This study assesses the variability of shear-wave (VS) profile determinations for a suite of methods at six industrial sites. The methods include active, consisting of multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW), as well as passive, consisting of refraction microtremor (ReMi), and extended spatial autocorrelation (ESAC). The purpose is to ascertain the effect of the higher level of ambient noise

Geotechnical liquefaction indices, such as the liquefaction potential index, are commonly used as proxies for the risk of liquefaction-induced damage at site or regional scales. However, these indices were developed based on surficial manifestations of soil liquefaction in the free field, and, as such, they have been shown to correlate better with land damage than foundation damage. This study evaluates

This study proposes a framework to forecast the spatial distribution of population and residential buildings for the assessment of future disaster risk. The approach accounts for the number, location, and characteristics of future assets considering sources of aleatory and epistemic uncertainty in several time-dependent variables. The value of the methodology is demonstrated at the urban scale using

A method is proposed to identify within seismic catalogs those earthquakes that are most relevant to the seismic hazard. The approach contrasts with the classical approach to decluster the seismic catalog with the expectation that the remaining main shocks will be the relevant events for the seismic hazard analysis. We apply a time window like in the window declustering approach of Gardner and Knopoff

The Heritage Hotel (formerly Old Government Buildings) is one of the architectural heritage icons of Christchurch, New Zealand. Seismic retrofitting was undertaken on the structure in 1995 to achieve the earthquake loading provisions of the 1992 standard for design loadings (NZS 4203:1992). This building is a distinguished 1909 unreinforced masonry Italian High Renaissance palazzo building. The retrofit

Chile, as a country with a long history of strong seismicity, has a record of both a constant upgrading of its seismic design codes and structural systems, particularly for bridges, as a result of major earthquakes. Recent earthquakes in Chile have produced extensive damage to highway bridges, such as deck collapses, large transverse residual displacements, yielding and failure of shear keys, and unseating

The number of recorded earthquakes in Oklahoma has substantially increased during the last few decades, a trend that coincides with the increases in the injected volume in underground injection control (UIC) wells. Several studies have suggested the existence of spatial and temporal links between earthquakes and injection wells. However, creating a spatial connection between the earthquakes and UIC

Performance-based seismic design (PBSD) has been recognized as a framework for designing new buildings in the United States in recent years. Various guidelines and standards have been developed to codify and document the implementation of PBSD, including “Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings” (ASCE 41-17), the Tall Buildings Initiative’s Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design

This article describes the development of scaling relations between seismic moment and rupture area of earthquakes in stable continental regions (SCRs). The article reviews the relations developed by Somerville and compares them with relations developed by other investigators. It also compares the scaling relations of SCR earthquakes with those in tectonically active continental regions (TCRs). Three

Reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings are a widely used structural system around the world. These buildings are customarily designed through standard code-based procedures, which are well-suited to the workflow of design offices. However, these procedures typically do not aim for or achieve seismic performance higher than code minimum objectives. This article proposes a practical design method that

This study introduces a simple and efficient method to determine the peak floor acceleration (PFA) at different performance levels for three types of plane reinforced concrete (RC) structures: moment-resisting frames (MRFs), infilled–moment-resisting frames (I-MRFs), and wall-frame dual systems (WFDSs). By associating the structural maximum PFA response with the deformation response, the acceleration-sensitive

This article describes an open-source site database for a total number of 1742 earthquake recording sites in the K-NET (Kyoshin network) and KiK-net (Kiban Kyoshin network) networks in Japan. This database contains site characterization parameters directly derived from available velocity profiles, including average wave velocities, bedrock depths, and velocity contrast. Meanwhile, it also consists

In the past decade, Oklahoma has experienced unprecedented seismicity rates, following an increase in the volumes of wastewater that are being disposed underground. In this article, we perform a probabilistic assessment of the time-dependent seismic hazard in Oklahoma and incorporate these results into an integrated seismic risk model to assess the evolution of the statewide economic losses, including

The 2018 US Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) incorporates new data and updated science to improve the underlying earthquake and ground motion forecasts for the conterminous United States. The NSHM considers many new data and component input models: (1) new earthquakes between 2013 and 2017 and updated earthquake magnitudes for some earlier earthquakes; (2) two updated smoothed

Residual displacement spectrum is one of the most important means to predict the permanent deformation of structures after the earthquake, and various normalizations of residual displacements have generally been used for construction of the spectrum. However, the issue regarding the merits and drawbacks of each normalization has not yet been investigated thoroughly. A comparison between two normalizations

