Pure Appl. Geophys.
167 (2010), 1485–1510
Ó 2010 Birkhäuser / Springer Basel AG
DOI 10.1007/s00024-010-0131-z
Effects of Impedance Contrast and Soil Thickness on Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves
and Associated Differential Ground Motion
J. P. NARAYAN1
Abstract—This paper presents the effects of impedance con-
trast (IC) across the basin edge, velocity contrast between the basin
and underlying bedrock, Poisson’s ratio and soil thickness on the
characteristics of basin-transduced Rayleigh (BTR) waves and
associated differential ground motion (DGM). Analysis of simu-
lated results for a two-dimensional (2D) basin revealed complex
mode transformation of Rayleigh waves after entering the basin.
Excellent correlation of frequencies corresponding to different
spectral ratio peaks in ellipticity curves of BTR waves and spectral
amplification peaks was obtained. However, such correlation was
not observed between values of peaks in ellipticity curves and
spectral amplification at the corresponding frequencies. An
increase of spectral amplification with IC was obtained. The largest
spectral amplification was more than twice the IC in the horizontal
component and more than the IC in the vertical component in the
case of large and same impedance contrast for P- and S-waves. It
was concluded that the frequency corresponding to the largest
spectral amplification was greater than the fundamental frequency
of soil by around 14% and 44% in the vertical and horizontal
components, respectively. Spectral amplification of the vertical
component was negligible when soil thickness was less than around
15–20 times the S-wave wavelength in the basin. The largest values
of peak ground displacement (PGD) and peak differential ground
motion (PDGM) were obtained very near the basin edge, and their
values with offset from the edge were strongly dependent on the IC
across the basin edge, Poisson’s ratio, velocity contrast between the
basin and underlying bedrock (dispersion), damping and soil
thickness. The obtained value of PDGM for a span of 50 m in the
horizontal and vertical components due to the BTR wave was of the
order of 0.75 9 10-3 and 1.32 9 10-3 for unit amplitude (1.0 cm)
in the horizontal component of the Rayleigh wave at rock very near
the basin edge.
Key words: Basin-transduced surface wave, complex mode
transformation, spectral amplification of surface waves, differential
ground motion, 2D finite-difference simulation.
1
Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India. E-mail:
jaypnfeq@iitr.ernet.in
Pure and Applied Geophysics
1. Introduction
When high-frequency surface waves, caused by
shallow-focal-depth earthquakes, enter a basin, part
of their energy is reflected back while the rest is
transmitted into the basin. Kawase (1993, 2002)
called such types of surface waves inside the basin as
basin-transduced surface waves. In the basin, near the
edge, complex transformation from one mode of
surface wave from the surrounding rock to different
modes in the basin takes place. The existence of
basin-transduced surface wave was reported by
HANKS (1975), who showed a series of wavelets
recorded during the San Fernando, California earth-
quake of 1971. The duration of displacement records
was short in rocky region but quite long and dispersed
in the Los Angeles basin. VIDALE and HELMBERGER
(1988) subsequently simulated these low-frequency
basin-transduced surface waves in the San Fernando
and Los Angeles basins. SATO et al. (1999) repro-
duced results of displacement records observed at
Tokyo during the Kanto earthquake of 1923 and
confirmed the recording of basin-transduced surface
waves based on three-dimensional (3D) finite-differ-
ence simulations. OZEL and TSUTOMU (2004) also
reported long-period (about 2.0 s) basin-transduced
surface waves in the Adapazari basin during the
Izmit, Turkey earthquake of 1999 based on strong
and weak motion records. The characteristics of the
Rayleigh wave (R-wave) response of crust have been
studied in detail for sources at various depths with
different focal mechanisms (PANZA et al., 1973,
1975). Recently, KUMAR (2008) studied the effects of
focal depth on the spectral content of R-waves gen-
erated in a homogeneous half-space.
1486 J. P. Narayan
Spatial variability in ground motion (SVGM)
refers to differences in amplitude and phase of
seismic motions over extended areas. SVGM is
caused by earthquake focal mechanism (radiation
pattern), rupture directivity, non-vertical propagation
of body waves, surface waves, relative surface fault
motion, waves arriving from different azimuths and
local site effects. In earthquake engineering, sto-
chastic models are being used for the long back to
asses and to incorporate the effects of SVGM into
earthquake-resistant designs. The role of local site
effects in SVGM may surpass the contribution of
other factors listed above under certain conditions.
Differential ground motion (DGM) caused by sur-
face waves strongly depends on their frequency
content and amplitude. If the wavelength of surface
waves is comparable to the spatial extent of struc-
tures, then DGM developed by surface waves has an
important effect on the response of infrastructures
such as pipelines, bridges and communication
transmission systems, which extend over long dis-
tances parallel to the ground and whose supports
may undergo various motions during an earthquake.
DGM induces significant additional stresses in such
structures compared with when the motions at the
supports are considered to be identical. ROMANELLI
et al. (2004) computed the SVGM caused due to
lateral heterogeneity and concluded that it may cause
an increase of more than one unit in the seismic
intensity experienced by bridges (the structure con-
sidered in that analysis) with respect to the average
intensity affecting the area. Another important cause
of DGM is surface waves generated at basin edges
and underground ridges (BARD and BOUCHON,
1980a, b; MOCZO and BARD, 1993; PITARKA et al.,
1998; GRAVES et al., 1998; NARAYAN, 2003, 2005;
NARAYAN and SINGH, 2006; NARAYAN and RAM,
2006). Recently, HALLIER et al. (2008) studied the
effects of basin edges on ground motion character-
istics and concluded that the basin-edge effect
contributed to the occurrence of a damage belt in a
frequency band wider than previously reported dur-
ing the Hyogo-Ken Nanbu earthquake of 1995.
In this paper, effects of impedance contrast (IC)
across the basin edge, velocity contrast between
the basin and underlying bedrock, Poisson’s ratio
of soil and soil thickness on the complex mode
Pure Appl. Geophys.
transformation of R-waves, spectral amplification
of basin-transduced Rayleigh waves, reflection of
R-waves from the basin edge and conversion of
R-waves into body waves are studied in detail. The
spectral amplification of BTR waves was obtained by
taking the spectral ratio of the undamped computed
response in the basin and at rock very near the basin
edge. This is practicable since there is no divergence
effect in 2D simulation of surface waves. The dif-
ferential ground motion caused by BTR waves near
the basin edge was computed for different values of
IC, Poisson’s ratio, span and soil thickness for unit
amplitude (1.0 cm) in the horizontal R-wave com-
ponent at rock very near the basin edge. The basin-
edge slope was taken as 90° to study the effects of
soil thickness on the reflectivity of R-waves and peak
differential ground motion (PDGM). A second-order
accurate in time and fourth-order accurate in space (2,
4) staggered-grid P-SV wave finite-difference (FD)
algorithm with variable grid size was used for the
BTR wave simulations (NARAYAN and KUMAR, 2008;
KUMAR, 2008).
2. Salient Aspects of the Applied Computer Program
The staggered-grid finite-difference method is
one of the most useful numerical methods to simu-
late ground motion characteristics (MADARIAGA,
1976; VIRIEUX, 1986; LEVANDER, 1988; LUO and
SCHUSTER, 1990; GRAVES, 1996; PITARKA, 1999;
OHMINATO and CHOUET, 1997; NARAYAN, 2001a, b;
MOCZO et al. 2002; NARAYAN and KUMAR, 2008).
KRISTEK et al. (2002) reported that the stress imag-
ing technique used as the free surface boundary
condition (LEVANDER, 1988; GRAVES, 1996) causes
dispersion of Rayleigh waves in a homogeneous
media and requires ten grid points per shortest
wavelength. Recently, NARAYAN and KUMAR (2008)
have developed a vertical grid-size reduction (VGR)
stress imaging technique in order to avoid the soil
thickness discrepancy arising due to the combination
of the staggered grid and the stress imaging tech-
nique, and to avoid the significant dispersion of
Rayleigh waves in a homogeneous half-space. The
elastodynamic wave equations for P-SV wave
propagation in heterogeneous media are
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1487

