FrontiersinGeotechnicalEngineering(FGE),Volume4,2016www.seipub.

org/fge
doi:10.14355/fge.2016.04.001

ModellingofReverseDipSlipFaultsUsing
3DAppliedElementMethod
MohammadAhmedHussain1,RamancharlaPradeepKumar2
DepartmentofCivilEngineering,AlhabeebcollegeofEngineeringandTechnology,Damergidda(v),Chevella,R.
RDistrict501503,TelanganaState,India
1

EarthquakeEngineeringResearchCenter,
InternationalInstituteofInformationTechnologyHyderabad,Gachibowli,Hyderabad,India
2

ahmediiithyd@gmail.com;2ramancharla@research.iiit.ac.in

Abstract
It has been observed that near fault ground motion consists of dierent characteristics compared with the far fault ground
motions.Inthispaper,thenearfaultgroundmotionduetodipslipsurfacefaultsusing3DAppliedelementmethodisstudied.
UsingAEM,thecrackinitiationandpropagationcanbemodelledinreasonabletimebyusingtheavailableparallelcomputing
power. The main advantage of this method of modelling is the ability of crack initiation based on the material failure and
propagationofcracktillthecollapse.Thismethodisusedforstudyingthespatialvariationofgroundmotionduetoseismic
bedrockdisplacementatthebedrocklevel.Theinfluenceofdipangleandthepresenceoflowervelocitylayeronthenearfault
groundmotionisalsostudied.Ithasbeennotedthatinallcaseswithdierentfaultdipangle,thereisgreatergroundmotion
onthehangingwallsidecomparedwiththegroundmotionoffootwallside.Thiseectisduetotwoimportantreasons.First,
the points on the hanging wall are closer to the fault plane and secondly, the trapped seismic energy in the wedge shape
hanging wall leads to multiple reflections.The resultsfrom dierentdip angles indicate that the near fault ground motion is
sensitive to the dip angle. Variation of peak ground acceleration with site natural period has also been studied. Systematic
decreaseintheresponseisseenwiththeincreaseinthesitenaturalperiod.
Keywords
AppliedElementMethod,NearFaultGroundMotion,FaultMotion,DipAngle

Introduction
Themostseismologicalresearchontheinvestigationofgroundmotionduetofaultdynamicshasbeenlimitedto
faultswithahighdegreeofsymmetry,suchasfaultsinhomogeneouswholespacesandverticalstrikeslipfaults
duetocomputationalandtheoreticalconstraints.Muchcanbelearnedfromsuchstudies.However,thereareboth
observational and theoretical arguments that the dynamics of faults with asymmetrical geometry are both
qualitatively and quantitatively different from those of symmetrical faults. In particular, there is observational
evidencethatsymmetryofgroundmotionwithrespecttofaultslipdirectionislostwhenafaultdoesnothavea
vertical dip. The M7.6 1999 ChiChi (Taiwan) earthquake will undoubtedly be recognized as one of the most
significant earthquakes for the science of seismology, due to the unprecedented amount of highquality near
sourcedatathatitgenerated(Leeetal.,1999).Thiswealthofdatanotonlyallowsmoreprecisedeterminationof
faulting modelsof thisevent, butalsoaddresses new questionsconcerning faultingand dynamics. Inparticular,
thiseventallowstheverificationofmanypredictionsofgroundmotionbehaviourinthenearsourceareaofdip
slipfaults,wheredatahavebeenespeciallyscarcetodate.Inthispaper,itisshownthatmanyoftheobservations
of the nearsource displacements and peak accelerations can be explained as simple consequences of the
asymmetryofthedippingfaultgeometry.ClosertothesubjectoftheChiChiearthquake,ithasbeenpreviously
arguedthatthedynamicsofdipslipfaults(especiallythosethatintersectthefreesurfaceoftheearth)arestrongly
affected by their fault geometry (Brune, 1996; Oglesby et al., 2000; Shi et al., 1998; O Connel et al., 2007). In
particular, these studies showed that in comparison with vertical strikeslip faults, dipslip faults exhibit many
uniquefeaturesassociatedwiththeirasymmetricalgeometry.Theseeffectsincludereflectionsfromthefreesurface
thatcauseafeedbackbetweentheruptureandradiationprocesses,leadingtothrustfaultshavinggreaterdynamic

