and modeling. A quantitative approach to simulate earthquakes in models of fault dynamics will be presented. The models reproduce basic features of the observed seismicity (e.g., the frequency-magnitude relationship, clustering of earthquakes, occurrence of extreme seismic events). They provide a link between geodynamic processes and seismicity, allow studying extreme events, influence of fault network properties on seismic patterns and seismic cycles, and assist, in a broader sense, in earthquake forecast modeling. Some aspects of predictability of large earthquakes (how well can large earthquakes be predicted today?) will be also discussed along with possibilities in mitigation of earthquake disasters (e.g., on 'inverse' forensic investigations of earthquake disasters).

Countermeasures to earthquakes in nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Kazuhide

1979-01-01

The contribution of atomic energy to mankind is unmeasured, but the danger of radioactivity is a special thing. Therefore in the design of nuclear power plants, the safety has been regarded as important, and in Japan where earthquakes occur frequently, the countermeasures to earthquakes have been incorporated in the examination of safety naturally. The radioactive substances handled in nuclear power stations and spent fuel reprocessing plants are briefly explained. The occurrence of earthquakes cannot be predicted effectively, and the disaster due to earthquakes is apt to be remarkably large. In nuclear plants, the prevention of damage in the facilities and the maintenance of the functions are required at the time of earthquakes. Regarding the location of nuclear plants, the history of earthquakes, the possible magnitude of earthquakes, the properties of ground and the position of nuclear plants should be examined. After the place of installation has been decided, the earthquake used for design is selected, evaluating live faults and determining the standard earthquakes. As the fundamentals of aseismatic design, the classification according to importance, the earthquakes for design corresponding to the classes of importance, the combination of loads and allowable stress are explained. (Kako, I.)

Scenario-based earthquake hazard and risk assessment for Baku (Azerbaijan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Babayev

2010-12-01

Full Text Available A rapid growth of population, intensive civil and industrial building, land and water instabilities (e.g. landslides, significant underground water level fluctuations, and the lack of public awareness regarding seismic hazard contribute to the increase of vulnerability of Baku (the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan to earthquakes. In this study, we assess an earthquake risk in the city determined as a convolution of seismic hazard (in terms of the surface peak ground acceleration, PGA, vulnerability (due to building construction fragility, population features, the gross domestic product per capita, and landslide's occurrence, and exposure of infrastructure and critical facilities. The earthquake risk assessment provides useful information to identify the factors influencing the risk. A deterministic seismic hazard for Baku is analysed for four earthquake scenarios: near, far, local, and extreme events. The seismic hazard models demonstrate the level of ground shaking in the city: PGA high values are predicted in the southern coastal and north-eastern parts of the city and in some parts of the downtown. The PGA attains its maximal values for the local and extreme earthquake scenarios. We show that the quality of buildings and the probability of their damage, the distribution of urban population, exposure, and the pattern of peak ground acceleration contribute to the seismic risk, meanwhile the vulnerability factors play a more prominent role for all earthquake scenarios. Our results can allow elaborating strategic countermeasure plans for the earthquake risk mitigation in the Baku city.

Strong-Motion Data From the Parkfield Earthquake of September 28, 2004

Science.gov (United States)

Shakal, A. F.; Borcherdt, R. D.; Graizer, V.; Haddadi, H.; Huang, M.; Lin, K.; Stephens, C.

2004-12-01

Very complex ground motion with high spatial variability was recorded in the near field of the M6 Parkfield earthquake of 9/28/04 by a strong motion array. The array provided the highest density of recording stations in the near field of any earthquake recorded to date. A total of 56 stations were located within 20 km of the fault; 48 were within 10 km of the fault, more than for many other earthquakes combined. Most (45) of the stations were part of a specialized array of classic analog instruments installed by CGS in the early 1980s, and 11 were digital high resolution instruments installed by the USGS. The set of recordings obtained provide a wealth of information on near field ground motion. Processing and analysis of the strong-motion data, available at www.cisn-edc.org, is underway. The spatial variation of the ground motion, even over relatively short distances, is great. For example, a peak acceleration of 0.30 g was recorded in the town of Parkfield, but several stations, within about 2 km, that surround this station recorded acceleration levels well over 1 g. The strong shaking at these stations, near the termination end of the rupture, is consistent with directivity focusing, as the rupture propagated from the epicenter near Gold Hill to the northwest. However, some of the strongest shaking occurs well south of the rupture, at stations near Hwy 46 at the south end of the Cholame Valley, incompatible with directivity focusing from a simple rupture. An additional aspect is that several near-fault stations have very low shaking, despite being directly over the rupturing fault. This may provide a quantitative basis to understand observed cases of low-strength buildings immediately near a fault being only slightly damaged.

Quantitative prediction of strong motion for a potential earthquake fault

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shamita Das

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a new method for calculating strong motion records for a given seismic region on the basis of the laws of physics using information on the tectonics and physical properties of the earthquake fault. Our method is based on a earthquake model, called a «barrier model», which is characterized by five source parameters: fault length, width, maximum slip, rupture velocity, and barrier interval. The first three parameters may be constrained from plate tectonics, and the fourth parameter is roughly a constant. The most important parameter controlling the earthquake strong motion is the last parameter, «barrier interval». There are three methods to estimate the barrier interval for a given seismic region: 1 surface measurement of slip across fault breaks, 2 model fitting with observed near and far-field seismograms, and 3 scaling law data for small earthquakes in the region. The barrier intervals were estimated for a dozen earthquakes and four seismic regions by the above three methods. Our preliminary results for California suggest that the barrier interval may be determined if the maximum slip is given. The relation between the barrier interval and maximum slip varies from one seismic region to another. For example, the interval appears to be unusually long for Kilauea, Hawaii, which may explain why only scattered evidence of strong ground shaking was observed in the epicentral area of the Island of Hawaii earthquake of November 29, 1975. The stress drop associated with an individual fault segment estimated from the barrier interval and maximum slip lies between 100 and 1000 bars. These values are about one order of magnitude greater than those estimated earlier by the use of crack models without barriers. Thus, the barrier model can resolve, at least partially, the well known discrepancy between the stress-drops measured in the laboratory and those estimated for earthquakes.

Testing earthquake source inversion methodologies

KAUST Repository

Page, Morgan T.

2011-01-01

Source Inversion Validation Workshop; Palm Springs, California, 11-12 September 2010; Nowadays earthquake source inversions are routinely performed after large earthquakes and represent a key connection between recorded seismic and geodetic data and the complex rupture process at depth. The resulting earthquake source models quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of ruptures. They are also used to provide a rapid assessment of the severity of an earthquake and to estimate losses. However, because of uncertainties in the data, assumed fault geometry and velocity structure, and chosen rupture parameterization, it is not clear which features of these source models are robust. Improved understanding of the uncertainty and reliability of earthquake source inversions will allow the scientific community to use the robust features of kinematic inversions to more thoroughly investigate the complexity of the rupture process and to better constrain other earthquakerelated computations, such as ground motion simulations and static stress change calculations.

Application of τc*Pd in earthquake early warning

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Po-Lun; Lin, Ting-Li; Wu, Yih-Min

2015-03-01

Rapid assessment of damage potential and size of an earthquake at the station is highly demanded for onsite earthquake early warning. We study the application of τc*Pd for its estimation on the earthquake size using 123 events recorded by the borehole stations of KiK-net in Japan. The new type of earthquake size determined by τc*Pd is more related to the damage potential. We find that τc*Pd provides another parameter to measure the size of earthquake and the threshold to warn strong ground motion.

Earthquake effect on the geological environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawamura, Makoto

1999-01-01

Acceleration caused by the earthquake, changes in the water pressure, and the rock-mass strain were monitored for a series of 344 earthquakes from 1990 to 1998 at Kamaishi In Situ Test Site. The largest acceleration was registered to be 57.14 gal with the earthquake named 'North coast of Iwate Earthquake' (M4.4) occurred in June, 1996. Changes of the water pressure were recorded with 27 earthquakes; the largest change was -0.35 Kgt/cm 2 . The water-pressure change by earthquake was, however, usually smaller than that caused by rainfall in this area. No change in the electric conductivity or pH of ground water was detected before and after the earthquake throughout the entire period of monitoring. The rock-mass strain was measured with a extensometer whose detection limit was of the order of 10 -8 to 10 -9 degrees and the remaining strain of about 2.5x10 -9 degrees was detected following the 'Offshore Miyagi Earthquake' (M5.1) in October, 1997. (H. Baba)

Uniform risk spectra of strong earthquake ground motion: NEQRISK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, V.W.; Trifunac, M.D.

1987-01-01

The concept of uniform risk spectra of Anderson and Trifunac (1977) has been generalized to include (1) more refined description of earthquake source zones, (2) the uncertainties in estimating seismicity parameters a and b in log 10 N = a - bM, (3) to consider uncertainties in estimation of maximum earthquake size in each source zone, and to (4) include the most recent results on empirical scaling of strong motion amplitudes at a site. Examples of using to new NEQRISK program are presented and compared with the corresponding case studies of Anderson and Trifunac (1977). The organization of the computer program NEQRISK is also briefly described

Seismic Response and Evaluation of SDOF Self-Centering Friction Damping Braces Subjected to Several Earthquake Ground Motions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong Wan Hu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper mainly deals with seismic response and performance for self-centering friction damping braces (SFDBs subjected to several maximum- or design-leveled earthquake ground motions. The self-centering friction damping brace members consist of core recentering components fabricated with superelastic shape memory alloy wires and energy dissipation devices achieved through shear friction mechanism. As compared to the conventional brace members for use in the steel concentrically braced frame structure, these self-centering friction damping brace members make the best use of their representative characteristics to minimize residual deformations and to withstand earthquake loads without member replacement. The configuration and response mechanism of self-centering friction damping brace systems are firstly described in this study, and then parametric investigations are conducted through nonlinear time-history analyses performed on numerical single degree-of-freedom spring models. After observing analysis results, adequate design methodologies that optimally account for recentering capability and energy dissipation according to their comparative parameters are intended to be suggested in order to take advantage of energy capacity and to minimize residual deformation simultaneously.

Napa earthquake: An earthquake in a highly connected world

Science.gov (United States)

Bossu, R.; Steed, R.; Mazet-Roux, G.; Roussel, F.

2014-12-01

The Napa earthquake recently occurred close to Silicon Valley. This makes it a good candidate to study what social networks, wearable objects and website traffic analysis (flashsourcing) can tell us about the way eyewitnesses react to ground shaking. In the first part, we compare the ratio of people publishing tweets and with the ratio of people visiting EMSC (European Mediterranean Seismological Centre) real time information website in the first minutes following the earthquake occurrence to the results published by Jawbone, which show that the proportion of people waking up depends (naturally) on the epicentral distance. The key question to evaluate is whether the proportions of inhabitants tweeting or visiting the EMSC website are similar to the proportion of people waking up as shown by the Jawbone data. If so, this supports the premise that all methods provide a reliable image of the relative ratio of people waking up. The second part of the study focuses on the reaction time for both Twitter and EMSC website access. We show, similarly to what was demonstrated for the Mineral, Virginia, earthquake (Bossu et al., 2014), that hit times on the EMSC website follow the propagation of the P waves and that 2 minutes of website traffic is sufficient to determine the epicentral location of an earthquake on the other side of the Atlantic. We also compare with the publication time of messages on Twitter. Finally, we check whether the number of tweets and the number of visitors relative to the number of inhabitants is correlated to the local level of shaking. Together these results will tell us whether the reaction of eyewitnesses to ground shaking as observed through Twitter and the EMSC website analysis is tool specific (i.e. specific to Twitter or EMSC website) or whether they do reflect people's actual reactions.

Broadband Ground Motion Simulation Recipe for Scenario Hazard Assessment in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Koketsu, K.; Fujiwara, H.; Irikura, K.

2014-12-01

The National Seismic Hazard Maps for Japan, which consist of probabilistic seismic hazard maps (PSHMs) and scenario earthquake shaking maps (SESMs), have been published every year since 2005 by the Earthquake Research Committee (ERC) in the Headquarter for Earthquake Research Promotion, which was established in the Japanese government after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The publication was interrupted due to problems in the PSHMs revealed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and the Subcommittee for Evaluations of Strong Ground Motions ('Subcommittee') has been examining the problems for two and a half years (ERC, 2013; Fujiwara, 2014). However, the SESMs and the broadband ground motion simulation recipe used in them are still valid at least for crustal earthquakes. Here, we outline this recipe and show the results of validation tests for it.Irikura and Miyake (2001) and Irikura (2004) developed a recipe for simulating strong ground motions from future crustal earthquakes based on a characterization of their source models (Irikura recipe). The result of the characterization is called a characterized source model, where a rectangular fault includes a few rectangular asperities. Each asperity and the background area surrounding the asperities have their own uniform stress drops. The Irikura recipe defines the parameters of the fault and asperities, and how to simulate broadband ground motions from the characterized source model. The recipe for the SESMs was constructed following the Irikura recipe (ERC, 2005). The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) then made simulation codes along this recipe to generate SESMs (Fujiwara et al., 2006; Morikawa et al., 2011). The Subcommittee in 2002 validated a preliminary version of the SESM recipe by comparing simulated and observed ground motions for the 2000 Tottori earthquake. In 2007 and 2008, the Subcommittee carried out detailed validations of the current version of the SESM recipe and the NIED

The Effect of Sonic Booms on Earthquake Warning Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wurman, Gilead; Haering, Edward A, Jr.; Price, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Several aerospace companies are designing quiet supersonic business jets for service over the United States. These aircraft have the potential to increase the occurrence of mild sonic booms across the country. This leads to interest among earthquake warning (EQW) developers and the general seismological community in characterizing the effect of sonic booms on seismic sensors in the field, their potential impact on EQW systems, and means of discriminating their signatures from those of earthquakes. The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. (SWS) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on EQW sensors. The study consists of exposing high-sample-rate (1000 sps) triaxial accelerometers to sonic booms with overpressures ranging from 10 to 600 Pa in the free field and the built environment. The accelerometers record the coupling of the sonic boom to the ground and surrounding structures, while microphones record the acoustic wave above ground near the sensor. Sonic booms are broadband signals with more high-frequency content than earthquakes. Even a 1000 sps accelerometer will produce a significantly aliased record. Thus the observed peak ground velocity is strongly dependent on the sampling rate, and increases as the sampling rate is reduced. At 1000 sps we observe ground velocities that exceed those of P-waves from ML 3 earthquakes at local distances, suggesting that sonic booms are not negligible for EQW applications. We present the results of several experiments conducted under SonicBREWS showing the effects of typical-case low amplitude sonic booms and worst-case high amplitude booms. We show the effects of various sensor placements and sensor array geometries. Finally, we suggest possible avenues for discriminating sonic booms from earthquakes for the purposes of EQW.