!
2 pf0 Dt
o U orxx orxz Ai;l ¼ exp ; ð6Þ
q ¼ þ ; ð1Þ QSi;l
ot2 ox oz
o2 W orxz orzz where QS is the S-wave quality factor. The aim of
q ¼ þ : ð2Þ this work is to simulate BTR waves, which will be
ot2 ox oz
more or less affected by the S-wave quality factor.
The stress–strain relationships are As it is difficult to distinguish P- and S-waves in
oU oW finite-difference time-domain calculations, QS was
rxx ¼ ðk þ 2lÞ þk ; ð3Þ
ox oz used in the attenuation operator. QS was taken as
10% of the S-wave velocity at the grid nodes
oW oU
rzz ¼ ðk þ 2lÞ þk ; ð4Þ (OLSEN, 2000). The attenuation operator was applied
oz ox
  to displacement fields at both the updated and
oU oW present time after iteration, since effectively both
rxz ¼ l þ ; ð5Þ
oz ox the updated and the present displacement fields have
propagated during each iteration. The attenuation
where U and W are the components of particle dis-
operator was not applied to the stress components,
placement in the horizontal and vertical directions.
since they were computed using the updated dis-
rxx, rzz and rxz are the stress components, q is density
o o 2 placement field, for which the attenuation operator
and k and l are the Lamé constants. ox ; oz and oto 2 are
had already been applied (NARAYAN and KUMAR,
the differential operators.
2008). In order to avoid the need for large amounts
Figure 1 shows the staggering technique, where
of computational memory and time, variable grid
normal stress components and Lamé parameters are
size with a continuous grid mesh was used (PITARKA,
defined at the nodes. The shear stress component and
1999; NARAYAN, 2005; NARAYAN and SINGH, 2006;
the modulus of rigidity are defined at the centre of the
NARAYAN and RAM, 2006; NARAYAN and KUMAR,
grid. Horizontal and vertical components of particle
2008).
displacement and the density are defined midway
between the two adjacent grid points in the horizontal
and vertical directions, respectively. The effective
2.1. VGR Stress Imaging Technique
values of the modulus of rigidity and the density were
obtained using harmonic and arithmetic means, In the applied FD algorithm, free surface is
respectively (ZAHRADNIK and PRIOLO, 1995; MOCZO collocated with grid nodes where the horizontal
et al., 2002). Both sponge (ISRAELI and ORSZAG, 1981) component of the particle displacement is defined
and A1 absorbing (CLAYTON and ENGQUIST, 1977) (Fig. 1). Effectively the layer interface lies one-half
boundary conditions were implemented at the model of the vertical grid size above the defined layer
edges to avoid edge reflections (KUMAR and NARAYAN, interface for the horizontal component (NARAYAN and
2008). KUMAR, 2008). Similarly, the effective interface
A time-domain attenuation operator based on an between the first soil layer and the vacuum/air will
approximate technique was used for modelling of lie one-half of the vertical grid size above the free
spatially varying viscoelastic media (ZAHRADNIK surface for the horizontal component of particle
et al., 1990a, b; GRAVES, 1996; OPRSAL et al., 2005; displacement. In the case of the VGR stress imaging
OPRSAL and FAH, 2007; NARAYAN and KUMAR, 2008). technique, the vertical grid size above the free surface
A dominant frequency (f0) in the middle of the is reduced during the explicit computation of the free
desired frequency band was chosen as a reference surface boundary condition (NARAYAN and KUMAR,
frequency. The attenuation operator (A) used in the 2008). If the vertical grid size above the free surface
simulation and applied at a grid point (i, l) for tends to zero, then the interface between the first soil
duration Dt, the time step, is layer and the vacuum/air almost coincides with the
1488 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 1
a Staggering technique for P-SV wave modeling with fourth-order spatial accuracy. Particle displacement and density are defined midway
ZZ
between two adjacent grid points in the horizontal and vertical directions. Normal stress components rZZ and rXX denoted by rXX and Lamé
parameters are defined at grid nodes, and shear stress components and modulus of rigidity are defined at the centre of the grid and b extended
grid points above the free surface

free surface. In the following paragraphs, the proce-

ðrxz Þiþ1;l1 ¼ ðrxz Þiþ1;lþ1 ; ð9Þ
dure for computation of the required displacement 2 2 2 2

