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Articles 5,6 cl 7 des CGY

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. VoL 86. No. 2, pp. 337-352. April 1996

Estimation of Response Spectra and Simulation of Nonstationary

Earthquake Ground Motions
by Fabio Sabetta and Antonio Pugliese

Abstract Italian strong-motion data were used to study the attenuation of response
spectra and to simulate artificial accelerograms as a function of magnitude, distance,
and site geology. The database has already been utilized for the study of the atten­
uation of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and velocity and consists of 95 accelero­
grams from 17 earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from 4.6 to 6.8. Using multiple
regressions, we developed empirical predictive equations for the vertical and hori­
zontal components ofresponse spectracorresponding to 14 frequencies ranging from
0.25 to 25 Hz. Predictive equations, aimed at the ground-motion simulation, were
also estimated for time-dependent frequency parameters, strong ground motion du­
ration, and Arias intensity.
The shape of the predicted spectra is strongly dependent on magnitude and nearly
independent of distance. Alluvium sites show an amplification effect, with respect
to stiff sites, in different frequency ranges according to the thickness of the soil
deposit. The vertical/horizontal spectral ratio in far field varies, with magnitude and
frequency, from 0.35 to 0.85. The resulting response spectra are compared with the
predictions of sorne recent attenuation relationships and with those proposed by the
Eurocode EC8.
The simulation of nonstationary strong ground motions is achieved through an
empirical method where time and frequency features of the motion are represented
through the physical spectrum, extending the spectral moments theory to the nonsta­
tionary case. The simulated time histories fit the recorded accelerograms in terms of
several ground-motion amplitude measures, such as peak acceleration, peak velocity,
Fourier spectra, and response spectra. The principal advantage of the proposed
method consists in correlating the simulation parameters with earthquake magnitude,
source distance, and soil conditions.

Introduction
In the field of seismic risk assessment, the prediction of
shaking intensity in future earthquakes plays a key role. Re­
liable estimates of the ground motions that structures must
be designed to withstand are obtained mainly through em­
pirical predictive relationships developed after statistical
analysis of data recorded during strong earthquakes.
Many predictive equations are by now available in dif­
ferent regions of the world (Campbell, 1985, 1993) for the
prediction of peak ground acceleration (PGA); many fewer
are the relationships developed for the prediction of response
spectral values (Idriss, 1991; Boore et al., 1993), and very
few of these also take into consideration the vertical com­
ponent of the ground motion (Campbell, 1990; Sadigh,
1993).
The ground-motion attenuation relations show that the
shape of the response spectra depends strongly on earth­
quake location, magnitude, and local site conditions. There-
fore, the engineering practice of using peak acceleration to
scale constant spectral shapes is likely to lead to erroneous
estimation of the frequency content of ground motion. Be­
sides, sorne engineering methodologies require artificial ac­
celerograms to be used as input in nonlinear dynamic anal­
yses.
In recent years, many seismological and engineering
methods have been proposed for simulating ground motions.
While both seismologists and engineers recognize the sto­
chastic nature of high-frequency ground motions, they esti­
mate the ground motion in fundamentally different ways.
The stochastic and deterministic models used in the seis­
mological approach (Boore, 1983; Boit, 1987; Atkinson and
Somerville, 1994) rely on the estimation of the motion from
the rupture process of a fauIt of specified dimensions and
orientation or from a point source; these models usually re­
quire the knowledge of many parameters, characterizing the

337
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338 F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

source rupture process and the travel path of the seismic

waves, that are often unavailable and usually unfamiliar for 7
0"

engineers. r, rn r, <DO CID 0 ([l) r,

r, sttfr
The stochastic and empirical models utilized in the en­ 6.5 0 or, r,~ o shallow aD.
gineering approach (Saragoni and Hart, 1974; Nau et al.
o deepaD.
1982) range from filtering and windowing Gaussian noise CD
"C 6 0 lO 0
.2 r,00 0 CIl o r,
to generating accelerograms by !inear difference equations; ë
r, 0 16 Œ.~
0>
0 lOfj,r, 0 r,
these models do not need to make use of specifie geophysical <li
::ii 5.5
ID 0
r, 0
parameters, but the resulting time histories are in general r, 0
000
0 0
poorly correlated with earthquake scaling parameters, such 0 o []
5­
as magnitude and distance from the source. 0 o DO
Int:f).r, 00 0
fY',J;0
This article constitutes a synthesis and updating of two 4.5
articles published in ltalian on the spectral values attenuation 1 la 100 1000
(Pug!iese and Sabetta, 1989, 1993) and of a memoir on the Faull distance (km)
simulation of accelerograms (Pugliese and Sabetta, 1994)
presented to the last European Conference on Earthquake
Engineering. The aim is to give a comprehensive and com­ Figure 1. Distribution of the strong-motion re­
cordings with respect to magl1Îtude, distance, and site
plete description of the statistical analyses that we performed geology.
on a set of the Iltalian strong-motion recordings.
Predictive equations are presented for the estimation of
horizontal and vertical peak ground motions and response 1987). The bandpass-fiItering frequencies were determined
spectra using both epicentral and fault distance. Predictive from the analysis of the signal and fixed trace Fourier spec­
relationships are also provided for other ground-motion pa­ tra, assuming that the fixed trace recorded on the film ade­
rameters, such as central frequency, duration, and Arias in­ quately reproduces the noise introduced in the acceleration
tensity, used in the simulation of the acceleration time time history. The cutoff frequencies for the high-pass filter­
histories. The simulation of nonstationary strong ground ing ranged from 0.2 to 0.7 Hz with typical values of 0.3 Hz;
motions is achieved through a simple empirical method: the cutoff frequencies for the low-pass fiItering ranged from
summing Fourier series with time-dependent coefficients. 20 to 35 Hz with typical values of 25 Hz.
The simulation method only requires, as input parameters, A short description of the dependent and independent
the magnitude of the reference earthquake, the distance variables used to develop the regression analysis is given
source to site, and the local site geology, producing, there­ below.
fore, accelerograms strictly correlated with the generating
earthquake and the recording site. Magnitude. The magnitude scale, which we will refer to as
We feel that this article offers to many engineers a tool Min this article, corresponds to the surface-wave magnitude
for predicting the ground motion of future earthquakes (Ms) when both local magnitude (ML) and Ms are greater
based, as much as possible, on a physical basis. than or equal to 5.5 and corresponds to ML when magnitude
is lower than this value. We did not use the moment mag­
Groünd-Motion Data nitude scale (Hanks and Kanamori, 1979) because reliable
estimates of seismic moments were not available for sorne
The database has already been used for the study of the of the smaller earthquakes used in the regression analysis.
attenuation of peak ground acceleration and velocity (Sa­ However, for the selected range of magnitudes. the adopted
betta and Pugliese, 1987) and consists of 190 horizontal dual magnitude scale assures a good correspondence with
components and 95 vertical components of strong motions the moment magnitude (Idriss, 1991) and a !inear relation­
recorded from 17 lta!ian earthquakes. In the above-men­ ship with the logarithm of the strong-motion parameters.
tioned article, a detailed analysis of the selection criteria ap­
plied to the data and a comprehensive description of the Distance. The regression analysis was performed using
variables used in this work are presented. both "epicentral" and "fauIt distance;" the last is defined as
The distribution of recordings with respect to magni­ the shortest distance between the recording station and the
tude, distance, and site classification is given in Figure 1. surface projection of the fault rupture (1oyner and Boore,
On the basis of that distribution, we recommend that our 1981).
equations should not be used to predict motions at distances
greater than 100 km or magnitudes less than 4.6 or greater Site (]eology. According to geological and geotechnical in­
than 6.8. forma" betta and Pugliese, 1987) and to the thickness
Acceleration time histories, automatically digitized at H yet, the recording sites were classified into
400 samples/sec, were baseline and instrument corrected tiff, shallow alluvium (H ~ 20 m), and
with a frequency domain routine (Sabetta and Pugliese; (H > 20 m). Stiff sites are characterized by