Geophysical assessment of near-field ground motion and the implications for the design of nuclear installations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernreuter, D.L.

1977-01-01

This paper gives an in-depth discussion on the various methodologies currently available to predict the near-field ground motion from an earthquake. The limitations of the various methods are discussed in some detail in light of recently available data. It is shown that, (at least for California earthquakes) for an earthquake with a given magnitude a wide variation in the peak ground motion can occur. The change in the spectral content of the ground motion is given as a function of earthquake magnitude and peak ground acceleration. It is shown that the large g values associated with small earthquakes are relatively unimportant in the design provided the structures have a modest amount of ductility. Data recently obtained from the Friuli earthquake are also examined. Although not all the geophysical data are currently available, the provisional conclusion is reached that the relation between the strong ground motion from this earthquake and its source parameters is the same as for the western United States

Earthquake hazard evaluation for Switzerland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruettener, E.

1995-01-01

Earthquake hazard analysis is of considerable importance for Switzerland, a country with moderate seismic activity but high economic values at risk. The evaluation of earthquake hazard, i.e. the determination of return periods versus ground motion parameters, requires a description of earthquake occurrences in space and time. In this study the seismic hazard for major cities in Switzerland is determined. The seismic hazard analysis is based on historic earthquake records as well as instrumental data. The historic earthquake data show considerable uncertainties concerning epicenter location and epicentral intensity. A specific concept is required, therefore, which permits the description of the uncertainties of each individual earthquake. This is achieved by probability distributions for earthquake size and location. Historical considerations, which indicate changes in public earthquake awareness at various times (mainly due to large historical earthquakes), as well as statistical tests have been used to identify time periods of complete earthquake reporting as a function of intensity. As a result, the catalog is judged to be complete since 1878 for all earthquakes with epicentral intensities greater than IV, since 1750 for intensities greater than VI, since 1600 for intensities greater than VIII, and since 1300 for intensities greater than IX. Instrumental data provide accurate information about the depth distribution of earthquakes in Switzerland. In the Alps, focal depths are restricted to the uppermost 15 km of the crust, whereas below the northern Alpine foreland earthquakes are distributed throughout the entire crust (30 km). This depth distribution is considered in the final hazard analysis by probability distributions. (author) figs., tabs., refs

Variations of gravity before and after the Haicheng earthquake, 1975, and the Tangshan earthquake, 1976

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Y.; Gu, H.; Lu, Z.

1980-02-01

From the results, there seems to be a close relationship between gravity variations and the occurrence of earthquakes. Based on results of repeated leveling work done in these regions, the estimated amount of gravity change caused by the change of elevation of the ground surface is far too small to account for the observed value. It is speculated that some big earthquakes might be associated with some sort of mass migration under the ground, within the crust or in the upper mantle. This migration would cause a large part of the gravity variation observed. Researchers have made a theoretical analysis of this effect and attempted to get some estimate of the rate of this mass migration, even though the physics of it is not clear.

Realistic Modeling of Seismic Wave Ground Motion in Beijing City

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Z.; Romanelli, F.; Chen, Y. T.; Panza, G. F.

Algorithms for the calculation of synthetic seismograms in laterally heterogeneous anelastic media have been applied to model the ground motion in Beijing City. The synthetic signals are compared with the few available seismic recordings (1998, Zhangbei earthquake) and with the distribution of observed macroseismic intensity (1976, Tangshan earthquake). The synthetic three-component seismograms have been computed for the Xiji area and Beijing City. The numerical results show that the thick Tertiary and Quaternary sediments are responsible for the severe amplification of the seismic ground motion. Such a result is well correlated with the abnormally high macroseismic intensity zone in the Xiji area associated with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake as well as with the ground motion recorded in Beijing city in the wake of the 1998 Zhangbei earthquake.

Large earthquakes and creeping faults

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Ruth A.

2017-01-01

Faults are ubiquitous throughout the Earth's crust. The majority are silent for decades to centuries, until they suddenly rupture and produce earthquakes. With a focus on shallow continental active-tectonic regions, this paper reviews a subset of faults that have a different behavior. These unusual faults slowly creep for long periods of time and produce many small earthquakes. The presence of fault creep and the related microseismicity helps illuminate faults that might not otherwise be located in fine detail, but there is also the question of how creeping faults contribute to seismic hazard. It appears that well-recorded creeping fault earthquakes of up to magnitude 6.6 that have occurred in shallow continental regions produce similar fault-surface rupture areas and similar peak ground shaking as their locked fault counterparts of the same earthquake magnitude. The behavior of much larger earthquakes on shallow creeping continental faults is less well known, because there is a dearth of comprehensive observations. Computational simulations provide an opportunity to fill the gaps in our understanding, particularly of the dynamic processes that occur during large earthquake rupture and arrest.

Safety Aspects of Sustainable Storage Dams and Earthquake Safety of Existing Dams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Wieland

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The basic element in any sustainable dam project is safety, which includes the following safety elements: ① structural safety, ② dam safety monitoring, ③ operational safety and maintenance, and ④ emergency planning. Long-term safety primarily includes the analysis of all hazards affecting the project; that is, hazards from the natural environment, hazards from the man-made environment, and project-specific and site-specific hazards. The special features of the seismic safety of dams are discussed. Large dams were the first structures to be systematically designed against earthquakes, starting in the 1930s. However, the seismic safety of older dams is unknown, as most were designed using seismic design criteria and methods of dynamic analysis that are considered obsolete today. Therefore, we need to reevaluate the seismic safety of existing dams based on current state-of-the-art practices and rehabilitate deficient dams. For large dams, a site-specific seismic hazard analysis is usually recommended. Today, large dams and the safety-relevant elements used for controlling the reservoir after a strong earthquake must be able to withstand the ground motions of a safety evaluation earthquake. The ground motion parameters can be determined either by a probabilistic or a deterministic seismic hazard analysis. During strong earthquakes, inelastic deformations may occur in a dam; therefore, the seismic analysis has to be carried out in the time domain. Furthermore, earthquakes create multiple seismic hazards for dams such as ground shaking, fault movements, mass movements, and others. The ground motions needed by the dam engineer are not real earthquake ground motions but models of the ground motion, which allow the safe design of dams. It must also be kept in mind that dam safety evaluations must be carried out several times during the long life of large storage dams. These features are discussed in this paper.

Short presentation on some researches activities about near field earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donald, John

2002-01-01

The major hazard posed by earthquakes is often thought to be due to moderate to large magnitude events. However, there have been many cases where earthquakes of moderate and even small magnitude have caused very significant destruction when they have coincided with population centres. Even though the area of intense ground shaking caused by such events is generally small, the epicentral motions can be severe enough to cause damage even in well-engineered structures. Two issues are addressed here, the first being the identification of the minimum earthquake magnitude likely to cause damage to engineered structures and the limits of the near-field for small-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes. The second issue addressed is whether features of near-field ground motions such as directivity, which can significantly enhance the destructive potential, occur in small-to-moderate magnitude events. The accelerograms from the 1986 San Salvador (El Salvador) earthquake indicate that it may be non conservative to assume that near-field directivity effects only need to be considered for earthquakes of moment magnitude M 6.5 and greater. (author)

Book review: Earthquakes and water

Science.gov (United States)

Bekins, Barbara A.

2012-01-01

It is really nice to see assembled in one place a discussion of the documented and hypothesized hydrologic effects of earthquakes. The book is divided into chapters focusing on particular hydrologic phenomena including liquefaction, mud volcanism, stream discharge increases, groundwater level, temperature and chemical changes, and geyser period changes. These hydrologic effects are inherently fascinating, and the large number of relevant publications in the past decade makes this summary a useful milepost. The book also covers hydrologic precursors and earthquake triggering by pore pressure. A natural need to limit the topics covered resulted in the omission of tsunamis and the vast literature on the role of fluids and pore pressure in frictional strength of faults. Regardless of whether research on earthquake-triggered hydrologic effects ultimately provides insight into the physics of earthquakes, the text provides welcome common ground for interdisciplinary collaborations between hydrologists and seismologists. Such collaborations continue to be crucial for investigating hypotheses about the role of fluids in earthquakes and slow slip. 

Evaluation of Earthquake-Induced Effects on Neighbouring Faults and Volcanoes: Application to the 2016 Pedernales Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Bejar, M.; Alvarez Gomez, J. A.; Staller, A.; Luna, M. P.; Perez Lopez, R.; Monserrat, O.; Chunga, K.; Herrera, G.; Jordá, L.; Lima, A.; Martínez-Díaz, J. J.

2017-12-01

It has long been recognized that earthquakes change the stress in the upper crust around the fault rupture and can influence the short-term behaviour of neighbouring faults and volcanoes. Rapid estimates of these stress changes can provide the authorities managing the post-disaster situation with a useful tool to identify and monitor potential threads and to update the estimates of seismic and volcanic hazard in a region. Space geodesy is now routinely used following an earthquake to image the displacement of the ground and estimate the rupture geometry and the distribution of slip. Using the obtained source model, it is possible to evaluate the remaining moment deficit and to infer the stress changes on nearby faults and volcanoes produced by the earthquake, which can be used to identify which faults and volcanoes are brought closer to failure or activation. Although these procedures are commonly used today, the transference of these results to the authorities managing the post-disaster situation is not straightforward and thus its usefulness is reduced in practice. Here we propose a methodology to evaluate the potential influence of an earthquake on nearby faults and volcanoes and create easy-to-understand maps for decision-making support after an earthquake. We apply this methodology to the Mw 7.8, 2016 Ecuador earthquake. Using Sentinel-1 SAR and continuous GPS data, we measure the coseismic ground deformation and estimate the distribution of slip. Then we use this model to evaluate the moment deficit on the subduction interface and changes of stress on the surrounding faults and volcanoes. The results are compared with the seismic and volcanic events that have occurred after the earthquake. We discuss potential and limits of the methodology and the lessons learnt from discussion with local authorities.

Long-period Ground Motion Simulation in the Osaka Basin during the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Iwata, T.; Kubo, H.; Asano, K.; Sato, K.; Aoi, S.

2014-12-01

Large amplitude long-period ground motions (1-10s) with long duration were observed in the Osaka sedimentary basin during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) and its aftershock (Ibaraki-Oki, Mw7.7), which is about 600 km away from the source regions. Sato et al. (2013) analyzed strong ground motion records from the source region to the Osaka basin and showed the following characteristics. (1) In the period range of 1 to 10s, the amplitude of horizontal components of the ground motion at the site-specific period is amplified in the Osaka basin sites. The predominant period is about 7s in the bay area where the largest pSv were observed. (2) The velocity Fourier amplitude spectra with their predominant period of around 7s are observed at the bedrock sites surrounding the Osaka basin. Those characteristics were observed during both of the mainshock and the largest aftershock. Therefore, large long-period ground motions in the Osaka basin are generated by the combination of propagation-path and basin effects. They simulated ground motions due to the largest aftershock as a simple point source model using three-dimensional FDM (GMS; Aoi and Fujiwara, 1999). They used a three-dimensional velocity structure based on the Japan Integrated Velocity Structure Model (JIVSM, Koketsu et al., 2012), with the minimum effective period of the computation of 3s. Their simulation result reproduced the observation characteristics well and it validates the applicability of the JIVSM for the long period ground motion simulation. In this study, we try to simulate long-period ground motions during the mainshock. The source model we used for the simulation is based on the SMGA model obtained by Asano and Iwata (2012). We succeed to simulate long-period ground motion propagation from Kanto area to the Osaka basin fairly well. The long-period ground motion simulations with the several Osaka basin velocity structure models are done for improving the model applicability. We used strong motion

Actions at Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station after the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orita, Shuichi

2009-01-01

'The Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007' occurred on July 16, 2007, and seismic motions beyond those of the design basis earthquake were recorded at Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power station located near the epicenter. After the earthquake, inspections and seismic response analyses have been being performed to grasp seismic induced impacts on structures, systems and components (SSCs). In addition, re-definition of design basis earthquake, upgrading, management against disasters have been also being conducted. (author)

Engineering characterization of ground motion. Task I. Effects of characteristics of free-field motion on structural response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kennedy, R.P.; Short, S.A.; Merz, K.L.; Tokarz, F.J.; Idriss, I.M.; Power, M.S.; Sadigh, K.

1984-05-01

This report presents the results of the first task of a two-task study on the engineering characterization of earthquake ground motion for nuclear power plant design. The overall objective of this study is to develop recommendations for methods for selecting design response spectra or acceleration time histories to be used to characterize motion at the foundation level of nuclear power plants. Task I of the study develops a basis for selecting design response spectra, taking into account the characteristics of free-field ground motion found to be significant in causing structural damage.

Engineering characterization of ground motion. Task I. Effects of characteristics of free-field motion on structural response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, R.P.; Short, S.A.; Merz, K.L.; Tokarz, F.J.; Idriss, I.M.; Power, M.S.; Sadigh, K.

1984-05-01

This report presents the results of the first task of a two-task study on the engineering characterization of earthquake ground motion for nuclear power plant design. The overall objective of this study is to develop recommendations for methods for selecting design response spectra or acceleration time histories to be used to characterize motion at the foundation level of nuclear power plants. Task I of the study develops a basis for selecting design response spectra, taking into account the characteristics of free-field ground motion found to be significant in causing structural damage

Characteristics of near-field earthquake ground motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, H. K.; Choi, I. G.; Jeon, Y. S.; Seo, J. M.

