Xie Lili

Study on inelastic displacement ratio spectra for near-fault pulse-type ground motions

In displacement-based seismic design, inelastic displacement ratio spectra (IDRS) are particularly useful for estimating the maximum lateral inelastic displacement demand of a nonlinear SDOF system from the maximum elastic displacement demand of its counterpart linear elastic SDOF system. In this study, the characteristics of IDRS for near-fault pulse-type ground motions are investigated based on a great number of earthquake ground motions. The influence of site conditions, ratio of peak ground velocity (PGV) to peak ground acceleration (PGA), the PGV, and the maximum incremental velocity (MIV) on IDRS are also evaluated. The results indicate that the effect of near-fault ground motions on IDRS are significant only at periods between 0.2 s–1.5 s, where the amplification can approach 20%. The PGV/PGA ratio has the most significant influence on IDRS among the parameters considered. It is also found that site conditions only slightly affect the IDRS.

Representation of near-fault pulse-type ground motions

Near-fault ground motions with long-period pulses have been identified as critical in the design of structures. To aid in the representation of this special type of motion, eight simple pulses that characterize the effects of either the fling-step or forward-directivity are considered. Relationships between pulse amplitudes and velocity pulse period for different pulses are discussed. Representative ratios and peak acceleration amplification can exhibit distinctive features depending on variations in pulse duration, amplitude and the selected acceleration pulse shape. Additionally, response spectral characteristics for the equivalent pulses are identified and compared in terms of fixed PGA and PGV, respectively. Response spectra are strongly affected by the duration of pulses and the shape of the basic pulses. Finally, dynamic time history response features of a damped SDOF system subjected to pulse excitations are examined. These special aspects of pulse waveforms and their response spectra should be taken into account in the estimation of ground motions for a project site close to a fault.

Bi-normalized response spectral characteristics of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake

To develop uniform and seismic environment-dependent design spectrum, common acceleration response spectral characteristics need to be identified. In this paper, a bi-normalized response spectrum (BNRS) is proposed, which is defined as a spectrum of peak response acceleration normalized with respect to peak acceleration of the excitation plotted vs. the natural period of the system normalized with respect to the spectrum predominant period,Tp. Based on a statistical analysis of records from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, the conventionally normalized response spectrum(NRS) and the BNRS are examined to account for the effects of soil conditions, epicentral distance, hanging wall and damping. It is found that compared to the NRS, the BNRS is much less dependent on these factors. Finally, some simple relationships between the BNRS for a specified damping ratio and that for a damping ratio of 5%, and between the spectra predominant period and epicentral distance for different soil types are provided.

Effects of hanging wall and forward directivity in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake on inelastic displacement response of structures

The characteristics of the inelastic response of structures affected by hanging wall and forward directivity in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake are investigated. Inelastic displacement ratios (IDRs) for ground motions impacted by these nearfield effects are evaluated and comprehensively compared to far-field ground motions. In addition, the inelastic displacement responses to hanging wall and footwall ground motions are compared. It is concluded that the inelastic displacement response is significantly affected in the short period range by hanging wall and in the long period range by footwall. Although high peak ground acceleration was observed at hanging wall stations, the IDRs for structures on hanging wall sites are only larger than footwall sites in the very long period range. Forward directivity effects result in larger IDRs for periods longer than about 0.5s. Adopting statistical relationships for IDRs established using far-field ground motions may lead to either overestimation or underestimation in the seismic evaluation of existing structures located in near-field regions, depending on their fundamental vibration periods.

Near-fault ground motion bi-normalized pseudo-velocity spectra and its applications

Ground motions with forward-directivity effect in the near-fault region are obviously different from ordinary far-field ground motions. Design spectral models for this kind of motions have been proposed by correlating simple pulses with parameters attenuation relationships in a previous study of the authors. To further test the applicability of the established design spectral model, we analyze ground motion pseudo-velocity response spectra (PVS), normalized pseudo-velocity spectra (NPVS) and bi-normalized pseudo-velocity spectra (BNPVS) of 53 typical near-fault forward-directivity ground motions. It is found that BNPVS not only has more salient features to reflect the difference between soil and rock sites, but also has less scattering to reveal the nature of forward-directivity motions. And then, BNPVS is used for prediction of design spectra accounting for the influence of site conditions, and the constructed design spectra are compared with those spectra established previously. It is concluded that site condition can heavily affect ground motions, buildings on rock can be even more dangerous than those on soil sites, in particular for ordinary buildings with short to middle vibration periods. Finally, pulse models are also suggested for structural analyses in the near-fault region.