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stressdrops,greaterfaultmotion,andgreaternearsourcegroundmotionthannormalfaults.Alsothesmallersize
ofthehangingwall(coupledwiththepossibilityoftrappedwavesbetweenthefaultandthefreesurface)leadsto
anasymmetrybetweenhangingwallandfootwallmotionnearthefreesurface.Itshouldbeemphasizedthatall
theseeffectsarestronglydependentonthefaulteitherintersectingorcloselyapproachingthefreesurface,andthat
mostofthesepredictionsareforthenearsourcearea.
Numerical modelling allows us to investigate a number of aspects of the fault rupture propagation, which are
dicult to study from the examination of case histories or the conduct of physical model tests. Numerical
simulationsofearthquakefaultrupturehavetheadvantageofbeingmuchmoreflexibletoinvestigateanumberof
aspectsofthefaultrupturepropagationphenomenonthananalyticalsolutions.Sinceourproblemisrelatedtothe
faultrupturepropagation,amethodisneededwhichcanhandlethediscontinuities.TheAppliedelementmethod
whichwasusedtostudyfaultrupturephenomenonbyPradeepetal.(2001)hasmanyadvantageswithrespectto
theaboveproblems.UsingAEM,thecrackinitiationandpropagationcanbemodeledinreasonabletimebyusing
theavailableparallelcomputingpower.Themainadvantageofthismethodofmodelingisthatithastheabilityof
crackinitiationbasedonthematerialfailureandpropagationofcracktillthecollapse.Inthispaperthenearfault
ground motion due to dipslip surface fault studied using Applied element method. In the coming section, the
numericalmethodwillbedescribedbrieflyandnumericalresultswillbediscussed.
3D Applied Element Method
Applied Element Method is an efficient numerical tool based on discrete modeling (Hatem, 1998). The two
elementsshowninFig.1areassumedtobeconnectedbythesetofonenormalandtwoshearsprings.Eachsetis
representing the volume of elements connected. These springs totally represents stress and deformation of that
volumeofthestudiedelements.Sixdegreesoffreedomareassumedforeachelement.Thesedegreesoffreedom
represent the rigid body motion of the element. Although the element motion is considered as a rigid body, its
internaldeformationsarerepresentedbyspringdeformationaroundeachelement.Thismeansthattheelement
shape doesnt change during analysis, which means that the element is rigid, but the behaviour of element
collections is deformable. To have a general stiffness matrix, the element and contact springs locations are
assumed in a general position. The stiffness matrix components corresponding to each degree of freedom are
determinedbyassumingaunitdisplacementinthestudieddegreeoffreedomdirectionandbydeterminingforces
atthecentroidofeachelement.Theelementstiffnessmatrixsizeis(12X12).Fig.2showsthecomponentsofthe
upperleftquarterofthestiffnessmatrix.Itisclearthatthestiffnessmatrixdependsonthecontactspringstiffness
and the spring location. The stiffness matrix given is for only one pair of contact springs. However, the global
stiffness matrix is determined by summing up the stiffness matrices of individual pair of springs around each
element.

FIG.1ELEMENTFORMULATIONSIN3DAEM

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(1)
(2)
KnNx2 NxKnNy
(1) +K1sS1x2 +S1xK1sS1y
+K2sS2x2 +S2xK2sS2y
KnNy2
(2) S(1,2) +K1sS1y2
+K2sS2y2

(3)
NxKnNz
+S1xK1sS1z
+S2xK2sS2z
NyKnNz
+S1yK1sS1z
+S2yK2sS2z
KnNz2
+K1sS1z2
+K2sS2z2