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Estimation of Response Spectra and Simulation of NOllstalionary Earthquake Ground Molions
an average shear-wave velocity greater than 800 rn/sec and
alluvium sites by a shear-wave velocity between 400 and
800 rn/sec.
Response Spectra and Peak Values. The regression anal­
ysis of peak ground acceleration (POA), peak ground veloc­
ity (POY), and response spectra was performed using both
the vertical and the larger of the two horizontal components
of the motion. Pseudo-velocity response spectra (PSY) were
calculated at 5% of critical damping for 14 frequencies op­
portunely distributed from 0.25 to 25 Hz.
Arias lntensity and Duration. Empirical predictive equa­
tions were also developed for the prediction of Arias inten­
sity and duration of the strong ground motion, in order to
estimate the time envelope function needed for the simula­
tion of the accelerograms. For the Arias intensity lA (Arias,
1970), proportional to the total energy of the ground motion
and calculated as the integral of the squared accelerations,
we used the horizontal component of the motion having the
larger value of lA- To specify the duration of the ground
motion, DV, we selected the definition given by Vanmarcke
and Lai (1980) that is proportional to the quantity IA/POA 2
and weil correlated to the strong phase of the motion cor­
responding to the arrivaI of S waves. For DV, we used the
horizontal component corresponding to the larger value
of lA-
Predictive Equation
The general functional form adopted for modeling the
attenuation of the ground motion is represented by the ex­
pression
where Y is the ground-motion parameter to be predicted,
fI (M) is a function of magnitude, f2(R) is a function of
distance,f3(S) is a function taking into consideration the site
geology, and G is a variable representing the uncertainty in Y.
Forms ofthe functionsj{Y),fl(M),f2(R), and!J(S) were
determined according to the statistical procedure "Alternat­
ing Conditional Expectation" (ACE) (Breiman and Fried­
man, 1985; Sabeua and Pugliese, 1987) and resulted as fol­
lows:
fiX) = log Y; fi (M) = b M; fz(R) IX log R.
Referring to .MM), we checked also for a quadratic magni­
tude term (Boore et al., 1993; Sadigh, 1993), but the cor­
responding coefficient resulted statistically insignificant for
all the examined ground-motion parameters.
To investigate the attenuation due to geometrical
spreading (geometrical attenuation) and material damping
and scattering (anelastic attenuation),f2(R) was reformulated
as follows:
%tiS L ;;
339
where the first term represents the geometrical attenuation
and the second term represents the anelastic attenuation. The
parameter III is a fictitious depth determined by the regression
and incorporates all of the factors that tend to limit the mo­
tion near the source, a property normally referred to as "sat­
uration with distance" (Joyner and Boore, 1981; Campbell,
1985). To investigate the effect of "saturation with magni­
tude" (Campbell, 1985; Sadigh, 1993; Campbell and Bo­
zorgnia, 1994), we analyzed the possible dependence of h
on magnitude with the same methodology adopted in the
study of the attenuation of POA and POY (Sabetta and Pug­
Iiese, 1987). The data again did not provide an adequate
support for the choice of smaller-magnitude scaling at short
distance, confirming the results obtained by Boore et al.
(1994).
The coefficients in equation (3) were estimated through
nonlinear multiple regression analyses, and the hypothesis
that the coefficients were zero was accepted at the 10% sig­
nificance level using Student's t-test statistics. According to
the results obtained by Boore et al. (1993), the anelastic
attenuation coefficient d, for ail the examined ground-mo­
tian parameters, was not found to be statistically significant,
with a value very close to zero and positive, and was there­
fore removed from the mode!.
The transformation obtained with ACE procedure for the
functionf3(S) in equation (1) showed a different amplifica­
tion effect with respect to the stiff sites in case of shallow
alluvium and deep alluvium.
The final functional form adopted for modeling the at­
tenuation is represented by the following equation:
10glO(Y) = a + bM + C 10glO(R2 + h 2)l/2
(1) + e1S I + e2S2 ± (J", (4)
where M is magnitude, R is distance (fault or epicentral) in
kilometers, and (J is the standard deviation of the logarithm
of Y. The dummy variables SI and S2 refer to the site clas­
sification and take the value of 1 for shallow and deep al­
luvium sites, respectively, and zero otherwise.
Due to the rather uniform distribution of the recordings
among the earthquakes, the use of a two-stage regression
procedure adopted by sorne authors (Boore et al., 1993) in
order ta give the same weight to each earthquake in deter­
mining the magnitude dependence and to each recording in
(2) determining the distance dependence did not change signif­
icantly the estimates of coefficients and variance in equation
(4) with respect to those obtained with the ordinary least­
squares analysis used in this work.
Prediction of Response Spectra
Equation (4), with Y corresponding to PSY in cm/sec,
was fit to the data frequency-by-frequency at the 14 fre­
quencies between 0.25 and 25 Hz for which the response
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340. F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

PREDICTED HORIZONTAL SPECTRA 5% DAMPING

Epicentral distanœ=30 km Site=deep alluvium PREDICTED HORIZONTAL RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING
M=6 Epicentral distance=30 km
100.0 ---rTIl1TTf 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 100.0 rc---,---,--,-TTlTrT----,---,-,-",-nr----,----,--TTTTTlJ

8111I
--e- deop a1hNium
--&- shailoW a11l.NilJ11

10.0 10.0

1.0 1.0

0.1 '------'-'-- ( ( LL.LIJ-------.L......J...--1 __L L IlLL'-U,J_--L----L,---'--,-,--'-,--'.u!1-,-"11

1.0 10.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 2. Dependence of the predicted horizontal Figure 4. Dependence of the predicted horizontal
spectra on magnitude and comparison between spec­ spectra on site geology.
tra calculatcd with raw and smooth coefficients (see
Table 2).
correlated with h and was therefore constrained to the value
of - 1. This assumption, besides reducing the numbers of
PREDICTED HORIZONTAL RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING coefficients to be estimated, agrees with the basic principles
M=6 Epîcentral distance Site=stiff
100.0 '---rI 1 i Iii 1 -- '-~-·TI, l "TIniITI- - - - - , - - - "- ' - ,TITITilrn~
of wave propagation in elastic media.
Tables 1 and 2 summarize the results obtained for the
coefficients in equation (4) in case of the larger of the two
horizontal components of the motion (N-S and W-E), re­
spectively, for fault distance and epicentral distance. Tables
3 and 4 provide the same results in case of the vertical com­
10.0
ponent of the motion. The coefficients previously obtained
(Sabetta and Pugliese, 1987) for the horizontal PGA and PGV
are reported in Tables 1 and 2, and the new vertical PGA and
[ R=O,,",
PGV coefficients are reported in Tables 3 and 4.