2002-01-01

The near-field ground motions exhibit special response characteristics that are different from those of ordinary ground motions in the velocity and displacement response. This study first examines the characteristics of near-field ground motion depending on fault directivity and fault normal and parallel component. And the response spectra of the near field ground motion are statistically processed, and are compared with the Regulatory Guide 1.60 spectrum that is present design spectrum of the nuclear power plant. The response spectrum of the near filed ground motions shows large spectral velocity and displacement in the low frequency range. The spectral accelerations of near field ground motion are greatly amplified in the high frequency range for the rock site motions, and in the low frequency range for the soil site motions. As a result, the near field ground motion effects should be considered in the seismic design and seismic safety evaluation of the nuclear power plant structures and equipment

Four Examples of Short-Term and Imminent Prediction of Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

zeng, zuoxun; Liu, Genshen; Wu, Dabin; Sibgatulin, Victor

2014-05-01

channel. In this way, the Minxian earthquake is successfully predicted. Short-Term and Medium-Term Prediction of Nantou Earthquake (Ms6.7) According to the analysis of the solar activity taking the sunspot number as the main factor, the two-time method of magnetic storm related to lunar phase, the analysis of the earthquake cloud and the intersection point of magnetic anomalies, We predicted that there would be an earthquake with magnitude of ML6.2 ± 0.4 occurring in Taiwan (24 ± 0.2, 121 ± 0.2E) before the mid-month of June, 2013. On May 27th, 2013, Jianwen Huang raised the alarm that the stresses were concentrating in Nantou county of Taiwan. On May 29th, he further raised the special alarm that intensive stresses were continuously concentrating. At 12:34 of June 2nd, 2013, a Ms6.7 (ML6.3) earthquake occurred in Nantou of Taiwan with the epicenter at (23.87N, 121.00E). Short-Term Prediction of Dujiangyan Earthquake (Ms4.1) At 17:16, June 3rd, 2013, on the basis of comprehensive analysis of the correspondence between cloud and ground observation by Dabing Wu, the strip degasification along the north part of the Longmenshan fracture zone and the satellite gravity anomalies of the area, Zuoxun Zeng made a prediction that the epicenter would be in (31N, 104E), the magnitude would be in Ms5.5 ± 0.5, the occurring time would be in 2 months. At 7:39, July 8th, 2013, an earthquake occurred at the border between Dujiangyan city and Wenchuan county (31.3N, 03.6E) with magnitude of Ms4.1. We name it Dujiangyan earthquake in the article.

Have recent earthquakes exposed flaws in or misunderstandings of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis?

Science.gov (United States)

Hanks, Thomas C.; Beroza, Gregory C.; Toda, Shinji

2012-01-01

In a recent Opinion piece in these pages, Stein et al. (2011) offer a remarkable indictment of the methods, models, and results of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). The principal object of their concern is the PSHA map for Japan released by the Japan Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion (HERP), which is reproduced by Stein et al. (2011) as their Figure 1 and also here as our Figure 1. It shows the probability of exceedance (also referred to as the “hazard”) of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) intensity 6–lower (JMA 6–) in Japan for the 30-year period beginning in January 2010. JMA 6– is an earthquake-damage intensity measure that is associated with fairly strong ground motion that can be damaging to well-built structures and is potentially destructive to poor construction (HERP, 2005, appendix 5). Reiterating Geller (2011, p. 408), Stein et al. (2011, p. 623) have this to say about Figure 1: The regions assessed as most dangerous are the zones of three hypothetical “scenario earthquakes” (Tokai, Tonankai, and Nankai; see map). However, since 1979, earthquakes that caused 10 or more fatalities in Japan actually occurred in places assigned a relatively low probability. This discrepancy—the latest in a string of negative results for the characteristic model and its cousin the seismic-gap model—strongly suggest that the hazard map and the methods used to produce it are flawed and should be discarded. Given the central role that PSHA now plays in seismic risk analysis, performance-based engineering, and design-basis ground motions, discarding PSHA would have important consequences. We are not persuaded by the arguments of Geller (2011) and Stein et al. (2011) for doing so because important misunderstandings about PSHA seem to have conditioned them. In the quotation above, for example, they have confused important differences between earthquake-occurrence observations and ground-motion hazard calculations.

An Atlas of ShakeMaps and population exposure catalog for earthquake loss modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, T.I.; Wald, D.J.; Earle, P.S.; Marano, K.D.; Hotovec, A.J.; Lin, K.; Hearne, M.G.

2009-01-01

We present an Atlas of ShakeMaps and a catalog of human population exposures to moderate-to-strong ground shaking (EXPO-CAT) for recent historical earthquakes (1973-2007). The common purpose of the Atlas and exposure catalog is to calibrate earthquake loss models to be used in the US Geological Survey's Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER). The full ShakeMap Atlas currently comprises over 5,600 earthquakes from January 1973 through December 2007, with almost 500 of these maps constrained-to varying degrees-by instrumental ground motions, macroseismic intensity data, community internet intensity observations, and published earthquake rupture models. The catalog of human exposures is derived using current PAGER methodologies. Exposure to discrete levels of shaking intensity is obtained by correlating Atlas ShakeMaps with a global population database. Combining this population exposure dataset with historical earthquake loss data, such as PAGER-CAT, provides a useful resource for calibrating loss methodologies against a systematically-derived set of ShakeMap hazard outputs. We illustrate two example uses for EXPO-CAT; (1) simple objective ranking of country vulnerability to earthquakes, and; (2) the influence of time-of-day on earthquake mortality. In general, we observe that countries in similar geographic regions with similar construction practices tend to cluster spatially in terms of relative vulnerability. We also find little quantitative evidence to suggest that time-of-day is a significant factor in earthquake mortality. Moreover, earthquake mortality appears to be more systematically linked to the population exposed to severe ground shaking (Modified Mercalli Intensity VIII+). Finally, equipped with the full Atlas of ShakeMaps, we merge each of these maps and find the maximum estimated peak ground acceleration at any grid point in the world for the past 35 years. We subsequently compare this "composite ShakeMap" with existing global

Earthquake lights and rupture processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Losseva

2005-01-01

Full Text Available A physical model of earthquake lights is proposed. It is suggested that the magnetic diffusion from the electric and magnetic fields source region is a dominant process, explaining rather high localization of the light flashes. A 3D numerical code allowing to take into account the arbitrary distribution of currents caused by ground motion, conductivity in the ground and at its surface, including the existence of sea water above the epicenter or (and near the ruptured segments of the fault have been developed. Simulations for the 1995 Kobe earthquake were conducted taking into account the existence of sea water with realistic geometry of shores. The results do not contradict the eyewitness reports and scarce measurements of the electric and magnetic fields at large distances from the epicenter.

The investigation of the impacts of major disasters, on the basis of the Van earthquake (October 23, 2011, Turkey), on the profile of the injuries due to occupational accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Hekimoglu, Yavuz; Dursun, Recep; Karadas, Sevdegul; Asirdizer, Mahmut

2015-10-01

The purpose of this study is to identify the impacts of major disasters, on the basis of the Van earthquake (October 23, 2011, Turkey), on the profile of the injuries due to occupational accidents. In this study, we evaluated 245 patients of occupational accidents who were admitted to emergency services of Van city hospitals in the 1-year periods including pre-earthquake and post-earthquake. We determined that there was a 63.4% (P accidents in the post-earthquake period compared to the pre-earthquake period. Also, injuries due to occupational accidents increased 211% (P accidents. In this study, the impact of disasters such as earthquakes on the accidents at work was evaluated as we have not seen in literature. This study emphasizes that governments should make regulations and process relating to the post-disaster business before the emergence of disaster by taking into account factors that may increase their work-related accidents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Analysis of recorded earthquake response data at the Hualien large-scale seismic test site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyun, C.H.; Tang, H.T.; Dermitzakis, S.; Esfandiari, S.

1997-01-01

A soil-structure interaction (SSI) experiment is being conducted in a seismically active region in Hualien, Taiwan. To obtain earthquake data for quantifying SSI effects and providing a basis to benchmark analysis methods, a 1/4-th scale cylindrical concrete containment model similar in shape to that of a nuclear power plant containment was constructed in the field where both the containment model and its surrounding soil, surface and sub-surface, are extensively instrumented to record earthquake data. In between September 1993 and May 1995, eight earthquakes with Richter magnitudes ranging from 4.2 to 6.2 were recorded. The author focuses on studying and analyzing the recorded data to provide information on the response characteristics of the Hualien soil-structure system, the SSI effects and the ground motion characteristics. An effort was also made to directly determine the site soil physical properties based on correlation analysis of the recorded data. No modeling simulations were attempted to try to analytically predict the SSI response of the soil and the structure. These will be the scope of a subsequent study

Reliable selection of earthquake ground motions for performance-based design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Katsanos, Evangelos; Sextos, A.G.

2016-01-01

A decision support process is presented to accommodate selecting and scaling of earthquake motions as required for the time domain analysis of structures. Prequalified code-compatible suites of seismic motions are provided through a multi-criterion approach to satisfy prescribed reduced variability...... of the method, by being subjected to numerous suites of motions that were highly ranked according to both the proposed approach (δsv-sc) and the conventional index (δconv), already used by most existing code-based earthquake records selection and scaling procedures. The findings reveal the superiority...

Engineering uses of physics-based ground motion simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Jack W.; Luco, Nicolas; Abrahamson, Norman A.; Graves, Robert W.; Maechling, Phillip J.; Olsen, Kim B.

2014-01-01

This paper summarizes validation methodologies focused on enabling ground motion simulations to be used with confidence in engineering applications such as seismic hazard analysis and dynmaic analysis of structural and geotechnical systems. Numberical simullation of ground motion from large erthquakes, utilizing physics-based models of earthquake rupture and wave propagation, is an area of active research in the earth science community. Refinement and validatoin of these models require collaboration between earthquake scientists and engineering users, and testing/rating methodolgies for simulated ground motions to be used with confidence in engineering applications. This paper provides an introduction to this field and an overview of current research activities being coordinated by the Souther California Earthquake Center (SCEC). These activities are related both to advancing the science and computational infrastructure needed to produce ground motion simulations, as well as to engineering validation procedures. Current research areas and anticipated future achievements are also discussed.

Quantitative estimation of time-variable earthquake hazard by using fuzzy set theory

Science.gov (United States)

Deyi, Feng; Ichikawa, M.

1989-11-01

In this paper, the various methods of fuzzy set theory, called fuzzy mathematics, have been applied to the quantitative estimation of the time-variable earthquake hazard. The results obtained consist of the following. (1) Quantitative estimation of the earthquake hazard on the basis of seismicity data. By using some methods of fuzzy mathematics, seismicity patterns before large earthquakes can be studied more clearly and more quantitatively, highly active periods in a given region and quiet periods of seismic activity before large earthquakes can be recognized, similarities in temporal variation of seismic activity and seismic gaps can be examined and, on the other hand, the time-variable earthquake hazard can be assessed directly on the basis of a series of statistical indices of seismicity. Two methods of fuzzy clustering analysis, the method of fuzzy similarity, and the direct method of fuzzy pattern recognition, have been studied is particular. One method of fuzzy clustering analysis is based on fuzzy netting, and another is based on the fuzzy equivalent relation. (2) Quantitative estimation of the earthquake hazard on the basis of observational data for different precursors. The direct method of fuzzy pattern recognition has been applied to research on earthquake precursors of different kinds. On the basis of the temporal and spatial characteristics of recognized precursors, earthquake hazards in different terms can be estimated. This paper mainly deals with medium-short-term precursors observed in Japan and China.

Investigating Earthquake-induced Landslides­a Historical Review

Science.gov (United States)

Keefer, D. K.; Geological Survey, Us; Park, Menlo; Usa, Ca

Although earthquake-induced landslides have been described in documents for more than 3700 years, accounts from earthquakes before the late eighteenth century are incomplete concerning landslide numbers and vague concerning landslide character- istics. They are thus typically misleading concerning the true abundance of landslides and range of landslide characteristics. Beginning with studies of the 1783 Calabria, Italy earthquake, more complete and precise data concerning the occurrence of land- slides in earthquakes have become available. The historical development of knowl- edge concerning landslides triggered by earthquakes can be divided into several peri- ods. The first period, from 1783 until the first application of aerial photography, was characterized by ground-based studies of earthquake effects, typically carried out by formal scientific commissions. These formal studies typically identified a large, but not necessarily comprehensive, sampling of localities where landslides had occurred. In some, but not all cases, landslide characteristics were also described in enough de- tail that the general range of landslide characteristics could begin to be determined. More recently, some nineteenth to mid-twentieth century earthquakes have been stud- ied using retrospective analyses, in which the landslide occurrences associated with the event are inferred years to decades later, using contemporary accounts, mapping from aerial photographs, statistical studies, and (or) geotechnical analyses. The first use of aerial photographs to map earthquake effects immediately after the event prob- ably occurred in 1948. Since that time, the use of aerial photography has greatly facil- itated the compilation of post-earthquake landslide inventories, although because of the limitations of aerial photography, ground-based field studies continue to be cru- cial in preparing accurate and comprehensive landslide maps. Beginning with a small California earthquake in 1957

Engineering Seismic Base Layer for Defining Design Earthquake Motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Nozomu

2008-01-01

Engineer's common sense that incident wave is common in a widespread area at the engineering seismic base layer is shown not to be correct. An exhibiting example is first shown, which indicates that earthquake motion at the ground surface evaluated by the analysis considering the ground from a seismic bedrock to a ground surface simultaneously (continuous analysis) is different from the one by the analysis in which the ground is separated at the engineering seismic base layer and analyzed separately (separate analysis). The reason is investigated by several approaches. Investigation based on eigen value problem indicates that the first predominant period in the continuous analysis cannot be found in the separate analysis, and predominant period at higher order does not match in the upper and lower ground in the separate analysis. The earthquake response analysis indicates that reflected wave at the engineering seismic base layer is not zero, which indicates that conventional engineering seismic base layer does not work as expected by the term ''base''. All these results indicate that wave that goes down to the deep depths after reflecting in the surface layer and again reflects at the seismic bedrock cannot be neglected in evaluating the response at the ground surface. In other words, interaction between the surface layer and/or layers between seismic bedrock and engineering seismic base layer cannot be neglected in evaluating the earthquake motion at the ground surface

Performance of HEPA filters at LLNL following the 1980 and 1989 earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergman, W.; Elliott, J.; Wilson, K.