and stress components above the free surface is
briefly described.
To compute the particle displacement at the free
surface and one-half and one grid size below the free
surface, the stress components rzz, rxx and rxz are
required above the free surface (Fig. 1b). The stress
components rzz and rxz above the free surface can
be obtained using the stress imaging technique
(LEVANDER, 1988; GRAVES, 1996).
ðrzz Þi;l¼0 ¼ 0;
ðrzz Þi;l1 ¼ ðrzz Þi;lþ1 ;
ðrxz Þiþ1;l3 ¼ ðrxz Þiþ1;lþ3 : ð10Þ
2 2 2 2
Let us assume that the vertical grid size above the
free surface is reduced by a factor of K compared with
the vertical grid size just below the free surface [where
K ¼ DZ below the free surface
DZ above the free surface is the vertical grid size reduc-
tion factor (VGRF)]. During the computation of rxx
and rzz at l = 0 and l ? 1 and of rxz at l ? 1/2, the
required components of particle displacement above
ð7Þ the free surface Wi;l12 ; Wi;l32 and Uiþ12;l1 were
obtained with the help of Eqs. 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 using
ð8Þ second-order FD approximations (GRAVES, 1996).
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1489

  grid size in both the horizontal and vertical directions

nþ1 nþ1 k DZi;l
Wi;l 1 ¼ Wi;lþ þ
1
was 100 m (six grid points per shortest wavelength).
2 2 k þ 2l i;l¼0 DXi1;l¼0 þ DXi;l¼0 Figure 2 shows a comparison of the responses com-
 h i
1 nþ1 nþ1 puted using the stress imaging technique (dotted line)
 þ 1 Uiþ 1  U 1 ; ð11Þ
K 2;l¼0 i2;l¼0
and the VGR stress imaging technique (solid line). The
first arrival in the response is the P-wave, whose
nþ1 nþ1 DZi;l¼0
Uiþ 1 ¼ Uiþ 1 þ amplitude is very small compared with the other two
2;l1 2;l¼0 KDXi;l¼0
h i seismic phases. The P-wave is only visible in the trace
nþ1 nþ1 nþ1 nþ1
 Wiþ1;l 1  W
i;l 1 þ W
iþ1;lþ 1  W
i;lþ 1 recorded at epicentral distance of 9 km. The second
2 2 2 2

1 h nþ1 nþ1
i arrival is the evanescent P-wave caused by the SV-
þ U 1  Uiþ1;l¼0 ; ð12Þ wave incident at the free surface at the critical angle.
K iþ2;lþ1 2

  The evanescent P-wave is propagating along the free

nþ1 nþ1 k 2DZi;l
Wi;l 3 ¼ W i;l12
þ   surface. The third arrival is the Rayleigh wave mainly
2 k þ 2l i;l¼0 K DXi1;l þ DXi;l caused by the incident SV-wave since the source was
h i
nþ1 nþ1 nþ1 nþ1 dominated by SV-wave. The arrival time of the
 Uiþ 1  U 1 þ U 1  U 1
2;l1 i2;l1 iþ2;lþ1 i2;lþ1
evanescent P-wave is the same at different epicentral
1 h nþ1 nþ1
i
þ Wi;lþ3  Wi;lþ 1 : ð13Þ distances for both the stress imaging technique and the
K 2 2
VGR stress imaging technique, which means, in the
Furthermore, it was assumed that, in the VGR case of a body wave propagating along the free
stress imaging technique, the stress components at surface, that there is no dispersion for both free surface
l ? 1/2, l ? 1 or l ? 3/2 first linearly reduce to zero boundary conditions. However, there is dissimilarity
up to the free surface and then linearly increase up to in the arrival time of the Rayleigh wave (third arrival).
l - 1/2, l - 1 or l - 3/2 above the free surface. The arrival time of the Rayleigh wave in the case of the
Under this assumption, if the grid size above the free stress imaging technique (dotted line) is greater than
surface is reduced by K, then the stress components that in the case of the VGR stress imaging technique
above the free surface at l - 1/2, l - 1 or l - 3/2 (solid line), and this difference in arrival time increases
ðrxz Þiþ1;l1 ðr Þ ðrxz Þiþ1;l3
will be 2 2 zz
; Ki;l1 and 2 2
; respectively. with distance travelled. So, it can be inferred that the
K K
increase of difference in Rayleigh-wave arrival time
When the VGRF is equal to 1.0, the VGR stress
with distance travelled may be due to Rayleigh-wave
imaging technique is equivalent to the well-known
dispersion in the computed response when using the
stress imaging technique.
stress imaging technique.
In order to verify that there is no significant
2.2. Rayleigh-Wave Dispersion
Rayleigh-wave dispersion in the case of the VGR
In order to show the efficiency of the VGR stress stress imaging technique, seismic responses were
imaging technique to avoid significant dispersion of computed using different VGRF values. Figure 3a
R-waves, seismic responses of a homogeneous half- shows the response computed at 27 km epicentral
space model were computed using both the stress distance using different VGRFs. Again, there is no
imaging technique (LEVANDER, 1988; GRAVES, 1996) effect of VGRF on the arrival time of the evanescent
and the VGR stress imaging technique (NARAYAN and P-wave. However, the travel time of the Rayleigh
KUMAR, 2008). The model parameters of P-wave and wave is strongly affected by the value of VGRF used.
S-wave velocity, density and quality factor were taken There is reduction of arrival time (dispersion) of the
as 3,117.7 and 1,800 m/s, 2.5 g/cc and 180, respec- Rayleigh wave with increasing VGRF. So, it can be
tively. The response was computed at four epicentral inferred that the delay in arrival time is largest in the
distances, 9.0, 18.0, 27.0 and 36.0 km, using a source case of the response computed using the stress
at a focal depth of 2.0 km. A Ricker wavelet with imaging technique (VGRF = 1) and it is theoretically
dominant frequency of 1 Hz and bandwidth of 0–3 Hz negligible in the case of infinite (107) VGRF. The
was used as a point source excitation function. The dispersion also causes change of the wavelet shape.
1490 J. P. Narayan
Figure 2
Comparison of computed responses using the stress imaging technique (dotted line) and the VGR stress imaging technique (solid line) at
different epicentral distances using a source at a depth of 2.0 km
In order to further confirm that the VGR stress
imaging technique is Rayleigh wave dispersion free,
the seismic responses computed at epicentral dis-
tances of 18.0 and 36.0 km using the stress imaging
technique (VGRF = 1) and the VGR stress imaging
technique (VGRF = 107) were used to plot the path
of particle motion during Rayleigh wave propagation.
The seismic response in time windows of 10–14 and
22–26 s corresponding to epicentral distances of 18
and 36 km were used to plot the elliptical path of the
particle motion. Figure 3b and c depicts plots of the
path of particle motion at epicentral distance of
18 km (solid line) and 36 km (dotted line) using the
stress imaging technique and the VGR stress imaging
technique, respectively. Analysis of Fig. 3b and c
reveals a change of shape of the path of the particle
motion in the case of the stress imaging technique.
The preserved shape of the path of particle motion
with distance travelled in the case of the VGR stress
imaging technique further confirms that the VGR
stress imaging technique is free from any significant
Rayleigh-wave dispersion.
3. Effects of Impedance Contrast (IC) on BTR Waves
Seismic responses of a basin-edge model were
computed to study the effects of impedance contrast
Pure Appl. Geophys.
(IC) on the characteristics of BTR waves and spatial
variability in ground motion near the basin edge. The
IC across the basin edge was varied by changing the
velocity in the basin while keeping the density con-
stant (velocity-dependent IC), and vice versa, since
IC may not only affect the transmission of Rayleigh
waves in the basin but also the dispersion of BTR
waves due to the velocity contrast between the basin
and underlying bedrock. The Poisson’s ratio in soil
and rock was similar in order to avoid the effects of
Poisson’s ratio on the characteristics of BTR waves.
For this purpose, a basin with strong lateral discon-
tinuity (SLD) with edge slope of 90° was
incorporated in a homogeneous half-space (Fig. 4a).
The positive X-coordinate was pointing north, and the
positive Z-coordinate was pointing downward. The
left edge of the basin was 4.8 km north of the epi-
centre and the right edge of the basin was open. Soil
thickness in the basin was taken as 100 m. The
parameters for four velocity-dependent IC models
(MVC1–MVC4) keeping soil density constant are
presented in Table 1. Similarly, the parameters for
another four density-dependent IC models (MDC1–
MDC4) keeping soil velocity constant are given in
Table 2. P- and S-wave velocities, density and quality
factor for the basement were taken as 3,117.7 and
1,800 m/s, 2.5 g/cc and 180, respectively. The hori-
zontal grid size from the left edge of the model was
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1491