,o~
AlI of the coefficients were found to be statistically sig­
R=10,,",
nificant at levels of confidence exceeding 95%, except for
the following: the coefficient el in the frequency range 0.25
to 1 Hz for the horizontal components and 0.25 to 2 Hz for

i~ ~
thc vertical components; the coefficient e2 in the frequency

0.1 ~-,I-----,I~I -"~I-,-I ~I1u..1_-L__ .L-L.l_L--L.uL_~ ..l........_

0.1 1.0
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 3. Dependence of the predicted horizontal
spectra on distance.
spectral values had been computed. Caution should be used
in applying the attenuation relations for frequencies lower
than 0.5 Hz because the estimates could be biased low due
to the typical high-pass filtering of the data at 0.3 Hz.
For ail the examined frequeneies, the geometrical atten­
uation coefficient c resulted very close to unity and highly
::~~
..
range 2.5 to 25 Hz for the horizontal components and in the
whole range of frequency for the vertical components. For
10.0 100.0 those frequencies, the hypothesis that the coefficients were
equal to zero was accepted. The variation of the coefficients
with frequency is analyzed in detail in Pugliese and Sabetta
(1989,1993).
In Tables 1 through 4, the values labeled as "raw" are
those obtained from the regression analysis; the values la­
beled as "smooth" are those derived from an interpolation
aimed to reduce the statistical fluctuation of the coefficients
due to the frequency discretization of the 'spectra. Such in­
terpolation allows to obtain smoothed spectra without sig­
nificantly modifying the results of the regression as shown
in Figure 2.
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Estimation of Response Spectra and Simulation of NOllstationary Eanhquake Ground Motions 341

PREDICTEO RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING The values of the coefficients corresponding to the use
M=6 Epicentral distanœ=30 km Sile=sliff
1 i i IfTll of the epicentral distance, in comparison with the fauIt dis­
tance, are higher for the magnitude coefficient and lower for
the constant tenn according to the fact that the difference
between the two distance definitions becomes remarkable
only for high magnitudes when the fauIt dimensions are rel­
evant.
10.0
Figure 2 shows the dependence on magnitude of the
predicted horizontal spectra: higher magnitudes are associ­
ated to a proportionally greater spectral content at low fre­
quencies according to the seismological relationship be­
tween corner frequency and seismic moment (Brune, 1970).
1.0 The dependence on distance of the predicted horizontal
spectra is given in Figure 3, except for distances less than
10 km, where the influence of the parameter h is greater, the
spectra attenuate with distance maintaining the same shape
consistent with the findings of other authors (Console and
0.1
0.1
_-----...L.i 1 11111
1.0
1 1 1 l,Ill

10.0
1 1 l " 1 ~I
100.0
Rovelli, 1981; Joyner and Boore, 1982; Boore et al., 1993).
Other studiies (Idriss, 1991; Sadigh, 1993), show a distance­
Frequency (Hz)
dependent spectral shape, significant for distances greater
Figure 5. Comparison between horizontal and than 100 km. In our case, most of the data (Fig. 1) were
vertical response spectra. recorded at distances less than 100 km, and the distance
independence is consistent with the lack of statistical signif­
icance that we obtained for the coefficient taking into ac­
1.1 ~>T!ll!l l-----rTT1111 1 ---,--r count the frequency-dependent anelastic attenuation (Pug­
liese and Sabetta, 1989). As a matter of fact, the anelastic
1.0 -------­ attenuation acts mainly in the surface soil layers and there­
,, fore depends more on the local site conditions than on the
1
0.9 1 source distance.
1
1
The effect of the site geology on the spectral shape is
0
ê 0.6 1 depicted in Figure 4. The amplification effects of shallow
1 1.1=7

1§ 0.7
RG1.60
- .• ---
____ 1
1
and deep alluvium sites with respect to stiff sites are of the
same order of magnitude (40 to 60%) but act in different
frequency ranges (0.25 to 2 Hz for deep alluvium and 1 to
M:6 25 Hz for shallow alluvium), illustrating that alluvium sites
~
0.6
should not be classified together in a single category ne­
ECB glecting the depth of the soil deposit.
0.5 M=5
The spectra for the larger of the two horizontal com­
ponents are compared in Figure 5 with the spectra obtained
0.4 -- -~..:'-..:,
for the vertical component of the motion. In the same figure,
'.'
~ the curves corresponding to 50 and 84 percentile are re­
0.3 1 1 1 l ,,1 1 1 1 (1 rll 1 [~
0.1 1.0 100.0
ported. The vertical spectra show lower values with respect
10.0
Frequency (Hz) to the horizontal ones: the difference is of the same order of
magnitude as the standard deviation and decreases with in­
Figure 6. Spectral ratio between the vertical and creasing frequency because of the larger high-frequency
the horizontal component of the ground motion (R =
content associated with the vertical component.
30 km, stiff site), as a function offrequency and mag­
nitude, compared with the ratios proposed by euro­ Figure 6 shows, for an epicentral distance of 30 km and
code ECS and R.G. 1.60. a stiff site, the ratio of the verticallhorizontal spectral values
with varying frequency and magnitude. For law-magnitude
values (M = 5), the ratio is fairly constant with frequency
The analysis of the residuals resulting from the regres­ and fluctuates around the value of 0.4. For high magnitudes
sion did not show systematic variations as a function of the (M = 7), the ratio varies from a minimum of 0.35 at low
variables used in the model, and in particular, a correlation frequencies to a maximum of 0.85 at high frequencies. The
analysis confirmed that the residuals were uncorrelated with comparison, given in the same figure, with the verticallhor­
respect to magnitude, distance, and predicted spectral values izontal ratios normally adopted in the engineering practice
at greater than 99% level of confidence. as suggested by the Regulatary Guide 1.60 (U.S. Atomic
©200S INIST CNRS Tous droits de propriété' 1" t " é é R .
. In C ee uc e r SCry s. eproduellon, représentation et diffusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 et 7 des CGV

342 ­ F. Sabetta and A, Pugliese

PREDICTED HORIZONTAL. SPECTRA 5% DAMPING PREDiCTED HORIZONTAL. RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING

Fault distanœ=30 km Fault cislanœ =30 km
100.0 c----,r--r-T...--r-rnrr--.,---,--,rr-rTT....---,---,-,,--rnrr 100.0 . - - , - -...~ ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ~ ~
--~
a) b)
~
- - 1II1s 1lUdy, .haliowoikN.
BJf-l993. CIaoa B 1 1II1s olUdy, slIP 1
- - - - - S8lIIgh-l993. roc:I<

10.0 10.0

1.0 M=7 1.0 M=7

M=6
M=6
M=5

O. 1 '-----'----lL.....L~.1..L1._'____'--.L...J.--L..Jw..LLL-._ _'___-'-I-L.LJ...J.l.J 0.1 '------'----'L.J....LLI.LIuIILI_~I'--LI ~..Ll.L.l..L_....L..-L...L.LU~

0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0
Frequency (Hz) f'requerq (Hz)

Figure 7. Comparison of median horizontal spectra from recent attenuation rela­

tionships: (a) Boore et al. (1993), for a site class "B", and this study, for a shallow
alluvium site. (b) Sadigh (1993), for a rock site, and this study, for a stiff site.

