Vol.6, No.

4 EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING VIBRATION December, 2007

Article ID: 1671-3664(2007)04-0345-06 DOI: 10.1007/s11803-007-0723-5

Engineering characteristics of near-fault vertical ground motions and

their effect on the seismic response of bridges

Li Xinle1†, Dou Huijuan1† and Zhu Xi2‡

1. College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian 116600, China
2. College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Abstract: A wide variety of near-fault strong ground motion records were collected from various tectonic environments
worldwide and were used to study the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio of the vertical to horizontal component
of ground motion, focusing on the effect of earthquake magnitude, site conditions, pulse duration, and statistical component.
The results show that both the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio are larger than the 2/3 value prescribed in existing
seismic codes, and the relationship between the vertical and horizontal ground motions is comparatively intricate. In addition,
the effect of the near-fault ground motions on bridge performance is analyzed, considering both the material nonlinear
characteristics and the P~Δ effect.

Keywords: near-fault vertical ground motion; peak value ratio; spectrum ratio; bridge; seismic response

1 Introduction the effect of vertical ground motion, much effort has

Most building codes, including GB50011-2001 and
EUROCODE-8, assume that the vertical ground motion
is approximately 2/3 of the horizontal ground motion.
However, in recent destructive earthquakes such as
the 1989 Loma Prieta, 1994 Northridge, and 1999
Chi-Chi, it was found that vertical ground motion may
equal or even significantly exceed the local horizontal
ground motion. In such situations, most existing code
specifications must be considered unconservative.
As a result, many researchers have studied this large
vertical component of near-fault earthquake records;
for example, Ohsaki (1980) studied the acceleration
response spectrum ratio of the vertical component to the
horizontal component of eight near-fault records from
several Japanese earthquakes. Saadeghvaziri and Foutch
(1991) analyzed the effect of vertical ground motions on
the nonlinear seismic response of bridges, and found that
the vertical ground motion component has a remarkable
influence on the seismic response of piers, which in turn
causes damage to highway bridges. In order to quantify
Correspondence to: Li Xinle, College of Architecture and Civil
Engineering, Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian 116600,
China
Tel: 86-411-87656209
E-mail: lixinle@dlnu.edu.cn
†
Associate Professor; ‡Professor
Supported by: National Natural Science Foundation of China
Under Grant No.50278002 and Dalian Nationalities University
PHD Foundation Under Grant No.20066104
Received January 11, 2007; Accepted April 16, 2007
been devoted to the empirical attenuation relationships
of vertical response spectra (Niazi and Bozorgnia, 1991,
1992; Bozorgnia and Niazi, 1995; Campbell, 1997;
Ambraseys and Sympson, 1996, 1997; Ambraseys
and Douglas, 2003). Shi et al.(2002), from regression
statistical analysis, concluded that the ratio between the
vertical and horizontal acceleration response spectra
is closely related to earthquake magnitude and fault
distance. Based on 108 sets of records, Zhou et al.
(2002) studied the peak value ratio between the vertical
and horizontal accelerations and found that it is close to
the value specified in existing codes of 2/3 for rock sites.
Based on a statistical analysis of 291 sets of earthquake
records with fault distances less than 30 km, Zhou
et al. (2003) further concluded that for fault distances of
less than 10 km, 20 km and 30 km, the peak value ratios
are 0.685, 0.585 and 0.559, respectively. Gen et al.(2003)
evaluated the influence factors of the ratio between the
vertical and horizontal acceleration response spectra,
and found that the structural period is a major factor and
using the spectrum ratio as a constant is not appropriate.
A similar conclusion was drawn from the research of
Wang (2001). In some existing building codes, UBC
(1997) for example, much more attention is given to the
uncertainties of the spectrum ratio in the near-fault zone.
The spectrum ratio in the short-period range is taken as
1.0 in the Nuclear Regulatory Guide 1.60, which is larger
than 2/3 (Niazi, 1990). In this paper, a statistical analysis
is first performed to evaluate the peak value ratio and
spectrum ratio of the near-fault vertical component to
the horizontal component. Then, a numerical simulation
is carried out to examine the seismic performance of a
346 EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING VIBRATION Vol.6

bridge subjected to near-fault ground motions with a Table 1 Numbers of near-fault ground motions considered
large amplitude of the vertical component. Site M<6.5 6.5≤M<7.0 M≥7.0
Rock 21 10 22
Soil 32 16 29
2 Results of statistical analysis for near-fault
vertical ground motions
2.1 Earthquake ground motion record selection 2.2 Peak value ratio