Figure 3
a Comparison of computed response at an epicentral distance of 27.0 km using different VGRF values, and the shape of the path of particle
motion at epicentral distances of 18 km (solid line) and 36 km (dotted line) using b the stress imaging technique and c the VGR stress imaging
technique for VGRF = 107 (Note infinite VGRF means a very large number, of the order of 107)

40 m up to 8.0 km, 10 m from 4.0 km to 16.8 km
and 40 m thereafter. The vertical grid size from the
top of the model was 10 m up to 180 and 40 m
thereafter. The time step was taken as 0.0022 s.
Seismic response was computed at 60 equidistant
(200 m apart) receiver points extending from the
epicentre to 11.8 km north of it. A Ricker wavelet
with 2.0 Hz dominant frequency was used as the
excitation function.
Figure 4b shows the spectra of the horizontal and
vertical components of the R-wave recorded at the
tenth receiver using a source at a depth of 150 m. The
R-wave has considerable spectral amplitude in the
frequency bandwidth of 1.0–5.0 Hz, with a dominant
frequency around 2.75 Hz. Figure 5 depicts the hor-
izontal and vertical component of the damped seismic
response of the basin-edge velocity-dependent IC
models (MVC1–MVC4). Only the R-wave is visible
in the traces recorded on rock (traces 1–25). The
traces recorded in the basin (traces 26–60) show
complex mode transformation of the R-wave after
entering the basin. The amplitude of the R-wave is
1492 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 4
a and b show the vertically exaggerated basin-edge model and spectra of Rayleigh waves recorded at the tenth receiver, respectively

Table 1
P-wave velocity (Vp), S-wave velocity (VS), density, quality factor, Poisson’s ratio, impedance contrast and largest spectral amplification for
considered basin soils, corresponding to various velocity-dependent IC models (MVC1–MVC4)

IC model Vp (m/s) Vs (m/s) Density Quality Poisson’s SV/P-waves Largest spectral amplification
(g/cm3) factor ratio IC
H-comp V-comp

