Geotechnical Earthquake

Engineering
 Course overview
1. Introduction
Background
Scope
Mathematical preliminary
Seismology & earthquakes
2. Earthquake mechanics
Shallow earthquakes
Deep earthquakes
Earthquake source mechanics
Wave propagation
3. Ground response
Strong ground motion
Ground response analysis
Dynamic soil properties
Principle of seismometry
4. Earthquake hazard
Hazard analysis
Liquefaction
Slope stability
Structural damage
 Course overview
5. Seismic design
Local site effects and design ground motions
Design of earth structures
Structural response and response spectra
Design considerations and codes

Assignments
Several assignments depending on the situation

Projects
Data interpretation/programming/analysis/ design
Ground response analysis
Structural response analysis
evaluation of seismic performance

Assessment
One assessment at any suitable date

Final exam
As per formal schedule
 Course overview
Marking scheme
Attendance 5%
Assignments 10%
Projects 10%
Assessment 15%
Final exam 60%
Total 100%

Major references
1. S.L. Kramer. Geotechnical earthquake engineering. Person education 2003
2. B.M. Das. Principles of geotechnical engineering, Boston PWS engineering
1985
3. S. I. Karato. The dynamic structure of the deep earth. Princeton university
press 2003
 EXAMPLE:
An earthquake fault is considered to be a simple system with elastic constant K and
damping constant C for the fault material as shown in Fig 1. Initially elastic strain energy
accumulates until the shear force reaches its peak Sp. Suddenly brittle fracture occurs
releasing the tremendous energy in the form of waves. This phenomenon is called
earthquake. Shear force drops down to its residual Sr after earthquake event. Find the
displacement time history of the point on the fault after an earthquake happens and discuss
the consequences.
Shear force, S

Sp

k
C Sr

Time, T
o Strain energy is defined as the internal
Fig. 1 Earthquake event
work done in deforming the body by
the action of externally applied forces Fig. 2
Strain Energy
Strain energy is the energy stored by a system undergoing deformation

The strain energy, as potential energy, released by an earthquake

The earthquake rupture process represents the release of the

accumulated strain energy

When the applied force is released, the whole system returns to its
original shape

Takes time to release the energy (aftershocks)

BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
o Global seismicity describes quantitatively the space, time and
magnitude distribution of earthquake occurrences

o Seismicity within a specific source zone or region is usually

quantified
log E = 1.5×R + 4.8
Or equivalently, E = 101.5×R + 4.8 joules Gutenberg-Richter relationship

Tons of TNT= E/4184000000

1 Tons Of TNT = 4184000000 joules

TNT : Explosive trinitrotoluene

log E = 5.24 + 1.44M where M is the moment magnitude

BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Example
An earthquake has been recorded a magnitude of 6.5 in the Richter scale.
Find the energy release and convert the Richter scale to tons of TNT.

Power in Joules E = (101.5 x 6.5 ) x 104.8

E= 3.548134e+14

In Tons of TNT = 3.548134e14 / 4184000000

= 8.480244e+4
 BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Earthquake energy
While each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in
the measured amplitude, it represents an 32 times more energy release

Earthquake releases energy in several forms : Seismic wave, in the form of heat,
gravitational potential and elastic potential energy

But, only the seismic wave energy is measurable which causes the ground or
earth to shake
 BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Seismic energy by magnitude
Energy in
Magnitude Wh TNT equiv. Notes
joules (J)
12
5.0 2.0 x 10 556 500 tons of TNT Energy from 50,000 litres of petrol
MWh Annual energy consumption of 47
average US households
13
6.0 6.3 x 10 17.5 15 kilotons of TNT 1945 Hiroshima bomb
GWh Annual energy consumption of 1500
average US households
15
7.0 2.0 x 10 556 500 kilotons of TNT Annual energy consumption of 47,000
GWh average US households
16
8.0 6.3 x 10 17.5 15 million tons of TNT 1–2 earthquakes this size each year
TWh Total annual energy use of Cuba
18
9.0 2.0 x 10 556 500 million tons of TNT Total annual energy use of UK
TWh