PREDICTED VERTICAL. RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING horizontal ratio ranges from 0.4 (M = 5) to 0.6 (M = 7)
M=6 Fautt distance
for PGA and from 0.5 (M = 5) to 0.7 (M = 7) for PGV.
Such values, particularly in case of high magnitudes, are in
basic agreement with the suggestions of the literature (New­
mark and Hall, 1978) and regulations (Commission of the
European Communities, 1993).
Figure 7 compares our results with the horizontal spec­
tra predicted by sorne recent attenuation relationships de­

;
.. ---­ .. veloped with up-to-date databases of recordings of western
. - North American earthquakes.
1.0
1 ..••• In Figure 7a, the comparison with the study of Boore et
R= 15 km al. (1993) is made for different magnitudes, a fault distance
of 30 km, and the site category shallow alluvium, corre­
1 \
sponding approximately to the site class "B" used by BJF
R=30km (shear-wave velocity averaged over the upper 30 m between
I-~'stfll 360 and 750 mfsec). At internnediate and high frequencies,
~993,roc:I< the results are similar, with higher values predicted by our
model for M = 5 at high frequencies (2 to 10 Hz) and for
0.1 L ! ! ! 11111
M = 7 at intermediate frequencies (1 to 3 Hz). At low fre­
0.1 1.0 10.0
Frequency (Hz) quencies (kss than 1 Hz), our relationship gives significantly
lower estimates of spectral velocity than those predicted by
Figure 8. Comparison of the median vertical spec­ BJF.
tra obtailled by Sadigh (1993) with those from this
study, for a stiff site, M = 6, and different values of In Figure 7b, the comparison with the relationship by
the fault distance, Sadigh (1993) is made using the multiplying coefficient of
1.09, suggested by the author to take into account the am­
plification effect of oblique faults with respect to strike-slip
Energy Commission, 1973) or by the Eurocode EC8 (Com­ faults. The predicted spectral values, for M = 5, 6, and 7
mission of the European Communities, 1993) shows that our and R = 30 km, are in good agreement, except for frequen­
ratios are comparable to those proposed by EC8 but much cies lower than 0.5 Hz, where, as previously discussed, our
s­
lower than the RG-1.60 ratios. results could be underestimated by the high-pass filtering.
As far as the peak values are concerned, the vertical! The vertical spectra predicted by our relationship, com­
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Estimation of Response Spectra and Simulation of Nonstationury Eurthquake Ground Motions 343

C_--J
HORIZONTAl.. RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% CAMPING HORIZONTAl.. RESPONSE SPECTRA 5% DAMPING
M=5 Epiœntral dstanœ=15 km PGA=O.œ (9) M=7 Epicentral disfanœ=:15 km PGA=O.31 (9)
0.20 ------.-~-----,-~--,- 1.0 -,-- 1 1 -----,-- [
a) b)

;~::::-
- - EC8."'_A - - EC8, _A
-- . EC8. adlsci B EC8 _B
0.16 0.8 •••••••• - - This Iludy. stlIl

\ 1 •••••••L -_ _lll_Is_Iludy
__ •deep
__ IIIhN_.--'
\
\
..........
0.12 \
,, 0.6
".
, §
i1j
"......'\
...
...
... ...
Q.
.....•....
0.08 0.4

. ~ .
O'04 0.2
- .:~

0.00
0.0
l --,--_~I__ ~~~_-lI
0.5
_ _.L.-_ _--'
1.0
Period (s)
1.5 2.0
0.0
0.0
--l-------l_ _-'----_--'-_---''--_-'---_--'-_.---J
0.5 1.0
Period (s)
1.5 2.0

Figure 9. Comparison of the horizontal spectra predicted by our model and the
spectral shapes proposed by eurocode EC8 scaled at zero period to the peak acceler­
ation corresponding to (a) magnitude = S, distance = 15 km; (b) magnitude = 7,
distance = 15 km.

pared with those of Sadigh (1993) in Figure 8, show a slower

attenuation with distance and significantly lower values at
frequencies less than 1 Hz.
The response spectra of the larger of the two horizontal Physical Spectrum
components are compared in Figure 9 with the spectral
shapes suggested by EC8 (Commission of the European
Communities, 1993) in case of soil class "A" (Vs> 800
rn/sec) and "B" (Vs increasing from 200 rn/sec at 10 m in
depth to 350 rn/sec at 50 m in depth) corresponding roughly
to our categories of stiff site and deep al1uvium. The spectra
are represented in terrns of pseudo-acceleration as a function
M=5.8 Epic.Disl.=52.6 km
of period. The EC8 spectral shapes are scaled, at zero period, Sile: Deep aUu.ium
to the peak horizontal acceleration corresponding, for an epi­
central distance of 15 km on the basis of our predictive equa­
tion, respectively to M = 5 (0.06 g) and M = 7 (0.31 g).
For low magnitudes (Fig. 9a), the ECS spectral shapes
fit weIl our spectra at low periods and are definite1y conser­
vative for periods greater than 0.3 sec. For high magnitudes
(Fig. 9b), the ECS spectra underestimate the spectral values
obtained from our model in the period range 0.5 to 2 sec, in
particular for deep aIluvium sites. It is important to remark,
however, that the differences are of the same order of mag­
nitude as the statistical prediction uncertainty.

Simulation of Nonstationary Accelerograms

Method
Figure 10. Physical spectrum calculated for the
We propose an empirical method for the simulation of M = 5.8 Lazio-Abruzzo earthquake of May 1984 re­
nonstationary time histories based on the summation of Fou- corded at the "Garigliano" station.
©20081NIST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation ct diffusion interdites. Loi du 01/07192. Articles 5,6 et 7 des COV

344 F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

rier series wüh random phases and time-dependent coeffi­

100

-1 cients. The correlation of the time-dependent frequency and

0,01
0,001
0,1
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 11. Fit of the spectral density (jagged
curve) corresponding to the physical spectrum of
Figure 10 at t = 8 sec, with a lognorrnal function
(smooth curve) derived from the spectral moments of
the corresponding time history (see text).
amplitude content of the signal with magnitude, distance,
and site conditions is deduced from recorded strong-motion
data. In particular, the shaping window usually applied to
the random time series (Saragoni and Hart, 1974) is derived
from predictive equations deve10ped for Arias intensity and
duration and can be he1pfully used to modulate with time
the stationary ground motions obtained from other simula­
tion techniques (Boore, 1983; Rovelli et al., 1988; Atkinson
and SomerviUe, 1994).
The coefficients of the Fourier series can be obtained
10 100
from a simulated "spectrogram" (Kim et al., 1994), a com­
monly used ana1ysis too1 in seismology that, according to
the definition given by Mark (1970), we will refer to as phys­
ical spectrum (PS) in this article. The PS is a frequency-time
decomposition of the expected energy of a process, a natural
extension of the power spectrum to the nonstationary case.
If we consider the acceleration component x(t), its PS is de­
fined as

------------,
PS(t, f) I w(t - u)x(u)e- i21ifu du (5)

T1 T2 T3
220 r - - - - - I > - - , - - "- - - - - - - , - ,- - - - - - ,
200 'é---R/7 ----»:
1~ 1.5 DV ----», where t and f represent time and frequency, u is a dummy
lBO " ,
;;:- 160
"
"
1
,
variable, and w(t - u) is a rurming time window function
: 140 1 l , whose characteristics have been described in a previous ar­
~ 120 :. 1 ~
ticle (Sabetta et al., 1986). Figure 10 shows an example of
'E 100 :
~ 80 ; PS calculated, with a Gaussian moving window of 2.S-sec
0.. 60 , width, for an accelerogram recorded in 1984 at the "Garig­
40 :
20 1
liano" station.
o 1
PS is constituted by a series of power spectral densities
o 5 10 15 2~ 25 30 (PSD' s), calculated at different times, which can be fitted
,
1

