Chapter 7 Engg Seismology PDF

The University of Hong Kong
Department of Civil Engineering
M. Sc. (Eng.) CIVL 6068

“Bridge Aerodynamics & Seismic Stability”
Course Notes:
Chapter 7
Engineering Seismology
Lectured by
Eur. Ing. Dr. WONG, Kai-Yuen

Bridges and Structures Division, Highways Department,
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
1st Floor Administration Building, Northwest Tsing Yi Interchange
Tsing Yi, N.T., Hong Kong
For the Academic Year of 2005-2006 (1st Semester)

Chapter 7 – Engineering Seismology
Chapter 7
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Earthquakes
2.1 Causes and Characterization
2.2 Faulting
2.3 Quantification of Earthquakes
2.3.1 Magnitude
2.3.2 Seismic Moment
2.3.3 Moment Magnitude
2.3.4 Intensity
2.4 Strong Ground Motion
2.5 Frequency
2.6 Duration of Shaking
2.7 Attenuation of Ground Motion
3. Seismic Hazard Assessment

3.1 Procedures of Deterministic Method
3.2 Procedures of Probabilistic Method
3.3 Summary of Seismic Hazard Assessment
“Bridge Aerodynamics and Seismic Stability” – Bridge Engineering Course Series Page 1/1
Chapter 7
1. INTRODUCTION
• Seismic risk may be defined as the probability of the loss of property or loss of function of
engineering structures, lift, utilities, etc in an area during a specified exposure time.
• Three factors for assessing seismic risk are:

(i) the seismic hazard – the probability of occurrence of ground motions due to an
earthquake;
(ii) the value of the elements exposed to the hazard – properties and lives; and
(iii) the vulnerability of the elements to damage or destruction by ground motions
associated with the hazard.
• The factors for assessing seismic risk may be expressed as:
Seismic Risk = (Seismic Hazard) x (Vulnerability) x (Value)
or
(Seismic Risk / Unit Value) = (Seismic Hazard) x (Vulnerability)
This relation may be applied to estimate the seismic risk, in financial or economic terms
to any object or set of objects – buildings, bridges, a structure of any kind, a utility
network – as well as to assemblies of such objects.
• Seismic hazard is the probability of occurrence, at a given place or within a given area
and within a given period of time, of ground motion due to an earthquake capable of
causing significant loss of value. It may normally be expressed by sets of figures
indicating probability of occurrence of certain ground accelerations, velocities and
displacements, of ground movements of various durations, or any other physical
parameter, which is of significance for the vulnerability of a structure.
• For design or risk assessment purposes, seismic hazard should consists of the following
four basic steps:
(i) Definition of the nature and locations of earthquake sources;

(ii) Magnitude – Frequency relationship for the sources;
(iii) Attenuation of ground motion with distance from source; and
(iv) Determination of ground motions at the site having the required probability of
exceedance.
• Seismicity is defined as the frequency of occurrence of earthquakes per unit area in a

given region, and is shown in non-numerical terms by the world’s seismicity (Figure 7-1).
Figure 7-1
Seismicity Map of the World –
The dots indicate distribution of seismic events in the mid-twentieth century
2. EARTHQUAKES
2.1 Causes and Characterization
• Earthquakes result from the sudden release of the elastic strain energy stored in Earth’s
crust. If the speed of rupture is sufficient high, elastic waves are generated. Elastic strain
energy may accumulate in rocks anywhere on the globe by a number of process.
Currently the plate tectonic model is invoked to explain that most seismically active
regions are at active margins of plates.
• Plate Tectonics – Plate tectonics was developed on the hypothesis of sea-floor