1 Watt Hour = 3600 Joules

1 Watt Hour = 0.8604206500956 Grams of TNT
(1 kilowatt (kW) is 1,000 watts, 1 megawatt (MW) is 1,000 kilowatts,
1 gigawatt (GW) is 1,000 megawatts, and 1 terawatt (TW) is 1,000 gigawatts)
 BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
Magnitude level Category Effects Earthquakes/year

Generally not felt by people, though

less than 1.0 to 2.9 Micro More than 100,000
recorded on local instruments

3.0–3.9 Minor Felt by many people; no damage 12,000–100,000

4.0–4.9 Light Felt by all; minor breakage of objects 2,000–12,000

5.0–5.9 Moderate Some damage to weak structures 200–2,000

6.0–6.9 Strong Moderate damage in populated areas 20–200

Serious damage over large areas; loss of

7.0–7.9 Major 3–20
life

Severe destruction and loss of life over

8.0 and higher Great Fewer than 3
large areas
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Recent earthquake distribution

Oh! So many earthquakes!

BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Recent earthquake distribution
Worldwide earthquakes above magnitude 3 during the past 24
hours on 31 Aug 2020

Summary:
1 quake 6.0+
3 quakes 5.0+
34 quakes 4.0+
141 quakes 3.0+
220 quakes 2.0+ (399 total)

Hence, Global seismicity level on 30 August 2020: LOW

BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
oAbout a million earthquakes (M>2) each year worldwide
oWithin a week, number of earthquakes around the world
oOf course, there are some regions where earthquakes
o would not occur
oIn some particular day dozen earthquakes of magnitude
o greater than 2 occur worldwide
 Which country has the most
earthquakes?
1. For which country do we locate the most earthquakes?
Japan

2. Which country actually has the most earthquakes?

Indonesia

3. Which country has the most catastrophic earthquakes, or which

has had the most damage and fatalities?

China, Iran and Turkey

Major earthquakes
Richter scale
oNorth ridge Earthquake (USA), 1994: M6.7
oHaiti earthquake, 2010: M7.0
oGorkha Nepal Earthquake (Nepal), 2015 (M7.8)
oGreat Kanto Earthquake (Japan), 1923: M7.9
oSichuan Earthquake (China), 2008: M7.9
oMexico City Earthquake, 1985: M8.1
oChile earthquake, 2010: M8.8
oKamchatka Earthquake (Eastern Russia), 1952: M9.0
oGreat East Japan Earthquake, 2011: M9.0
oSumatra-Andaman Earthquake, 2004: M9.1
oAnchorage earthquake (Alaska), 1964: M9.2
oValdivia Earthquake (Chile), 1960: M9.5
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•About a million earthquakes (M>2) each year
worldwide

We are in a earthquake prone zone!

BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Recent earthquake distribution

Oh! So many earthquakes!

Directions of maximum
horizontal compressive
stress in the Indo-
Australian plate (after
Zoback, 1992).
Earthquake catalogue of
India (2474 BC–2011 AD)

Some of the notable

earthquakes that have
occurred in the Himalayan
region are the 1897 Shillong
earthquake (Mw = 8.1), 1905
Kangra earthquake
(Mw = 7.8), 1934 Bihar-Nepal
earthquake (Mw = 8.3), 1950
Assam earthquake (Ms = 8.7)
and the 2005 Muzaffarbad
earthquake (Mw=7.6).
The northernmost part of
the Indian plate is marked
by the Main Boundary
Thrust (MBT) byBird (2003).
Although this boundary is
regarded as most
seismically active and visible
on the surface, the Indian
plate under-thrusts beneath
Eurasian plate beyond MBT.
Therefore, the actual
boundary of Indian plate is
the ITSZ zone