MVC1 1,342.34 775.0 2.0 77.5 0.25 2.90 4.29 3.76

MVC2 1,039.23 600.0 2.0 60.0 0.25 3.75 7.67 5.76
MVC3 866.02 500.0 2.0 50.0 0.25 4.50 10.09 6.67
MVC4 736.09 425.0 2.0 42.5 0.25 5.29 11.11 6.92
Vol. 167, (2010)
P-wave velocity (Vp), S-wave velocity (VS), density, quality factor, Poisson’s ratio, impedance contrast and largest spectral amplification for
considered basin soils, corresponding to various velocity-dependent IC models (MDC1–MDC4)
IC models Vp (m/s) Vs (m/s) Density (g/cm3)
MDC1 736.09 425.0 1.90
MDC2 736.09 425.0 2.00
MDC3 736.09 425.0 2.15
MDC4 736.09 425.0 2.30
greater in the vertical component compared with the
horizontal component in traces recorded at rock.
Based on analysis of Fig. 5, it seems that different
modes of BTR wave have developed. The earlier
arrivals of BTR wave are less dispersed and have
greater amplitude in the horizontal than the vertical
component. On the other hand, the later arrivals of
BTR wave are highly dispersed and have more
amplitude in the vertical than in the horizontal
component. Furthermore, the earlier arrivals of BTR
wave are less affected by the velocity contrast
between the basin and underlying bedrock as com-
pared with the later arrivals of BTR wave.
3.1. Effects of IC on BTR-Wave Amplification
Damped seismic responses of basin-edge models
(MVC1–MVC4) were used to quantify the effects of
IC across the basin edge and the velocity contrast
between the basin and underlying bedrock on peak
ground displacement (PGD). Figure 6a shows the
PGD in each trace recorded on the free surface from
600 m south to 4.0 km north of basin edge. The PGD
in the vertical component is governed by the later
arrivals of BTR waves. Similarly, the PGD in the
horizontal component is governed by the earlier
arrivals of BTR waves. The largest value of PGD was
obtained at a distance of around 200 and 400 m north
of basin edge in the vertical and horizontal compo-
nents, respectively. It can be inferred that the distance
of occurrence of the largest value of PGD is
somewhat wavelength/mode dependent. The PGD
was proportional to IC, except for model MVC4
where it has reduced. Furthermore, for an offset of
more than 1.5 km from the basin edge, the PGD is
decreasing with increasing IC in both components,
Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1493
Table 2
Quality factor Poisson’s ratio SV/P-wave IC Largest spectral amplification
H-comp V-comp
42.5 0.25 5.57 11.93 7.05
42.5 0.25 5.29 11.11 6.92
42.5 0.25 4.92 10.72 6.70
42.5 0.25 4.60 10.37 6.46
due to the combined effects of soil damping and
BTR-wave dispersion. Furthermore, the rate of
decrease of PGD with offset is lesser in the horizontal
component, since it is governed by the earlier arrivals
of BTR waves. This means that the PGD in the basin
is governed by the IC across the basin edge, velocity
contrast between the basin and underlying bedrock
(BTR-wave dispersion) and the damping. It can also
be inferred that the maximum amplitude amplifica-
tion of BTR waves is of the order of 3.3, in model
MVC3.
In order to determine the effects of velocity-
dependent IC on the spectral amplification of BTR
waves, undamped seismic responses of basin-edge
models (MVC1–MVC4) were computed (Table 1).
Figure 7a shows a comparison of BTR-wave ampli-
tude recorded at the 30th receiver. There is only
minor variation in maximum BTR-wave amplitude,
but there is drastic increase of BTR-wave duration
with increasing IC. This may be due to increasing
Rayleigh-wave dispersion with increasing velocity
contrast between the basin and underlying bedrock.
The BTR-wave spectra shown in Fig. 7b are highly
complex compared with the R-wave spectra shown in
Fig. 4b. The BTR-wave spectral amplification, shown
in Fig. 7c, was computed by taking the ratio of BTR-
wave and R-wave spectra recorded at the 30th and
10th receivers, respectively. This approach for com-
putation of Rayleigh-wave spectral amplification
seems reasonable, since R-wave propagation is 1D
in nature in 2D simulations and there is no decrease
of energy of R-waves or BTR waves due to
divergence. There is a shift of the frequency corre-
sponding to the largest spectral amplification towards
lower values with increasing IC. The largest spectral
amplification factor is increasing with IC in both
1494 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 5
Damped seismic response of basin-edge model for different impedance contrast (MVC1–MVC4)

components, but more so in the horizontal compo-
nent. In order to determine the relationship between
the different spectral amplification peaks in the
horizontal and vertical components and the peaks in
the ellipticity curves, BTR-wave H/V and V/H ratios
were computed (Fig. 7d). A comparison of Fig. 7c
and d shows that there is good correlation between
the frequencies corresponding to different spectral
amplification peaks in the horizontal and vertical
components with the H/V and V/H ratio peaks,
respectively. However, such correlation between
values of peaks in spectral amplification and the
ellipticity curves was not obtained, as for the IC
across the basin edge. On the other hand, excellent
correlation between IC and the values of spectral
amplification corresponding to the first few peaks in
the lower frequency range was obtained (Table 1).
The average spectral amplification is not governed by
the IC. In order to determine the relation between the
frequency corresponding to the largest spectral
amplification and the fundamental frequency of basin
soil, a graph was plotted of spectral amplification
versus kS-wave/STH (kS-wave: S-wave wavelength in
soil; STH: soil thickness). The analysis of Fig. 7e
shows that the largest spectral amplification occurs at
a particular value of kS-wave/STH (3.45 and 2.25 in the
horizontal and vertical components, respectively).
Similarly, to quantify the effects of density-
dependent IC on the spectral amplification of BTR
wave, undamped seismic responses of basin-edge
Vol. 167, (2010)
a and b Peak ground displacement (PGD) at various locations for different impedance contrast and soil thickness, respectively
models (MDC1–MDC4) were computed (Table 2).
Figure 8a shows a comparison of BTR-wave ampli-
tude recorded at the 30th receiver. There is only
minor variation in BTR-wave amplitude and duration
with increasing density-dependent IC. The BTR-
wave spectral shape shown in Fig. 8b is almost
unaffected by the change of IC. However, the spectral
amplification increased with IC (Fig. 8c). The largest
spectral amplification occurred at the first and second
spectral peaks in the horizontal and vertical compo-
nents, respectively. The spectral amplification pattern
shows that all frequencies are equally affected by
variation of IC for a particular velocity contrast
between the basin and underlying bedrock. Good
Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1495
Figure 6
correlation between IC and values of spectral ampli-
fication corresponding to different peaks was
obtained (Table 2). Again, in order to determine the
relation between the frequency corresponding to the
largest spectral amplification and the fundamental
frequency of basin soil, a graph was plotted of
spectral amplification versus kS-wave/STH (Fig. 8e). In
this case also, the largest spectral amplification
occurred at a particular value of kS-wave/STH (3.45
and 2.22 in the horizontal and vertical components,
respectively). So, it can be concluded that the
frequency corresponding to the largest spectral
amplification is greater than the fundamental fre-
quency (F0) of soil in the basin by around 14% and
1496 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 7
a–c BTR waves recorded at the 30th receiver for models MVC1–MVC4, spectral amplitude and spectral amplification, respectively, d BTR-
wave ellipticity curves (H/V and V/H ratios) and e spectral amplification as a function of kS-wave/STH (Note the value of kS-wave/STH is 4,
corresponding to the 1D resonance)
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves
44% in the horizontal and vertical components,
respectively.
3.2. Effects of IC on PDGM Developed by BTR
Waves
For the computation of differential ground motion
in the basin, damped seismic responses of models
MVC1–MVC4 (Table 1) were computed from 600 m
south to 3,950 m north of basin edge at 92 equidistant
(50 m apart) receiver points. Before the computation
of DGM, all traces were normalised by the maximum
amplitude of the horizontal component of the R-wave
recorded at rock very near the basin edge. Thereafter,
the DGM was computed for spans of 50, 100, 150 and
200 m, by simply dividing the difference of ground
displacements in a respective component at two
receiver points by the distance (span) between them.
Figure 9 shows a comparison of peak differential
ground motion obtained at different locations for
different spans, and the IC for unit amplitude (1.0 cm)
in the horizontal component of the R-wave. The
largest value of PDGM was obtained very near the
basin edge, but this distance was somewhat greater for
the horizontal component. This may be since the
distance corresponding to the PDGM in the horizontal
component is being controlled by earlier arrivals (low
frequency) of BTR waves. This inference corrobo-
rates the conclusion drawn by HALLIER et al. (2008).
In the case of the horizontal component, the PDGM
very near the basin edge is increasing with IC for all
spans considered. A decrease of PDGM with increas-
ing span was inferred. In the case of the vertical
component, the PDGM near the basin edge is increas-
ing with IC for a span of 50 m only. This may be due to
the combined effects of dispersion, damping and
reduction of wavelength with increasing IC. This
effect is not visible in the case of the horizontal
component, since the PDGM in the horizontal compo-
nent is governed by the BTR wave, whose velocity is
almost unaffected by the IC. After some distance
(1.5 km) from the basin edge, there is decrease of
PDGM with IC in the vertical component due to
damping and dispersion, even for 50 m span. However,
this trend is not observed in the horizontal component
because of lesser effects of damping and dispersion on
the earlier arrivals of BTR waves at that offset.
1497
4. Effects of Poisson’s Ratio on BTR Waves
Seismic responses of the same basin model with
different basin soil Poisson’s ratio were computed to
study the effects of Poisson’s ratio on the character-
istics of BTR waves and the spatial variability in
ground motion near the basin edge. The parameters
for four models (MPR1–MPR4) corresponding to
different Poisson’s ratio are given in Table 3.
4.1. Effects of Poisson’s Ratio on Amplification
of BTR Waves
Figure 10a shows a comparison of the amplitude
of the BTR wave recorded at the 30th receiver for
different Poisson’s ratios. Comparative analysis of
Figs. 7a and 10a shows that there is drastic change in
BTR-wave amplitude and duration with increasing
Poisson’s ratio. The BTR-wave spectral amplification
is shown in Fig. 10c. The largest spectral amplifica-
tion increases with Poisson’s ratio in the horizontal
component, but it is almost constant (a minor
decrease) in the vertical component (Table 3). Com-
parison of the ellipticity curves (Fig. 10d) with the
BTR-wave spectral amplification shows good corre-
lation between the frequencies corresponding to
different spectral amplification peaks in the horizon-
tal and vertical components with the H/V and V/H
ratio peaks, respectively. Figure 10c and e depicts
increase of spectral amplification in the horizontal
component but decrease in the vertical component of
BTR waves with increasing Poisson’s ratio in the
lower frequency range. There is minor decrease of the
value of kS-wave/STH that corresponds to the largest
spectral amplification with Poisson’s ratio. The range
of values of kS-wave/STH is 3.45–3.34 in the horizontal
component for a range of Poisson’s ratio of 0.25–
0.435.
4.2. Effects of Poisson’s Ratio on PDGM Developed
by BTR Waves
Damped seismic responses of models MPR1–
MPR4 (Table 3) were computed to obtain the DGM in
the basin. Figure 11 shows a comparison of the
PDGM obtained at different locations for different
spans and Poisson’s ratios. The largest value of
1498 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 8
a–c BTR waves recorded at the 30th receiver in the case of models MDC1–MDC4, spectral amplitude and spectral amplification, respectively,
d BTR-wave ellipticity curves (H/V and V/H ratios) and e spectral amplification as a function of kS-wave/STH (Note the value of kS-wave/STH is
4, corresponding to the 1D resonance)
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1499