Conventional validation of analytical and numerical models in Earthquake Engineering involves the comparison of numerically simulated response time histories to experimentally obtained benchmark responses to the same earthquake excitations. As the seismic design problem is inherently stochastic, an alternative, statistical, and easier-to-pass validation procedure has been suggested. As an example,

Hazards from induced earthquakes are a growing concern with a need for effective management. One aspect of that concern is the “nuisance” from unexpected ground motions, which have the potential to cause public alarm and discontent. In this article, we borrow earthquake engineering concepts to quantify the chance of building damage states and adapt them to quantify felt thresholds for induced earthquakes

Simulation of soil–structure interaction (SSI) effects is a time-consuming and costly process. However, ignoring the influence of SSI on structural response may lead to inaccurate results, especially in the case of seismic nonlinear analysis. In this article, wavelet transform methodology has been utilized for investigation of the seismic response of soil–structure systems. For this purpose, different

This study presents trigger design methods and performance evaluations of multi-hazard parametric catastrophe bonds for mega-thrust subduction earthquakes and tsunamis. The catastrophe bonds serve as alternative disaster risk financing tools for insurers and reinsurers as well as municipalities and governments. Two types of parametric catastrophe bond trigger are investigated. A scenario-based method

The effects of dynamic soil–structure interaction (SSI) have been extensively studied in the last few decades, and proper analysis for the linear elastic case in frequency domain has been established successfully. However, SSI is rarely considered in the design of building structures, and instead, buildings are frequently analyzed using a rigid base assumption and quasi-static loading conditions that

We describe two experiments performed on a 9-m-radius geotechnical centrifuge to evaluate dynamic soil–structure interaction effects on the cyclic failure potential of fine-grained soil. Each experiment incorporated three different structures with a range of mass and stiffness properties. Structures were founded on strip footings embedded in a thin layer of sand overlying lightly overconsolidated low-plasticity

Common procedures used to account for spatial variability of shear wave velocity (Vs) in one-dimensional (1D) ground response analyses (GRAs), such as stochastic randomization of Vs or increasing small-strain damping, have been shown to improve seismic site response predictions relative to 1D GRAs where no attempts are made to account for spatial variability. However, even after attempting to account

Many recent studies have shown that we are generally unable to accurately replicate recorded ground motions at most borehole array sites using available subsurface geotechnical information and one-dimensional (1D) ground response analyses (GRAs). When 1D GRAs fail to accurately predict recorded site response, the site is often considered too complex to be effectively modeled as 1D. While three-dimensional

A new simulation-based site amplification model for shallow sites with thickness less than 30 m in Korea is developed. The site amplification model consists of linear and nonlinear components that are developed from one-dimensional linear and nonlinear site response analyses. A suite of measured shear wave velocity profiles is used to develop corresponding randomized profiles. A VS30 scaled linear

The hydrodynamic response of liquid-filled storage tanks subjected to translational earthquake shaking has been the focus of studies for more than 75 years. In service, tanks experience six components of seismic input, with rocking due to support flexibility and/or rotational components of ground motion. Published theory for predicting hydrodynamic responses in rigid cylindrical tanks due to rotational

A novel seismic base isolation system has been developed for high-voltage (HV) porcelain post insulators. The seismic isolation device consists of two steel plates, four polyurethane springs, and a steel rod, which are low-cost components compared to the post insulators. Two alternative designs of the device are experimentally and numerically assessed in this article. A simple and robust numerical

This study uses recorded ground motions at soil sites over a range of shaking intensities to investigate the effects of soil nonlinearity on the high-frequency spectral decay, as quantified by the parameter κ. Equivalent-linear site response analyses indicate that κ should increase significantly with increasing shear strain and ground motion intensity due to increases in soil damping. However, using

Ground motion time series recorded at stations separated by up to about 50 km show a frequency-dependent spatial coherency structure, and the corresponding ground motion intensity measures are found to be correlated. As omitting this correlation can result in underestimation of seismic losses in risk analysis, it is critical to quantify the spatial correlation structure for ground motion Fourier spectra

The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer built into a smart meter (SM) has a nominal digital resolution of 16 bits. However, this resolution collapses to 7 bits of information per sample when used in an urban environment. This collapse in resolution limits the sensitivity required to effectively operate the earthquake early warning platform (EEWP). In this study, we evaluate the performance

This manuscript describes a subset of CyberShake numerically simulated ground motions that were selected and vetted for use in engineering response-history analyses. Ground motions were selected that have seismological properties and response spectra representative of conditions in the Los Angeles area, based on disaggregation of seismic hazard. Ground motions were selected from millions of available