Therefore, the boundaries of

Indian plate include the
divergent margins along the
Central Indian ridge, continental
collision boundary along the
Himalayas and the subduction
zones along the Indo-Burmese
and Andaman Arc.
(a) Indian Plate boundary.
(b) Model with velocity
boundary conditions:
known plate velocities
applied at Himalaya and
Indo-Burmese border. (c)
Model with force
boundary conditions:
known plate forces
applied at Himalaya and
the Indo-Burmese border.
(d) Finite element mesh
used to discretize the
Indian plate.
(a) Contours of Von Mises
stress obtained for Model A1.
(b) Orientation of maximum
horizontal principal stress for
Model A1. (c) Contours of Von
Mises stress obtained for
Model A2. (d) Orientation of
maximum horizontal principal
stress for Model A2. Dark
lines indicate compressive
stress and light lines indicate
tensile stress. Thick black lines
with circles indicate stress
data from WSM, 2008
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Ring of fire
Ring of fire is a roughly 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes and seismically active
sites that outline the Pacific Ocean

Known as circum-pacific belt

Meeting points of many tectonic plates (Eurasian, North American, Caribbean,

Antarctic, Indian, Australian, Philippine which all encircle the large pacific
plates)

The plates are constantly sliding past, colliding into, or moving above or below
each other

This movement results in deep ocean trenches, volcanic eruptions, and

earthquake epicentres along the boundaries where the plates meet, called fault
lines
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL SEISMICITY
•Ring of fire
Home to the deepest ocean trench, called the Mariana trench, the 7
–mile (11.26km)-deep Mariana Trench formed when one tectonic
plate was pushed under another

About 90% of the world’s earthquakes, including the Valdivia

earthquake of Chile in 1960, the strongest recorded earthquake at
9.5 out of 10 on the Richter scale

Estimated 75% of the earth’s volcanoes are located, such as Mount

Tambora of Indonesia, which erupted in 1815 and became the
largest volcanic eruption in recorded history
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Question:
Are there volcanoes in the Himalayas?

Himalayas:
The Himalayas are a mountain range in Asia, which includes the
countries of Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Tibet, India, and
Bhutan (2400km). The Himalayan mountain range includes Mt.
Everest, the highest mountain on Earth.

As we all know that Himalayas are formed due to the collision

between Indo-Australian plate(continental plate) and Eurasian
plate(continental plate) the subduction of Indian plate is not so
deep so that the subducted plate did not melt to form magma . So
there is no volcanic eruption in Himalayas.
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
What is the difference between an active, erupting, dormant and
extinct volcano?

An active volcano is a volcano that has had at least one eruption

during the past 10,000 years. An active volcano might be erupting or
dormant.

An erupting volcano is an active volcano that is having an eruption...

A dormant volcano is an active volcano that is not erupting, but

supposed to erupt again.

An extinct volcano has not had an eruption for at least 10,000 years
and is not expected to erupt again in a comparable time scale of the
future.
BACKGROUND: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

No water, no melted rocks, no magma, no volcanoes.

Just deadly earthquakes instead.

How Himalayas are Formed ?
Shifting of India
 Three continent collision causing the geology and topography of
Japan fragile and vulnerable to various kinds of hazards

JAPAN (c)

North-American
Plate
Eurasian Plate

(d) Pacific
n
Plate

ic Philippine Plate
e
(b)

Location of Japan(a)in world map and its major islands

Earthquakes and plate boundaries

• Earthquakes commonly occur at

the boundaries of lithospheric
plates.
• This is because plate boundaries
tend to be zones of seismic
activity.
SOME OBSERVATIONS : INTERVAL
•Earthquake occurrence interval for a particular fault may
be greater than 100!
•Uncertainty in the occurrence interval significantly large
•Complex interaction among multiple faults

Then the question of predictability!

SOME OBSERVATIONS : INTERVAL
•Observation of some real faults in Japan:
Occurrence intervals

Then the question of predictability!