spreading during the past few decades. According to this concept, the rigid lithosphere,
consisting of seven major plates, drifts on the rheological asthenosphere, like a ship on
the ocean, but with a very slow speed. The seven plates are the Eurasian Plate, Pacific
Plate, American Plate, African Plate, Indian-Australian Plate, Nazca Plate, and Antarctic
Plate, as sown in Figure 7-2. Each Plate may then be subdivided into smaller plates. The
relative movement of the plates is roughly a few cm/year, and has continued for at least
200 million years.
Figure 7-2
Tectonic Plate Map of the World, showing names of the seven largest plates and
indicating subduction zones and the directions of plate movement
• The Plate Tectonics theory is briefly described as in following paragraph.
“Material flows out from the upper mantle through the lithosphere at ocean ridges where
the crust is thin, and pushes the lithosphere, whose thickness is a few kilometers, drifting
horizontally on the asthenosphere, which shows rheological properties under high
temperature, high pressure and permanent horizontal pushing. When 2 tectonic plates
collide, one thrusts under the other and comes back to the lithosphere, which forms a
deep ocean trench and subduction zone at the junction of 2 plates, and volcanos and
mountains on the plate which remain on the Earth’s surface as shown in Figure 7-3.”
Figure 7-3 Sea-Floor Spreading
• Four facts support the Plate Tectonic theory:

(i) matching of the geology, paleontology and geometry of the continents;
(ii) imprinting of historical traces of magnetic fluctuations;
(iii) characteristics of ocean ridges and trenches; and
(iv) instrumental earthquake evidence.”
• Zonation of the Earth’s interior – The crust, which includes continents at the surface of
the earth, rests on the mantle. The mantle, in turn, rests on the core. The outer core is
liquid, but the inner core is solid. Figure 7-4 below is an illustration.
Figure 7-4
Zonation of the Earth’s Interior
Figure 7-5
Diagram illustrating the ground motion

near the ground surface in four forms of earthquake waves
• An earthquake gives rise to waves of 3 kinds:
(i) Primary (P-waves or dilatation waves), which are longitudinal waves that involve
back-and-forth vibrations of particles of matter in the same directions as that in
which the waves travel. P-waves, as shown in Figure 7-5(a), are essentially
pressure waves, like sound waves.
(ii) Secondary (S-waves or shear waves), which are transverse waves that involve
vibrations of particles of matter perpendicular to the direction in which the waves
travel. The waves produced by plucking a stretched string are similar to S-waves.
Both P-waves and S-waves are body waves that travel through the earth’s interior.
S-waves, as shown in Figure 7-5(b), related to shear stress transmission, cannot
occur in a liquid while P-waves can.
(iii) Surface waves, which are analogous to sea waves, involve orbital motions of
particles of matter, and are limited to the earth’s surface. Two kinds of seismic
surface waves are known, namely, the Rayleigh waves, as shown in Figure 7-5(d),
in which displacement of particles is partly vertical and partly in the direction of

propagation, and the Love waves, as shown in Figure7-5(c), associated with
displacements which are horizontal and at right-angles to the direction of travel.
Love waves are propagated only in solids which have a surface of discontinuity of
the elastic properties.
• The three kinds of seismic waves travel with different velocities, and so arrive at a distant
observer at different times after an earthquake, P-waves arrive first, S-waves next and
finally Surface waves.
• Energy is released by brittle failure on dislocations, called faults, and thus earthquakes
give rise to 2 types of surface displacement: permanent offsets on the fault itself, and
transient displacement resulting from propagation of seismic waves away from source.
• Elastic strain energy builds up on a fault, which is held static by friction, until eventually
slip is initiated at a point (or the hypocenter or focus) and rapidly spreads out over the
rupture surface.
• It is energetically more favourable to re-sue a pre-existing surface than to initiate a new