1995-01-01

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has experienced two significant earthquakes for which data is available to assess the ability of HEPA filters to withstand seismic conditions. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 10 miles from LLNL struck on January 24, l980. Estimates of the peak ground accelerations ranged from 0.2 to 0.3 g. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter about 50 miles from LLNL struck on October 17, 1989. Measurements of the ground accelerations at LLNL averaged 0.1 g. The results from the in-place filter tests obtained after each of the earthquakes were compiled and studied to determine if the earthquakes had caused filter leakage. Our study showed that only the 1980 earthquake resulted in a small increase in the number of HEPA filters developing leaks. In the 12 months following the 1980 and 1989 earthquakes, the in-place filter tests showed 8.0% and 4.1% of all filters respectively developed leaks. The average percentage of filters developing leaks from 1980 to 1993 was 3.3%+/-1.7%. The increase in the filter leaks is significant for the 1980 earthquake, but not for the 1989 earthquake. No contamination was detected following the earthquakes that would suggest transient releases from the filtration system

Performance of HEPA filters at LLNL following the 1980 and 1989 earthquakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergman, W.; Elliott, J.; Wilson, K. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA (United States)

1995-02-01

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has experienced two significant earthquakes for which data is available to assess the ability of HEPA filters to withstand seismic conditions. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 10 miles from LLNL struck on January 24, l980. Estimates of the peak ground accelerations ranged from 0.2 to 0.3 g. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter about 50 miles from LLNL struck on October 17, 1989. Measurements of the ground accelerations at LLNL averaged 0.1 g. The results from the in-place filter tests obtained after each of the earthquakes were compiled and studied to determine if the earthquakes had caused filter leakage. Our study showed that only the 1980 earthquake resulted in a small increase in the number of HEPA filters developing leaks. In the 12 months following the 1980 and 1989 earthquakes, the in-place filter tests showed 8.0% and 4.1% of all filters respectively developed leaks. The average percentage of filters developing leaks from 1980 to 1993 was 3.3%+/-1.7%. The increase in the filter leaks is significant for the 1980 earthquake, but not for the 1989 earthquake. No contamination was detected following the earthquakes that would suggest transient releases from the filtration system.

Development of an Earthquake Early Warning System Using Real-Time Strong Motion Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yih-Min; Kanamori, Hiroo

2008-01-09

As urbanization progresses worldwide, earthquakes pose serious threat to livesand properties for urban areas near major active faults on land or subduction zonesoffshore. Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) can be a useful tool for reducing earthquakehazards, if the spatial relation between cities and earthquake sources is favorable for suchwarning and their citizens are properly trained to respond to earthquake warning messages.An EEW system forewarns an urban area of forthcoming strong shaking, normally with afew sec to a few tens of sec of warning time, i.e., before the arrival of the destructive Swavepart of the strong ground motion. Even a few second of advanced warning time willbe useful for pre-programmed emergency measures for various critical facilities, such asrapid-transit vehicles and high-speed trains to avoid potential derailment; it will be alsouseful for orderly shutoff of gas pipelines to minimize fire hazards, controlled shutdown ofhigh-technological manufacturing operations to reduce potential losses, and safe-guardingof computer facilities to avoid loss of vital databases. We explored a practical approach toEEW with the use of a ground-motion period parameter τc and a high-pass filtered verticaldisplacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 sec of the P waveforms. At a givensite, an earthquake magnitude could be determined from τ c and the peak ground-motionvelocity (PGV) could be estimated from Pd. In this method, incoming strong motion acceleration signals are recursively converted to ground velocity and displacement. A Pwavetrigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs, τ c and Pd are computed. Theearthquake magnitude and the on-site ground-motion intensity could be estimated and thewarning could be issued. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10sec of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last fortens of seconds.

Earthquake magnitude estimation using the τ c and P d method for earthquake early warning systems

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Xing; Zhang, Hongcai; Li, Jun; Wei, Yongxiang; Ma, Qiang

2013-10-01

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are one of the most effective ways to reduce earthquake disaster. Earthquake magnitude estimation is one of the most important and also the most difficult parts of the entire EEW system. In this paper, based on 142 earthquake events and 253 seismic records that were recorded by the KiK-net in Japan, and aftershocks of the large Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, we obtained earthquake magnitude estimation relationships using the τ c and P d methods. The standard variances of magnitude calculation of these two formulas are ±0.65 and ±0.56, respectively. The P d value can also be used to estimate the peak ground motion of velocity, then warning information can be released to the public rapidly, according to the estimation results. In order to insure the stability and reliability of magnitude estimation results, we propose a compatibility test according to the natures of these two parameters. The reliability of the early warning information is significantly improved though this test.

Nonlinear acoustic/seismic waves in earthquake processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, Paul A.

2012-01-01

Nonlinear dynamics induced by seismic sources and seismic waves are common in Earth. Observations range from seismic strong ground motion (the most damaging aspect of earthquakes), intense near-source effects, and distant nonlinear effects from the source that have important consequences. The distant effects include dynamic earthquake triggering—one of the most fascinating topics in seismology today—which may be elastically nonlinearly driven. Dynamic earthquake triggering is the phenomenon whereby seismic waves generated from one earthquake trigger slip events on a nearby or distant fault. Dynamic triggering may take place at distances thousands of kilometers from the triggering earthquake, and includes triggering of the entire spectrum of slip behaviors currently identified. These include triggered earthquakes and triggered slow, silent-slip during which little seismic energy is radiated. It appears that the elasticity of the fault gouge—the granular material located between the fault blocks—is key to the triggering phenomenon.

Earthquake hazard assessment and small earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reiter, L.

1987-01-01

The significance of small earthquakes and their treatment in nuclear power plant seismic hazard assessment is an issue which has received increased attention over the past few years. In probabilistic studies, sensitivity studies showed that the choice of the lower bound magnitude used in hazard calculations can have a larger than expected effect on the calculated hazard. Of particular interest is the fact that some of the difference in seismic hazard calculations between the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) studies can be attributed to this choice. The LLNL study assumed a lower bound magnitude of 3.75 while the EPRI study assumed a lower bound magnitude of 5.0. The magnitudes used were assumed to be body wave magnitudes or their equivalents. In deterministic studies recent ground motion recordings of small to moderate earthquakes at or near nuclear power plants have shown that the high frequencies of design response spectra may be exceeded. These exceedances became important issues in the licensing of the Summer and Perry nuclear power plants. At various times in the past particular concerns have been raised with respect to the hazard and damage potential of small to moderate earthquakes occurring at very shallow depths. In this paper a closer look is taken at these issues. Emphasis is given to the impact of lower bound magnitude on probabilistic hazard calculations and the historical record of damage from small to moderate earthquakes. Limited recommendations are made as to how these issues should be viewed

Comparison of Nonlinear Model Results Using Modified Recorded and Synthetic Ground Motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spears, Robert E.; Wilkins, J. Kevin

2011-01-01

A study has been performed that compares results of nonlinear model runs using two sets of earthquake ground motion time histories that have been modified to fit the same design response spectra. The time histories include applicable modified recorded earthquake ground motion time histories and synthetic ground motion time histories. The modified recorded earthquake ground motion time histories are modified from time history records that are selected based on consistent magnitude and distance. The synthetic ground motion time histories are generated using appropriate Fourier amplitude spectrums, Arias intensity, and drift correction. All of the time history modification is performed using the same algorithm to fit the design response spectra. The study provides data to demonstrate that properly managed synthetic ground motion time histories are reasonable for use in nonlinear seismic analysis.

Preliminary map of peak horizontal ground acceleration for the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of January 17, 1995, Japan - Description of Mapped Data Sets

Science.gov (United States)

Borcherdt, R.D.; Mark, R.K.

1995-01-01

The Hanshin-Awaji earthquake (also known as the Hyogo-ken Nanbu and the Great Hanshin earthquake) provided an unprecedented set of measurements of strong ground shaking. The measurements constitute the most comprehensive set of strong- motion recordings yet obtained for sites underlain by soft soil deposits of Holocene age within a few kilometers of the crustal rupture zone. The recordings, obtained on or near many important structures, provide an important new empirical data set for evaluating input ground motion levels and site amplification factors for codes and site-specific design procedures world wide. This report describes the data used to prepare a preliminary map summarizing the strong motion data in relation to seismicity and underlying geology (Wentworth, Borcherdt, and Mark., 1995; Figure 1, hereafter referred to as Figure 1/I). The map shows station locations, peak acceleration values, and generalized acceleration contours superimposed on pertinent seismicity and the geologic map of Japan. The map (Figure 1/I) indicates a zone of high acceleration with ground motions throughout the zone greater than 400 gal and locally greater than 800 gal. This zone encompasses the area of most intense damage mapped as JMA intensity level 7, which extends through Kobe City. The zone of most intense damage is parallel, but displaced slightly from the surface projection of the crustal rupture zone implied by aftershock locations. The zone is underlain by soft-soil deposits of Holocene age.

Historical earthquake research in Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Hammerl, Christa

2017-12-01

Austria has a moderate seismicity, and on average the population feels 40 earthquakes per year or approximately three earthquakes per month. A severe earthquake with light building damage is expected roughly every 2 to 3 years in Austria. Severe damage to buildings ( I 0 > 8° EMS) occurs significantly less frequently, the average period of recurrence is about 75 years. For this reason the historical earthquake research has been of special importance in Austria. The interest in historical earthquakes in the past in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is outlined, beginning with an initiative of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the development of historical earthquake research as an independent research field after the 1978 "Zwentendorf plebiscite" on whether the nuclear power plant will start up. The applied methods are introduced briefly along with the most important studies and last but not least as an example of a recently carried out case study, one of the strongest past earthquakes in Austria, the earthquake of 17 July 1670, is presented. The research into historical earthquakes in Austria concentrates on seismic events of the pre-instrumental period. The investigations are not only of historical interest, but also contribute to the completeness and correctness of the Austrian earthquake catalogue, which is the basis for seismic hazard analysis and as such benefits the public, communities, civil engineers, architects, civil protection, and many others.

The SCEC Broadband Platform: Open-Source Software for Strong Ground Motion Simulation and Validation

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, F.; Goulet, C. A.; Maechling, P. J.; Callaghan, S.; Jordan, T. H.

2016-12-01

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Broadband Platform (BBP) is a carefully integrated collection of open-source scientific software programs that can simulate broadband (0-100 Hz) ground motions for earthquakes at regional scales. The BBP can run earthquake rupture and wave propagation modeling software to simulate ground motions for well-observed historical earthquakes and to quantify how well the simulated broadband seismograms match the observed seismograms. The BBP can also run simulations for hypothetical earthquakes. In this case, users input an earthquake location and magnitude description, a list of station locations, and a 1D velocity model for the region of interest, and the BBP software then calculates ground motions for the specified stations. The BBP scientific software modules implement kinematic rupture generation, low- and high-frequency seismogram synthesis using wave propagation through 1D layered velocity structures, several ground motion intensity measure calculations, and various ground motion goodness-of-fit tools. These modules are integrated into a software system that provides user-defined, repeatable, calculation of ground-motion seismograms, using multiple alternative ground motion simulation methods, and software utilities to generate tables, plots, and maps. The BBP has been developed over the last five years in a collaborative project involving geoscientists, earthquake engineers, graduate students, and SCEC scientific software developers. The SCEC BBP software released in 2016 can be compiled and run on recent Linux and Mac OS X systems with GNU compilers. It includes five simulation methods, seven simulation regions covering California, Japan, and Eastern North America, and the ability to compare simulation results against empirical ground motion models (aka GMPEs). The latest version includes updated ground motion simulation methods, a suite of new validation metrics and a simplified command line user interface.

Strong ground motion in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during the M7.0 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Hough, Susan E; Given, Doug; Taniguchi, Tomoyo; Altidor, J.R.; Anglade, Dieuseul; Mildor, S-L.

2011-01-01

No strong motion records are available for the 12 January 2010 M7.0 Haiti earthquake. We use aftershock recordings as well as detailed considerations of damage to estimate the severity and distribution of mainshock shaking in Port-au-Prince. Relative to ground motions at a hard - rock reference site, peak accelerations are amplified by a factor of approximately 2 at sites on low-lying deposits in central Port-au-Prince and by a factor of 2.5 - 3.5 on a steep foothill ridge in the southern Port-au-Prince metropolitan region. The observed amplification along the ridge cannot be explained by sediment - induced amplification , but is consistent with predicted topographic amplification by a steep, narrow ridge. Although damage was largely a consequence of poor construction , the damage pattern inferred from analysis of remote sensing imagery provides evidence for a correspondence between small-scale (0.1 - 1.0 km) topographic relief and high damage. Mainshock shaking intensity can be estimated crudely from a consideration of macroseismic effects . We further present detailed, quantitative analysis of the marks left on a tile floor by an industrial battery rack displaced during the mainshock, at the location where we observed the highest weak motion amplifications. Results of this analysis indicate that mainshock shaking was significantly higher at this location (~0.5 g , MMI VIII) relative to the shaking in parts of Port-au-Prince that experienced light damage. Our results further illustrate how observations of rigid body horizontal displacement during earthquakes can be used to estimate peak ground accelerations in the absence of instrumental data .

Long-period ground motions at near-regional distances caused by the PL wave from, inland earthquakes: Observation and numerical simulation of the 2004 Mid-Niigata, Japan, Mw6.6 earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Furumura, T.; Kennett, B. L. N.

2017-12-01

We examine the development of large, long-period ground motions at near-regional distances (D=50-200 km) generated by the PL wave from large, shallow inland earthquakes, based on the analysis of strong motion records and finite-difference method (FDM) simulations of seismic wave propagation. PL wave can be represented as leaking modes of the crustal waveguide and are commonly observed at regional distances between 300 to 1000 km as a dispersed, long-period signal with a dominant period of about 20 s. However, observations of recent earthquakes at the dense K-NET and KiK-net strong motion networks in Japan demonstrate the dominance of the PL wave at near-regional (D=50-200 km) distances as, e.g., for the 2004 Mid Niigata, Japan, earthquake (Mw6.6; h=13 km). The observed PL wave signal between P and S wave shows a large, dispersed wave packet with dominant period of about T=4-10 s with amplitude almost comparable to or larger than the later arrival of the S and surface waves. Thus, the early arrivals of the long-period PL wave immediately after P wave can enhance resonance with large-scale constructions such as high-rise buildings and large oil-storage tanks etc. with potential for disaster. Such strong effects often occurred during the 2004 Mid Niigata earthquakes and other large earthquakes which occurred nearby the Kanto (Tokyo) basin. FDM simulation of seismic wave propagation employing realistic 3-D sedimentary structure models demonstrates the process by which the PL wave develops at near-regional distances from shallow, crustal earthquakes by constructive interference of the P wave in the long-period band. The amplitude of the PL wave is very sensitive to low-velocity structure in the near-surface. Lowered velocities help to develop large SV-to-P conversion and weaken the P-to-SV conversion at the free surface. Both effects enhance the multiple P reflections in the crustal waveguide and prevent the leakage of seismic energy into the mantle. However, a very

Limiting the effects of earthquakes on gravitational-wave interferometers

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlin, Michael; Earle, Paul; Harms, Jan; Biscans, Sebastien; Buchanan, Christopher; Coughlin, Eric; Donovan, Fred; Fee, Jeremy; Gabbard, Hunter; Guy, Michelle; Mukund, Nikhil; Perry, Matthew

2017-01-01

Ground-based gravitational wave interferometers such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) are susceptible to ground shaking from high-magnitude teleseismic events, which can interrupt their operation in science mode and significantly reduce their duty cycle. It can take several hours for a detector to stabilize enough to return to its nominal state for scientific observations. The down time can be reduced if advance warning of impending shaking is received and the impact is suppressed in the isolation system with the goal of maintaining stable operation even at the expense of increased instrumental noise. Here, we describe an early warning system for modern gravitational-wave observatories. The system relies on near real-time earthquake alerts provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Preliminary low latency hypocenter and magnitude information is generally available in 5 to 20 min of a significant earthquake depending on its magnitude and location. The alerts are used to estimate arrival times and ground velocities at the gravitational-wave detectors. In general, 90% of the predictions for ground-motion amplitude are within a factor of 5 of measured values. The error in both arrival time and ground-motion prediction introduced by using preliminary, rather than final, hypocenter and magnitude information is minimal. By using a machine learning algorithm, we develop a prediction model that calculates the probability that a given earthquake will prevent a detector from taking data. Our initial results indicate that by using detector control configuration changes, we could prevent interruption of operation from 40 to 100 earthquake events in a 6-month time-period.