Figure 9
Variation of peak differential ground motion (PDGM) with impedance contrast (MVC1–MVC4) and span at various locations for unit
amplitude (1.0 cm) in the horizontal component of the R-wave at rock very near the basin edge
1500 J. P. Narayan
Table 3
P-wave velocity (Vp), S-wave velocity (VS), density, quality factor, Poisson’s ratio, impedance contrast and largest spectral amplification for
considered basin soils corresponding to various Poisson’s ratio models (MPR1–MPR4)
PR models Vp (m/s) Vs (m/s) Density Quality
(g/cm3) factor
MPR1 1,342.34 775.0 2.0 72.5
MPR2 1,342.34 600.0 2.0 60.0
MPR3 1,342.34 500.0 2.0 50.0
MPR4 1,342.34 425.0 2.0 42.5
PDGM, obtained very near the basin edge, was
proportional to the Poisson’s ratio for all spans in
the horizontal component but was proportional to the
Poisson’s ratio in the vertical component only for the
50 m span. For larger spans (100–200 m), the largest
PDGM in the vertical component was inversely
proportional to the Poisson’s ratio. After some
distance (1.5 km) from the basin edge, there is
decrease of PDGM with Poisson’s ratio due to
damping and dispersion in both components, except
for the Poisson’s ratio of 0.25 in the horizontal
component. Comparison of Figs. 9 and 11 reveals a
decrease of PDGM with increasing Poisson’s ratio for
a particular S-wave velocity contrast (Tables 1 and 3).
Analysis of Figs. 9 and 11 shows that the PDGM
developed in the basin depends strongly on the
distance from the basin edge, span, soil damping,
velocity contrast between the basin and bedrock
(dispersion), Poisson’s ratio, different arrivals of
BTR waves governing the PGD and IC across the
basin edge. The PDGM obtained in the case of
MVC4 (IC = 5.29) was of the order of 0.75 9 10-3
and 1.32 9 10-3 in the horizontal and vertical
components for span of 50 m. This finding reveals
that the DGM level caused by a BTR wave may
exceed the maximum permissible limit for DGM
recommended in IS-456 (2000) for concrete struc-
tures and IS-800 (1984) for steel structures, if the
Rayleigh wave amplitude is more than 3.0–5.0 cm at
rock. Even in the case of very long-span (200 m)
structures, if the amplitude in horizontal component
of R-wave exceeds 10 cm, the DGM developed in the
structure due to BTR waves may be damaging.
Amplitude of the order of 10 cm or even more may
occur in R-waves during strong earthquakes in the
Himalayas.
Pure Appl. Geophys.
Poisson’s SV-wave P-wave Largest spectral amplification
ratio IC IC
H-comp V-comp
0.250 2.90 2.90 4.29 3.76
0.352 3.75 2.90 5.73 3.79
0.406 4.50 2.90 6.69 3.77
0.435 5.29 2.90 6.89 3.72
5. Effects of Soil Thickness (STH) on BTR Waves
Seismic responses of basin edge with IC corre-
sponding to model MVC1 (Table 1) were computed
for different soil thicknesses (STH) to study the
effects of STH on the characteristics of seismic
waves reflected from the basin edge and BTR
waves, as well as the spatial variability of ground
motion in the basin. The discretisation scheme for
the model, source–receiver position and source
excitation function were the same as in previous
cases. Soil thickness in the basin was taken as 20,
30, 50, 100, 200, 300, 800 and 1,800 m. Soil
thickness only up to 1,800 m was considered, since
the largest R-wave wavelength is less than 1,800 m
(Fig. 4b). Figure 12a depicts the horizontal and
vertical components of R-wave recorded at the 10th
receiver and the BTR wave recorded at the 30th
receiver for the different STH values. Soil damping
was not considered during the computation of seis-
mic responses. Analysis of this figure reveals
complex mode transformation of R-waves, clearly
visible in the case of soil thickness between 70 and
300 m, for which considerable physical BTR-wave
dispersion occurs.
In order to determine the effect of soil thickness
on the dispersion and polarisation of the BTR wave,
damped seismic responses were computed for soil
thickness of 70, 100, 200 and 300 m (Fig. 13). The
variation of dispersion with soil thickness may be
attributed to shift of the frequency bandwidth over
which dispersion can occur for the considered soil
thickness and velocity contrast between the basin and
underlying bedrock. For example, the largest BTR-
wave dispersion occurred for soil thickness of 100 m
due to matching of the frequency bandwidth over
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1501