A total of 130 sets of free-field near-fault ground
motions are selected based on the following criteria:
(1) 4.5≤M≤8, where M is the earthquake moment
magnitude.
(2) the fault distance, defined as the distance to the
surface projection of the rupture plane given by UBC 97
(Uniform Building Code of USA, 1997), is R≤15 km.
Site conditions are classified into two categories: rock
and soil (see Table 1).
The peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio
of the vertical ground acceleration to the horizontal
acceleration of the selected records for different fault
distances, earthquake magnitudes and spectra periods
are evaluated separately in a later section.
The statistical results of the peak value ratio (RA,
RV, RD) between the vertical and horizontal motions are
provided in Table 2. Note that for both rock and soil
site conditions, the PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration)
ratio, RA, for a moderate earthquake (6.5≤M<7.0) has a
much larger value than for small (4.5≤M<6.5) or large
earthquakes (M≥7.0), while both PGV (Peak Ground
Velocity), RV, and PGD (Peak Ground Displacement),
RD, generally increase as the earthquake magnitude
increases, except for soil sites, where RV and RD for
moderate earthquakes are slightly less than for small
earthquakes. This could be due to the significant effect
of the low frequency content of the near-fault ground
motions.

Table 2 Effect of earthquake magnitude on peak value ratio

Peak value 4.5≤M<6.5 6.5≤M<7.0 M≥7.0

Site
ratio Mean value σ Mean value σ Mean value σ
Rock RA 0.521 0.183 1.020 0.599 0.669 0.204
RV 0.394 0.171 0.570 0.205 0.758 0.356
RD 0.447 0.343 0.848 0.314 1.059 0.894
Soil RA 0.694 0.323 0.901 0.625 0.685 0.148
RV 0.400 0.126 0.349 0.133 0.689 0.211
RD 0.397 0.177 0.378 0.142 0.818 0.258
All records RA 0.625 0.287 0.947 0.606 0.679 0.173
RV 0.398 0.143 0.434 0.194 0.719 0.286
RD 0.417 0.254 0.559 0.319 0.922 0.765

2.3 Response spectrum ratio 2.0

2.3.1 Effect of pulse motion Tp=0-3s

Pulse-like waves are observed in the selected 1.5 Tp=3-5s
records with large PGA and PGV. For example, the PGA Tp=5-10s
and PGV of Tcu084-W recorded in the 1999 Chi-Chi Seismic code
earthquake are 1.157g and 114.7cm/s, respectively. This 1.0
RA

pulse motion may represent a cumulative effect of most

of the seismic radiation from the fault.
The effect of a pulse with different duration on the 0.5
response spectrum ratio of the vertical to horizontal
acceleration is shown in Fig. 1. Note that for a period
of less than 0.1s, the area around the spectrum ratios 0.0
0.01 0.1 1 10
for different durations are noticeably larger than the T (s)
2/3 value in the existing seismic design code and the
largest ratio of about 1.3 occurs when the pulse with Fig. 1 Mean value of spectrum ratio variation for different
the shortest duration is considered. As the period of the pulse duration
 No.4 Li Xinle et al.: Near-fault vertical ground motions and their effect on the seismic response of bridges 347

structure increases up to 1s, they vibrate nearly around
the horizontal line of spectrum ratio 2/3, i.e., the ratios
are less than 2/3 for some moderate periods and larger
than 2/3 for longer periods.
2.3.2 Effect of earthquake magnitude
The effect of earthquake magnitude on the response
spectrum ratio was analyzed for the near-fault vertical
ground motions. Some results are shown in Fig. 2. It is
seen that the response spectrum ratio ( SA,V / SA,H ) of near-
fault ground motions is not a constant as given in the
existing seismic design code. The values of SA,V / SA,H are
larger than 2/3 for the short period range (T<0.2s). The
maximum ratio is close to 1.4 for the near-fault ground
motions recorded during the moderate earthquake.
Furthermore, for the long-period range in the response
spectra of the moderate earthquake (T>4s), the ratios
of SA,V / SA,H are already larger than 2/3. Also, the same
tendency is seen in the long-period range (T>2s) of the
response spectra for the large earthquake. As shown in
Fig 2, as the earthquake magnitude increases, the value
of SA,V / SA,H in the long-period range of the response
spectra becomes large, and the results indicate that the
near-fault vertical ground motions have a significant
impact on the long-period structures.