Limiting the effects of earthquakes on gravitational-wave interferometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coughlin, Michael; Earle, Paul; Harms, Jan; Biscans, Sebastien; Donovan, Fred; Buchanan, Christopher; Coughlin, Eric; Fee, Jeremy; Guy, Michelle; Gabbard, Hunter; Mukund, Nikhil; Perry, Matthew

2017-01-01

Ground-based gravitational wave interferometers such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) are susceptible to ground shaking from high-magnitude teleseismic events, which can interrupt their operation in science mode and significantly reduce their duty cycle. It can take several hours for a detector to stabilize enough to return to its nominal state for scientific observations. The down time can be reduced if advance warning of impending shaking is received and the impact is suppressed in the isolation system with the goal of maintaining stable operation even at the expense of increased instrumental noise. Here, we describe an early warning system for modern gravitational-wave observatories. The system relies on near real-time earthquake alerts provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Preliminary low latency hypocenter and magnitude information is generally available in 5 to 20 min of a significant earthquake depending on its magnitude and location. The alerts are used to estimate arrival times and ground velocities at the gravitational-wave detectors. In general, 90% of the predictions for ground-motion amplitude are within a factor of 5 of measured values. The error in both arrival time and ground-motion prediction introduced by using preliminary, rather than final, hypocenter and magnitude information is minimal. By using a machine learning algorithm, we develop a prediction model that calculates the probability that a given earthquake will prevent a detector from taking data. Our initial results indicate that by using detector control configuration changes, we could prevent interruption of operation from 40 to 100 earthquake events in a 6-month time-period. (paper)

Urban MEMS based seismic network for post-earthquakes rapid disaster assessment

Science.gov (United States)

D'Alessandro, Antonino; Luzio, Dario; D'Anna, Giuseppe

2014-05-01

Life losses following disastrous earthquake depends mainly by the building vulnerability, intensity of shaking and timeliness of rescue operations. In recent decades, the increase in population and industrial density has significantly increased the exposure to earthquakes of urban areas. The potential impact of a strong earthquake on a town center can be reduced by timely and correct actions of the emergency management centers. A real time urban seismic network can drastically reduce casualties immediately following a strong earthquake, by timely providing information about the distribution of the ground shaking level. Emergency management centers, with functions in the immediate post-earthquake period, could be use this information to allocate and prioritize resources to minimize loss of human life. However, due to the high charges of the seismological instrumentation, the realization of an urban seismic network, which may allow reducing the rate of fatalities, has not been achieved. Recent technological developments in MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology could allow today the realization of a high-density urban seismic network for post-earthquakes rapid disaster assessment, suitable for the earthquake effects mitigation. In the 1990s, MEMS accelerometers revolutionized the automotive-airbag system industry and are today widely used in laptops, games controllers and mobile phones. Due to their great commercial successes, the research into and development of MEMS accelerometers are actively pursued around the world. Nowadays, the sensitivity and dynamics of these sensors are such to allow accurate recording of earthquakes with moderate to strong magnitude. Due to their low cost and small size, the MEMS accelerometers may be employed for the realization of high-density seismic networks. The MEMS accelerometers could be installed inside sensitive places (high vulnerability and exposure), such as schools, hospitals, public buildings and places of

Statistical distributions of earthquakes and related non-linear features in seismic waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apostol, B.-F.

2006-01-01

A few basic facts in the science of the earthquakes are briefly reviewed. An accumulation, or growth, model is put forward for the focal mechanisms and the critical focal zone of the earthquakes, which relates the earthquake average recurrence time to the released seismic energy. The temporal statistical distribution for average recurrence time is introduced for earthquakes, and, on this basis, the Omori-type distribution in energy is derived, as well as the distribution in magnitude, by making use of the semi-empirical Gutenberg-Richter law relating seismic energy to earthquake magnitude. On geometric grounds, the accumulation model suggests the value r = 1/3 for the Omori parameter in the power-law of energy distribution, which leads to β = 1,17 for the coefficient in the Gutenberg-Richter recurrence law, in fair agreement with the statistical analysis of the empirical data. Making use of this value, the empirical Bath's law is discussed for the average magnitude of the aftershocks (which is 1.2 less than the magnitude of the main seismic shock), by assuming that the aftershocks are relaxation events of the seismic zone. The time distribution of the earthquakes with a fixed average recurrence time is also derived, the earthquake occurrence prediction is discussed by means of the average recurrence time and the seismicity rate, and application of this discussion to the seismic region Vrancea, Romania, is outlined. Finally, a special effect of non-linear behaviour of the seismic waves is discussed, by describing an exact solution derived recently for the elastic waves equation with cubic anharmonicities, its relevance, and its connection to the approximate quasi-plane waves picture. The properties of the seismic activity accompanying a main seismic shock, both like foreshocks and aftershocks, are relegated to forthcoming publications. (author)

Seismic Safety Margins Research Program, Phase I. Project II: seismic input. Compilation, assessment and expansion of the strong earthquake ground motion data base

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crouse, C B; Hileman, J A; Turner, B E; Martin, G R

1980-04-01

A catalog has been prepared which contains information for: (1) world-wide, ground-motion accelerograms, (2) the accelerograph sites where these records were obtained, and (3) the seismological parameters of the causative earthquakes. The catalog is limited to data for those accelerograms which have been digitized and published. In addition, the quality and completeness of these data are assessed. This catalog is unique because it is the only publication which contains comprehensive information on the recording conditions of all known digitized accelerograms. However, information for many accelerograms is missing. Although some literature may have been overlooked, most of the missing data has not been published. Nevertheless, the catalog provides a convenient reference and useful tool for earthquake engineering research and applications.

Nonlinear seismic behavior of a CANDU containment building subjected to near-field ground motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, In Kil; Ahn, Seong Moon; Choun, Young Sun; Seo, Jeong Moon

2004-01-01

The standard response spectrum proposed by US NRC has been used as a design earthquake for the design of Korean nuclear power plant structures. A survey on some of the Quaternary fault segments near Korean nuclear power plants is ongoing. It is likely that these faults will be identified as active ones. If the faults are confirmed as active ones, it will be necessary to reevaluate the seismic safety of the nuclear power plants located near the fault. Near-fault ground motions are the ground motions that occur near an earthquake fault. In general, the near-fault ground motion records exhibit a distinctive long period pulse like time history with very high peak velocities. These features are induced by the slip of the earthquake fault. Near-fault ground motions, which have caused much of the damage in recent major earthquakes, can be characterized by a pulse-like motion that exposes the structure to a high input energy at the beginning of the motion. In this study, nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses were performed to investigate the seismic behavior of a CANDU containment structure subjected to various earthquake ground motions including the near-field ground motions

How citizen seismology is transforming rapid public earthquake information and interactions between seismologists and society

Science.gov (United States)

Bossu, Rémy; Steed, Robert; Mazet-Roux, Gilles; Roussel, Fréderic; Caroline, Etivant

2015-04-01

Historical earthquakes are only known to us through written recollections and so seismologists have a long experience of interpreting the reports of eyewitnesses, explaining probably why seismology has been a pioneer in crowdsourcing and citizen science. Today, Internet has been transforming this situation; It can be considered as the digital nervous system comprising of digital veins and intertwined sensors that capture the pulse of our planet in near real-time. How can both seismology and public could benefit from this new monitoring system? This paper will present the strategy implemented at Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) to leverage this new nervous system to detect and diagnose the impact of earthquakes within minutes rather than hours and how it transformed information systems and interactions with the public. We will show how social network monitoring and flashcrowds (massive website traffic increases on EMSC website) are used to automatically detect felt earthquakes before seismic detections, how damaged areas can me mapped through concomitant loss of Internet sessions (visitors being disconnected) and the benefit of collecting felt reports and geolocated pictures to further constrain rapid impact assessment of global earthquakes. We will also describe how public expectations within tens of seconds of ground shaking are at the basis of improved diversified information tools which integrate this user generated contents. A special attention will be given to LastQuake, the most complex and sophisticated Twitter QuakeBot, smartphone application and browser add-on, which deals with the only earthquakes that matter for the public: the felt and damaging earthquakes. In conclusion we will demonstrate that eyewitnesses are today real time earthquake sensors and active actors of rapid earthquake information.

On the dependency of the decay of ground motion peak values with distance for small and large earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Dujardin, Alain; Courboulex, Françoise; Causse, Matthieu; Traversa, Paola; Monfret, Tony

2013-04-01

Ground motion decay with distance presents a clear magnitude dependence, PGA values of small events decreasing faster than those of larger events. This observation is now widely accepted and often taken into account in recent ground motion prediction equations (Anderson 2005, Akkar & Bommer 2010). The aim of this study is to investigate the origin of this dependence, which has not been clearly identified yet. Two main hypotheses are considered. On one hand the difference of ground motion decay is related to an attenuation effect, on the other hand the difference is related to an effect of extended fault (Anderson 2000). To study the role of attenuation, we realized synthetic tests using the stochastic simulation program SMSIM from Boore (2005). We build a set of simulations from several magnitudes and epicentral distances, and observe that the decay in PGA values is strongly dependent on the spectral shape of the Fourier spectra, which in turn strongly depends on the attenuation factor (Q(f) or kappa). We found that, for a point source approximation and an infinite value of Q (no attenuation) there is no difference between small and large events and that this difference increases when Q decreases. Theses results show that the influence of attenuation on spectral shape is different for earthquakes of different magnitude. In fact the influence of attenuation, which is more important at higher frequency, is larger for small earthquakes, whose Fourier acceleration spectrum has predominantly higher frequencies. We then study the effect of extended source using complete waveform simulations in a 1D model. We find that when the duration of the source time function increases, there is a larger probability to obtain large PGA values at equivalent distances. This effect could also play an important role in the PGA decay with magnitude and distance. Finally we compare these results with real datasets from the Japanese accelerometric network KIK-net.

Minimization of Basis Risk in Parametric Earthquake Cat Bonds

Science.gov (United States)

Franco, G.

2009-12-01

A catastrophe -cat- bond is an instrument used by insurance and reinsurance companies, by governments or by groups of nations to cede catastrophic risk to the financial markets, which are capable of supplying cover for highly destructive events, surpassing the typical capacity of traditional reinsurance contracts. Parametric cat bonds, a specific type of cat bonds, use trigger mechanisms or indices that depend on physical event parameters published by respected third parties in order to determine whether a part or the entire bond principal is to be paid for a certain event. First generation cat bonds, or cat-in-a-box bonds, display a trigger mechanism that consists of a set of geographic zones in which certain conditions need to be met by an earthquake’s magnitude and depth in order to trigger payment of the bond principal. Second generation cat bonds use an index formulation that typically consists of a sum of products of a set of weights by a polynomial function of the ground motion variables reported by a geographically distributed seismic network. These instruments are especially appealing to developing countries with incipient insurance industries wishing to cede catastrophic losses to the financial markets because the payment trigger mechanism is transparent and does not involve the parties ceding or accepting the risk, significantly reducing moral hazard. In order to be successful in the market, however, parametric cat bonds have typically been required to specify relatively simple trigger conditions. The consequence of such simplifications is the increase of basis risk. This risk represents the possibility that the trigger mechanism fails to accurately capture the actual losses of a catastrophic event, namely that it does not trigger for a highly destructive event or vice versa, that a payment of the bond principal is caused by an event that produced insignificant losses. The first case disfavors the sponsor who was seeking cover for its losses while the

Engineering geological aspect of Gorkha Earthquake 2015, Nepal

Science.gov (United States)

Adhikari, Basanta Raj; Andermann, Christoff; Cook, Kristen

2016-04-01

Strong shaking by earthquake causes massif landsliding with severe effects on infrastructure and human lives. The distribution of landslides and other hazards are depending on the combination of earthquake and local characteristics which influence the dynamic response of hillslopes. The Himalayas are one of the most active mountain belts with several kilometers of relief and is very prone to catastrophic mass failure. Strong and shallow earthquakes are very common and cause wide spread collapse of hillslopes, increasing the background landslide rate by several magnitude. The Himalaya is facing many small and large earthquakes in the past i.e. earthquakes i.e. Bihar-Nepal earthquake 1934 (Ms 8.2); Large Kangra earthquake of 1905 (Ms 7.8); Gorkha earthquake 2015 (Mw 7.8). The Mw 7.9 Gorkha earthquake has occurred on and around the main Himalayan Thrust with a hypocentral depth of 15 km (GEER 2015) followed by Mw 7.3 aftershock in Kodari causing 8700+ deaths and leaving hundreds of thousands of homeless. Most of the 3000 aftershocks located by National Seismological Center (NSC) within the first 45 days following the Gorkha Earthquake are concentrated in a narrow 40 km-wide band at midcrustal to shallow depth along the strike of the southern slope of the high Himalaya (Adhikari et al. 2015) and the ground shaking was substantially lower in the short-period range than would be expected for and earthquake of this magnitude (Moss et al. 2015). The effect of this earthquake is very unique in affected areas by showing topographic effect, liquefaction and land subsidence. More than 5000 landslides were triggered by this earthquake (Earthquake without Frontiers, 2015). Most of the landslides are shallow and occurred in weathered bedrock and appear to have mobilized primarily as raveling failures, rock slides and rock falls. Majority of landslides are limited to a zone which runs east-west, approximately parallel the lesser and higher Himalaya. There are numerous cracks in

Investigation of the relationship between ground and engineering ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In order to investigate possible ground motion amplification in earthquake resistant building design, relationship between the ground and engineering bedrock must be ensured. In order to provide this relation, structure, basic characteristics, and thickness of the ground are investigated. In this context, calculating ground ...