one, the same faults move repeatedly in successive earthquakes.
• Old faults inherited from some earlier episode of continental deformation can be
reactivated in present day earthquake.
• Most hypocentral depths of the continents are in the range 5-20 km, though depths down
to 650 km are found in areas within and bordering on the major oceans basins.
• The ultimate source of the energy released in earthquakes is the heat loss of the Earth,
which is responsible for the large-scale horizontal and vertical movements of the crust,
including continental drift, that in turn create the major topographic features of the Earth’s
surface.
• Human activity itself may also give rise to strain energy and its seismic release (rock
bursts) or may modify the strength of faults by causing the incursion of water so as to
permit the release of energy on a newly weakened fault (reservoir induced seismicity).
• Surface mining can also modify the stress field or groundwater regime to permit a local
release of crustal strain energy. Underground mining may also cause minor but
damaging shocks.
• Earthquakes may originate (i.e., their focus is located) within the crust or lithosphere,
depending upon whether or not the rocks are brittle at the temperatures obtaining there.
• Shallow earthquakes generally cause most problems for engineers, although there are
probably upper limits to the size of an earthquake, which can be generated at shallow
depths.
2.2 Faulting
• The definition of fault orientation and the basic types of fault displacement are shown in
Figure 7-6.
Figure 7-6
Definition of fault orientation, and of the basic types of fault displacement
• For destructive earthquake study, 4 types of faults are considered:
(i) Low angle, compressive, under-thrust faults (Figure 7-7(a)) – These result from
tectonic seabed plates spreading apart and thrusting under the circum-Pacific
earthquake belt;
(ii) Compressive, over-thrust faults (Figure 7-7(b)) – Compressive forces cause
shearing failure forcing the upper portion upwards;
(iii) Extensional faults (Figure 7-7(c)) – This is the inverse of the previous type,
extensional strain pulling the upper block down the sloping fault plane (also called
normal faults); and
(iv) Strike-slip faults (Figure 7-7(d)) – Relative horizontal displacement of the 2 sides of
the fault takes place along an essentially vertical fault plane.
Figure 7-7
The main fault types to be considered

in the study of strong ground-motion characteristics
• Almost all shallow earthquakes of magnitude greater than about 5.0 on close
examination were associated with surface faulting. Evidence also showed that for an
earthquake on a thrust fault to break surface, that fault should be at least 20 km long.
• Surface ruptures are neither continuous along the whole length of a fault-break, nor do
they follow precisely mapped faults. They apparently follow a path of least resistance
within a comparatively broad shear zone, from a few hundreds of meters to a few
kilometers wide, shifting laterally from one shear plane of weakness in one part of the
zone to another elsewhere.
• Widths of shear-zones associated with strike-slip faulting range up to 2 km, while widths
in normal faulting may be twice as broad, up to 5 km. In thrusting, shear and fracture
zones can be much wider, depending on the dip of the fault plane.
• Usually the width of a fault-zone is narrowest where strike-slip fault breaks occur,
becoming wider for normal and thrust fault breaks.
• Creep within fault zones may cause additional damage to structures before or after an
earthquake. Fault creep or slippage (within fault zones) have been occurred
as-seismically in a number of active parts associated with post-earthquake movements
and with aseismic slippage at a rate of about 10m per year.
• Most major earthquakes have occurred in close association with faults that have or could
have been recognized prior to the earthquake. Reference S08 pointed out that from the
analysis of 25 such cases of faulting in the Middle East, mostly strike-slip, the following
relation was found between surface-wave magnitude M, the associated length of rupture
L and maximum surface displacement d in centimeters:
M = 1.1 + 0.4 log (L1.58 d2)
Maximum displacements d were found to be 3.8 (±0.9) times larger than the average
displacement along the length of the rupture. This equation may be used to estimate the
maximum expected magnitude, which might result from faults of known or inferred length
and mobility near the site of interest.
• Using geological, seismological and historical data it is often possible to assess the
relative activity of a fault, and classify it in one of the four categories: (i) active; (ii)
potentially active; (iii) uncertain activity; and (iv) inactive.
• Active Faults – Historical or recent surface faulting with associated strong earthquakes;
tectonic fault creep or geodetic indications of fault movement; geologically young
deposits displaced or cut by faulting; fresh geomorphic features characteristic of active
zones present along the fault trace; physical groundwater barriers in geologically young
deposits; strati-graphic displacement of Quaternary deposits by faulting; offset streams.
Earthquakes can be associated with such individual faults with a high degree of
confidence.
• Potentially Active Faults – No reliable report of historic surface faulting; faults are not
known to cut or displace the most recent alluvial deposits, but may be found in older
alluvial deposits; geomorphic features characteristics of active fault zones are subdued,
eroded and discontinuous; water barriers may be present in older materials; the
geological setting in which the geometrical relationship to active or potentially active
faults suggest similar levels of activity. Seismically, there is alignment of some
earthquake foci along the fault trace, but locations are assigned with a low degree of
confidence.
• Faults of Uncertain Activity – Current available information is insufficient to provide