2.0 2.0 Mean value 2.0

Mean value
Mean value +σ
Mean value Mean value +σ
Seismic code
1.5 Mean value +σ 1.5 1.5 Seismic code
Seismic code

1.0 1.0 1.0

RA

RA

RA
0.5 0.5 0.5

0 0 0
0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10
T (s) T (s) T (s)
(a) 4.5≤M<6.5 (b) 6.5≤M<7.0 (c) M≥7.0
Fig. 2 Response spectrum ratio variation for three earthquake magnitude levels

2.3.3 Effect of site conditions
The effect of site conditions on the response
spectrum ratio was examined for the selected near-fault
records and is presented in Fig. 3, where the horizontal
response spectra are referred to as the average of the two
horizontal components of each station, either the small
or the large one. Note that the spectrum ratio for the
rock site differs from the soil site by about 0.15 in the
short to moderate period range. However, a significant
difference between the spectrum ratio of the rock and
soil sites occurs in the long period (i.e., larger than 3s),
where a maximum spectrum ratio of 1.2 was observed at
T=7s at the rock site.
In addition, Fig. 3 shows that the maximum
spectrum ratio based on the small horizontal component
is about 1.5 times that of the larger component in the
short period range.
A further comparison of the effect of different
site conditions is illustrated for various earthquake
magnitudes in Fig. 4. Note that a significant effect of the
site conditions is seen for moderate earthquakes, and in
the short period range, the soil site experiences a much

1.5 1.5 1.2

Average of two hor. comp. Average of two hor. comp. Large hor. comp.
Small hor. comp. Small hor. comp. Small hor. comp.
1.2 Seismic code 1.2 Seismic code Seismic code

0.9
0.9 0.9
SA,V/SA,H
SA,V/SA,H
SA,V/SA,H

0.6 0.6
0.6
0.3 0.3

0 0 0.3
0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10
T (s) T (s) T (s)
(a) Rock site (b) Soil site (c) Rock and soil sites
Fig. 3 Response spectrum ratio using different horizontal components for rock and soil sites
 348 EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING VIBRATION Vol.6

1.2 1.5 1.2

Rock site
Rock site Rock site Soil site
Soil site Soil site Seismic code
0.9 1.2 Seismic code 0.9
Seismic code

SA,V/SA,H
SA,V/SA,H
SA,V/SA,H

0.6 0.9 0.6

0.3 0.6 0.3

0.0 0.3 0.0

0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10
T (s) T (s) T (s)
(a) 4.5≤M<6.5 (b) 6.5≤M<7.0 (c) M≥7
Fig. 4 Effect of site condition on response spectrum ratio for three earthquake magnitude levels

larger spectrum ratio than the rock site. On the contrary,
in the long period range, the rock site experiences a
much larger spectrum ratio than the soil site. For large
earthquakes in the long period range, a similar situation
occurs, i.e., the rock site experiences a much larger
spectrum ratio than the soil site.
3 Seismic response of bridge
3.1 Description of the bridge model
In the response analysis described herein, the
required parameters related to the finite element model
used for the viaduct of a highway with three lanes were
obtained from Li (2005). The weight of the superstructure
is 200 kN/m. The span of the bridge is 40 m. The height
of the piers with an expanded foundation is 16 m. The
core diameter of the pier is 1.83 m. The reinforcing steel
includes 30 pieces of longitudinal reinforcement that
are 36 mm in diameter, spiral reinforcement of 19 mm
in diameter and a thread interval of 115 mm. The yield
strength is 414 MPa for the reinforcement and 14.1 MPa
for the concrete. The rotation stiffness of the pier bottom
K is 100000 kN/m. Other parameters for the pier model
are listed in Table 3.

Table 3 Parameters of finite element model for bridge pile

Yielding moment Maximal moment Yielding curvature Maximal curvature

Items φ u/ φ y
My (kN.m) Mu (kN.m) φ y (m-1) φ u (m-1)
Pier bottom 12126.7 14292.2 0.0031 0.04196 13.5
Note: Yielding strength of tension reinforcing bar fy = 414MPa;Tension strength of reinforced concrete f =24.1MPa c
'

3.2 Selected near-fault earthquake records 3.3 Seismic response of the bridge

Seven records, including three far-fault records,
three near-fault records with pulse-type waves and one
near-fault record without pulse waves are selected to
study the seismic response of the bridge structure. The
parameters of these records are listed in Table 4.
Due to the large vertical peak value of the near-
fault ground motions, the seismic response of the bridge
was calculated for an earthquake intensity of IX. The
vertical component was adjusted by the design intensity
multiplied by the peak value ratio RA (shown in Table 4).
The P-Δ effect is considered in the nonlinear time
history analysis.
The calculated results of the seismic response of the
pier excited by the vertical and horizontal components
are given in Tables 5 and 6. Note that the bridge may
experience much larger displacement and base shear
under near-fault motion, and a slightly larger moment
than under far-fault motions. The seismic response of
the bridge subject to the near-fault motions without a
pulse wave is close to the far-fault motions (No. 1, 2
and 3). Table 6 indicates the significant effect of P-Δ on
displacement at the pier top. The structural damage to
the bridge, when it is subjected to near-fault motions,
may be caused solely by the overlarge displacement, as
seen in Fig. 5 for record Lcn 275.
No.4 Li Xinle et al.: Near-fault vertical ground motions and their effect on the seismic response of bridges 349