Application of ARX and RARX Methods in Structural Parameter Identification

To diagnose the seismic damage of one 5-story reinforced concrete building under the excitation of great earthquake, the off-line ARX method and recursive on-line RARX method are applied to identify the structural time-invariant and time-varying parameters from its seismic response records. The results show that the time-invariant and time-varying parameters can be determined from the seismic response records by two methods, especially the structural time-varying characteristics can be identified accurately by using on-line RARX method through forgetting factor. Moreover, the structural parameters of the building before and after damage can be obtained from the time-varying parameters, and the seismic damage can be detected from the comparison among the parameters of structural different state. It is also found that the natural frequency decreases gradually until it reaches the lowest point value, and then increases until the end of the earthquake, but can not be recovered to the initial value. The performance of structures could be recovered to a certain extent after the earthquake compared with the most dangerous state when the natural frequency is at the lowest point. The results can be referenced by structural damage diagnosis and related tasks.

Prediction of near-field strong ground motions for scenario earthquakes on active fault

A method to predict near-field strong ground motions for scenario earthquakes on active faults is proposed. First, macro-source parameters characterizing the entire source area, i.e., global source parameters, including fault length, fault width, rupture area, average slip on the fault plane, etc., are estimated by seismogeology survey, seismicity and seismic scaling laws. Second, slip distributions characterizing heterogeneity or roughness on the fault plane, i.e., local source parameters, are reproduced/evaluated by the hybrid slip model. Finally, the finite fault source model, developed from both the global and local source parameters, is combined with the stochastically synthetic technique of ground motion using the dynamic corner frequency based on seismology. The proposed method is applied to simulate the acceleration time histories on three base-rock stations during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Comparisons between the predicted and recorded acceleration time histories show that the method is feasible and practicable.

Research on performance-based seismic design criteria

The seismic design criterion adopted in the existing seismic design codes is reviewed. It is pointed out that the presently used seismic design criterion is not satisfied with the requirements of nowadays social and economic development. A new performance-based seismic design criterion that is composed of three components is presented in this paper. It can not only effectively control the economic losses and casualty, but also ensure the building’s function in proper operation during earthquakes. The three components are: classification of seismic design for buildings, determination of seismic design intensity and/or seismic design ground motion for controlling seismic economic losses and casualties, and determination of the importance factors in terms of service periods of buildings. For controlling the seismic human losses, the idea of socially acceptable casualty level is presented and the ‘Optimal Economic Decision Model’ and ‘Optimal Safe Decision Model’ are established. Finally, a new method is recommended for calculating the importance factors of structures by adjusting structures service period on the base of more important structure with longer service period than the conventional ones. Therefore, the more important structure with longer service periods will be designed for higher seismic loads, in case the exceedance probability of seismic hazard in different service period is same.

Estimation on site-amplification from different methods using strong motion data obtained in Tangshan, China

A seismic observation array for strong motions was deployed to estimate seismic source, propagation path and local site effects in Tangshan, China. We compared site response from the S-wave inversion and those from other techniques, such as traditional direct spectral ratios of S waves and receiver-function of S waves. From the inversion, we found that S-wave quality factor,i.e. Q S-value, is approximately satisfied with the relation ofQ S=67f 1.1 in the range of frequency from 0.5 Hz to 32 Hz and that the source spectra follow theω −2 model of seismic source for low frequencies less than about 12 Hz. From the comparison of site responses estimated by the different methods for each soil site, we found that all the methods can extract the same predominant peaks from the responses, the amplifications from direct S-wave spectral ratios are well correlated with those from the S-wave inversion within a factor of 2 to 3, while the correlation between the amplifications from S-wave receiver-function and those from the S-wave inversion is not good, especially for high frequencies more than 8 Hz.A seismic observation array for strong motions was deployed to estimate seismic source, propagation path and local site effects in Tangshan, China. We compared site response from the S-wave inversion and those from other techniques, such as traditional direct spectral ratios of S waves and receiver-function of S waves. From the inversion, we found that S-wave quality factor,i.e. QS-value, is approximately satisfied with the relation ofQS=67f1.1 in the range of frequency from 0.5 Hz to 32 Hz and that the source spectra follow theω−2 model of seismic source for low frequencies less than about 12 Hz. From the comparison of site responses estimated by the different methods for each soil site, we found that all the methods can extract the same predominant peaks from the responses, the amplifications from direct S-wave spectral ratios are well correlated with those from the S-wave inversion within a factor of 2 to 3, while the correlation between the amplifications from S-wave receiver-function and those from the S-wave inversion is not good, especially for high frequencies more than 8 Hz.

Effects of strength envelope platform on the artificial ground motion

Artificial ground motion can make up for the lack of actual ground motion as ground motion input, while the previous study showed insufficient consideration of the strength envelope. This article introduces the multi-peak point strength envelope model, i.e., Amin and Ang model, and the technology of artificial ground motion considering trigonometric series stacking technology. Taking random numbers and actual ground motion phases as initial phases, the influence of the length and position of the platform on the response spectrum and the artificial acceleration time histories has been presented. The results show: (1) the fitting effect of the response spectrum varies with position of the strength envelope platform; (2) the strength envelope platform determines the position of PGA (peak acceleration of ground motion); (3) Taking phases of the strong motion record as initial phases, the response spectra are better fitted.