Empirical SCALING OF STRONG EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTION IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA is reviewed. Three research groups contributed to the development of empirical scaling equations of strong motion. Properties of earthquake ground motion considered in the scaling equations discussed include peak ground amplitudes.
Empirical SCALING OF STRONG EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTION IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA is reviewed. Three research groups contributed to the development of empirical scaling equations of strong motion. Properties of earthquake ground motion considered in the scaling equations discussed include peak ground amplitudes.
Empirical SCALING OF STRONG EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTION IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA is reviewed. Three research groups contributed to the development of empirical scaling equations of strong motion. Properties of earthquake ground motion considered in the scaling equations discussed include peak ground amplitudes.
The empirical scaling studies of strong earthquake ground motion of three research groups that contributed to the development of empirical scaling equations of strong motion for the region of the former Yugoslavia are reviewed. Their scaling procedures are described, and their approaches are compared. All regression equations reviewed here can be classified into two groups, starting from their available database, namely regressions that depend upon magnitude, distance, and local site conditions or on local site intensities distance, and site conditions. The properties of strong earthquake ground motion considered in the scaling equations discussed include peak ground amplitudes, Fourier spectral amplitudes, response spectral amplitudes, and strong-motion durations.
The traditional approach for empirical scaling of the amplitudes of strong earthquake ground motion revolves around the linear representation of the amplification of seismic waves when they propagate through soft surface sediments and soil. However, in the near field, when the amplitudes of shaking become large, the soil experiences nonlinear strains, and thus tensile cracks, fissures, and pounding zones form, resulting in highly nonlinear response characteristics. This means that the characteristic site response, and the patterns of amplifications measured via small earthquake records, or by analysis of microtremors, will disappear, departing from the linear amplification characteristics completely. This leads to chaos and creates a problem for seismic zoning because the nonlinear response is strongly dependent upon the amplitudes and on the time history of shaking, so that it becomes virtually impossible to predict the distribution of amplification from the local site conditions. This is significant for all engineering analyses of response and for engineering design in the near field because it means that close to the faults the complexity of strong shaking is further increased by large differential motions and by large transient and permanent strains and tilts.
KEYWORDS: PSV spectra, strong earthquake motions, empirical scaling of spectra.
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, U.S.A. Faculty of Civil Construction Management, UNION Univ., Belgrade, Cara Duana, 62-64, 11000, Serbia.