criteria definitive enough to establish suvh fault activity.
• Inactive Faults – No historical activity based on a thorough study of local sources of

information. Geologically, features or characteristics of active fault zones are not present,
and geological evidence is available to indicate that the fault has not moved in the recent
past. Seismologically, inactive faults are not recognized as a source of earthquakes.
• Figure 7-8 shows the distribution of major faults in Hong Kong region.
Figure 7-8
Distribution of Major Faults in the Hong Kong Region
2.3 Quantification of Earthquakes
• Earthquake strength is defined in two ways: first by source parameters or the total
strength (or size) of the event it self, called magnitude (ML), seismic moment (M0), or
moment magnitude (Mm); and second by visible effects or the strength of shaking at
any given place, called the intensity.
2.3.1 Magnitude
• Magnitude is an attempt to use amplitude of ground particle displacement or velocity to

arrive at a measure of the size of an earthquake. Alternatively, magnitude is a
quantitative measure of the size of an earthquake, related indirectly to the energy
released, which is independent of the place of observation. It is calculated from
amplitude measurements on seismograms, and is on a logarithmic scale expressed in
ordinary numbers and decimals.
• The most commonly used magnitude scale is that Richter scale, and is denoted MR. It is
defined as:
MR = log A – log A0
where A is the maximum recorded trace amplitude for a given earthquake at a given
distance, as specified by a Wood-Anderson instrument and A0 is that for a particular
earthquake selected as standard.
• The Wood-Anderson seismograph is not used for shocks at distance beyond about 1000
km. Hence Richter magnitude MR is now becoming local magnitude, ML, in order to
distinguish it from magnitude measured in the same way but from recordings on
long-period instruments, which are suitable for more distant events. These latter
magnitudes are measured from surface wave impulses and are denoted by MS.
• Since surface wave magnitudes are not always reliable, Gutenburg proposed an unified
magnitude denoted by m or mb, which is dependent on body waves, and is called body
wave magnitude mb. This magnitude scale is particularly appropriate for events with a
focal depth greater than 45 km.
• Many definitions of magnitude have been used and it was only in 1967 that an
international agreement amongst seismologists was reached. The most commonly
encountered magnitudes are:
(i) Local Moment, ML;

(ii) Richter Local Magnitude, MR;
(iii) Body Wave Magnitude, mb; and
(iv) Surface Wave Magnitude (Long Period), MS.
• Great earthquakes have magnitudes of 8 or more on the MS scale. Magnitudes of 5.5 to

6.5 are considered to be moderate to strong and if shallow can cause damage. Very
shallow events of magnitude 5 can cause considerably loss. When local magnitudes are
less than 3 on the ML scale, they are often referred to as micro-tremors. Very small
events can have magnitudes of less than zero.
2.3.2 Seismic Moment
• Seismic moment measures the size of an earthquake directly from the energy released,
through the expression:
M0 = GAD
where G is the shear modulus of the medium, A is the area of the dislocation or fault
surface, and D is the average displacement of slip on that surface.
2.3.3 Moment Magnitude
• Theoretical seismology uses a duration magnitude and a moment magnitude, which is

defined as:
Mm = (2/3) log M0 – 10.7
2.3.4 Intensity
• Intensity is a qualitative or quantitative measure of the severity of seismic ground motion

at a specific site. The most widely used scale of measurement in English speaking world
is the Modified Mercalli scale (commonly denoted as “MM”), which has 12 grades
denoted by Roman numerals I-XII. Figure 7-9 is an illustration.
Figure 7-9
The Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale and approximate ground accelerations
• Figure 7-10 shows the correlation of Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale with other
scales.
Figure 6-10
Earthquake intensity scales and Richter magnitude : approximate comparison
2.4 Strong Ground Motion
• The term strong motion refers to the level of ground motion, which is of concern to
engineers, captured by strong ground instruments (above about 0.005g – 0.01g).
• It is common practice to characterize the ground shaking by an elastic response