, with a lognormal function (Hammoutene et al., 1992) de­

,
fined through three parameters derived from the theory of
_
50
30
! the spectral moments (Vanmarcke, 1980; Lai, 1982). The
'"~ 10 above-mentioned parameters are the average total power Pa
~ ~ 1 0 i-----t11Wlll corresponding to the area under the PSD; the central fre­
;;: -30 quency Fe giving a measure of where the PSD is coneen­
-50 "--- ---l- c- _ trated along the frequency axis; and the frequency bandwidth
o 5 10 15 20 25 30 Fb corresponding to the dispersion of PSD around the central
Time(s) frequency.
1------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . ­
lnserting the time dependenee and substituting PSD with
10
PS, the definition of the spectral moments and of the relative
i : ---------~ parameters becomes (Sabetta et al., 1986)
il: 4 ----------
2
o L

o
­ - -- _._~----

5
--------------­
10 15 20 25 30
À;(t) = f lpS(t,f) df i = 0, 1,2; (6)

Time (s)
Pa(t) ,.1.0 (t)
Fe(t) À1(t)/Ào(t) (7)
Figure 12. Top: time envelope function used for Fb(t) [)02(t)/À O(t) - Fe2(t)] 112.
the simulation in case of M = 6 and R = 50 km;
middle: corresponding simu1ated acce1erogram; bot­
tom: time behavior of the central frequency. Pa(t), instantaneous average power, is the time envelope -fi
(,:((\YL'UVO INIST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation ct dilTusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5,6 et 7 des CGV

EstinUltion of ReJponse Spectra and Simulation of Nonstationary Earthquake Ground Motions 345

M=5 (PGA=44.4 cm/52) .M..:2 (PGA=102.4 cm/52) M=7 (PGA=236.3 cm/52)

40 120 250
30 #1 PGA=40.0 cm/52 100 #1 PGA=88.7 cm/52 200 #1 PGA=212.8 cm/52
80 150
20 60
40 100
~ 10
20 50
Ê 0 0 0
"
;( -10 -20 -50
·40 ·100
-20 ·60
·150
-30
·40
-80
-100
-120
·200
·250
l
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 10 15 20 25 0 10 15 20 25

40 120 250
#2 PGA=40.9 cm/52 100 #2 PGA=123.8 cm/52 #2 PGA=237.0 cm/52
30 200
80 150
20 60
40 100
N 10 50
.!!! 20
E 0 0 0
" -10
:< ·20 -50
-40 -100
-20 -60
-80 -150
-30 -200
·100
·40 ·120 -250
0 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25

40 120 250
#3 PGA=37.0 cm/52 100 #3 PGA=120.2 cm/52 200 #3 PGA=201.3 cm/52
30
80 150
20 60
40 100
~ 10
20 50
È 0 0 0
:<" ·10
·20
-40
·50
·100
-20 ·60
-150
-30 ·80
-100 -200
-40 -120 -250
0 5 10 1(5) 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
1
l(s) 1(5)
~

Figure 13. Simulated accelerograms in case of a stiff site, R = 20 km, and M = 5, 6,

and 7. For each value of magnitude, three different simulations, differing only in the phase
values, are plotted.

function describing the amplitude variation of the ground ln P(t) = ln Fe(t) - 15 2/2 (10)
motion. Its integral in the time domain is equal to the integral
of PS in the time-frequency plane and corresponds to the 15 = jln [1 + Fb 2 (t)!Fe 2 (t)]. (11)
Arias Intensity lA:
As an example, Figure Il depicts the fit of the PSD, corre­
lA = f x(tf dt = ff PS(t, f) dt dl = f PaCt) dt. (8)
sponding in Figure lOto a time of 8 sec, with the lognormal
function of equation (9) calculated at the same value of t.
Values of Pa, Fe, and Fb are calculated from the time history
Fe(t), central frequency, and Fb(t), frequency band­ recorded at Garigliano through equations (5), (6), and (7).
width, represent the nonstationarity of the frequency content
and correspond, respectively, to the centroid of PS and to Estimation of the Time-Dependent Functions
the radius of gyration of PS with respect to Fe on the fre­ Defining the Physical Spectrum
quency plane.
The functions PaCt), Fe(t), and Fb(t), used for the sim­
With the above-defined parameters, il is possible to de­ ulation of the physical spectrum, were derived from regres­
rive a lognormal function approximating the PS: sion analyses of the 190 horizontal components of the above­
described database.
PS (t f) = PaCt) e - [ln /-ln p(t)f/20
2
(9) The nonstationary analysis of the Italian strong-motion
approx ' 1ji;:15 recordings (Sabetta et al., 1986) points out that, in the time
domain, PaCt) shows a lognormal shape, Fe(t) shows an ex­
where P(t) and 15 are derived from Fe(t) and Fb(t) in the ponential decay, and the ratio FblFe is time independent.
following way: Regression analyses of the last two parameters as a function
©2008 INIST CNRS - Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation ct diffusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 ct 7 des COY

346­ F. Sabetta and A. Pugiiese

of time, magnitude, distance, and site geology, lead to the

following predictive equations: 100 R=20km
80
60
In[Fe(t)] = 3.4 - 0.35 -ln(t) - 0.218' M - 0.15' S2 (12) é\I
40
ID 20
E
u
0
FblFe = 0.44 + 0.07-M - 0.08-S 1 + 0.03-S2, (13) <" ·20
·40
·60
where FeU) is in Hz; FblFe is nondimensional; t is time in ·80
-100
seconds; and M, SI> and S2 have already been defined. The 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
SI coefficient is not statistically significant in equation (12);
the same is true for the coefficient accounting for distance 100 R=40km
dependence in bath equations (12) and (13). An increase of 80
Fe corresponds to a shift toward high frequencies of the 60
40
lognormal function in equation (9), whereas higher values é\I
ID 20
of the ratio FblFe, proportional to the standard deviation of E
u
0
·20
the lognormal, increases the low-frequency content. The re­ <" ·40
3UltS of equations (12) and (13) show that the frequency -60
-80
content of the ground motion is mainly controlled by source -100
effect (higher magnitudes correspond to lower frequencies) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
and by site effects (shallow soils amplify high frequencies,
and deep soils amplify low frequencies). 100 R=80km
80
Instead of performing a multiple regression on the Pa 60
values obtained from the nonstationary analysis, we chose 40
N
ID 20
to fit Pa(t) with a lognormal function illustrated in Figure E
u
0
-20
12 and detined as follows: <" -40
-60
-80
-100
(14) 0 5 10 15 I(s) 20 25 30 35

f.l = ln(n) + cr (J = In(T3IT2)12.5, (15) Figure 14.

stiff site, M
Simulated acce1erograms in case of a
= 6, and R= 20, 40, and 80 km.

