SCEC Award Number 14228 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Use and validation of simulated earthquakes for the nonlinear performance-assessment of tall buildings considering spectral shape and duration
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Gregory Deierlein Stanford University Ting Lin Marquette University
Other Participants Nenad Bijelic
SCEC Priorities 6e SCEC Groups EEII, GMSV, GMP
Report Due Date 03/15/2015 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 To investigate how reliably physics-based simulations capture ground motion features that significantly affect structural response, we examined the nonlinear dynamic response of a 20-story moment frame building under simulated and recorded motions at different shaking intensities up to the onset of collapse. Initially, we compared the building response under sets of recorded and simulation ground motions, where the motions in each set are selected to have comparable spectral shape and significant duration. Recorded ground motions were selected and scaled from the PEER NGA database. Simulated motions were selected and scaled from the GP, SDSU and EXSIM datasets of the SCEC Broadband-Platform validation study. A fourth set of simulated ground motions was selected without scaling from the SCEC CyberShake database. Overall, the structural demand parameters were similar from the recorded and simulated ground motions, indicating that when ground motions have comparable elastic spectra and durations, the differences in response are statistically insignificant. The analyses do, however, highlight potential problems with using simulated motions to assess structures whose fundamental period is close to the splicing period (T~ 2 sec) used in hybrid broadband simulations. In the second part of the study, we examined the use of the SCEC CyberShake hazard characterization and ground motions as a replacement alternative to conventional seismic hazard and ground motion selection and scaling. This CyberShake comparison is ongoing, but results to date indicate that the structural response data are comparable when the underlying hazard curve is similar for the CyberShake and conventional approaches. Conversely, the results demonstrate the potential benefits of using simulated Cybershake motions in situations where the physics-based simulations capture unique geologic features that are not represented well by conventional seismic hazard analysis based on empirical Ground Motion Prediction Equations.
Intellectual Merit By examining the nonlinear dynamic response of buildings and other structures to simulated and recorded earthquake ground motions, this project is helping to validate the simulated motions and demonstrate their use for realistic earthquake engineering applications. The project also seeks to demonstrate important areas where physics-based simulations can provide more realistic assessment of extreme ground motions than can be obtained using conventional seismic hazard methods that rely on empirical ground motion prediction equations.
Broader Impacts By supporting the doctoral research of a graduate student in structural engineering, this project has helped to nurture multi-disciplinary research between engineering and earth sciences. The graduate student supported on this project has embraced opportunities to engage in earth science and seismology through the earthquake science summer program and participation in multi-disciplinary seminars. Further, the PI (Deierlein) and the graduate researcher have presented and disseminated their research fundings and illustrated potential applications for simulated ground motions among the earthquake engineering community.
Exemplary Figure Figure 4. Structural response to unscaled CyberShake motions and scaled recorded motions: (a) median Story Drift Ratios at 2% in 50 years intensity; (b) collapse fragility curves.
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