spectrum, which may be scaled according to the peak ground acceleration arising from a
hazard analysis. The widespread practice of classifying strong motion response
according to local ground conditions there has grown up the use of site dependent
response spectra. Figure 7-11 is an illustration.
Figure 7-11
Average acceleration spectra for different site conditions
2.5 Frequency
• The vibration signature of an earthquake is a consequence of source, pathway and

receptor factors, with pathway and receptor conditions probably over-determining the
outcome.
• The complexity of the motion near source is dependent upon the progress, smooth or
otherwise of rupture on the generating fault.
• Coherent strong motions may be limited to a maximum frequency of 3-5 Hz dependent

upon wave type.
2.6 Duration Of Shaking
• Duration of strong ground motion is one of the most important factors in producing
damage. Prolonged cyclic loading of soils may cause excessive pore water pressures to
develop in saturated foundation materials or progressively loss of cohesive strength in
structural materials.
• Duration of strong ground motion is usually defined in relation to ground acceleration and
tends to increase with magnitude and distance from the source may also increase from
rock to soil sites.
• Durations of higher frequency shaking do not significantly increase above ML = 7.5 for
accelerations greater than 0.05g and above magnitude 7 for 0.1g.
• According to Reference S08, durations at frequencies greater than about 1 Hz within 25

km of the fault-break were found not to exceed:
t0 = 1.75 tanh (ML – 6.5) + 19.0 for accelerations > 0.05g
and t0 = 1.75 tanh (ML – 6.0) + 7.5 for accelerations > 0.1g
• The duration of strong ground motion on alluvium or otherwise soft sediment sites is on
average 10-12 seconds longer than on basement rock sites [S09].
2.7 Attenuation Of Ground Motion
Peak Ground Motions and Attenuation

• Traditionally the peak ground motions y have been described as a function of magnitude
M and distance x from the source, either epicentral distance D or focal distance R (Figure
7-12) in the general form:
log y = b1 + b2M + b3 log (x + b4)
The coefficients b1 to b4 vary depending on the data set to which the equation is fitted,
and have been modified for different regions as more data have become available.
Figure 7-12
Geometric relationship between focus and site
PGA versus MMIS
• From Reference S04, the relationship between peak ground acceleration (PGA) and
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMIS) is given as follows:
log a = 0.25 IMM + 0.25
where a is the peak ground acceleration in cm/s2 and IMM is the Modified Mercalli
Intensity Scale.
• Analysis of the difference of the correlation of the above equation on other variables
resulted in the expression:
log a = 0.14 IMM + 0.24 ML – 0.68 log D + β k
where D is in km and βk = 0.60 for Western U.S.A, βk = 0.69 for Japan, and βk = 0.88
for Southern Europe
• The apparent regional differences in the attenuation equations are obviously strong, but
whether this is the result of inherent differences in the tectonic environment of the
regions or at least in part due to consistent regional bias in the assignment of intensities,
needs to be explained.
3. SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT
• The process of evaluating the design parameters of earthquake ground motion at the
engineering site is called Seismic Hazard Assessment (SHA). Evaluation of the
possible loss from the earthquake is referred to as Seismic Risk Assessment (SRA).
The relationship between SHA and SRA is shown in Figure 7-13.
• The safety of a bridge is controlled by both the strength of earthquake motion and the
seismic capacity of the bridge.
• Structural engineers quantify earthquakes in terms of parameters that are more closely
related to the loads induced by structural behaviour such as peak value of the measured
record of the earthquake (acceleration, velocity or displacement), frequency content and
duration of the ground motion.
Figure 7-13
Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis and Zonation
• Seismic hazard analysis of bridge site includes the following works:
ο investigating the seismicity, seismic activity, geologic formation, the distribution of

active faults for the region in the range of roughly 250 to 300 kilometers around the
bridge site and the activity of the faults as well as the characteristics of spatial and
time distribution of seismicity in history;
ο identifying the position of potential focus, scale, frequency of seismicity as well as

possible focus model for determining the possibility of earthquake occurrence of
potential focus;
ο calculating the seismic motion parameters on bedrock for different levels of