Tl = RI7 T2 = Tl + 0.5·DV
T3 = Tl + 2.5 - DV Tot. durat. = 1.3. T3, (16)

where Tl corresponds to the time delay in seconds between
Sand P waves and is calculated by dividing the epicentral
distance R in kilometers by the factor Vp *\I,I(Vp - Vs) as­
sumed to be equal to 7 km/sec. lA and DV (respectively Arias
intensity in cm 2/sec 3 and duration in seconds of the ground­
motion strong phase) have already been defined. The choices
of T2, T3, and (J were derived from several tests with real
accelerograms in order to have a time envelope function
Pa(t) with the following characteristics:
a modal value, at time t = n, correlated to the epicentral
distance;
a standard deviation proportional to the strong-motion du­
ration DV;
an area equal to the Arias intensity lA; and
a total duration 30% greater than the value of T3, corre­
sponding to the modal value plus 2DV (see Fig. ) 2).
Regression analyses were then carried out to obtain em­
pirical prediction equations for the significant duration DV
and the total energy lA of a given strong-ground motion.
Equation (4) was fit to the data and the results obtained for
the different coefficients and for the standard deviation are
reported in Table 5.
Both energy and duration are positively correlated with
magnitude, whereas duration increases with distance, ac­
cording to seismic waves dispersion, and energy attenuates
with distance nearly as l1R2 , according to geometrical
spreading on a spherical surface. Shallow soils amplify the
energy and, acting as a high-pass filter, produce a reduction
in the significant duration. Deep soils cause an increase in
both the energy and the duration. lA and DV completely de­
fine the envelope function Pa(t) characterizing the amplitude
nonstationarity of the ground motion.
Figure 12 illustrates, for M = 6 and R = 50 km, the
function PaU) derived from equation (14), the corresponding
simulated time history, and the trend of the central frequency
derived from equation (12) and shifted in time so that the
exponential decay of Fe begins when Pa(t) starts to rise.
Time Histories Simulation
After the evaluation of Pa(t 1 M, R, S), Fe(t 1 M, S), and
FblFe (M, S), it is possible, for a given magnitude M, dis­
< ©200S IN IST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, rcpréscntatiorn et dilTusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 ct 7 des COV

Estil1Ultion of Response Spectra and Simulation of NonstaIionary Earthquake Ground Motions 347

SIte=shallow alluyium Slte= 8tlft Slte= deep alluvlum

150 150 150

PGA=145 cm/s2 PGA=88.7 cm/52 PGA=95.4 cm/s2
100 100 100

.. 50 50 50
.!!!
E
u
0 o o
<" ·50 ·50 -50

-100 -100 -100

.150 L....~~~~~~_~~~~~ .150 L.....~~~~~~~~~~~~ -150 '--~~~~~~~~~~~~

o 5 10 15 20 o 5 10 15 20 o 5 10 15 20

10 10 10
8 PGV=9.28 cm/s PGV=6.81 cm/5 PGV=7.47 cmls
8 8
5 6 5
4 4 4

~u ~
2 2
o o
:> ·2 ·2 -2
·4 ·4 -4
-5 -5 -5
·8 ·8 -8
.10 L....~~~_~~~~~~~~_ ·10 '--~~~~-~~~~-~- -10 .......~~~~~-~~~~~~
o 5 10 15 20 o 5 10 15 20 o 5 10 15 20

2 2 2
1.5 PGD=O.96 cm PGD=1.12cm PG0=2.02em
1.5 1.5
1
0.5 0.5 0.5
Ê
~ 0 o o
o
-0.5 -0.5 -0.5
-1 -1 -1
-1.5 ·1.5 -1.5
-2 L..~~~~_~~.........~~~~ ·2 ......~~~~~~~~~~~~ -2 .......~~~ .......~~~~~~~~
o 5 10 I(e) 15 20 o 5 10 tes) 15 20 o 5 10
tes)
15 20
. -L --'--'-­ -------'

Figure 15. Simulated time histories of acceleration (top), velocity (middle), and
displacement (bottom) for M = 6, R = 20 km, and three different site conditions.

,-----~----------------

tance R, and site condition S, to calculate an approximate PS Epie. Distance =20 Km Site =stlff
from equations (9), (l0), and (lI). The simulation of artifi­ 100.00

cial accelerograms is then performed summing Fourier series

with time-dependent coefficients derived from PS as foBows:
~ 10,00
N
.[
a(t) 2 2:
n=l
Cn(t) cos(n27ifot + ([ln), (17) cri
..:
IL

1.00

~~'_L~~.~
CIl(t) = j2nfoPS(j", t), (18)

here a(t) is the acceleration, fo is the fundamental fre­

ency (reciprocal of the total duration), and the phases ([lll
<l.10
0.1 la 100
J
random numbers uniformly distributed in the range 0 to Frequency(Hz) .

The computer code used for the simulation of the time

ories requires as input parameters M, R, and S and pro­ Figure 16. Comparison between the Fourier am­
plitude spectra of three simulated acceierograms Gag­
s as output acceleration, velocity, and displacement time ged curves) and the spectra (smooth curves) derived
s, Fourier spectra, response spectra, and a summary sta­ from the seismological omega-squared model (Boore,
s of various measures of ground motion. 1983).
©200S INIST CNRS Tous dr 'ls d 'é é ' ,
. 01 e propn t Intellectuelle réservés. Reproduclton, représentation et diffusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 et 7 des CGV

348 F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

,----------------------------------,
51MULATED 1 vs, PREDICTED RESPONSE SPEClRA (5% DAMPING) quency content of the signal. The PGA of the simulated sig­
100 --,----------,-~-------- naIs, reported on each time history, is close to the value
- sîmulated
_ _ predlcled predicted by the attenuation law, reported on the top of the
_____ 51. dey.
figure, and converge to the expected value when a mean of
10 several simulations is performed.
The attenuation of the ground motion with epicenfral
distance is represented in Figure 14. As expected, larger dis­
tances correspond to smaller accelerations and higher dura­
tions.
Figure 15 displays the effect of the different site con­

l 0,1
0,1
Frequency (Hz)
------
Figure 17. Response spectra of four simulated
accelerograms compared with the spectrum predicted
by the attenuation relationship in case of M = 6,
R = 20 km, for a stiff site.
Results
Figure 13 shows an example of simulated accelero­
grams for a stiff site at an epicentral distance of 20 km and
for different values of magnitude. The increase of magnitude
causes an increase of amplitude, duration, and low-fre­
ditions on the simulated time histories of acceleration, ve­
10 100 locity, and displacement. Going from a stiff site to a shallow
alluvium site causes a slight decrease in the duration of the
time histories and an increase in the high-frequency content
corresponding to a greater value of PGA. On the contrary, a
deep alluvium site with respect to a stiff site shows higher
duration, greater content of low frequencies, and higher peak
displacement.
Figure 16 shows a comparison between the Fourier
spectra obtained from our model and the spectra derived
from the seismo!ogical omega-squared mode! with a high­
frequency cutoff and a constant stress parameter (Boore,
1983; Rovelli et al., 1988). The values of the parameters of
the omega-squared mode! <p = 3.2 km/sec, p = 2.7 g/cm 3 ,
L1() = 100 bars, Q = 300, lm = 15 Hz) are the same as
those used by Boore (1983). The similarity of the results

I l
00 .--_E_P_1C_.D
__I_st_B_nc,e_"_20_K_m
_ _S_It,e_=_s_tl_" , 1 NPlc.Dlstance= 20 Km
100­
Slte~ shall. alluv.

1 Pred. Speclrum Pred. Spectrum

1 Mean of 6 simu!. 1 Mean of 6 slmu!.

1 10 ~::""'-----c""""+----"'l:l.c-"\1;.------------I

I~
1
~
E
o 0
M=7
:>
en :>
~
1
0.. 1 1 1 ~-~'r---+---------t~~M~6
M~5

0,1

~
0.1
0,1
____1_F_req_Ue_nCy(HZ_)_1_0
L 0,1 1 Frequency(Hz) 1 0
100

-----------------,
Eplc.Dlstance" 90 Km Slte= stl" Eplc.Dlstance" 20 Km Site: deep. alluv.