Figure 10
a–c BTR waves recorded at the 30th receiver in models MPR1–MPR4, spectral amplitude and spectral amplification, respectively, d BTR-
wave ellipticity curves (H/V and V/H ratios) and e spectral amplification as a function of kS-wave/STH (Note the value of kS-wave/STH is 4,
corresponding to the 1D resonance)
1502 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 11
Variation of PDGM with Poisson’s ratio and span at various locations for unit amplitude (1.0 cm) in the horizontal component of R-wave at
rock very near the basin edge

which dispersion can occur for the considered soil frequency. BTR-wave duration was greatly depen-
thickness and velocity contrast, with a frequency dent on the dispersion. For soil thickness either
bandwidth falling around the dominant BTR-wave \70 m or C300 m, dispersion was almost negligible.
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1503

Figure 12
a Recorded R-wave at the 10th receiver and BTR wave at the 30th receiver. b Traces recorded at the 10th receiver and c traces recorded at the
1–9th receiver for model MVC1 and soil thickness 100 m
1504 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 13
Damped seismic response of basin-edge model for different soil thickness and impedance contrast corresponding to MVC1

Furthermore, BTR-wave amplitude in the horizontal 5.1. Effects of STH on the Reflectivity of R-wave
component was more than that in the vertical com-
The traces recorded at the tenth receiver for
ponent for soil thickness \70 m, whereas the
different soil thickness are shown in Fig. 12b. The
opposite was the case for soil thickness C300 m.
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves
first arrival with very large amplitude corresponds to
R-wave propagating towards the basin edge. The
second arrival, whose amplitude is increasing up to
soil thickness 200 m and thereafter decreasing, is the
P-wave generated at the basin edge. The third arrival
is the R-wave reflected from the basin edge, whose
amplitude is increasing with increasing soil thickness.
There is a polarity change of the reflected R-wave
when the soil thickness was more than 800 m. In the
case of the vertical component, it seems that soil
thickness 200–300 m is the transition thickness for
polarity change. In order to verify that the second and
third arrivals are P-wave and the reflected R-wave,
traces recorded at the 1-9th receiver for soil thickness
of 100 m are shown in Fig. 12c. The reflections from
the left edge of the model are visible as first arrivals.
The estimated group velocity clearly shows that the
second arrivals are the P-wave, whose amplitude is
decreasing with distance due to divergence, and the
third arrivals are the reflected R-wave, whose ampli-
tude is almost constant. The SV-wave generated at
the basin edge is not visible in Fig. 12c. It may be
concluded that the polarity change of the reflected
R-wave, backed by a low-velocity medium, takes
place only when the soil thickness is greater than the
wavelength.
5.2. Effects of STH on Amplification of BTR Waves
The spectral amplification of BTR waves at the
30th receiver for different soil thickness is shown in
Fig. 14. There is a shift of the frequency correspond-
ing to the largest spectral amplification towards lower
values with increasing soil thickness. The shapes of
the spectral amplification curves are highly variable
for soil thickness 70–300 m, but they are smother for
soil thickness [800 m. It can be inferred that spectral
amplification of the vertical component of BTR
waves is almost negligible when kS-wave [ 15–20STH,
but not for the horizontal component. Figure 6b
depicts an increase of PGD in the vertical component
with increasing soil thickness very near the basin
edge, except in the case of 70 m soil thickness.
However, after some distance from the basin edge,
PGD is decreasing with decreasing soil thickness, due
to increasing physical dispersion of BTR waves. On
the other hand, in the case of the horizontal
1505
component, there is decrease of PGD for soil
thickness of 70–100 m, while the reverse is the case
for soil thickness of 200–300 m. This is because the
amplification of the horizontal component in the
lower frequency range is much greater than that of
the vertical component for soil thickness \100 m.
Furthermore, almost only the horizontal component
has been amplified for soil thickness less than 50 m.
Finally, it can be inferred that the maximum ampli-
tude amplification of BTR waves in the horizontal
component is of the order to 3.5 for soil thickness of
70 m, whereas in vertical component it is of the order
of 2.5 for soil thickness of 100 m.
Figure 15a shows that the largest spectral ampli-
fication occurs at a particular value of kS-wave/STH
(3.45 and 2.25 in the horizontal and vertical compo-
nents, respectively), as was observed in various IC
cases. The value of spectral amplification decreases as
we depart from this particular constant. Furthermore,
the largest spectral amplification is greater in the case
of the horizontal component. The value of kS-wave/STH
corresponding to the largest spectral amplification is
almost the same for those cases of soil thickness
where the frequency corresponding to that constant
falls in the frequency range of 1.0–5.0 Hz. The
variation of average BTR-wave spectral amplification
with soil thickness is shown in Fig. 15b. The average
spectral amplification in the horizontal component is
much greater than that of the vertical component when
the soil thickness is less than 300 m. When the soil
thickness was more than 300 m, the average spectral
amplification in the vertical component was some-
what more than that of the horizontal component. The
maximum average spectral amplification for both the
horizontal and vertical components was obtained as
3.2 and 2.18 for soil thickness of 100 m. Theoreti-
cally, there should be decrease of the average spectral
amplification with increasing soil thickness due to the
increase of reflectivity for the R-wave. However, this
is manifested only when the soil thickness was more
than 300 m.
5.3. Effects of STH on PDGM Developed by BTR
Waves
For quantification of the effects of soil thickness on
the DGM, damped seismic responses of the same
1506
Spectral amplification of BTR wave recorded at the 30th receiver for different soil thicknesses and IC corresponding to MVC1
basin-edge model and receiver configuration were
computed for soil thickness 70–300 m. Figure 16
shows a comparison of the PDGM obtained at different
locations for different spans and soil thicknesses for
1.0 cm amplitude of the horizontal component of the
R-wave. Analysis of Figs. 13, 14, 15b and 16 shows
that the variation of PDGM in both components with
soil thickness and span is governed by frequency-
dependent amplification (which is maximum at a
certain frequency depending on the fundamental soil
frequency) and the spectral shape of the Rayleigh
wave entering into the basin. For example, in the case
of the vertical component, the PDGM near the basin
edge is increasing with soil thickness for spans of 50
and 100 m. This observation is not the same for spans
of 150 and 200 m. The effect of variation of soil
thickness is much greater on the PDGM in the vertical
J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.
Figure 14
component as compared with the horizontal compo-
nent. The obtained PDGM for a span of 50 m was of
the order of 0.43 9 10-3 in the horizontal direction for
STH = 70 m, and 0.78 9 10-3 in the vertical compo-
nent for STH = 300 m.
6. Discussion and Conclusions
Analysis of the simulated results revealed com-
plex mode transformation of Rayleigh waves after
entering the basin (KAWASE, 1993, 2002). The less
dispersed, earlier arrivals of BTR wave had greater
amplitude in the horizontal component as compared
with the vertical component, but the opposite was the
case for the highly dispersed, later arrivals of BTR
waves. An increase of reflectivity of Rayleigh wave
Vol. 167, (2010)
a and b Spectral amplification as a function of kS-wave/STH and average amplification of BTR wave recorded at the 30th receiver for different
soil thicknesses and IC corresponding to MVC1 (Note the value of kS-wave/STH is 4, corresponding to the 1D resonance)
from the basin edge was obtained with increasing soil
thickness. Furthermore, polarity change of reflected
Rayleigh wave was observed for soil thickness
greater than 800 m (dominant wavelength). The
complex interaction of Rayleigh wave with basin
edge also generated body waves propagating from the
basin edge towards rock. The ellipticity curves (H/V
and V/H ratios) for BTR waves were governed by the
velocity contrast between the basin and underlying
bedrock, and Poisson’s ratio. Excellent correlation of
frequencies corresponding to different peaks in H/V
and V/H ratios of BTR waves and the spectral
amplification peaks in the horizontal and vertical
components was obtained, respectively. However,
such correlation between the values of peaks in the
ellipticity curves and spectral amplification at the
corresponding frequencies was not observed.
Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves 1507
Figure 15
Good correlation between the values of spectral
amplification for the first few peaks, mainly in the
lower-frequency range with velocity-dependent IC,
was observed. In the case of higher frequencies,
inference of such correlation was not possible due to
increase of the number of spectral peaks with
increasing IC. However, excellent correlation was
obtained between the values of spectral amplification
over the entire frequency range of interest with den-
sity-dependent IC. The comparison of spectral
amplification patterns in cases of velocity- and den-
sity-dependent ICs further confirmed that spectral
peak amplification frequencies are governed by the
velocity contrast between the basin and underlying
bedrock. Spectral amplification in the horizontal
component was noted in a wide frequency bandwidth
in the lower frequency range for the considered soil
1508 J. P. Narayan Pure Appl. Geophys.