(4)
KnNx(RyNz-RzNy)
+K1sS1x (RyS1z-RzS1y)
+K2sS2x (RyS2z-RzS2y)
KnNy(RyNz-RzNy)
+K1sS1y(RyS1z-RzS1y)
+K2sS2y(RyS2z-RzS2y)
KnNz(RyNz-RzNy)
+K1sS1z(RyS1z-RzS1y)
+K2sS2z(RyS2z-RzS2y)

(5)
KnNx(RzNx-RxNz)
+K1sS1x(RzS1x-RxS1z)
+K2sS2x(RzS2x-RxS2z)
KnNy(RzNx-RxNz)
+K1sS1y(RzS1x-RxS1z)
+K2sS2y(RzS2x-RxS2z)
KnNz(RzNx-RxNz)
+K1sS1z(RzS1x-RxS1z)
+K2sS2z(RzS2x-RxS2z)
KnNz(RyNz-RzNy)
(RzNx-RxNz)
+K1sS1z(RyS1z-RzS1y)
(RzS1x-RxS1z)
+K2sS2z(RyS2z-RzS2y)
(RzS2x-RxS2z)

(3)

S(1,3)

S(2,3)

(4)

S(1,4)

S(2,4)

S(3,4)

Kn(RyNz-RzNy)2
+K1s(RyS1z-RzS1y)2
+K2s(RyS2z-RzS2y)2

(5)

S(1,5)

S(2,5)

S(3,5)

S(4,5)

Kn(RzNx-RxNz)2
+K1s(RzS1x-RxS1z)2
+K2s(RzS2x-RxS2z)2

(6)

S(1,6)

S(2,6)

S(3,6)

S(4,6)

S(5,6)

(6)
KnNx(RxNy-RyNx)
+K1sS1x(RxS1y-RyS1x)
+K2sS2x(RxS2y-RyS2x)
KnNy(RxNy-RyNx)
+K1sS1y(RxS1y-RyS1x)
+K2sS2y(RxS2y-RyS2x)
KnNz(RxNy-RyNx)
+K1sS1z(RxS1y-RyS1x)
+K2sS2z(RxS2y-RyS2x)
Kn(RyNz-RzNy)
(RxNy-RyNx)
+K1s(RyS1z-RzS1y)
(RxS1y-RyS1x)
+K2s(RyS2z-RzS2y)
(RxS2y-RyS2x)
Kn(RzNx-RxNz)
(RxNy-RyNx)
+K1s(RzS1x-RxS1z)
(RxS1y-RyS1x)
+K2s(RzS2x-RxS2z)
(RxS2y-RyS2x)
Kn(RxNy-RyNx)2
+K1s(RxS1y-RyS1x)2
+K2s(RxS2y-RyS2x)2

Kn:Stiffnessofnormalspring
K1s,K2s:Stiffnessofshearsprings
N:Normalspringvector
S1,S2:ShearspringsVector
R:Vectorconnectingthecenteroftheelement
FIG.2ONEQUARTEROFSTIFFNESSMATRIX

ThedisplacementtimehistoriesiscomputedbythethreedimensionaldynamicelasticityequationgivenbyEq.1

M U C U K U P(t) (1)
where[M],[C]and[K]arethemass,dampingandglobalstiffness,respectively;UthedisplacementvectorandP(t)
theappliedloadvector.Heremassproportionaldampingmatrixisusedwith10%dampingcoefficient.Theabove
differentialequationissolvednumericallybyNewmarksmethod.ThematerialmodeladoptedinAEMisthetwo
parametermodelcalledhyperbolicmodel.Itislogicaltoassumethatanystressstraincurveofsoilsisboundedby
two straight lines that are tangential to it at small strains and at large strains as shown in Fig. 3. The tangent at
smallstrainsdenotedbyGo,representstheelasticmodulusatsmallstrainsandthehorizontalasymptoticatlarge
strain indicates the upper limit of the stress f, namely the strength of soils. The stressstrain curve for the
hyperbolicmodelcanbeobtaineddirectlyfromEq.2.

