• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.5-20
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• 2010

One-dimensional equivalent linear site response analysis is widely used in practice due to its simplicity, requiring only few input parameters, and low computational cost. The main limitation of the procedure is that it is essentially a linear method, in which the time dependent change in the soil properties cannot be modeled and constant values of shear modulus and damping is used throughout the duration of the analysis. Various forms of modified equivalent linear analyses have been developed to enhance the accuracy of the equivalent linear method by incorporating the dependence of the shear strain with the loading frequency. The methods are identical in that it uses the shear strain Fourier spectrum as the backbone of the analysis, but differ in the method in which the strain Fourier spectrum is smoothed. This study used two domestically measured soil profiles to perform a series of nonlinear, equivalent linear, and modified equivalent linear site response analyses to verify the accuracy of two modified procedures. The results of the analyses indicate that the modified equivalent linear analysis can highly overestimate the amplification of the high frequency components of the ground motion. The degree of overestimation is dependent on the characteristics of the input ground motion. Use of a motion rich in high frequency contents can result in unrealistic response.