Table 4 Characteristics of selected near-fault earthquake records

Peak value
Distance PGA
No. Earthquake events Station Records ratio PGV(cm/s)
R (km) (g)
RA
1 1994 Northridge Bld360 0.168 17.6
M=6.7 LA - Baldwin Hills 26.2 0.542
Bld-up 0.091 8.4
2 1992 Cape Mendocino, Eur000 0.154 20.2
M=7.1 Eureka - Myrtle 35.8 0.273
Eur-up 0.042 7.5
3 1952 Kern County Taf021 0.156 15.3
M=7.4 Taft Lincoln School 42.0 0.699
Taf-up 0.109 6.6
4 Duzce Turkey 1992/11/21, Dzc180 0.348 60.0
M=7.1 Duzce 8.2 1.026
Dzc-up 0.357 22.6
5 1992 Landers, Lcn275 0.721 45.9
M=7.3 Lucerne 1.1 1.135
Lcn-up 0.818 97.6
6 Kobe 1995/01/16 20:46 Tak000 0.611 127.1
M=6.9 Takatori 0.3 0.445
Tak-up 0.272 16.0
7 1940 Imperial Valley Elc180 0.313 29.8
M=7.0 El Centro Array #9 8.3 0.655
Elc-up 0.205 10.7

Table 5 Seismic response of pier for earthquake intensity of IX

No. Type Records Displacement(cm) Moment (kN.m) Shear force (kN)
1 Far-fault Bld360 25.15 10530 871.2
2 Eur000 22.47 10440 698.3
3 Taf021 21.66 10140 865.8
4 Near-fault Dzc180 73.58 13570 2448
5 Lcn275 51.44 12980 1889
6 Tak000 56.23 12570 1769
7 Near-fault without pulse wave Elc180 22.10 10440 837.2

Table 6 Seismic response of pier for earthquake intensity of IX (with consideration of P-Δ effect)
Displacement Moment
No. Type Records Shear force (kN)
(cm) (kN.m)
1 Far fault Bld360 31.88 10750 1069
2 Eur000 27.40 10590 766.6
3 Taf021 23.28 10470 807.5
4 Near fault Dzc180 Structural damage occurs at 10.21s.
5 Lcn275 Structural damage occurs at 11.03s.
6 Tak000 Structural damage occurs at 14.1s.
7 Near fault without pulse wave Elc180 24.98 10530 908.8

60
Lcn275 4 Conclusions
Based on a statistical analysis of 130 sets of ground
Displacement (cm)

40
motions of earthquake moment magnitude 4.5≤M≤8
and fault distance R≤15km, the peak value ratio and
20 response spectrum ratio of the vertical to horizontal
δ=24.11cm component were studied. The analysis focused on the
0 effects of pulse motion, earthquake magnitude, and
site conditions. The seismic performance of a highway
010 5
15 20 viaduct under three selected variations of fault distances
T (s) and earthquake magnitudes was examined. From the
Fig. 5 Response time histories of displacement at pier top for results obtained in this study, the following conclusions
earthquake intensity of IX are made:
350 EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING VIBRATION
(1) In both rock and soil site conditions, the PGA
ratio for moderate earthquakes (6.5≤M<7.0) has a
much larger value than for small (4.5≤M<6.5) or large
earthquakes (M≥7.0), while both PGV (Peak Ground
Velocity) and PGD (Peak Ground Displacement)
exhibit a general trend of increasing as the earthquake
magnitude increases except for the soil site, when Rv and
RD for moderate earthquakes are slightly less than for
small earthquakes.
(2) For a period of less than 0.1s, the spectrum ratios
for different durations are significantly larger than the
2/3 value given in existing seismic design codes, and the
largest ratio of about 1.3 occurs when the pulse with the
shortest duration is considered.
(3) For moderate earthquakes in the short period
range, the soil site experiences a much larger spectrum
ratio than the rock site. On the contrary, in the long
period range, the rock site experiences a much larger
spectrum ratio than the soil site. For large earthquakes
in the long period range, a similar situation happens, i.e.,
the rock site experiences a much larger spectrum ratio
than the soil site, and a maximum spectrum ratio of 1.2
was observed at T=7s at the rock site.
(4) Bridges subjected to near-fault ground motions,
which are characterized by a large peak value ratio and
pulse motion, would suffer much larger displacement
and base shear, and a slightly larger moment than under
far-fault motions. The seismic response of the bridge
subjected to near-fault motions without a pulse wave is
close to the far-fault motions considered in this study.
The P-Δ effect may have a significant influence on the
displacement at the pier top. The structural damage to
the bridge, when it is subjected to the near-fault motions,
may be caused by the overlarge displacement.
Acknowledgements
The research summarized in this paper was supported
by the China National Natural Science Foundation
under Grant No.50278002, and the Dalian Nationalities
University PHD Foundation No.20066104.This support
is gratefully acknowledged.
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