Figure 16
Variation of PDGM with soil thickness and span at different locations for unit amplitude (1.0 cm) in the horizontal component of the Rayleigh
wave at rock very near the basin edge
Vol. 167, (2010) Basin-Transduced Rayleigh Waves
thickness and parameters. The largest spectral
amplification was more than twice the IC for the
horizontal component and more than the IC in the
case of the vertical component, with large and same
impedance contrast for P- and S-waves across the
basin edge. An increase of amplification in the hori-
zontal component and decrease in the vertical
component of BTR waves with increasing Poisson’s
ratio was obtained. Systematically larger values of
the frequency corresponding to the largest spectral
amplification factor than the fundamental frequency
(F0) of basin soil was inferred (14% and 44% more
than F0, in the horizontal and vertical components,
respectively). The (average) spectral amplification of
the vertical component was negligible when soil
thickness was less than around 15–20 times the
S-wave wavelength (or soil thickness \30 m) in the
basin.
The largest value of PGD and PDGM was
obtained very near the basin edge, and the distance of
its occurrence from the basin edge was frequency
dependent (HALLIER et al., 2008). An increase of
PDGM with IC near the basin edge was obtained in
the horizontal component. In the case of the vertical
component, it was proportional to IC for shorter
spans, while the opposite was inferred for longer
spans. A decrease of PDGM with increasing Pois-
son’s ratio was observed. After some distance
(1.5 km) from the basin edge, a decrease of PDGM
with IC was obtained for both components. The
effects of soil thickness on PGD and PDGM were
very complex. For example, PGD and PDGM were
greater in the horizontal component when the soil
thickness was B70 m, but were greater in the vertical
component when the soil thickness was C100 m. The
obtained PDGM (in model MVC4) in the horizontal
and vertical components due to BTR wave for a span
of 50 m was 0.75 9 10-3 and 1.32 9 10-3 for unit
amplitude (1.0 cm) in the horizontal component of
the Rayleigh wave at rock very near the basin edge.
This finding reveals that the DGM level caused by a
BTR wave may exceed the maximum permissible
limit for DGM recommended in IS-456 (2000) for
concrete structures and IS-800 (1984) for steel
structures, if the Rayleigh-wave amplitude is more
than 3–5.0 cm at rock.
1509
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Dr. Ivo Oprsal and
Dr. Emmanuel Chaljub for valuable comments and
suggestions, which led to great improvements in the
original manuscript, and also to the Earthquake Risk
Evaluation Centre (EREC), IMD, New Delhi for
financial assistance through grant ERC-244-EQD.
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