FIG.3NONLINEARBEHAVIOROFSOILSKELETONCURVE

Go (2)

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Theaboveequationhasbeenextensivelyusedforrepresentingthestressstrainrelationsofavarietyofsoils.Since
the target of this study is to show the application of AEM, the material model adopted is based on only two
parameters, namely, initial modulus,Go and reference strain, =f/ Go, where f is the upper limit of the stress.

However,anytypeofmaterialmodelcanbeadoptedinAEM.
Todefinethefailurecriteria,itisneededtofindthethreedimensionalstateofstressateachpointwherethespring
is defined. The threedimensional state of stress is defined at each spring location point. After obtaining all the
componentsofstresstensorthefailurecriteriaistobedefined.AMohrCoulombfailurecriterionhasbeenadopted
here.MohrCoulombinvariantsI1,J2and(smithetal.,2004)hasbeencalculatedusingthreedimensionalstress
components. After defining the Mohr Coulomb invariants, soils internal friction angle and cohesion c is
calculatedusinguniaxialtensioncapacityytanduniaxialcompressioncapacityycandfromEq.3&Eq.4.(Boresi
etal.2002).

2 tan 1

yt

yc
yt

yt
yc

(3)

(4)

Usingtheaboveinvariants,theMohrCoulombfailureenvelopsisdefinedbyEq.5(Smithet.al.2004).Inprincipal
stressspace,thiscriteriontakestheformofanirregularhexagonalcone,asshowninFig.4.
F

1
sin sin
c cos (5)
I1 sin J 2 cos
3
3

FailureifF0

FIG.4MOHRCOULOMBFAILUREENVELOPINTHREEDIMENSION

The failure envelop F depends on the invariants discussed above and the cohesion c and the friction angle
whichdependsonthesoiluniaxialtension(yt)anduniaxialcompression(yc).IftheFvalueisgreaterorequalto
zero,thespringissaidtobefailed.Thenormalandshearforcesinthefailedspringsareredistributedinthenext
incrementbyapplyingtheforcesinthereversedirection.Theseredistributedforcesaretransferredtotheelement
centreasaforceandmoment,andthentheseredistributedforcesareappliedtothestructureinthenextincrement.
The redistribution of spring forces at the crack location is very important for following the proper crack
propagation.Forthenormalspring,thewholeforcevalueisredistributedtohavezerotensionstressatthecrack
faces.Althoughshearspringsatthelocationoftensioncrackingmighthavesomeresistanceaftercrackingdueto
the effect of friction and interlocking between the crack faces, the shear stiffness is assumed zero after crack
occurrence.Havingzerovalueofshearstressindicatesthatthecrackdirectioniscoincidentwiththeelementedge
direction.Insheardominantzones,thecrackdirectionismainlydominantbyshearstressvalue.Thistechniqueis
simpleandhastheadvantagethatnospecialtreatmentisrequiredforrepresentingthecracking.

