Geology 377

Exploration and Engineering Seismology

Lecture 10
Earthquake Strong Ground Motion
(Reference: Kramer, Geotechnical
Earthquake Engineering, 1996)

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

Exactly 100 years ago, in April 18, 1906, at

5:13 a.m., the Great San Francisco Earthquake
hit the San Francisco Bay Area. This was the
first significant, and longest memorized
earthquake in North America. The famous
elastic rebound (Reid) hypothesis was
intrigued by the 1906 San Francisco
Earthquake.

Earthquake Engineering:
Studies of the effects of earthquakes on people and
their environment, with methods of reducing these
effects.

Earthquake Engineering involves:

geology, seismology, geotechnical engineering,
structural engineering, risk analysis with also
social, economic, and political factors

Seismic Hazards:
Natural hazards associated with the occurrence of
earthquakes.
Seismic Hazards:
Ground shaking: ground failure, lateral spreading
Structural hazards: damage of engineering works
(buildings, bridges, highways, etc.)
Liquefaction: loss shear strength of the foundation
Landslides: mudflow, slope failure
Retaining structure failure: retaining walls, dams,
breakwater, quaywalls
Lifeline hazards: fire, hazardous gas, loss of
drinking/fire-fighting water.
Tsunami (ocean) and seiche (lake) hazards

Strong Ground Motion

Earthquake motion of sufficient strength to affect
people and their environment. It is recorded by 3component acceleration seismometers.
Strong ground motion at one site is determined by:
Earthquake source location;
Physical properties of earth material along the
path of seismic wave propagation;
Local site effects (soil characteristics);
Strong ground motion is characterized with ground
motion parameters.

The entire earthquake path to seismic hazard

Detailed view of site effect

Body wave:
P-wave

Sv-wave

Surface wave
Rayleigh wave

Love wave

1906 SFO Earthquake ground shaking movie:

Movie:http://nsmp.wr.usgs.gov/Presentations/EGSitSFBR/640/Pres1_1s.html

Earthquake Engineering:
Studies of the effects of earthquakes on people and
their environment, with methods of reducing these
effects.

Earthquake Engineering involves:

geology, seismology, geotechnical engineering,
structural engineering, risk analysis with also social,
economic, and political factors.

Seismic Hazards:
Natural hazards associated with the occurrence of
earthquakes.

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

Seismic Hazards include:

Ground shaking: ground failure, lateral spreading;
Structural hazards: damage of engineering works
(buildings, bridges, highways, etc.);
Liquefaction: loss shear strength of the
foundation;
Landslides: mudflow, slope failure;
Retaining structure failure: retaining walls, dams,
breakwater, quarry-walls;
Lifeline hazards: fire, hazardous gas, loss of
drinking/fire-fighting water;
Tsunami (ocean) and seiche (lake) hazards.

Lateral Spreading caused by the 1906 San

Francisco Earthquake at Moss Landing, CA
(USGS Professional Paper 993)

Ground failure scarp caused by the 1906 San

Francisco Earthquake in Pajaro River, CA
(USGS Professional Paper 993)

San Francisco in flames after the 1906 Earthquake

(downtown, S. F., CA, USGS Professional Paper 993)

On April 18, 1906, the Great San Francisco Earthquake hit the Bay
Area at 5:13 a.m., causing more than $2 million in damage at Stanford.
The men's gymnasium, above, sustained major damage.

Louis Agassiz Statue in Stanford University after 1906

San Francisco Earthquake

Louis Agassiz (Harvard Professor,1807-1873).

I have devoted my whole life to the study of
Nature, and yet a single sentence may express
all that I have done. ... Louis Agassiz, 1869.)