probabilities in terms of attenuation law of ground motion and probabilistic model of
seismic hazard evaluation, which include response spectra on bedrock, peak ground
acceleration and duration of ground motion.
• Current procedures for computing the seismic hazards are based essentially on either
determination of peak amplitudes (i.e. deterministic method) or frequency content (i.e.
probabilistic method).
3.1 The Peak Amplitudes Method for Computing Seismic Hazard (Figure 7-14)
• Identification of the seismic sources – Based on geology and historic seismicity of

the region, sources are identified as points, lines (faults), or area sources. The largest
earthquake associated with each source is established from the historic seismicity
analogy (in terms of magnitude or intensity).
• Recurrence of earthquake – Based on historic seismicity, a straight line or a set of

straight lines is fitted on the data using regression analysis. This method usually results
in prediction uncertainties of large magnitudes where the data is scare (i.e. large
magnitude events). Some variation may be used to allow for the lack of data.
• Selection of attenuation relationship – Based on one of the numerous empirical

attenuation relationships – the peak accelerations at the site due to earthquakes of
various sizes occurring at different source locations are estimated, The attenuation
depends on the geological province. If the attenuation relationship is based on data of
non-uniform quality, then large uncertainty will be resulted. Most procedures utilize only
the mean curves as determined from a regression analysis.
• Correlation with engineering parameters – For many earthquakes, such as those

took place long ago or in areas with few strong motion seismographs, estimation of
earthquake effect at a distance must depend on human perception and structural
damage. In Hong Kong, this is codified in the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. If the
peak ground acceleration is of interest, a correlation may be used. Correlations based
on focal depth and epicentral distance, if available, will reduce the large uncertainty.
Figure 7-14
Peak amplitudes approach to seismic hazard assessment
3.2 The Frequency Content Method for Computing Seismic Hazard (Figure 7-15)
• The first step consists of normalizing response spectra, obtained from available
accelerograms, a statistical analysis is then made by either considering all spectra
together, or by separating them by site conditions. From the results of the statistical
analysis (mean and standard deviation), response spectra for various probabilities of
exceedance are established. These methods present the disadvantage of biasing the
estimated error to a minimum for high frequencies when the spectra are normalized by
their maximum ground acceleration. The methods are used in conjunction with the
above-mentioned Peak Amplitudes Method. The probability distribution for the peak
amplitudes at the site is first determined, then the probability distribution of response
spectrum amplitudes related to these peak values is used.
• The second step consists of developing attenuation (with distance) relationships for the
peak response values for different periods or period bands. These attenuation relations
are obtained by regression analysis on a number of response spectra. When combined
with the recurrence relationship s at the sources, they provide the probability
distribution of peak responses for different periods or period bands at the site.
Figure 7-15
Frequency content approaches to seismic hazard assessment:
(a) statistics on normalized spectra and (b) attenuation of spectra values
3.3 Summary of Seismic Hazard Assessment (Figure 7-16)
• Another parameter of primer importance is the duration of the strong ground motion,
although it is rarely included in hazard calculations. The duration is closely related to
the damage-producing capability of an earthquake. The seismic probability is made up
of two basic phenomena, the intensity and epicentral location of the earthquake and the
attenuation of intensity as a function of distance between the epicenter and the
bridge-site. Seismic intensities in the absence of capable faults are based on historical
earthquake activity within at a minimum 320 km. A summary flow chart of seismic
hazard assessment is shown in Figure 7-16.
Preliminary Geological and

Seismological Information
Identify Seismogenic Assemble Earthquake Lists and Check Epicentres

Provinces and Features
Tests Lists for Completeness
Select Period for Homogenity

Identify Maximum Magnitude
or Intensity Event for Each Evaluate Recurrence Relation
Provinces and Features for Each Province or Feature
Decide on Intensity or Magnitude

Route
Establish Attenuation of Intensity Establish Attenuation

Law for Each Province Law for Each Province
Evaluate Hazard at Site in terms of Conditional Evaluate Hazard at Site in terms of Conditional
Exceedance Probability and Intensity Exceedance Probability and Peak Ground
Acceleration or Velocity for Firm Ground
Modify for Ground or Topographic Factors
Modify for Ground or Topographic Factors
Estimate Peak Ground Acceleration or Velocity
Select Design Earthquakes Select Design Spectrum

on Basis of Examination Consistent with Ground
of Hazard Contributions Conditions
Direct Selection of Design Spectrum for

Scale Design Spectrum Consistent with Ground Condition with Uncertainty
Ground Conditions
Figure 7-15 Flow Chart of Probabilistic Hazard Evaluation

REFERENCES
1. Dowrick, D. J., “Earthquake Resistant Design”, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons,
1987.
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, “Guidance for Performing Probabilistic

Seismic Hazard Analysis for a Nuclear Plant Site: Example Application to the
Southeastern United States”, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear
Regulatory research Washington, DC 20555-0001, 2002.