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Model Description
In this paper, the influence of fault dip angle is studied on the ground motion. For this purpose, a 3D model of
length3km,width500manddepth200misconstructed.Theseismicbedrockmotionintheformofdisplacement
isappliedatthebaseofthestructure.Sincethecrackdoesnotpropagateinthedirectioninwhichthedisplacement
isgivenatthebase,apredefinedfaultplanewithaspecifiedanglereachingthesurfaceisdefinedinthemodel.
The failure of the material takes placeonlyin the predefined fault plane. This has been assumed only to see the
influenceofdipanglereachingthesurfaceonthegroundmotion.Thedynamicsoffaultingissimulatedforthedip
angles20,30,40and50.ThenumericalmodelsusedforthestudyareshowninFig.5.Theboundaryattheleft
sideandthebottomsideofthefootwalliskeptfixedinallthedirection.Thedisplacementisappliedatthebottom
sideandrightsideofthehangingwall.Thelocationofthebasefaultisassumedtolieexactlyatthecentreofthe
model.Generally,soilstrataandbedrockextenduptolongerdistancesinhorizontaldirection.Beforestartingthe
analysis,thestabilityanalysismustbecarriedoutinordertobringthemodeltoinitialcondition.Therearetwo
waysforpreparingthemodelforperformingdynamicanalysis.Oneisdynamicwayandtheotherisstaticway.
Forstabilityanalysis,bottomofthemodelisconsideredasfixedboundaryandtwosideboundariesarefixedin
horizontaldirection.Indynamicway,themodelissetwithnoloadingexcepttheselfweight,whichisappliedas
gravityloadinthefirstincrement,themodelexhibitsfreevibrationsacrosstheequilibriumposition.Ifthereisno
damping, these vibrations will not subside till the infinite time. Hence, it is difficult to carry out the studies of
dynamic fault rupture propagation till these vibrations subside. In static way, the selfweight is applied in
incrementswithoutconsideringinertiaforces.Inthismethod,itisimportanttodecidethenumberincrementsin
which the gravity load is applied. This number of increments will depend on the material properties. It is
importanttocheckthefailureofthematerial,i.e.,theconnectingspringsofthematerialshouldnotfailduringthe
application of selfweight. The static method of applying gravity load takes less CPU time compared with the
dynamic method. Hence, while performing the dynamic analysis, the model is brought into equilibrium in the
staticway,andthenthedynamicanalysisisperformed.Applyingthebedrockdisplacementvalueintheformof
PulselikedisplacementtimehistorythatrepresentsthebasemotionisconsideredreferringtoMalden(2000).As
anapproximation,thecorrespondingdisplacementpulsecanbeassumedasGaussiantypefunction(Eq.6)where
Vsp is the amplitude of static velocity pulse, Tp Velocity pulse duration, tc time instant at which the pulse is
centered,nconstantequalto6andttime.ThetermTp/nhasthemeaningofstandarddeviationandcontrolsthe
actualspreadofthepulsewithrespecttothegivenpulsedurationandisthenormalprobabilityfunction.
d sp ( t )

t t
2
C
V sp T p
T p / n
n

(6)

FIG.53DNUMERICALMODELSCONSIDEREDFORTHEANALYSISWITH
50,40,30AND20OFFAULTDIPANGLE

Forallthedipangles,averticalslipof3masshowninFig.6isappliedandthehorizontalslipdependsonthedip
angle.Theshearwavevelocityofthematerialhasbeentakenas500m/sec.