Preliminary Reconnaissance Report of the 2011 Tohoku-Chiho Taiheiyo-Oki Earthquake

CERN Document Server

Architectural Institute of Japan

2012-01-01

Devastating damage in the Tohoku region of Japan occurred during and after the massive earthquake off the Pacific coast, the Tohoku earthquake, on March 11, 2011. The Architectural Institute of Japan dispatched reconnaissance teams into the field to obtain basic facts on the damage to buildings due to the massive ground motions and resultant tsunami. Their mission included collecting information on the characteristics of the earthquake itself and the observed major ground motions and tsunamis throughout the area. For the investigation of structural damage, buildings are classified by their type of construction—steel buildings, reinforced concrete buildings, wooden houses, and others—along with descriptions of special features for each category of building type. This report summarizes damage associated with ground failures including landslides and liquefaction as well as nonstructural damages such as to equipment and facilities, partitioning walls and ceilings, and functional failures in skyscrapers. A bri...

Analysis of ground response data at Lotung large-scale soil- structure interaction experiment site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, C.Y.; Mok, C.M.; Power, M.S.

1991-12-01

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in cooperation with the Taiwan Power Company (TPC), constructed two models (1/4-scale and 1/2-scale) of a nuclear plant containment structure at a site in Lotung (Tang, 1987), a seismically active region in northeast Taiwan. The models were constructed to gather data for the evaluation and validation of soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis methodologies. Extensive instrumentation was deployed to record both structural and ground responses at the site during earthquakes. The experiment is generally referred to as the Lotung Large-Scale Seismic Test (LSST). As part of the LSST, two downhole arrays were installed at the site to record ground motions at depths as well as at the ground surface. Structural response and ground response have been recorded for a number of earthquakes (i.e. a total of 18 earthquakes in the period of October 1985 through November 1986) at the LSST site since the completion of the installation of the downhole instruments in October 1985. These data include those from earthquakes having magnitudes ranging from M L 4.5 to M L 7.0 and epicentral distances range from 4.7 km to 77.7 km. Peak ground surface accelerations range from 0.03 g to 0.21 g for the horizontal component and from 0.01 g to 0.20 g for the vertical component. The objectives of the study were: (1) to obtain empirical data on variations of earthquake ground motion with depth; (2) to examine field evidence of nonlinear soil response due to earthquake shaking and to determine the degree of soil nonlinearity; (3) to assess the ability of ground response analysis techniques including techniques to approximate nonlinear soil response to estimate ground motions due to earthquake shaking; and (4) to analyze earth pressures recorded beneath the basemat and on the side wall of the 1/4 scale model structure during selected earthquakes

Limitation of the Predominant-Period Estimator for Earthquake Early Warning and the Initial Rupture of Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Yamada, T.; Ide, S.

2007-12-01

Earthquake early warning is an important and challenging issue for the reduction of the seismic damage, especially for the mitigation of human suffering. One of the most important problems in earthquake early warning systems is how immediately we can estimate the final size of an earthquake after we observe the ground motion. It is relevant to the problem whether the initial rupture of an earthquake has some information associated with its final size. Nakamura (1988) developed the Urgent Earthquake Detection and Alarm System (UrEDAS). It calculates the predominant period of the P wave (τp) and estimates the magnitude of an earthquake immediately after the P wave arrival from the value of τpmax, or the maximum value of τp. The similar approach has been adapted by other earthquake alarm systems (e.g., Allen and Kanamori (2003)). To investigate the characteristic of the parameter τp and the effect of the length of the time window (TW) in the τpmax calculation, we analyze the high-frequency recordings of earthquakes at very close distances in the Mponeng mine in South Africa. We find that values of τpmax have upper and lower limits. For larger earthquakes whose source durations are longer than TW, the values of τpmax have an upper limit which depends on TW. On the other hand, the values for smaller earthquakes have a lower limit which is proportional to the sampling interval. For intermediate earthquakes, the values of τpmax are close to their typical source durations. These two limits and the slope for intermediate earthquakes yield an artificial final size dependence of τpmax in a wide size range. The parameter τpmax is useful for detecting large earthquakes and broadcasting earthquake early warnings. However, its dependence on the final size of earthquakes does not suggest that the earthquake rupture is deterministic. This is because τpmax does not always have a direct relation to the physical quantities of an earthquake.

A Statistical Study on VLF Subionospheric Perturbations Associated with Major Earthquakes: A View from Focal Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Kawano, T.; Tatsuta, K.; Hobara, Y.

2015-12-01

Continuous monitoring of signal amplitudes of worldwide VLF transmitters is a powerful tool to study the lower ionospheric condition. Although, lower ionospheric perturbations prior to some of the major earthquakes have been reported for years, their occurrence and coupling mechanism between the ground and overlaying ionosphere prior to the earthquakes are not clear yet. In this paper, we carried out a statistical analysis based on the nighttime averaged signal amplitude data from the UEC's VLF/LF transmitter observation network. Two hundred forty three earthquakes were occurred within the 5th Fresnel zone of transmitter-receiver paths around Japan during the time period of 2007 to 2012. These earthquakes were characterized into three different groups based on the Centroid-Moment-Tensor (CMT) solution such as reverse fault type, normal fault type and stress slip type. The ionospheric anomaly was identified by a large change in the VLF/LF amplitude during nighttime. As a result, we found the ionospheric perturbations associated with both ground and sea earthquakes. Remarkably, the reverse fault type earthquakes have the highest occurrence rate of ionospheric perturbation among the three types both for sea (41%) and ground events (61%). The occurrence rates for normal type fault are 35% and 56% for sea and ground earthquakes respectively and the same for stress slip type are 39% and 20% for sea and ground earthquakes respectively. In both cases the occurrence rates are smaller than the reverse fault type. The clear difference of occurrence rate of the ionospheric perturbations may indicate that the coupling efficiency of seismic activity into the overlaying ionosphere is controlled by the pressure in the earth's crust. This gives us further physical insight of Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere (LAI) coupling processes.

VLF radio wave anomalies associated with the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xuhui; Zhima, Zeren; Zhao, Shufan; Qian, Geng; Ye, Qing; Ruzhin, Yuri

2017-05-01

The VLF radio signals recorded both from the ground based VLF radio wave monitoring network and the DEMETER satellite are investigated during the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake. The ground-based observations show that the disturbance intensity of VLF wave's amplitude relative to the background gets an enhancement over 22% at 11.9 kHz, 27% at 12.6 kHz and 62% at 14.9 kHz VLF radio wave along the path from Novosibirsk - TH one day before the main shock, as compared to the maximum 20% observed during non-earthquake time. The space based observations indicate that there is a decrease of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for the power spectral density data of 14.9 kHz VLF radio signal at electric field four days before the main shock, with disturbance intensity exceeding the background by over 5% as compared to the maximum 3% observed during non-earthquake time. The geoelectric field observations in the epicenter region also show that a sharp enhancement from ∼340 to 430 mV/km simultaneously appeared at two monitors 14 days before main shock. The comparative analysis from the ground and space based observations during the earthquake and non-earthquake time provides us convincible evidence that there exits seismic anomalies from the VLF radio wave propagation before the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake. The possible mechanism for VLF radio signal propagation anomaly during 2010 Yushu earthquake maybe related to the change of the geoelectric field nearby the earthquake zone.

Quaternary ground siting technology of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishi, K.; Kokusho, T.; Iwatate, Y.; Ishida, K.; Honsho, S.; Okamoto, T.; Tohma, J.; Tanaka, Y.; Kanatani, M.

1992-01-01

A seismic stability evaluation method for a nuclear power plant to be located on Quaternary sandy/gravelly ground is discussed herein in terms of a geological and geotechnical survey, a design earthquake motion evaluation and geotechnical seismic stability analyses. The geological and geotechnical exploration tunnel in the rock foundation siting will be difficult in the Quaternary ground siting. Boring, geophysical surveys and soil sampling will play a major role in this case. A design earthquake input spectrum for this siting is proposed to take in account the significant effect of longer period motion on ground stability. Equivalent and non-linear analyses demonstrate the seismic stability of the foundation ground so long as the soil density is high. (author)

A Crowdsourcing-based Taiwan Scientific Earthquake Reporting System

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, W. T.; Lee, J. C.; Lee, C. F.

2017-12-01

To collect immediately field observations for any earthquake-induced ground damages, such as surface fault rupture, landslide, rock fall, liquefaction, and landslide-triggered dam or lake, etc., we are developing an earthquake damage reporting system which particularly relies on school teachers as volunteers after taking a series of training courses organized by this project. This Taiwan Scientific Earthquake Reporting (TSER) system is based on the Ushahidi mapping platform, which has been widely used for crowdsourcing on different purposes. Participants may add an app-like icon for mobile devices to this website at https://ies-tser.iis.sinica.edu.tw. Right after a potential damaging earthquake occurred in the Taiwan area, trained volunteers will be notified/dispatched to the source area to carry out field surveys and to describe the ground damages through this system. If the internet is available, they may also upload some relevant images in the field right away. This collected information will be shared with all public after a quick screen by the on-duty scientists. To prepare for the next strong earthquake, we set up a specific project on TSER for sharing spectacular/remarkable geologic features wherever possible. This is to help volunteers get used to this system and share any teachable material on this platform. This experimental, science-oriented crowdsourcing system was launched early this year. Together with a DYFI-like intensity reporting system, Taiwan Quake-Catcher Network, and some online games and teaching materials, the citizen seismology has been much improved in Taiwan in the last decade. All these constructed products are now either operated or promoted at the Taiwan Earthquake Research Center (TEC). With these newly developed platforms and materials, we are aiming not only to raise the earthquake awareness and preparedness, but also to encourage public participation in earthquake science in Taiwan.

Source and ground-motion parameters of the 2011 Lorca earthquake; Parametros de la fuente y del movimiento del suelo del terremoto de Lorca de 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alguacil de la Blanca, G.; Vidal Sanchez, F.; Stich, D.; Mancilla Perez, F. L.; Lopez Comino, J. A.; Morales Soto, J.; Navarro Bernal, M.

2012-07-01

113 events of the Lorca seismic series has been relocated by using Double difference algorithm and data from both temporary and permanent seismic networks. Relocations yield shallow hypo central distribution of aftershocks with a {approx}5 km long, NE-SW trending, placed SW of the mainshock, suggesting a SW propagating rupture along the Alhama de Murcia fault. Similar oblique reverse faulting mechanism has been obtained for three largest events. Source parameters of these three earthquakes have been estimated. Horizontal ground motion was estimated at 11 city points whose local structure was known by SPAC experiments. A set of ground motion parameters (PGA, PGV, AI, CAV, SI, SA and SV) here calculated, have higher values at these points respect to the ones at LOR station. All parameter values are also above the expected values for Euro -Mediterranean earthquakes with local intensity VIII (EMS). Nevertheless, SD values are unusually short and less than the reference ones. Higher values of the response spectra of acceleration and velocity are given for periods of less than 0.7 s, with maximum spectral acceleration at 0.15 s and velocity at 0.5 s. The elastic input energy spectrum is well connected to the shake destructiveness in each place. Equivalent velocity > 60 cm/s is found in almost all sites and > 100 cm/s (for periods 0.3 to 0.6 s) in someone. Factors such as proximity, and focal mechanism and ground response characteristics explain the high ground motion parameter values obtained in Lorca sites and show the great influence of the source and site conditions on the characteristics of strong ground motion in the vicinity of the rupture. (Author) 68 refs.

Development of an Earthquake Early Warning System Using Real-Time Strong Motion Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroo Kanamori

2008-01-01

Full Text Available As urbanization progresses worldwide, earthquakes pose serious threat to livesand properties for urban areas near major active faults on land or subduction zonesoffshore. Earthquake Early Warning (EEW can be a useful tool for reducing earthquakehazards, if the spatial relation between cities and earthquake sources is favorable for suchwarning and their citizens are properly trained to respond to earthquake warning messages.An EEW system forewarns an urban area of forthcoming strong shaking, normally with afew sec to a few tens of sec of warning time, i.e., before the arrival of the destructive Swavepart of the strong ground motion. Even a few second of advanced warning time willbe useful for pre-programmed emergency measures for various critical facilities, such asrapid-transit vehicles and high-speed trains to avoid potential derailment; it will be alsouseful for orderly shutoff of gas pipelines to minimize fire hazards, controlled shutdown ofhigh-technological manufacturing operations to reduce potential losses, and safe-guardingof computer facilities to avoid loss of vital databases. We explored a practical approach toEEW with the use of a ground-motion period parameter τc and a high-pass filtered verticaldisplacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 sec of the P waveforms. At a givensite, an earthquake magnitude could be determined from τc and the peak ground-motionvelocity (PGV could be estimated from Pd. In this method, incoming strong motion acceleration signals are recursively converted to ground velocity and displacement. A Pwavetrigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs, τc and Pd are computed. Theearthquake magnitude and the on-site ground-motion intensity could be estimated and thewarning could be issued. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10sec of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last fortens of seconds.

Conceptualizing ¬the Abstractions of Earthquakes Through an Instructional Sequence Using SeisMac and the Rapid Earthquake Viewer

Science.gov (United States)

Taber, J.; Hubenthal, M.; Wysession, M.

2007-12-01

Newsworthy earthquakes provide an engaging hook for students in Earth science classes, particularly when discussing their effects on people and the landscape. However, engaging students in an analysis of earthquakes that extends beyond death and damage, is frequently hampered by the abstraction of recorded ground motion data in the form of raw seismograms and the inability of most students to personally relate to ground accelerations. To overcome these challenges, an educational sequence has been developed using two software tools: SeisMac by Daniel Griscom, and the Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV) developed by the University of South Carolina in collaboration with IRIS and DLESE. This sequence presents a unique opportunity for Earth Science teachers to "create" foundational experiences for students as they construction a framework of understanding of abstract concepts. The first activity is designed to introduce the concept of a three-component seismogram and to directly address the very abstract nature of seismograms through a kinesthetic experience. Students first learn to take the pulse of their classroom through a guided exploration of SeisMac, which displays the output of the laptop's built-in Sudden Motion Sensor (a 3-component accelerometer). This exploration allows students to view a 3-component seismogram as they move or tap the laptop and encourages them to propose and carry out experiments to explain the meaning of the 3-component seismogram. Once completed students are then asked to apply this new knowledge to a real 3-component seismogram printed from REV. Next the activity guides students through the process of identifying P and S waves and using SeisMac to connect the physical motion of the laptop to the "wiggles" they see on the SeisMac display and then comparing those to the "wiggles" they see on their seismogram. At this point students are more fully prepared to engage in an S-P location exercise such as those included in many state standards

Gas and Dust Phenomena of Mega-earthquakes and the Cause

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Z.