_.,-, ;
Prad. Spectrum 1
100 . - - - - - - " T " - - - - - - - - , - - -

~ 10 h-~-_="~~~.......~~---
'"
E
o
:>
1
~ M=7
M=6
M~5

1 0,1 0.1 1
L
1
1 10 100 0,1 1 10 100
0,1 Frequency(Hz) Frequency(Hz)

Figure 18. Comparison of the mean response spectra derived from six simulated
accelerograms, with the spectra predicted by the attenuation relationship for different
magnitudes, distances. and site conditions.
 ST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation et dilTusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 et 7 des CGV
ation of Response Spectra and Simulation of Nonstationary Earthquake Ground Motions 349

Table 1
Regression coefficients of equation (4) for psv, PGA, and PGv, for the larger horizontal component and fault distance.
Freq. Const. Term Mag. Coeff. Dist. Coeff. Site Coeff. Sile Coeff.
(Hz) b e, e, cr

5% damped psv (cm/sec) 0.25 raw -2.320 0.653 -1 O. 0.134 2.3 0.275
smooth - 2.400 0.685 -1 O. 0.130 2.1 0.297
0.33 raw -2.017 0.637 -1 O. 0.149 2.3 0.317
smooth -2.170 0.675 -1 O. 0.151 2.5 0.297
0.50 raw -\.935 0.667 -1 O. 0.194 3.1 0.300
smooth -\.800 0.650 -1 O. 0.184 3.1 0.297
0.67 raw -\.498 0.614 -1 O. 0.200 4.0 0.242
smooth - \.510 0.620 -1 0.010 0.210 3.5 0.295
\.00 raw - 1.112 0.560 -1 O. 0.242 4.2 0.246
smooth -1.120 0.570 -1 0.050 0.242 4.0 0.290
1.33 raw -0.753 0.503 -1 0.120 0.232 4.9 0.261
smooth -0.850 0.530 -1 0.120 0.232 4.4 0.283
2.00 raw -0.496 0.458 -1 0.240 0.156 4.6 0.279
smooth -0.400 0.455 -1 0.220 0.156 5.0 0.271
2.50 raw -0.077 0.397 -1 0.196 O. 4.9 0.268
smooth -0.077 0.400 -1 0.210 0.115 5.3 0.264
3.33 raw 0.467 0.301 -1 0.122 O. 6.1 0.245
smooth 0.400 0.315 -1 0.165 0.065 5.7 0.245
5.00 raw 0.489 0.283 -1 0.103 O. 5.7 0.215
smooth 0.550 0.273 -1 0.130 O. 6.3 0.215
6.67 raw 0.499 0.255 -1 0.135 O. 6.5 0.207
smooth 0.500 0.255 -1 0.130 O. 6.7 0.200
10.00 raw 0.290 0.244 -1 0.168 O. 7.3 0.200
smooth 0.290 0.245 -1 0.130 O. 7.3 0.190
15.00 raw -0.033 0.249 -1 0.112 O. 7.2 0.181
smooth -0.035 0.255 -1 0.130 O. 7.2 0.182
25.00 raw -0.505 0.275 -1 0.147 O. 5.8 0.182
smooth -0.505 0.273 -1 0.130 O. 5.8 0.182
PGA (g) -\.562 0.306 -1 0.169 O. 5.8 0.173
PGV (cm/sec) -0.710 0.455 -1 0.133 0.133 3.6 0.215

Coefficients are to be used for 4.6 ~ M ~ 6.8 and R ~ 100 km.

obtained with totally different models is remarkable: the first Conclusions

being theoretical and based, in the frequency domain, on the
radiation of the seismic waves from a point source; the sec­
ond being empirical and based, in the time domain, on the
statistical analysis of recorded strong ground motions. Our
model gives .Iower values of the Fourier spectrum at low
frequencies if < 0.6 Hz) for high magnitudes (M = 7),
which is probably caused by the high-pass filtering used in
the Italian accelerograms processing.
Figure 17 compares the pseudo-velocity response spec­
tra of four simulated accelerograms with the 50-percentile
spectrum predicted by the attenuation relationships illus­
trated in the previous section. The level of fit is satisfactory
even for single simulations also because the variability of
the simulated spectra is only due to the different phases of
the corresponding time histories and does not include the
uncertainty in the prediction of the ground-motion parame­
ters used for the simulation.
The comparison of the mean response spectra, derived
each from six simulations, with the predicted ones is pre­
sented in Figure 18 for different magnitudes, distances, and
site conditions showing a very good fit in aIl the considered
cases.
The prediction of 5% damped response spectra on the
basis of the vertical and the larger of the two horizontal
components of 95 strong motions recorded in Italy leds to
the foIlowing conclusions:
1. The results are in fair to good agreement with the hori­
zontal spectra predicted by the attenuation relationships
developed for western North America, except for low fre­
quencies (less than 1 Hz).
2. The alluvium sites show an amplification effect of about
50% with respect to the stiff sites, acting at low frequen­
cies for deep alluvium sites and at high frequencies for
shaIlow alluvium sites.
3. The vertical/horizontal spectral ratio at large distance var­
ies, with magnitude and frequency, from 0.35 to 0.85 and
is in basic agreement with the suggestions of the literature
and of the regulations.
4. The use of the design spectral shapes proposed by build­
ing codes such as Eurocode 8 appears ta be quite con­
servative in case of low values of magnitude; for high
magnitudes, the predicted spectral values are higher than
INIST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation et diffusion interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 et 7 des COY

350 F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

Table 2
Regression coefficients of equation (4) for PSV, PGA, and PGV, for the larger horizontal component and epicentral distance.

Freq. Const. Term Mag. Coeff. Dist. Coeff. Site Coeff. Site Coeff.
(Hz) b e, e, cr

5% damped PSV (cm/sec) 0.25 raw -2.409 0.684 -1 O. 0.1\ 1 2.7 0.303
smooth -2.500 0.725 -1 O. 0.100 2.6 0.319
0.33 raw -2.146 0.675 -1 O. 0.109 2.7 0.344
smooth -2.250 0.715 -1 O. 0.108 3.0 0.319
0.50 raw -2.082 0.706 -1 O. 0.157 3.4 0.320
smooth -1.900 0.687 -1 O. 0.150 3.6 0.319
0.67 raw -1.647 0.654 -1 O. 0.165 4.4 0.270
smooth -1.647 0.660 -1 0.010 0.175 4.0 0.315
1.00 raw -1.297 0.605 -1 O. 0.209 4.2 0.271
smooth -1.280 0.612 -1 0.050 0.208 4.4 0.308
1.33 raw -1.006 0.557 -1 0.120 0.208 4.4 0.278
smooth -1.000 0.570 -1 0.120 0.190 4.7 0.303
2.00 raw -0.650 0.498 -1 0.249 0.124 5.1 0.301
smooth -0.595 0.500 -1 0.230 0.124 5.0 0.290
2.50 raw -0.281 0.442 -1 0.219 O. 4.8 0.285
smooth -0.281 0.445 -1 0.222 0.078 5.2 0.280
3.33 raw 0.202 0.354 -1 0.147 O. 5.5 0.260
smooth 0.100 0.377 -1 0.185 0.020 5.4 0.260
5.00 raw 0.296 0.326 -1 0.126 O. 5.8 0.238
smooth 0.296 0.323 -1 0.161 O. 5.7 0.234
6.67 raw 0.222 0.311 -1 0.161 O. 5.8 0.220
smooth 0.222 0.310 -1 0.161 O. 5.9 0.220
10.00 raw -0.019 0.304 -1 0.194 O. 6.3 0.214
smooth -0.019 0.304 -1 0.161 O. 6.2 0.208
15.00 raw -0.312 0.304 -1 0.137 O. 6.5 0.194
smooth -0.312 0.304 -1 0.161 O. 6.3 0.200
25.00 raw -0.817 0.336 -1 0.174 O. 4.7 0.195
smooth -0.817 0.330 -1 0.161 O. 4.7 0.195
PGA (g) -1.845 0.363 -1 0.195 O. 5.0 0.190
PGV (cm/sec) -0.828 0.489 -1 0.116 0.116 3.9 0.249