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FIG.6TIMEHISTORYOFINPUTVERTICALDISPLACEMENTAPPLIEDATTHEBEDROCKLEVEL

The uniaxial tension capacity yt and uniaxial compression capacity yc has been taken as 1,500 kN/m2 and 15,000
kN/m2.
Numerical Results
Inthissection,attentionisfocusedonthephenomenalisticdescriptionofthedynamiceffectsofthereversefaulting.
The rupture nucleation process is not in focus but geometric effects on the ground motion is, when the rupture
reachesthesurfaceduetoseismicbasefaultmovement.Initially,astheslipisappliedatthebaseofthehanging
wall after the selfweight is applied in a static way as stated in the previous section, the stress resultants in the
materialofthefaultplanebuildsup,andthetwoblocksundergoasmalldeformationtostorestrainenergy.When
thestressresultantoftheelementsatthebasealongthefaultplanereachesthefailurestrength,thelocalelement
connection springs of the elements of the fault plane are considered to be failed. This allows the rupture to
propagatealongthefault.Ingeneral,theruptureinitiatedatthedeepestpartofthefaultandpropagatedtothe
freesurface.
VariationofPGAwithFaultDipAngle
Fig.7(a),(b)showsthepeakgroundaccelerationfromthetimehistoriesofthesurfaceelementsforthefaultdip
angle20,30,40and50respectively.Theasymmetryofthegroundmotionbetweenthehangingwallandthe
foot wall can be seen in all the cases of dip angle. The vertical line in each figure represents the surface fault
rupture.Themodeltotheleftsideoftheverticallinerepresentsthefootwallandtotherightsideofthevertical
linethehangingwall.Inallcases,thereisgreatergroundmotiononthehangingwallsidecomparedtotheground
motionoffootwallside.Inallthefigures,solidlineisindicatingtheverticalcomponentanddottedlineisshowing
thehorizontalcomponent.Anasymmetrybetweenfootwallandhangingwallmotionisbeingnoted.Thiseffectis
interpretedasbeingduetotwoimportantreasons.First,thepointsonthehangingwallareclosertothefaultplane
as compared with the points of foot wall. The second reason for this asymmetry is due to the trapped seismic
energy in the wedge shape hanging wall which leads to multiple reflections. The energy does not enter into the
footwallasthestiffnessofthefaultplaneisconsideredtobeaminimumvalueaftertheprocessofrupturetakes
place. Therefore, the energy stays in the hanging wall. Additionally, there is the mass and volume difference
between the two sides of the fault near the free surface i.e. the hanging wall wedge is much smaller than the
footwall wedge. From this Figure, it can also be said that the peak responses are not maximum near the place
where rupture is occurring on the ground surface. Instead, they are maximum little away from it and this is
becauseofthereductionintheresponseofthesoildepositasithasbecomehighlynonlinearattheplaceofsurface
rupture.Notethatwhilethedifferencebetweenhangingwallandfootwallmotiondecreasesrapidlywithdistance
awayfromthefaultplane.Thisconsistentlyhighergroundmotionislargelycausedbytheincreasedfaultmotion
nearthesurfaceduetothereasonsexplainedabove.Theinfluenceofthedipangleonthegroundmotioncanalso
beseen,theresponseonthegroundsurfaceisincreasingwiththedecreaseinthedipangle.Theresponseforthe
smallestdipangleof20isverylargecomparedwiththeotherdipanglewhichisapproximatelyof1g.Themain
reasonhereisduetothemultiplereflectionsinthewedgeshapehangingwallandthepointsonthehangingwall
areclosertothefaultplane.Thisreflectionismoreforlowerdipangle.Moreover,asfaultdipdecreasesagreater

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proportionofasurfacerupturingfaultssubsurfaceareabecomesclosertothefreesurface.Theproportionofup
goingPandSwaves(i.e.bodywaves)releasedduringtheprocessoffaultrupturewithlowerdipangleinteracts
withthefreesurfacewithsufficientlylargeincidentanglestoinducesignificantsurfacewaveexcitationnearthe
fault, producinga stronger ground motion on the hanging wall fartherfrom the surface trace of thefault thana
fault with a steeper dip. Additionally, the lower dip angle mass and volume of the hanging wall is less for the
lowerdipangles.

(A)

(B)
FIG.7COMPARISONOFPEAKGROUNDACCELERATIONONTHESURFACEFORALLDIPANGLES:A)HORIZONTAL;B)VERTICAL

FIG.8HORIZONTALTIMEHISTORIESOFMAXPGAFORALLDIPANGLES

FIG.9FOURIERSPECTRAFORTHEACCELERATIONTIMEHISTORIES

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FIG.10SNAPSHOTSOFTHEKINETICENERGYRADIATIONPATTERNSRELATEDTOTHERUPTUREPROCESSFORTHE20DIP
ANGLECASE.

