Earthquakes and Structures

Techno-Press (테크노프레스)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Investigation on site conditions for seismic stations in Romania using H/V spectral ratio

  • Pavel, Florin (Seismic Risk Assessment Research Centre, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest) ;
  • Vacareanu, Radu (Seismic Risk Assessment Research Centre, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest)
  • Received : 2014.08.10
  • Accepted : 2015.06.02
  • Published : 2015.11.25
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This research evaluates the soil conditions for seismic stations situated in Romania using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR). The strong ground motion database assembled for this study consists of 179 analogue and digital strong ground motion recordings from four intermediate-depth Vrancea seismic events with $M_w{\geq}6.0$. In the first step of the analysis, the influence of the earthquake magnitude and source-to-site distance on the H/V curves is evaluated. Significant influences from both the earthquake magnitude and hypocentral distance are found especially for soil class A sites. Next, a site classification method proposed in the literature is applied for each seismic station and the soil classes are compared with those obtained from borehole data and from the topographic slope method. In addition, the success and error rates of this method are computed and compared with other studies from the literature. A more in-depth analysis of the H/V results is performed using data from seismic stations in Bucharest and a comparison of the free-field and borehole H/V curves is done for three seismic stations. The results show large differences between the free-field and the borehole curves. As a conclusion, the results from this study represent an intermediary step in the evaluation of the soil conditions for seismic stations in Romania and the need to perform more detailed soil classification analysis is highly emphasized.