Coefficients are to be used for 4.6 ;;:; M ;;:; 6.8 and R ;;:; 100 km.

those obtained with the scaled design spectra, especially References

in case of deep alluvium sites; the differences are, how­
ever, of the same order of magnitude as the statistical
prediction uncertainty.
The method proposed for the simulation of artificial ac­
celerograms has two essential features that make it particu­
larly interesting:
First, it reproduces the nonstationarity, in amplitude and fre­
quency, of the real ground motions, playing an impor­
tant role in nonlinear structural analysis.
Second, it allows the simulation of a family of time histories,
similar in general appearance but different in details,
requiring only the magnitude of the reference earth­
quake, the distance source to site, and the local site ge­
ology as input parameters.
Finally, the simulated time histories fit the recorded ac­
celerograms in terms of several ground-motion amplitude
measures, such as peak acceleration, peak velocity, Fourier
spectra, and response spectra.
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 NIST CNRS. Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation ct diffusion interdites. Loi du 0\/07/92. Articles 5,6 et 7 des CGV
timation of Response Spectra and Simulation of Nonstationary Earthquake Ground Motions 351

Table 3
Regression coefficients of equation (4) for PSV, PGA, and PGV, for the vertical component and fault distàùce.

Freq. Const. Term Mag. Coelf. Disl. Coeff. Sile Coelf. Sile Coelf.
(Hz) b e, e,
"
5% damped PSV (cm/sec) 0.25 raw -2.395 0.621 -1 O. O. 2.8 0.300
smooth -2.395 0.629 -1 O. O. 2.4 0.300
0.33 raw -2.162 0.605 -1 O. O. 2.9 0.328
smooth -2.292 0.636 -1 O. O. 2.4 0.328
0.50 raw -2.154 0.640 -1 O. O. 2.6 0.351
smooth -2.154 0.639 -1 O. O. 2.5 0.351
0.67 raw -1.848 0.607 -1 O. O. 2.4 0.345
smooth -1.900 0.615 -1 O. O. 2.9 0.345
1.00 raw -1.547 0.574 -1 O. O. 3.9 0.305
smooth -1.547 0.574 -1 0.Q10 O. 3.9 0.305
1.33 raw -1.155 0.512 -1 O. O. 5.2 0.280
smooth -1.155 0.515 -1 0.018 O. 4.9 0.280
2.00 raw -0.512 0.402 -1 O. O. 5.1 0.254
smooth -0.712 0.441 -1 0.040 O. 5.1 0.254
2.50 raw -0.523 0.397 -1 0.076 O. 4.9 0.237
smooth -0.480 0.399 -1 0.080 O. 5.1 0.240
3.33 raw -0.482 0.384 -1 0.174 O. 4.7 0.252
smooth -0.350 0.370 -1 0.137 O. 5.1 0.232
5.00 raw -0.135 0.314 -1 0.171 . O. 5.1 0.252
smooth -0.130 0.320 -1 0.173 O. 5.1 0.225
6.67 raw -0.323 0.333 -1 0.153 O. 5.7 0.221
smooth -0.323 0.337 -1 0.185 O. 4.7 0.221
10.00 raw -0.841 0.384 -1 0.192 O. 2.9 0.215
smooth -0.700 0.370 -1 0.205 O. 3.8 0.215
15.00 raw -1.101 0.378 -1 0.231 O. 2.0 0.206
smooth -1.000 0.380 -1 0.220 O. 3.0 0.210
25.00 raw -1.411 0.375 -1 0.235 O. 2.0 0.212
smooth -1.411 0.385 -1 0.230 O. 2.2 0.212
PGA (g) -2.365 0.387 -1 0.182 O. 4.9 0.181
PGV (cm/sec) -1.359 0.525 -1 O. O. 4.9 0.212

Coefficients are to be used for 4.6 ;:;; M;:;; 6.8 and R ;:;; 100 km.

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g2008 [NIST CNRS . Tous droits de propriété intellectuelle réservés. Reproduction, représentation ct dilTusiun interdites. Loi du 01/07/92. Articles 5 ,6 ct 7 des CGV
352 F. Sabetta and A. Pugliese

Table 4
Regression coefficients of equation (4) for psv, PGA, and PGV, for the vertical component and epicentral dîstance

Freq. Const. Tenn Mag. Coeff. Dist. Coeff. Site Coeff. Sile Coeff.
(Hz) b e, e,
"
5% damped PSV (cm/sec) 0.25 raw -2.507 0.652 -1 O. O. 3.1 0.320
smooth -2.507 0.660 -1 O. O. 2.2 0.320
0.33 raw -2.275 0.637 -1 O. O. 3.2 0.346
smooth -2.400 0.670 -1 O. O. 2.5 0.346
0.50 raw -2.294 0.676 -1 O. O. 2.5 0.362
smooth -2.220 0.670 -1 O. O. 2.8 0.362
0.67 raw - 1.946 0.637 -1 O. O. 2.8 0.364
smooth - 1.960 0.645 -1 O. O. 3.2 0.358
1.00 raw - \.702 0.612 -1 O. O. 3.9 0.313
smooth - 1.630 0.605 -1 0.010 O. 4.1 0.313
1.33 raw -1.336 0.554 -1 O. O. 5.1 0.289
smooth -1.336 0.560 -1 0.030 O. 4.6 0.289
2.00 raw -0.655 0.438 -1 O. O. 5.4 0.267
smooth -0.920 0.485 -1 0.090 O. 5.0 0.267
2.50 raw -0.766 0.447 -1 0.100 O. 4.4 0.251
smooth -0.750 0.453 -1 0.120 O. 5.0 0.258
3.33 raw -0.674 0.427 -1 0.196 O. 4.7 0.263
smooth -0.550 0.413 -1 0.155 O. 5.0 0.245
5.00 raw -0.322 0.356 -1 0.193 O. 5.2 0.267
smooth -0.400 0.373 -1 0.190 O. 5.0 0.235
6.67 raw -0.635 0.394 -1 0.181 O. 4.6 0.220
smooth -0.550 0.380 -1 0.210 O. 4.5 0.230
10.00 raw - 1.091 0.437 -1 0.218 O. 1.7 0.227
smooth -0.950 0.411 -1 0.235 O. 3.5 0.225
15.00 raw -1.298 0.422 -1 0.252 O. 1.0 0.221
smooth -1.250 0.424 -1 0.252 O. 2.5 0.221
25.00 raw - 1.626 0.423 -1 0.258 O. 0.5 0.219
smooth -1.626 0.428 -1 0.258 O. 1.5 0.219
PGA (g) -2.637 0.443 -1 0.209 O. 4.1 0.195
PGV (cm/sec) -1.499 0.561 -1 O. O. 5.2 0.228

Coefficients are to be used for 4.6 ;3 M;3 6.8 and R ;3 100 km.

Table 5
Regression coefficients of equation (4) for Arias intensity and duration for the larger horizontal component and epicentral distance.

Consl. Tenn Mag. Coeff. Dist. Coeff. Site Coeff. Site Coeff.
b e, e,
"
lA (cm2/sec 3) 0.729 0.911 -1.818 0.244 0.139 5.3 0.397
DV (sec) -0.783 0.193 0.208 -0.133 0.138 5.1 0.247

Coefficients are to be used for 4.6 ;3 M ;3 6.8 and R ;3 100 km.

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