 SOME OBSERVATIONS: DEPENDENCY
•Size of fault and size of earthquake
1000

100
•Greater the fault size bigger is
Kilometers

the earthquake

10

1
5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
Magnitude
 SOME OBSERVATIONS : DEPENDENCY
•Size and duration of earthquake

100
Seconds

•Greater the magnitude longer is

the duration
10

1
5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
Magnitude
MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Plate tectonics

Major plates
7 major tectonic plates of the world by the numbers

Major Plate Name Continents and Oceans Size (km2)

Pacific Plate Pacific Ocean 102,900,000
United States, Canada,
North American Plate Arctic Ocean and Atlantic 75,900,000
Ocean
Eurasian Plate Europe, Russia and Asia 67,800,000
Africa and Atlantic
African Plate 61,300,000
Ocean
Antarctic Plate Antarctica 60,900,000
Australia, India, Oceania
Indo-Australia Plate 58,900,000
and Indian Ocean
South America and
South American Plate 43,600,000
Atlantic Ocean
MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Plate boundaries

Major plates
MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Principle of plate tectonics

Mantle convection cause continental drift

MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Types of faults

What’s happening in the crust?

MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Types of faults

Strike-Slip

Normal

Thrust

Movement of blocks?
MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Strike-slip fault

Surface earthquake fault!

MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Normal fault

Surface earthquake fault!

Stress change and seismicity rate
for a real fault
MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Earthquakes along the boundaries

Plate tectonics is cogent (main) theory!

 MECHANISM: SHALLOW EARTHQUAKES
•Earthquakes usually occur at shallow depths
(up to 70Km)
•At shallow depths temperature is low, strength of rock is
very high
•Large amount of elastic energy can accumulate
•If certain condition meet brittle fracture occurs releasing
tremendous energy as waves which is called earthquake

Plate tectonics is cogent (main) theory!

Is this all sufficient to describe the
earthquakes?
MECHANISM: DEEP EARTHQUAKES
•Observation of earthquakes in various depths

Very peculiar (unusual) facts?

MECHANISM: DEEP EARTHQUAKES
•Earthquake also occur even in the greater depths
(300Km to 680Km)
•At greater depths both temperature and pressure are very
high. How very large stress possible?
•Rock must deform by ductile flow rather than brittle
fracture. Why?
•Theory of plate tectonics pertinent to brittle fracture falls
short of deep earthquakes mechanism

Then what ?
 Pressure distribution
• The vertical component can be calculated as Pc = ρgz,
Where
ρ = average density
g= grav. constant,
z = depth
• Pc increases at about 25-30 MPa/km
Pressure vs. Depth in Earth
 Geothermal Gradient
• T increases in the Lithosphere at 250C/km

• T continues to increase all the way to the core, but at a lower rate

❖ The melting T of Quartz is 573-870 0C

❖ The melting T of Feldspar >1100
❖ The melting T of calcite is 910
Temperature vs. Depth in the Earth
Velocity vs. Depth
in the Earth
Porosity vs.
Depth
Porosity vs.
Depth
The failure mechanism for deep-
focus earthquakes
 The three leading mechanisms for deep
earthquakes (i.e., transformational faulting or anti-
cracking faulting, dehydration embrittlement,
and thermal runaway/shear instability)

Transformational faulting/Anti-crack faulting: Result of the phase transition

of a mineral to a higher density phase occurring in response to shear stress in
a fine-grained shear zone. The transformation occurs along the plane of
maximal shear stress. This faulting process provides a fine-grained,
superplastic, ‘lubricant’ for faults. Rapid shearing can then occur along these
planes of weakness, giving rise to an earthquake.

Dehydration embrittlement: This effect reduces the effective normal stress

in the slab and allow slip to occur on pre-existing fault planes at significantly
greater depths that would normally be possible.