The design of dam structures requires advanced analysis techniques due to the dam body’s complicated interaction with its surroundings. Consequently, most of the time, it is a must to perform response history analysis during the design and assessment of dam structures. The target fundamental vibration period is necessary to generate ground motion histories compatible with the site-specific response

A destructive intraslab earthquake occurred in Mexico City on September 19, 2017 (Mw 7.1), causing significant damage and hundreds of human losses not only in the epicentral area, but also in the States of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico and in Mexico City. Only in Mexico City itself, around 230 people died, and more than 40 buildings collapsed. The intensities recorded in some lakebed areas of the city, especially

Significant duration of strong shaking quantifies the length of time during which strong earthquake-induced shaking occurs at a given site. Significant duration has multiple applications in Geotechnical and Structural Engineering. However, while multiple ground motion prediction (GMPE) equations for duration exist for shallow crustal tectonic environments, at the time of this publication, there are

ASCE/SEI 7 design requirements for seismic-induced torsion in buildings are evaluated to determine their effectiveness for resisting seismic-induced collapse of torsionally irregular buildings. The ASCE/SEI 7-16 provisions are found to be generally conservative for most torsionally irregular building configurations—exceptions are some buildings that rely heavily on lines of lateral resistance orthogonal

The existing observational database of the regional-scale distribution of strong ground motions and measured building response for major earthquakes continues to be quite sparse. As a result, details of the regional variability and spatial distribution of ground motions, and the corresponding distribution of risk to buildings and other infrastructure, are not comprehensively understood. Utilizing high-performance

This study presents an evaluation of floor acceleration demands for the design of rigid and flexible acceleration-sensitive nonstructural components in buildings, calculated using the most recent Mexico City seismic design provisions, released in 2017. This evaluation includes two approaches: (1) a simplified continuous elastic model and (2) using recordings from 10 instrumented buildings located in

Seismic performance of tunnels during earthquakes in densely populated areas requires assessing complex interactions with existing infrastructure such as bridges, urban overpasses, and metro stations, including low- to medium-rise buildings. This article presents the numerical study of an instrumented tunnel, currently under construction on stiff soils, located in the western part of Mexico City, during

After the 2017 Puebla-Morelos earthquake, the Applied Technology Council (ATC) funded a mission to Mexico City to collect structural, geotechnical, seismological, and damage information on concrete structures. The collected data set includes 70 reinforced concrete buildings and contains photos, design drawings, ground motion records, ambient vibration data, and reconnaissance observations, where available

As part of the update of the 2018 National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for the conterminous United States (CONUS), new ground motion and site effect models for the central and eastern United States were incorporated, as well as basin depths from local seismic velocity models in four western US (WUS) urban areas. These additions allow us, for the first time, to calculate probabilistic seismic hazard

Building structures designed according to current seismic design codes should satisfy the seismic performance objectives specified in codes during big earthquake events. ASCE 7-16 specifies that risk category I and II structures should have a probability of collapse less than 10% against the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) shaking hazard. ASCE 7-16 provides four analysis methods to calculate the

Post-earthquake housing recovery monitoring is necessary, especially since the housing sector usually represents 50 percent of the total monetary disaster loss. However, very scarce recovery data, in addition to the complexities of the recovery process, make modeling housing recovery very difficult. Time-based stochastic models, which are commonly used in well-known frameworks such as the U.S. Federal

Computational simulations have become central to the seismic analysis and design of major infrastructure over the past several decades. Most major structures are now “proof tested” virtually through representative simulations of earthquake-induced response. More recently, with the advancement of high-performance computing (HPC) platforms and the associated massively parallel computational ecosystems

Geostatistical methods are valuable to better understand the spatial distribution of geotechnical parameters at regional scale and to optimize the locations of future ground investigations. This article investigates the use of the kriging interpolation method to extend the knowledge of a specific geotechnical property from a few sites to a broader geographical area with a focus on the Kathmandu valley

In this article, Bayes factors (BFs) are used for selecting and weighting the ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs). BFs are defined as the posterior probability of a model being the best model describing data. The Bayesian framework allows for merging information gathered from available seismic data and the experts’ opinion thus allowing for a bridge between data-driven and non-data-driven methods

A number of simplified methodologies have been developed and used to estimate seismic drift demands in buildings. However, none of them have been systematically tested against a large number of buildings subjected to a diverse set of ground motions. This is partly attributed to the lack of existing databases of building designs, nonlinear structural models, and simulated seismic responses. This article