Since the mass and volume is less near the free surface, it will have greater motion for the same forces. The
decreaseinthegroundmotionwithincreaseinthedipanglecanbeseenupto50.FastFourierTransformanalysis
is carried out for the horizontal time histories of the points on the surface having maximum acceleration values.
Time histories of the ground acceleration can be seen in Fig. 8 for the fault dip angle 20, 30, 40 and 50
respectively.Fromthetimehistoryplots,thedurationofstronggroundmotionandthepeakgroundaccelerateon
valueisseentobemaximumforlowerdipangle.FourierspectracanbeseenforthesetimehistoriesinFig.9.The
frequencycontentisalsoseentobemaximumforlowerdipangle,becauseofmultiplereflections.Fig.10shows
the snapshots of the kinetic energy (proportional to velocity squared) propagation pattern related to the rupture
process for the reverse fault model with 20 dip angle. The resultant radiated energy shown in these snapshots
have been normalized to the maximum kinetic energy. This figure also shows the seismic energy distributions
aroundthefaultastherupturesapproachorreachesthefreesurface.Energyreleasedfromtheprocessofrupture
and hitting the free surface of hanging wall can be seen from the snapshots. The asymmetrical particle motion
patternsimplythatthedynamicprocessnearthefreesurfaceismorecomplicatedthancommonlyassumedfrom
kinematicdislocationmodelling.Theenergyconcentrationonthehangingwallsidefromthesnapshots.Therefore,
a stronger shaking on the hanging wall side of the fault than on the footwall side is expected because of the
multiplereflectingstresswavestrappedinthewedgeshapedhangingwallofthefault.
VariationofPGAwithSiteNaturalPeriod
Inthissection,thevariationofPGAonthegroundsurfacefordifferentvalueofsitenaturalperiodisstudied.Ifthe
groundconsistsofasinglesoillayerandbedrock,thenaturaltimeperiodoftheground,Tg,isexactlyobtainedby
Eq.7(Kramer12)S.,2007),

Tg

4H
Vs (7)

whereHisthedepthoftheoverburdenandVSistheshearwavevelocity.Herethenaturaltimeperiodofthemodel
isdependentontwoparameters,i.e.,depthoftheoverburden(H)andtheshearwavevelocity(VS).Inthefirstcase,
theshearwavevelocity(VS)isvariedkeepingtheoverburdendepth(H)constant(Table1)andinthesecondcasethe
overburdendepth(H)ofthemodelisvariedkeepingtheshearwavevelocityconstant(Table2).Fig.11(AB)show
the distribution of horizontal and vertical PGA along the surface for different site natural period. In this case as
showninTable2,onlyshearwavevelocityisvariedinorderochangethenaturalperiodofthesite,inotherwords
onlythestiffnessofthedepositisvaried.Systematicdecreaseintheresponse isseenwiththeincreaseinthesite
natural period. The reason for this is, in stiff soils the energy released during the process of rupture is more
comparet to that of soft soils and this leads to amplification of high frequency waves. Fig.12 (AB) show the
distributionofhorizontalandverticalPGAalongthesurfacefordifferentsitenaturalperiodvariedwithrespectto
thedepthoftheoverburden.Fromthisfigure,itcanbesaidthatthetrendoftheresultofattenuationofPGAandthe
valueofPGAisthesameasinthepreviouscase.Increaseinthesitenaturalperiodwithdepthofoverburdenleads
todecreaseinnaturalfrequencyofthemodelandhence,theresponseinreduced.

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(A)

(B)
FIG.11DISTRIBUTIONOFPGAALONGTHESURFACEFORDIFFERENTSITENATURALPERIODWITHVARYINGSHEARWAVE
VELOCITY;A)HORIZONTALACCELERATION,B)VERTICALACCELERATION

(A)

(B)
FIG.12DISTRIBUTIONOFPGAALONGTHESURFACEFORDIFFERENTSITENATURALPERIODWITHVARYINGDEPTH;
A)HORIZONTAL,B)VERTICALACCELERATION
TABLE1VARIATIONOFTIMEPERIOD(TG)WITHSHEARWAVEVELOCITY(VS)

Sl.No.

ShearWaveVelocityVs(m/s)

Depthofthe
Overburden
H(m)

615

200

1.3

500

200

1.6

421

200

1.9

363

200

2.2

320

200

2.5

TimePeriod Tg

4H
(s)
Vs

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TABLE2:VARIATIONOFTIMEPERIOD(T g )WITHDEPTHOFTHEOVERBURDEN(H)

TimePeriod
Sl.No.