A gigantic landslide
buried the Village of
Yungay, Peru, after
the 1970 Peruvian
Earthquake.
(Kramer, 1996)

Foundation failure by liquefaction

after the 1964 Niigata Earthquake. (USGS)

Sand Blow in a Rice Field, Southeastern Missouri

caused by the 1811-1812 NMSZ Earthquakes

Sand boils after the 1906 Earthquake, Milpitas, CA

(USGS Professional Paper 993)

Tsunami Destruction at the Resurrection Bay, Kodiak

Island after the Great Alaska Earthquake (March 27, 1964)

Tsunami Destruction at the Resurrection Bay, Kodiak

Island after the Great Alaska Earthquake (March 27, 1964)

1946 Hawaii Tsunami

Aftermath of the tsunami

Satellite image of Banda

Aceh Shore, Indonesia,
before the tsunami
(June 23, 2004)

Satellite image of
Banda Aceh Shore,
Indonesia, after the
tsunami (December
28, 2004)

The Damage of Sewerage Structures

Kushiro (town)

Lifted-up Manhole and gushed Soil

during Liquefaction

2003 Hokkaido
Earthquake
Lifted-up Manhole

The Damage of Sewerage Structures

Failure Mode

(notice : this is only concept)

Sand Boiling

Sand Boiling

Manhole

Flexible Pipe

Crack or Residual Strain

Residual Strain
Rigid Pipe

Original Soil
(Liquefied)
Lift-up Force
Replaced Soil (Liquefied)

The Damage of Embankment Structures

Toyokoro

Collapsed Embankment

10

The Damage of Embankment Structures

Collapsed Embankment

Liquefied Soil

Toyokoro

Liquefied Soil

11

Modern time
microseismicity in
the New Madrid
Seismic Zone, 3
great earthquakes
occurred here in
1811-1812 winter.

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

A model of the Zhang

Heng Seismograph
invented in China
about 2000 years ago
in the Han Dynasty

An old German Seismograph for recording strong earthquake motions

Modern Strong
Ground Motion
Seismograph,
(Kramer , 1996)

At any point the complete ground motion measured should have 3

components of translation and 3 components of rotation. Practically
only the 3 translation components are measured.

1989
Loma
Prieta
Quake
recorded
at (1)
Rock
site (2)
Soil site
at the
same
location

Response to ground displacement

Response to ground acceleration

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

Earthquake Intensity
Map of the 1906 San
Francisco Earthquake
(USGS Professional
Paper 993)

Ground Motion parameters:

Amplitude Parameters
Peak acceleration;
Peak velocity;
Peak displacement.
Frequency content parameters:
Ground motion spectra (Fourier spectra, Power
spectra, response spectra);
Spectral parameters (predominant period,
Bandwidth, Central frequency, shape factor).

Duration
Bracketed duration;
Corner period (corner frequency);
Other ground motion parameters
Cumulative absolute velocity (CAV): the
integration of the absolute acceleration;
Spectral Intensity (SI): the integration of the
pseudo-velocity (PSV) response spectrum;
acceleration spectrum intensity (ASI): the
integration of the acceleration response
spectrum.

Predominant frequency then is the reciprocal of the predominant period.

Gilroy 1
(bedrock)

Gilroy 2
(soil)

1. Introduction
2. Seismic Hazards
3. Strong ground motion observations
4. Strong ground motion parameters
5. Ground response: transfer function

http://www.uky.edu/KGS/geologichazards/strong-motion.htm

Recordings from the October 21,

2004 earthquake (Md2.5) at the
vertical strong motion array, VSAS.
(A) surface, (B) 30 m deep, (C)
260 m deep. We will discuss the
transfer function.
http://www.uky.edu/KGS/geologichazards/strong-motion.htm

Transfer Function
The transfer function determines how each
frequency in the bedrock (input) motion is amplified
or de0amplified, by the soil sediments.
Thus, the transfer function can be viewed as a filter
that acts upon some input signal to produce an
output signal. The input is the time history of the
load Q(t) in the bedrock, and the output is the
displacement in the soil layer u(t), especially u(t) at
the free surface.