2013-12-01

A mega-earthquake suddenly releases a large to extremely large amount of kinetic energy within a few tens to two hundreds seconds and over ten to hundreds kilometer distances in the Earth's crust and on ground surface. It also generates seismic waves that can be received globally and co-seismic ground damages such co-seismic ruptures and landslides. However, such vast, dramatic and devastating kinetic actions in the Earth's crustal rocks and on the ground soils cannot be known or predicted by people at few weeks, days, hours, or minutes before they are happening. Although seismologists can develop and use seismometers to report the locations and magnitudes of earthquakes within minutes of their occurrence, they cannot predict earthquakes at present. Therefore, damage earthquakes have caused and would continue to cause huge disasters, fatalities and injuries to our human beings. This problem may indicate that it is necessary to re-examine the cause of mega-earthquakes in addition to the conventional cause of active fault elastic rebounding. In the last ten years, many mega-earthquakes occurred in China and around the Pacific Ocean and caused many casualties to human beings and devastating disasters to environments. The author will give a brief review on the impacts of the mega-earthquakes happened in recent years. He will then present many gas and dust related phenomena associated with the sudden occurrences of these mega earthquakes. They include the 2001 Kunlunshan Earthquake M8.1, 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake M8.0 and the 2010 Yushu Earthquake M7.1 in China, the 2010 Haiti Earthquake M7.0, the 2010 Mexicali Earthquake M7.2, the 2010 Chile Earthquake M8.8, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake M6.3 and the 2011 Japan Earthquake M9.0 around the Pacific Ocean. He will discuss the cause of these gas and dust related phenomena. He will use these phenomena and their common cause to show that the earthquakes were caused the rapid migration and expansion of highly compressed and

Evaluating earthquake hazards in the Los Angeles region; an earth-science perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Ziony, Joseph I.

1985-01-01

Potentially destructive earthquakes are inevitable in the Los Angeles region of California, but hazards prediction can provide a basis for reducing damage and loss. This volume identifies the principal geologically controlled earthquake hazards of the region (surface faulting, strong shaking, ground failure, and tsunamis), summarizes methods for characterizing their extent and severity, and suggests opportunities for their reduction. Two systems of active faults generate earthquakes in the Los Angeles region: northwest-trending, chiefly horizontal-slip faults, such as the San Andreas, and west-trending, chiefly vertical-slip faults, such as those of the Transverse Ranges. Faults in these two systems have produced more than 40 damaging earthquakes since 1800. Ninety-five faults have slipped in late Quaternary time (approximately the past 750,000 yr) and are judged capable of generating future moderate to large earthquakes and displacing the ground surface. Average rates of late Quaternary slip or separation along these faults provide an index of their relative activity. The San Andreas and San Jacinto faults have slip rates measured in tens of millimeters per year, but most other faults have rates of about 1 mm/yr or less. Intermediate rates of as much as 6 mm/yr characterize a belt of Transverse Ranges faults that extends from near Santa Barbara to near San Bernardino. The dimensions of late Quaternary faults provide a basis for estimating the maximum sizes of likely future earthquakes in the Los Angeles region: moment magnitude .(M) 8 for the San Andreas, M 7 for the other northwest-trending elements of that fault system, and M 7.5 for the Transverse Ranges faults. Geologic and seismologic evidence along these faults, however, suggests that, for planning and designing noncritical facilities, appropriate sizes would be M 8 for the San Andreas, M 7 for the San Jacinto, M 6.5 for other northwest-trending faults, and M 6.5 to 7 for the Transverse Ranges faults. The

A strong-motion hot spot of the 2016 Meinong, Taiwan, earthquake (Mw = 6.4

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroo Kanamori

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Despite a moderate magnitude, Mw = 6.4, the 5 February 2016 Meinong, Taiwan, earthquake caused significant damage in Tainan City and the surrounding areas. Several seismograms display an impulsive S-wave velocity pulse with an amplitude of about 1 m s-1, which is similar to large S-wave pulses recorded for the past several larger damaging earthquakes, such as the 1995 Kobe, Japan, earthquake (Mw = 6.9 and the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake (Mw = 6.7. The observed PGV in the Tainan area is about 10 times larger than the median PGV of Mw = 6.4 crustal earthquakes in Taiwan. We investigate the cause of the localized strong ground motions. The peak-to-peak ground-motion displacement at the basin sites near Tainan is about 35 times larger than that at a mountain site with a similar epicentral distance. At some frequency bands (0.9 - 1.1 Hz, the amplitude ratio is as large as 200. Using the focal mechanism of this earthquake, typical “soft” and “hard” crustal structures, and directivity inferred from the observed waveforms and the slip distribution, we show that the combined effect yields an amplitude ratio of 17 to 34. The larger amplitude ratios at higher frequency bands can be probably due to the effects of complex 3-D basin structures. The result indicates that even from a moderate event, if these effects simultaneously work together toward amplifying ground motions, the extremely large ground motions as observed in Tainan can occur. Such occurrences should be taken into consideration in hazard mitigation measures in the place with frequent moderate earthquakes.

St. Louis Area Earthquake Hazards Mapping Project - A Progress Report-November 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Karadeniz, D.; Rogers, J.D.; Williams, R.A.; Cramer, C.H.; Bauer, R.A.; Hoffman, D.; Chung, J.; Hempen, G.L.; Steckel, P.H.; Boyd, O.L.; Watkins, C.M.; McCallister, N.S.; Schweig, E.

2009-01-01

St. Louis has experienced minor earthquake damage at least 12 times in the past 200 years. Because of this history and its proximity to known active earthquake zones, the St. Louis Area Earthquake Hazards Mapping Project (SLAEHMP) is producing digital maps that show variability of earthquake hazards, including liquefaction and ground shaking, in the St. Louis area. The maps will be available free via the internet. Although not site specific enough to indicate the hazard at a house-by-house resolution, they can be customized by the user to show specific areas of interest, such as neighborhoods or transportation routes. Earthquakes currently cannot be predicted, but scientists can estimate how strongly the ground is likely to shake as the result of an earthquake. Earthquake hazard maps provide one way of conveying such estimates. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which produces earthquake hazard maps for the Nation, is working with local partners to develop detailed maps for urban areas vulnerable to strong ground shaking. These partners, which along with the USGS comprise the SLAEHMP, include the Missouri University of Science and Technology-Rolla (Missouri S&T), Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), Saint Louis University, Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, and URS Corporation. Preliminary hazard maps covering a test portion of the 29-quadrangle St. Louis study area have been produced and are currently being evaluated by the SLAEHMP. A USGS Fact Sheet summarizing this project was produced and almost 1000 copies have been distributed at several public outreach meetings and field trips that have featured the SLAEHMP (Williams and others, 2007). In addition, a USGS website focusing on the SLAEHMP, which provides links to project results and relevant earthquake hazard information, can be found at: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/ceus/urban_map/st_louis/index.php. This progress report summarizes the

On the Regional Dependence of Earthquake Response Spectra

OpenAIRE

Douglas , John

2007-01-01

International audience; It is common practice to use ground-motion models, often developed by regression on recorded accelerograms, to predict the expected earthquake response spectra at sites of interest. An important consideration when selecting these models is the possible dependence of ground motions on geographical region, i.e., are median ground motions in the (target) region of interest for a given magnitude and distance the same as those in the (host) region where a ground-motion mode...

Tsunami evacuation plans for future megathrust earthquakes in Padang, Indonesia, considering stochastic earthquake scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Muhammad

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study develops tsunami evacuation plans in Padang, Indonesia, using a stochastic tsunami simulation method. The stochastic results are based on multiple earthquake scenarios for different magnitudes (Mw 8.5, 8.75, and 9.0 that reflect asperity characteristics of the 1797 historical event in the same region. The generation of the earthquake scenarios involves probabilistic models of earthquake source parameters and stochastic synthesis of earthquake slip distributions. In total, 300 source models are generated to produce comprehensive tsunami evacuation plans in Padang. The tsunami hazard assessment results show that Padang may face significant tsunamis causing the maximum tsunami inundation height and depth of 15 and 10 m, respectively. A comprehensive tsunami evacuation plan – including horizontal evacuation area maps, assessment of temporary shelters considering the impact due to ground shaking and tsunami, and integrated horizontal–vertical evacuation time maps – has been developed based on the stochastic tsunami simulation results. The developed evacuation plans highlight that comprehensive mitigation policies can be produced from the stochastic tsunami simulation for future tsunamigenic events.

Regionalization of ground motion attenuation in the conterminous United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, D.H.; Bernreuter, D.L.

1979-01-01

Attenuation results from geometric spreading and from absorption. The former is almost independent of crustal geology or physiographic region. The latter depends strongly on crustal geology and the state of the earth's upper mantle. Except for very high-frequency waves, absorption does not affect ground motion at distances less than 25 to 50 km. Thus, in the near-field zone, the attenuation in the eastern United States will be similar to that in the western United States. Most of the differences in ground motion can be accounted for by differences in attenuation caused by differences in absorption. The other important factor is that for some Western earthquakes the fault breaks the earth's surface, resulting in larger ground motion. No Eastern earthquakes are known to have broken the earth's surface by faulting. The stress drop of Eastern earthquakes may be higher than for Western earthquakes of the same seismic moment, which would affect the high-frequency spectral content. This factor is believed to be of much less significance than differences in absorption in explaining the differences in ground motion between the East and the West. 6 figures

New geological perspectives on earthquake recurrence models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwartz, D.P.

1997-01-01

In most areas of the world the record of historical seismicity is too short or uncertain to accurately characterize the future distribution of earthquakes of different sizes in time and space. Most faults have not ruptured once, let alone repeatedly. Ultimately, the ability to correctly forecast the magnitude, location, and probability of future earthquakes depends on how well one can quantify the past behavior of earthquake sources. Paleoseismological trenching of active faults, historical surface ruptures, liquefaction features, and shaking-induced ground deformation structures provides fundamental information on the past behavior of earthquake sources. These studies quantify (a) the timing of individual past earthquakes and fault slip rates, which lead to estimates of recurrence intervals and the development of recurrence models and (b) the amount of displacement during individual events, which allows estimates of the sizes of past earthquakes on a fault. When timing and slip per event are combined with information on fault zone geometry and structure, models that define individual rupture segments can be developed. Paleoseismicity data, in the form of timing and size of past events, provide a window into the driving mechanism of the earthquake engine--the cycle of stress build-up and release

It's Our Fault: better defining earthquake risk in Wellington, New Zealand

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dissen, R.; Brackley, H. L.; Francois-Holden, C.

2012-12-01

The Wellington region, home of New Zealand's capital city, is cut by a number of major right-lateral strike slip faults, and is underlain by the currently locked west-dipping subduction interface between the down going Pacific Plate, and the over-riding Australian Plate. In its short historic period (ca. 160 years), the region has been impacted by large earthquakes on the strike-slip faults, but has yet to bear the brunt of a subduction interface rupture directly beneath the capital city. It's Our Fault is a comprehensive study of Wellington's earthquake risk. Its objective is to position the capital city of New Zealand to become more resilient through an encompassing study of the likelihood of large earthquakes, and the effects and impacts of these earthquakes on humans and the built environment. It's Our Fault is jointly funded by New Zealand's Earthquake Commission, Accident Compensation Corporation, Wellington City Council, Wellington Region Emergency Management Group, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and Natural Hazards Research Platform. The programme has been running for six years, and key results to date include better definition and constraints on: 1) location, size, timing, and likelihood of large earthquakes on the active faults closest to Wellington; 2) earthquake size and ground shaking characterization of a representative suite of subduction interface rupture scenarios under Wellington; 3) stress interactions between these faults; 4) geological, geotechnical, and geophysical parameterisation of the near-surface sediments and basin geometry in Wellington City and the Hutt Valley; and 5) characterisation of earthquake ground shaking behaviour in these two urban areas in terms of subsoil classes specified in the NZ Structural Design Standard. The above investigations are already supporting measures aimed at risk reduction, and collectively they will facilitate identification of additional actions that will have the greatest benefit towards further

Realistic modeling of seismic wave ground motion in Beijing City

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Z.; Chen, Y.T.; Romanelli, F.; Panza, G.F.

2002-05-01

Advanced algorithms for the calculation of synthetic seismograms in laterally heterogeneous anelastic media have been applied to model the ground motion in Beijing City. The synthetic signals are compared with the few available seismic recordings (1998, Zhangbei earthquake) and with the distribution of the observed macroseismic intensity (1976, Tangshan earthquake). The synthetic 3-component seismograms have been computed in the Xiji area and in Beijing town. The numerical results show that the thick Tertiary and Quaternary sediments are responsible of the severe amplification of the seismic ground motion. Such a result is well correlated with the abnormally high macroseismic intensity zone (Xiji area) associated to the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and with the records in Beijing town, associated to the 1998 Zhangbei earthquake. (author)

Survey of strong motion earthquake effects on thermal power plants in California with emphasis on piping systems. Volume 1, Main report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, J.D.