Wall bushings that connect converter valves within hall buildings and other electric facilities in a direct current (DC) field are indispensable in substations but vulnerable to earthquakes. A finite element model was developed to evaluate the seismic performance of a real ultra-high-voltage (UHV) DC wall bushing. The numerical results show that the maximum stress of the wall bushing during seismic

This article deals with the proper numerical simulation of the response presented by an instrumented damaged-retrofitted building using a low computational cost linear-elastic model, using effective stiffness for its reinforced concrete structural members. The purpose is to identify the most appropriate criteria and considerations and to validate them against the actual behavior of the building registered

This article presents a methodology to spectrally match two horizontal ground motion components to an orientation-independent target spectrum (RotDnn). The algorithm is based on the continuous wavelet transform decomposition and iterative manipulation of the two horizontal components of a seed record. The numerical examples presented follow current ASCE/SEI 7 specifications and therefore maximum-direction

This study presents an efficient algorithm that can be used to simulate ground motion waveforms using the site-based approach developed by Dabaghi and Der Kiureghian, and Rezaeian and Der Kiureghian that not only correspond to a specified seismic scenario (e.g. magnitude, distance, site conditions) but are also certain to achieve a target ground motion intensity measure within a narrow range. The suggested

The incorporation of local amplification factors (AFs) determined through site response analyses has become standard practice in site-specific probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). Another indispensable feature of the current state of practice in site-specific PSHA is the identification and quantification of all epistemic uncertainties that influence the final hazard estimates. Consequently

The satisfactory structural behavior observed during large earthquakes and the high seismicity of the country has conditioned the Chilean society to expect immediate occupancy performance level for their buildings under these extreme events, although the seismic design code in Chile mandates only a scope of life safety performance level. Based on observational and statistical evidence from recent strong

This work evaluates the damage to and collapse of a set of buildings in the September 2017 earthquake in Mexico City; these buildings were also subjected to the September 1985 Mexico City earthquake. These buildings were located in the area of the highest rate of damage or collapse in 1985, but buildings exhibiting significant damage or collapse in 2017 did not possess any retrofitting. The spectral

This article presents the Applied Technology Council (ATC) team’s observations following the 2017 Mw7.1 Puebla–Morelos, Mexico earthquake. The team was deployed in Mexico City to collect seismological, geotechnical, structural, and overall performance information. The focus was on non-ductile concrete structures, to support implementation of recently published FEMA P-2018 procedures and to identify

The corrected 2010 New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model has been adapted for use in the Global Earthquake Model’s OpenQuake engine through an extensive benchmarking exercise with GNS Science’s legacy Fortran code. Resolution of differences between the legacy code and OpenQuake result in hazard curve output comparisons with discrepancies of less than 3% nationally and remaining discrepancies highlight

Corrigendum to Ground Motion Prediction Equations for Arias Intensity Using the Kik-Net Database. Earthquake Spectra. Epub ahead of print 29 July 2020. DOI: 10.1177/8755293020938815

This article presents the most significant structural response parameters of a railway system analyzed with data gathered during 5 years. The structure is the instrumented curved portion of an elevated railroad that consists of a simply supported beam resting on cantilever columns on soft soil. A monitoring system was implemented to determine, within a few minutes, a preliminary structural state analyzing

Ground motion intensity measures (IMs) were observed to be spatially correlated during past earthquakes. In this article, a new spatial cross-correlation model for a vector-IM, which consists of spectral acceleration (SA) ordinates at 17 periods and six non-SA IMs (e.g. peak ground velocity, Arias intensity, cumulative absolute velocity, and significant durations), is proposed using principal component

Seismic compression is the accrual of contractive volumetric strain in unsaturated or partially saturated sandy soils during earthquake shaking and has caused significant distress to overlying and nearby structures. The phenomenon can be well characterized by load-dependent, interaction macro-level fatigue theories. Toward this end, the Byrne cyclic shear-volumetric strain coupling model is expanded

This study presents a comprehensive open probabilistic seismic risk model for India. The proposed model comprises a nationwide residential and non-residential building exposure model, a selection of analytical seismic vulnerability functions tailored for Indian building classes, and the open implementation of an existing probabilistic seismic hazard model for India. The vulnerability of the building

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), as a tool to assess the probability that ground motion of a given intensity or larger is experienced at a given site and time span, has historically comprised the basis of both building design codes in earthquake-prone regions and seismic risk models. The PSHA traditionally refers solely to mainshock events and typically employs a homogeneous Poisson process