Thermal runway/shear instability: material weakening and strain-

localisation within the shear zone
Anticrack-associated faulting at very high pressure in natural olivine
•Harry W. Green II, Thomas E. Young, David Walker & Christopher H. Scholz
Nature volume 348, pages720–722 (1990)

SHALLOW earthquakes are produced by brittle shear fracture of rock and/or fictional sliding on
pre-existing fault surfaces. At very high pressures, however, brittle fracture and frictional sliding
are impossible because frictional resistance to movement on any potential fault surface is so
great that ductile stress-relief processes accommodate strain at lower shear stresses than those
necessary to activate faulting. Nevertheless, more than 20% of earthquakes with magnitudes
greater than five occur at depths greater than 300km, where the pressure exceeds l0 GPa.
Possible explanations for this paradox have been offered by several recent experimental studies
of shearing instabilities associated with phase transformations at high. One of these
mechanisms is associated with anticrack development during the olivine → spinel (α → γ) phase
transformation in Mg2GeO4 at pressures of 1–2 GPa; it is particularly attractive because it
operates between mineral structures known to occur in the mantle. We show here that this
mechanism also can operate in natural silicate olivine, (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, during onset of the α → β
transformation at the much higher pressures at which deep earthquakes occur. These results
lend strong support to the hypothesis that the anticrack mechanism is responsible for such
earthquakes.
o Very fine-grained olivine and spinel are found in
fault zones.

o Deformation at higher temperatures is ductile but

transformation is rapid and specimens are much
weaker.
Why olivine transforms to spinel at high pressure
•M. O'Keeffe &
•B. G. Hyde
Nature volume 293, pages727–728 (1981)

Because of its importance in understanding the static and dynamic properties of the Earth's
mantle, the olivine to spinel structure transformation is one of the most frequently studied
crystal structure changes. The volume change is considerable (∼7–10%, depending on the
compound involved) but the reason for this is unclear. In most high-pressure
transformations, the volume contraction is accompanied by an increase in the primary
coordination number of the atoms. However, there is no such increase in the case of the
transformation from the olivine to the spinel structure. Both are A2BX4 compounds (for
example, Mg2SiO4 olivine and Al2MgO4 spinel) with cation coordinations AX6 (octahedral)
and BX4 (tetrahedral) and anion coordinations XA3B (tetrahedral). Indeed the conventional
description of both structures starts with approximately ‘close-packed’ (‘eutactic’1) anion
arrays (hexagonal for olivine and cubic for spinel) with cations in one half of the octahedral
interstices and one eighth of the tetrahedral interstices, suggesting that the volumes of each
structure should be very similar for a given compound. Here we show that a less
conventional, but more appropriate description of the structures resolves the volume
problem and also sheds light on the crystal chemistry of these and related structures.
DEEP EARTHQUAKES: PHASE
TRANSFORMATION
Stress concentration

L
H

L = Low pressure phase

H = High pressure phase

Not fully persuasive (clear) for all rock materials

Serpentine Physical Properties
The most obvious physical properties of serpentine are its green color,
patterned appearance, and slippery feel. These remind the observer of a
snake and that is where the name “serpentine” was derived.
Chemical Classification Silicate

Usually various shades of

Color green, but can be yellow, black,
white, and other colors.

Streak White
Luster Greasy or waxy
Translucent to opaque, rarely
Diaphaneity
transparent
Cleavage Poor to perfect
Mohs Hardness Variable between 3 and 6
Specific Gravity 2.5 to 2.6
Color, luster, fibrous habit,
Diagnostic Properties
hardness, slippery feel
(Mg,Fe,Ni,Al,Zn,Mn)2-
Chemical Composition
3(Si,Al,Fe)2O5(OH)4

Most serpentine minerals are

Crystal System
monoclinic.

A source of asbestos,
Uses architectural stone, ornamental
stone, gem material.
Generation of intermediate-depth earthquake by self-localizing thermal runaway
•January 2009
•Nature Geoscience 2(2):137-140