Keywords

References

  1. Akkar, S. and Bommer, J.J. (2006), "Influence of long-period filter cut-off on elastic spectral displacements", Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 35(9), 1145-1165. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.577
  2. Aldea, A., Lungu, D., Vacareanu, R. and Arion, C. (2004), "Development of strong ground motion network in Romania and Bucharest instrumentation for site effects assessment", Proceedings of the 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Vancouver, Canada.
  3. Aldea, A., Kashima, T., Okawa, I., Poiata, N., Koyama, S. and Demetriu, S. (2007), "Free-field and borehole strong motion array in Bucharest, Romania", Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Thessaloniki, Greece.
  4. Bala, A., Aldea, A., Hannich, D., Ehret, D. and Raileanu, V. (2009), "Methods to assess the site effects based on in situ measurements in Bucharest city, Romania", Romanian Report. Phys., 61(2), 335-346.
  5. Barani, S., De Ferrari, R., Ferretti, G. and Eva, C. (2008), "Assessing the effectiveness of soil parameters for ground response characterization and soil classification", Earthq. Spectra, 24(3), 565-597. https://doi.org/10.1193/1.2946440
  6. BIGSEES - Bridging the gap between seismology and earthquake engineering: from the seismicity of Romania towards a refined implementation of seismic action EN 1998-1 in earthquake resistant design of buildings. http://infp.infp.ro/bigsees/default.htm
  7. Boore, D.M. and Bommer, J.J. (2005), "Processing of strong motion accelerograms: needs, options and consequence", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 25(2), 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2004.10.007
  8. Borcherdt, R.D. (1970), "Effects of local geology on ground motion near San Francisco Bay", Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 60(1), 29-61.
  9. Contantinescu, L. and Enescu, D. (1985), The Vrancea earthquakes from scientific and technologic point of view (in Romanian), Ed. Academiei, Bucharest, Romania.
  10. Di Alessandro, C., Bonilla, L.F., Boore, D.M., Rovelli, A. and Scotti, O. (2012), "Predominant-period site classification for response spectra prediction equations in Italy", Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 102(2), 680-695. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120110084
  11. Ducellier, A., Kawase, H. and Matsushima, S. (2013), "Validation of a new velocity structure inversion method based on horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratios of earthquake motions in the Tohoku area, Japan", Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 103(2A), 958-970. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120120214
  12. EN 1998-1 (2004), Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 1: General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings, European Committee for Standardization.
  13. Fitzko, F., Costa, G., Delise, A. and Suhadolc, P. (2007), "Site effects analyses in the old city center of Trieste (NE Italy) using accelerometric data", J. Earthq. Eng., 11(1), 33-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632460601123123
  14. Fukushima, Ylozani., Bonilla, L.F., Scotti, O. and Douglas, J. (2007), "Site classification using horizontalto-vertical response spectral ratios and its impact when deriving empirical ground-motion prediction equations", J. Earthq. Eng., 11(5), 712-724. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632460701457116
  15. Garcia-Fernandez, M. and Jimenez, M.J. (2012), "Site characterization in the Vega Baja, SE Spain, using ambient-noise H/V analysis", Bull. Earthq. Eng., 10(4), 1163-1191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-012-9351-1
  16. Garcia-Jerez, A., Navaroo, M., Alcala, F.J., Luzon, F., Perez-Ruiz, J., Enomoto, T., Vidal, F. and Ocana, E. (2007), "Shallow velocity structure using joint inversion of array and h/v spectral ratio of ambient noise: The case of Mula town (SE of Spain)", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 27(10), 907-919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2007.03.001
  17. Ghasemi, H., Zare, M., Fukushima, Y. and Sinaeian, F. (2009), "Applying empirical methods in site classification using response spectral ratio (H/V): a case study on Iranian strong motion network (ISMN)", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 29(1), 121-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2008.01.007
  18. Goded, T., Buforn, E. and Macau, A. (2012), "Site effects evaluation in Malaga city's historical centre (Southern Spain)", Bull. Earthq. Eng., 10(3), 813-838. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-011-9337-4
  19. Grecu, B., Radulian, M., Mandrescu, N. and Panza, G. (2007), "H/V spectral ratios technique application in the city of Bucharest: can we get rid of source effect?", JSEE Spring and Summer 2007, 9(1,2), 1-14.
  20. Grecu, B., Raileanu, V., Bala, A. and Tataru, D. (2011), "Estimation of site effects in the eastern part of Romania on the basis of H/V ratios of S and coda waves generated by Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes", Romanian Report. Phys., 56(3-4), 563-577.
  21. Guillier, B., Chatelain, J.L., Bonnefoy-Claudet, S. and Haghshenas, E. (2007), "Use of ambient noise: from spectral amplitude variability to H/V stability", J. Earthq. Eng., 11(6), 925-942. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632460701457249
  22. Haghshenas, E., Bard, P.Y., Theodoulidis, N. and SESAME WP04 Team (2008), "Empirical evaluation of microtremor H/V spectral ratio", Bull. Earthq. Eng., 6(1), 78-108.