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The University of Hong Kong

Department of Civil Engineering

M. Sc. (Eng.) CIVL 6068

Eur. Ing. Dr. WONG, Kai-Yuen

For the Academic Year of 2005-2006 (1st Semester)

3. Seismic Hazard Assessment

• Three factors for assessing seismic risk are:

• The factors for assessing seismic risk may be expressed as:

Seismic Risk = (Seismic Hazard) x (Vulnerability) x (Value)

(Seismic Risk / Unit Value) = (Seismic Hazard) x (Vulnerability)

(i) Definition of the nature and locations of earthquake sources;

• Seismicity is defined as the frequency of occurrence of earthquakes per unit area in a

2.1 Causes and Characterization

• Plate Tectonics – Plate tectonics was developed on the hypothesis of sea-floor

• The Plate Tectonics theory is briefly described as in following paragraph.

Figure 7-3 Sea-Floor Spreading

• Four facts support the Plate Tectonic theory:

Diagram illustrating the ground motion

• An earthquake gives rise to waves of 3 kinds:

in which displacement of particles is partly vertical and partly in the direction of

• It is energetically more favourable to re-sue a pre-existing surface than to initiate a new

• For destructive earthquake study, 4 types of faults are considered:

The main fault types to be considered

M = 1.1 + 0.4 log (L1.58 d2)

• Faults of Uncertain Activity – Current available information is insufficient to provide

• Inactive Faults – No historical activity based on a thorough study of local sources of

2.3 Quantification of Earthquakes

• Magnitude is an attempt to use amplitude of ground particle displacement or velocity to

(i) Local Moment, ML;

• Great earthquakes have magnitudes of 8 or more on the MS scale. Magnitudes of 5.5 to

2.3.2 Seismic Moment

2.3.3 Moment Magnitude

• Theoretical seismology uses a duration magnitude and a moment magnitude, which is

• Intensity is a qualitative or quantitative measure of the severity of seismic ground motion

2.4 Strong Ground Motion

• It is common practice to characterize the ground shaking by an elastic response

• The vibration signature of an earthquake is a consequence of source, pathway and

• Coherent strong motions may be limited to a maximum frequency of 3-5 Hz dependent

2.6 Duration Of Shaking

• According to Reference S08, durations at frequencies greater than about 1 Hz within 25

t0 = 1.75 tanh (ML – 6.5) + 19.0 for accelerations > 0.05g

2.7 Attenuation Of Ground Motion

Peak Ground Motions and Attenuation

log y = b1 + b2M + b3 log (x + b4)

PGA versus MMIS

log a = 0.25 IMM + 0.25

log a = 0.14 IMM + 0.24 ML – 0.68 log D + β k

3. SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT

• Seismic hazard analysis of bridge site includes the following works:

ο investigating the seismicity, seismic activity, geologic formation, the distribution of

ο identifying the position of potential focus, scale, frequency of seismicity as well as

ο calculating the seismic motion parameters on bedrock for different levels of

• Identification of the seismic sources – Based on geology and historic seismicity of

• Recurrence of earthquake – Based on historic seismicity, a straight line or a set of

• Selection of attenuation relationship – Based on one of the numerous empirical

• Correlation with engineering parameters – For many earthquakes, such as those

3.3 Summary of Seismic Hazard Assessment (Figure 7-16)

Preliminary Geological and

Identify Seismogenic Assemble Earthquake Lists and Check Epicentres

Select Period for Homogenity

Decide on Intensity or Magnitude

Establish Attenuation of Intensity Establish Attenuation

Select Design Earthquakes Select Design Spectrum