AU - John, Timm
AU - Medvedev, Sergei
AU - Ruepke, Lars
AU - Andersen, Torgeir
AU - Podladchikov, Yury
AU - Austrheim, Håkon
Intermediate-depth (50-300 km) earthquakes commonly occur along convergent plate
margins but their causes remain unclear. In the absence of pore-fluid pressures that are
sufficiently high to counter the confining pressure in such settings, brittle failure is
unlikely. In such conditions, the rocks could fail by the mechanism of progressively self-
localizing thermal runaway, whereby ductile deformation in shear zones leads to heating,
thermal softening and weakening of rock. Here we test this hypothesis by focusing on
fault veins of glassy rock (pseudotachylyte) formed by fast melting during a seismic
event, as well as associated ductile shear zones that occur in a Precambrian terrane in
Norway. Our field observations suggest that the pseudotachylytes as well as shear
zones have a single-event deformation history, and we also document mineralogical
evidence for interaction of the rocks with external fluids. Using fully coupled thermal and
viscoelastic models, we demonstrate that the simultaneous occurrence of brittle and
ductile deformation patterns observed in the field can be explained by self-localizing
thermal runaway at differential stresses lower than those required for brittle failure. Our
results suggest that by perturbing rock properties, weakening by hydration also plays a
key role in shear zone formation and seismic failure; however, thermal runaway enables
the rocks to fail in the absence of a free fluid phase.
DEEP EARTHQUAKES: THERMAL RUNAWAY

Temperature profile

Larger strain

Slippage along molten layer

Most plausible (clear) mechanism!

MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?

Faulting Complex asperity

What is the possible internal phenomenon?

MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?
•Self organized criticality!
•Simple rule to describe the complex phenomenon
eg. earthquake landslide, natural fire etc.
•Complex interaction among simple elements produces
the complex outcome

How can SOC describe the earthquake ?

MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?
•Self organized criticality (SOC)

Representative
blocks

Representative elements
obeying simple rule

Simple configuration!
MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?

Avalanche

Simple rule Complex phenomenon

MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?
•Self organized criticality
Earthquakes

Cumulative energy Time

Sudden drop of energy corresponds to

big earthquakes!
MECHANISM: WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON?
•Summary
Local cracks/dislocation
External force

Interaction of local
cracks/dislocation
Increased
External force
Sudden slippage
 One major question!
Can earthquake be predicted?
TWO PARADIGMS
•Unpredictable

•Predictable

???
 TWO PARADIGMS: UNPREDICTABLE
•Very complex phenomenon •Reliable ground motion
•Completely chaotic parameters
•More precise local site
conditions

Structures

Source Local site

mechanics
 TWO PARADIGMS: UNPREDICTABLE
•Reliable soil structure •Reliable earthquake
interaction response analysis
•Reliable structural
design

Structures

Source Local site

mechanics
 TWO PARADIGMS: PREDICTABLE
•Physical law predictable •More precise knowledge
•Even the chaotic of material properties
phenomenon can •More precise source
be predictable mechanics

Structures

Source
mechanics
Local site
TWO PARADIGMS: PREDICTABLE
•More accurate •Reliable formalism of
information on asperity dislocation
•More accurate modeling •Reliable formalism for
of phenomenon nucleation (formation) of
fracture
Structures

Source
mechanics
Local site
 TWO PARADIGMS: COMPARATIVE VIEW
Unpredictable Predictable
Main •Very complex •Even the chaotic
view
phenomenon and phenomenon is
absolutely chaotic predictable

Focus •Earthquake design •More precise mechanism

Chaos Well defined physics

 TWO PARADIGMS: COMPARATIVE VIEW
Unpredictable Predictable
Major •Ground motion •Source mechanics
points
parameter •Surface earthquake fault
•Local site characteristics •Fault asperity and
•Soil structure interaction nucleation
•Structural response

Structural design Geophysics

 SOME REMARKS
•Plate tectonics governs the mechanism of shallow
earthquakes while thermal runway instability seem to be
most pursuable mechanism for deep earthquakes

•However there is the possibility of unified theory that

should govern the earthquake mechanism for entire
domain
 SOME REMARKS
•At this stage when we don’t have reliable approach
for accurate prediction, earthquake resistant
design is very important

•However focus should also be made for the more

reliable understanding of the accurate earthquake physics
so that accurate prediction can be made
 At last what is your view on
predictability? Can we predict the
earthquake?