1995-11-01

Since 1982, there has been a major effort expended to evaluate the susceptibility of nuclear Power plant equipment to failure and significant damage during seismic events. This was done by making use of data on the performance of electrical and mechanical equipment in conventional power plants and other similar industrial facilities during strong motion earthquakes. This report is intended as an extension of the seismic experience data collection effort and a compilation of experience data specific to power plant piping and supports designed and constructed US power piping code requirements which have experienced strong motion earthquakes. Eight damaging (Richter Magnitude 7.7 to 5.5) California earthquakes and their effects on 8 power generating facilities in use natural gas and California were reviewed. All of these facilities were visited and evaluated. Seven fossel-fueled (dual use natural gas and oil) and one nuclear fueled plants consisting of a total of 36 individual boiler or reactor units were investigated. Peak horizontal ground accelerations that either had been recorded on site at these facilities or were considered applicable to these power plants on the basis of nearby recordings ranged between 0.20g and 0.5lg with strong motion durations which varied from 3.5 to 15 seconds. Most US nuclear power plants are designed for a safe shutdown earthquake peak ground acceleration equal to 0.20g or less with strong motion durations which vary from 10 to 15 seconds

Characteristic behavior of water radon associated with Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes along Longmenshan fault

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ye, Qing; Singh, Ramesh P.; He, Anhua; Ji, Shouwen; Liu, Chunguo

2015-01-01

In China, numerous subsurface, surface water well and spring parameters are being monitored through a large network of stations distributed in China sponsored by China Earthquake Administration (CEA). All the data from these network is managed by China Earthquake Network Center (CENC). In this paper, we have used numerous data (water radon, gas radon, water level, water temperature) available through CENC for the period 2002–2014 and studied the behavior and characteristics of water 222 radon [Rn(w)]. The observed parameters were also complemented by rainfall data retrieved from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Our detailed analysis shows pronounced changes in the observed parameters (especially water and gas radon) prior to the earthquake. The changes in water radon, ground water level and rainfall showing characteristics behavior for Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes. The long term data analysis of water radon and water level at various locations around epicenters of two major earthquakes along Longmenshan fault show a positive and negative relation of water radon and water level prior to these earthquakes. It is difficult to find any trend of water radon and changes in water radon pattern with these two earthquakes that could prove as a reliable precursor of earthquakes. Changes in the water radon concentrations from one location to other may be associated with the changes in ground water regime and geological settings in the epicentral and surrounding regions. - Highlights: • Long trend of water radon measured in China during 2003–2014 at six stations round Longmenshan fault. • Water radon shows characteristics behavior associated with Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes. • Water radon shows one to one relation with rainfall and ground water level variations. • Sharp increase or decrease in water radon concentrations are found few days prior to the earthquake

Rotation of vertically oriented objects during earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Hinzen, Klaus-G.

2012-10-01

Vertically oriented objects, such as tombstones, monuments, columns, and stone lanterns, are often observed to shift and rotate during earthquake ground motion. Such observations are usually limited to the mesoseismal zone. Whether near-field rotational ground motion components are necessary in addition to pure translational movements to explain the observed rotations is an open question. We summarize rotation data from seven earthquakes between 1925 and 2009 and perform analog and numeric rotation testing with vertically oriented objects. The free-rocking motion of a marble block on a sliding table is disturbed by a pulse in the direction orthogonal to the rocking motion. When the impulse is sufficiently strong and occurs at the `right' moment, it induces significant rotation of the block. Numeric experiments of a free-rocking block show that the initiation of vertical block rotation by a cycloidal acceleration pulse applied orthogonal to the rocking axis depends on the amplitude of the pulse and its phase relation to the rocking cycle. Rotation occurs when the pulse acceleration exceeds the threshold necessary to provoke rocking of a resting block, and the rocking block approaches its equilibrium position. Experiments with blocks subjected to full 3D strong motion signals measured during the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake confirm the observations from the tests with analytic ground motions. Significant differences in the rotational behavior of a monolithic block and two stacked blocks exist.

The characteristic of the building damage from historical large earthquakes in Kyoto

Science.gov (United States)

Nishiyama, Akihito

2016-04-01

The Kyoto city, which is located in the northern part of Kyoto basin in Japan, has a long history of >1,200 years since the city was initially constructed. The city has been a populated area with many buildings and the center of the politics, economy and culture in Japan for nearly 1,000 years. Some of these buildings are now subscribed as the world's cultural heritage. The Kyoto city has experienced six damaging large earthquakes during the historical period: i.e., in 976, 1185, 1449, 1596, 1662, and 1830. Among these, the last three earthquakes which caused severe damage in Kyoto occurred during the period in which the urban area had expanded. These earthquakes are considered to be inland earthquakes which occurred around the Kyoto basin. The damage distribution in Kyoto from historical large earthquakes is strongly controlled by ground condition and earthquakes resistance of buildings rather than distance from estimated source fault. Therefore, it is necessary to consider not only the strength of ground shaking but also the condition of building such as elapsed years since the construction or last repair in order to more accurately and reliably estimate seismic intensity distribution from historical earthquakes in Kyoto. The obtained seismic intensity map would be helpful for reducing and mitigating disaster from future large earthquakes.

Off-fault ground ruptures in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California: Ridge-top spreading versus tectonic extension during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Ponti, Daniel J.; Wells, Ray E.

1991-01-01

The Ms 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake of 18 October 1989 produced abundant ground ruptures in an 8 by 4 km area along Summit Road and Skyland Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Predominantly extensional fissures formed a left-stepping, crudely en echelon pattern along ridges of the hanging-wall block southwest of the San Andreas fault, about 12 km northwest of the epicenter. The fissures are subparallel to the San Andreas fault and appear to be controlled by bedding planes, faults, joints, and other weak zones in the underlying Tertiary sedimentary strata of the hanging-wall block. The pattern of extensional fissures is generally consistent with tectonic extension across the crest of the uplifted hanging-wall block. Also, many displacements in Laurel Creek canyon and along the San Andreas and Sargent faults are consistent with right-lateral reverse faulting inferred for the mainshock. Additional small tensile failures along the axis of the Laurel anticline may reflect growth of the fold during deep-seated compression. However, the larger ridge-top fissures commonly have displacements that are parallel to the north-northeast regional slope directions and appear inconsistent with east-northeast extension expected from this earthquake. Measured cumulative displacements across the ridge crests are at least 35 times larger than that predicted by the geodetically determined surface deformation. These fissures also occur in association with ubiquitous landslide complexes that were reactivated by the earthquake to produce the largest concentration of co-seismic slope failures in the epicentral region. The anomalously large displacements and the apparent slope control of the geometry and displacement of many co-seismic surface ruptures lead us to conclude that gravity is an important driving force in the formation of the ridge-top fissures. Shaking-induced gravitational spreading of ridges and downslope movement may account for 90¿ or more of the observed displacements on

Study on dynamic behavior of large-scale foundation on soft ground, (6)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Yoshihiro; Yajima, Hiroshi; Esashi, Yasuyuki; Sakurai, Akio

1983-01-01

Generally, the earthquake motion in the basements of buildings and foundations shows smaller amplitude than that on ground surface. As the cause, there are two interpretations, the interaction of ground and structures and the input loss of earthquake motion due to the restriction by foundations. It is important to urgently clarify this problem in case of the aseismatic design of nuclear power stations at the location of Quaternary ground. For the purpose, the observation of earthquakes was performed with simple flat foundations and in the surrounding ground, in which the effect of locking and upper structures was negligible. The obtained data were compared with the theoretical solutions according to the above two interpretations, thus it was attempted to clarify the mechanism of restricting earthquake motion by foundations. The foundations were a foundation of 30 cm diameter and 2 cm thickness made by improving the superweak ground with nearly zero N-value by cement mixing treatment and a large concrete base of 90 x 45 x 21 m constructed in sandy gravellayer. The mecahnism of restricting vibration was due to the reflection effect of input energy at the boundary between rigid bases and the soft ground right under them, and it can be estimated by multiple reflection theory. (Kako, I.)

Grid-Based Moment Tensor Inversion Technique by Using 3-D Green's Functions Database: A Demonstration of the 23 October 2004 Taipei Earthquake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiann-Jong Lee

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Moment tensor inversion is a routine procedure to obtain information on an earthquake source for moment magnitude and focal mechanism. However, the inversion quality is usually controlled by factors such as knowledge of an earthquake location and the suitability of a 1-D velocity model used. Here we present an improved method to invert the moment tensor solution for local earthquakes. The proposed method differs from routine centroid-moment-tensor inversion of the Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology in three aspects. First, the inversion is repeated in the neighborhood of an earthquake_?s hypocenter on a grid basis. Second, it utilizes Green_?s functions based on a true three-dimensional velocity model. And third, it incorporates most of the input waveforms from strong-motion records. The proposed grid-based moment tensor inversion is applied to a local earthquake that occurred near the Taipei basin on 23 October 2004 to demonstrate its effectiveness and superiority over methods used in previous studies. By using the grid-based moment tensor inversion technique and 3-D Green_?s functions, the earthquake source parameters, including earthquake location, moment magnitude and focal mechanism, are accurately found that are sufficiently consistent with regional ground motion observations up to a frequency of 1.0 Hz. This approach can obtain more precise source parameters for other earthquakes in or near a well-modeled basin and crustal structure.

Where was the 1898 Mare Island Earthquake? Insights from the 2014 South Napa Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Hough, S. E.

2014-12-01

The 2014 South Napa earthquake provides an opportunity to reconsider the Mare Island earthquake of 31 March 1898, which caused severe damage to buildings at a Navy yard on the island. Revising archival accounts of the 1898 earthquake, I estimate a lower intensity magnitude, 5.8, than the value in the current Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF) catalog (6.4). However, I note that intensity magnitude can differ from Mw by upwards of half a unit depending on stress drop, which for a historical earthquake is unknowable. In the aftermath of the 2014 earthquake, there has been speculation that apparently severe effects on Mare Island in 1898 were due to the vulnerability of local structures. No surface rupture has ever been identified from the 1898 event, which is commonly associated with the Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault system, some 10 km west of Mare Island (e.g., Parsons et al., 2003). Reconsideration of detailed archival accounts of the 1898 earthquake, together with a comparison of the intensity distributions for the two earthquakes, points to genuinely severe, likely near-field ground motions on Mare Island. The 2014 earthquake did cause significant damage to older brick buildings on Mare Island, but the level of damage does not match the severity of documented damage in 1898. The high intensity files for the two earthquakes are more over spatially shifted, with the centroid of the 2014 distribution near the town of Napa and that of the 1898 distribution near Mare Island, east of the Hayward-Rodgers Creek system. I conclude that the 1898 Mare Island earthquake was centered on or near Mare Island, possibly involving rupture of one or both strands of the Franklin fault, a low-slip-rate fault sub-parallel to the Rodgers Creek fault to the west and the West Napa fault to the east. I estimate Mw5.8 assuming an average stress drop; data are also consistent with Mw6.4 if stress drop was a factor of ≈3 lower than average for California earthquakes. I

Sensing the earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Bichisao, Marta; Stallone, Angela

2017-04-01

Making science visual plays a crucial role in the process of building knowledge. In this view, art can considerably facilitate the representation of the scientific content, by offering a different perspective on how a specific problem could be approached. Here we explore the possibility of presenting the earthquake process through visual dance. From a choreographer's point of view, the focus is always on the dynamic relationships between moving objects. The observed spatial patterns (coincidences, repetitions, double and rhythmic configurations) suggest how objects organize themselves in the environment and what are the principles underlying that organization. The identified set of rules is then implemented as a basis for the creation of a complex rhythmic and visual dance system. Recently, scientists have turned seismic waves into sound and animations, introducing the possibility of "feeling" the earthquakes. We try to implement these results into a choreographic model with the aim to convert earthquake sound to a visual dance system, which could return a transmedia representation of the earthquake process. In particular, we focus on a possible method to translate and transfer the metric language of seismic sound and animations into body language. The objective is to involve the audience into a multisensory exploration of the earthquake phenomenon, through the stimulation of the hearing, eyesight and perception of the movements (neuromotor system). In essence, the main goal of this work is to develop a method for a simultaneous visual and auditory representation of a seismic event by means of a structured choreographic model. This artistic representation could provide an original entryway into the physics of earthquakes.

Observations of an ionospheric perturbation arising from the Coalinga earthquake of May 2, 1983

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolcott, J.H.; Simons, D.J.; Lee, D.D.; Nelson, R.A.

1984-01-01

An ionospheric perturbation that was produced by the Coalinga earthquake of May 2, 1983, was detected by a network of high-frequency radio links in northern California. The ionospheric refraction regions of all five HF propagation paths, at distances between 160 and 285 km (horizontal range) from the epicenter, were affected by a ground-motion-induced acoustic pulse that propagated to ionospheric heights. The acoustic pulse was produced by the earthquake-induced seismic waves rather than the vertical ground motion above the epicenter. These observations appear to be the first ionospheric disturbances to be reported this close to an earthquake epicenter

Searching for evidence of a preferred rupture direction in small earthquakes at Parkfield

Science.gov (United States)

Kane, D. L.; Shearer, P. M.; Allmann, B.; Vernon, F. L.

2009-12-01

Theoretical modeling of strike-slip ruptures along a bimaterial interface suggests that the interface will have a preferred rupture direction and will produce asymmetric ground motion (Shi and Ben-Zion, 2006). This could have widespread implications for earthquake source physics and for hazard analysis on mature faults because larger ground motions would be expected in the direction of rupture propagation. Studies have shown that many large global earthquakes exhibit unilateral rupture, but a consistently preferred rupture direction along faults has not been observed. Some researchers have argued that the bimaterial interface model does not apply to natural faults, noting that the rupture of the M 6 2004 Parkfield earthquake propagated in the opposite direction from previous M 6 earthquakes along that section of the San Andreas Fault (Harris and Day, 2005). We analyze earthquake spectra from the Parkfield area to look for evidence of consistent rupture directivity along the San Andreas Fault. We separate the earthquakes into spatially defined clusters and quantify the differences in high-frequency energy among earthquakes recorded at each station. Propagation path effects are minimized in this analysis because we compare earthquakes located within a small volume and recorded by the same stations. By considering a number of potential end-member models, we seek to determine if a preferred rupture direction is present among small earthquakes at Parkfield.

Deterministic earthquake scenarios for the city of Sofia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slavov, S.; Paskaleva, I.; Kouteva, M.; Vaccari, P.; Panza, G.F.

2002-08-01

The city of Sofia is exposed to a high seismic risk. Macroseismic intensities in the range of VIII-X (MSK) can be expected in the city. The earthquakes, that can influence the hazard at Sofia, originate either beneath the city or are caused by seismic sources located within a radius of 40km. The city of Sofia is also prone to the remote Vrancea seismic zone in Romania, and particularly vulnerable are the long - period elements of the built environment. The high seismic risk and the lack of instrumental recordings of the regional seismicity makes the use of appropriate credible earthquake scenarios and ground motion modelling approaches for defining the seismic input for the city of Sofia necessary. Complete synthetic seismic signals, due to several earthquake scenarios, were computed along chosen geological profiles crossing the city, applying a hybrid technique, based on the modal summation technique and finite differences. The modelling takes into account simultaneously the geotechnical properties of the site, the position and geometry of the seismic source and the mechanical properties of the propagation medium. Acceleration, velocity and displacement time histories and related quantities of earthquake engineering interest (e.g. response spectra, ground motion amplification along the profiles) have been supplied. The approach applied in this study allows us to obtain the definition of the seismic input at low cost exploiting large quantities of existing data (e.g. geotechnical, geological, seismological). It may be efficiently used to estimate the ground motion for the purposes of microzonation, urban planning, retrofitting or insurance of the built environment, etc. (author)