  23. Hellel, M., Chatelain, J.L., Guillier, B., Machane, D., Ben Salem, R., Oubaiche, E.H. and Haddoum, H. (2010), "Heavier damages without site effects and site effects with lighter damages: Boumerdes city (Algeria) after the May 2003 earthquake", Seismol. Res. Lett., 81(1), 37-43. https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.81.1.37
  24. Herak, M., Allegretti, I., Herak, D., Kuk, K., Kuk, V., Maric, K., Markusic, S. and Stipcevic, J. (2010), "HVSR of ambient noise in Ston (Croatia): comparisonwith theoretical spectra and with the damage distribution after the 1996 Ston-Slano earthquake", Bull. Earthq. Eng., 8(3), 483-499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-009-9121-x
  25. Ismail-Zadeh, A., Matenco, L., Radulian, M., Cloetingh, S. and Panza, G. (2012), "Geodynamics and intermediate-depth seismicity in Vrancea (the south-eastern Carpathians): current state-of-the art", Tectonophys., 530, 50-79.
  26. Lang, D., Molina-Palacios, S., Lindholm, C. and Balan, S. (2012). "Deterministic earthquake damage and loss assessment for the city of Bucharest, Romania", J. Seismol., 16(1), 67-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-011-9250-y
  27. Lozano, L., Herraiz, M. and Singh, S.K. (2009). "Site effect study in central Mexico using H/V and SSR techniques: Independence of seismic site effects on source characteristics", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 29(3), 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2008.05.009
  28. Mundepi, A.K., Galiana-Merino, J.J., Kamal and Lindholm, C. (2010), "Soil characteristics and site effect assessment in the city of Delhi (India) using H/V and f-k methods", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 30(7), 591-599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2010.01.016
  29. Nakamura, Y. (1989), "A method for dynamic characteristics estimation of subsurface using microtremor on the ground surface", Quarterly Report of the Railway Technical Research Institute, 30(1), 25-33.
  30. Nunziata, C. and Costanzo, M.R. (2014), "Ground motion modeling for site effects at L'Aquila and middle Aterno river valley (central Italy) for the MW 6.3, 2009 earthquake", Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng., 61, 107-123.
  31. Oubaiche, E.H., Chatelain, J.L., Bouguern, A., Bensalem, R., Machane, D., Hellel, M., Khaldaoui, F. and Guillier, B. (2012), "Experimental relationship between ambient vibration H/V peak amplitude and shearwave velocity contrast", Seismol. Res. Lett., 83(6), 1038-1046. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220120004
  32. Paudyal, Y.R., Yatabe, R., Bhandary, N.P. and Dahal, R.K. (2012), "A study of local amplification effect of soil layers on ground motion in the Kathmandu Valley using microtremor analysis", Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib., 11(2), 257-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-012-0115-3
  33. Pavel, F., Vacareanu, R., Arion, C. and Neagu, C. (2013), "Analysis of ground motions recorded in Bucharest during recent Vrancea earthquakes", Vienna Congress on Recent Advances in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vienna, Austria.
  34. Radulian, M., Mandrescu, N., Popescu, E., Utale, A. and Panza, G. (2000), "Characterization of Romanian seismic zones", Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 57-77. https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00001100
  35. Ruizhi, W., Yefei, R. and Dacheng, S. (2011), "Improved HVSR site classification method for free-field strong motion stations validated with Wenchuan aftershock recordings", Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib., 10(3), 325-337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-011-0069-x
  36. Theodoulidis, N., Cultrera, G., De Rubeis, V., Cara, F., Panou, A., Pagani, M. and Teves-Costa, P. (2008), "Correlation between damage distribution and ambient noise H/V spectral ratio: the SESAME project results", Bull. Earthq. Eng., 6(1), 109-140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-008-9060-y
  37. Wald, D.J. and Allen, T.I. (2007), "Topographic slope as a proxy for seismic site conditions and amplification", Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 97(5), 1379-1395. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120060267
  38. Yamanaka, H., Aldea, A., Fukumoto, S., Poiata, N. and Albota, E. (2007), "Results from single-station and array microtremor measurements in Bucharest, Romania", Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, hessaloniki, Greece.
  39. Yamazaki, F. and Ansary, A.M. (1997), "Horizontal-to-vertical spectrum ratio of earthquake ground motion for site characterization", Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 26(7), 671-689. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-9845(199707)26:7<671::AID-EQE669>3.0.CO;2-S
  40. Zhao, J.X., Irikura, K., Zhang, J., Fukushima, Y., Somerville, P.G., Asano, A., Ohno, Y., Oouchi, T., Takahashi, T. and Ogawa, H. (2006), "An empirical site-classification method for strong-motion stations in Japan using H/V response ratio", Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 96(3), 914-925. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120050124

Cited by

  1. Investigation on the Variability of Simulated and Observed Ground Motions for Bucharest Area 2018, https://doi.org/10.1080/13632469.2017.1297266
  2. Ground motion simulations for seismic stations in southern and eastern Romania and seismic hazard assessment vol.21, pp.5, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-017-9649-1
  3. Post-earthquake warning for Vrancea seismic source based on code spectral acceleration exceedance vol.17, pp.4, 2015, https://doi.org/10.12989/eas.2019.17.4.365