A preliminary study about the influence of building clusters on the variability of the ground motion during earthquakes

Yigit D. Isbiliroglu, & Ricardo Taborda

Awaiting Publication 2017, SCEC Contribution #7902

Spatial variability and ground motion uncertainty during earthquakes can significantly influence both our interpretation of seismic data and the behavior of structures and infrastructure systems, especially those susceptible to differential motions, or those that benefit from more diffuse wave-fields. Spatial variations typically observed in ground motions are mostly the consequence of wave interferences, refraction, scattering and other phenomena resulting from the three-dimensional nature of the crust, the surface topography, site conditions, and heterogeneities in the transmitting media. Also influential but regularly ignored is the presence of the built environment, especially in the case of densely urbanized regions. We are interested in investigating the extent to which the presence of building-foundation systems can modify earthquake ground motions and contribute to their variability. We present preliminary results from a series of three-dimensional simulations using a finite element software for seismic wave propagation problems, with and without the presence of simplified building (block) models. We explore the level of influence exerted by the built environment on the ground motion through comparisons between the simulations with building models and equivalent simulations without them. This is the initial step of a project in which we seek to identify parameters that can serve as proxies to characterize site-city interaction effects.

Citation
Isbiliroglu, Y. D., & Taborda, R. (2017). A preliminary study about the influence of building clusters on the variability of the ground motion during earthquakes. Poster Presentation at QuakeCoRE Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
CME, EEII