ShearWaveVelocityVs(m/s)

Depthoftheoverburden
H(m)

500

162

1.3

500

200

1.6

500

237

1.9

500

275

2.2

500

312

2.5

Tg

4H
(s)
Vs

Conclusions
Theresultsofthenumericalsimulationhaveexplainedmanydynamicandgeometricaspectsofthereversefaulting.
Inallcasesofdifferentfaultdipangle,thereisgreatergroundmotiononthehangingwallsidecomparedwiththe
groundmotionoffootwallside.Thiseffectcanbeinterpretedasbeingduetotwoimportantreasons.Firstly,the
points on the hanging wall are closer to the fault plane, and secondly, the trapped seismic energy in the wedge
shape hanging wall leads to multiple reflections. The results fromdifferent dipanglesindicate that the near fault
groundmotionissensitivetothedipangle.Systematicdecreaseintheresponseisseenwiththeincreaseinthesite
naturalperiod
REFERENCES

[1]

Japan Society of Civil Engineers, The 1999 JiJi earthquake, Taiwan, Investigation into damage to civil engineering
structures,EarthquakeEngineeringCommittee,JapanSocietyofCivilEngineers,1999.

[2]

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Brune,J.(1996).Particlemotionsinaphysicalmodelofshallowanglethrustfaulting,Proc.IndianAcad.Sci.(EarthPlanet
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Oglesby,D.D.,R.J.Archuleta,andS.B.Nielsen:Dynamicsofdipslipfaulting:explorationintwodimensions,J.Geophys.
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Shi, B., A. Anooshehpoor, J. N. Brune, and Y. Zeng : Dynamics of thrust faulting: 2D lattice model, Bull. Seismol. Soc.
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FrontiersinGeotechnicalEngineering(FGE),Volume4,2016www.seipub.org/fge

Pradeep K. Ramancharla worked in L&TECC for about a year (199798) and went to Tokyo, Japan for
pursuingPh.D.Afterreceivingdegree,heworkedasapostdoctoralresearchfellowforoneyear(200102).
He joined IIITHyderabad inSeptember 2002 andstartedEarthquake Engineering Research Centre (EERC).
HewasalsoinstrumentalininitiatinggraduateprogramonComputerAidedStructuralEngineering(CASE)
atIIITHyderabad.
Dr.Ramancharlaresearchinterestsare;i)macroseismotectonicsofIndianplate,ii)largedeformationanalysis
of faults, iii)Nonlinear structural response& damage estimation, iv) Health diagnosisof historical and critical structures, v)
Sustainableconstructiontechnologies(withlocal&naturalmaterials)andv)Capacitybuildingondisastersafety.Inadditionto
theabove,Dr.Ramancharlahaskeeninterestinresearchonhumanitiesandhumanvalues.
Dr. Ramancharla is a member of a few committees at both state and national level. He is a member of Post Earthquake
ReconnaissanceTeam(PERT)ofNDMA,GoI.AsamemberofexpertcommitteeofNDMA;inaddition,hehascontributedto
the preparation of National Disaster Management Policy and Guidelines for Earthquakes and Tsunamis as well as to the
preparationofpolicyforrestructuringofFireandEmergencyServicesDepartment,GovtofAP.Heisalsoamemberofexpert
committees on Disaster Mitigation of Cyclones and Urban Floods. He is currently a BIS panel member of IS 456 & IS 1343
(CED2)andalsoamemberofNationalBuildingCodeofIndia(CED46:P16).
Mohammad Ahmed Hussain has completed his PhD in Civil Engineering from Earthquake Engineering
ResearchCentre,IIITHyderabadin2012.HeispresentlyworkinginAlhabeebCollegeofEngineeringand
TechnologyasAssociateProfessorintheCivilEngineeringDepartment.
Dr. Mohammad Ahmed Hussain is currently involved in numerical simulations of fault motion & wave
propagation in 2D and 3D using Applied Element Method. Research in this area contributes to the
understandingofnearfaultgroundmotion,phenomenonofsurfacefaultingandfaultrupturepropagation
bypreparinganumericalmodelwithactualfieldconditionsontheexistingfaults.HismainresearchAreas
of Interests are 1. Numerical simulation of structural analysis, 2. Earthquake engineering and Structural Dynamics, 3. Wave
propagationinthesoilmedia,4.CollapseAnalysisofstructuresand5.AppliedElementMethod.

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