• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.111-127
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• 2010

This paper studies the effects of spatially varying ground motions on the responses of a bridge frame located on a canyon site. Compared to the spatial ground motions on a uniform flat site, which is the usual assumptions in the analysis of spatial ground motion variation effects on structures, the spatial ground motions at different locations on surface of a canyon site have different intensities owing to local site amplifications, besides the loss of coherency and phase difference. In the proposed approach, the spatial ground motions are modelled in two steps. Firstly, the base rock motions are assumed to have the same intensity and are modelled with a filtered Tajimi-Kanai power spectral density function and an empirical spatial ground motion coherency loss function. Then, power spectral density function of ground motion on surface of the canyon site is derived by considering the site amplification effect based on the one dimensional seismic wave propagation theory. Dynamic, quasi-static and total responses of the model structure to various cases of spatially varying ground motions are estimated. For comparison, responses to uniform ground motion, to spatial ground motions without considering local site effects, to spatial ground motions without considering coherency loss or phase shift are also calculated. Discussions on the ground motion spatial variation and local soil site amplification effects on structural responses are made. In particular, the effects of neglecting the site amplifications in the analysis as adopted in most studies of spatial ground motion effect on structural responses are highlighted.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.810-823
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• 2009

One of the critical factors in accurate determination of earthquake source parameters, and in prediction of seismic hazards is the detailed information related to the site amplification characteristics. The site amplification characteristics of the broad-band seismic stations in Korea were estimated as a function of frequency in the range of 0.2 to 20 Hz. A total of 1275 seismograms recorded from 43 earthquakes observed from 2003 to 2008 in the southern Korean Peninsula were used. It was found that the site amplification ratios for 28 stations estimated from the inversion of the ground motion model were approximately concordant with those obtained from the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio except for some stations. The spectral site amplification characteristics obtained in this study did not show any considerable spatial distribution. It revealed to be largely correlated with the degree of weathering rather than the basement rock type. Considering the spectral site amplification ratio, 28 broad-band stations were classified into four groups and the characteristics of each group were described in the text.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.6 s.65
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• pp.486-494
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• 2006

The horizontal to vertical (H/V) ratio technique in spectral domain is a common useful technique to estimate empirical site transfer function. The technique, originally proposed by Nakamura, is proposed to analyse the surface waves in the micrortremor records. The purpose of this paper is to estimate spectral ratio using observed data at the seismic stations distributed within Southern Korean Peninsula from the Fukuoka earthquake including 11 aftershocks. The results show that most of the stations have fairly good amplification characteristics in low frequency band. However, some of the seismic stations show one (resonant frequency specific to the site) or several local peaks of amplification factors with narrow high frequency band. Even though the site amplification characteristics are important information, we should be careful to analyse the observed ground motions from the seismic stations which have several very high amplification peaks for the deconvolution of seismic source and attenuation parameters.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2017

In this study, the characteristics of site amplification at seismic observation stations in Japan were estimated using the attenuation relationship of each station's response spectrum. Ground motion records observed after 32 earthquakes were employed to construct the attenuation relationship. The station correction factor at each KiK-net station was compared to the transfer functions between the base rock and the surface. For each station, the plot of the station correction factor versus the period was similar in shape to the graphs of the transfer function (amplitude ratio versus period). Therefore, the station correction factors are effective for evaluating site amplifications considering the period of ground shaking. In addition, the station correction factors were evaluated with respect to the average shear wave velocities using a geographic information system (GIS) dataset. Lastly, the site amplifications for specific periods were estimated throughout Japan.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2009

It is necessary to consider the site amplification for estimating SSI (soil structure interaction) and seismic source with more confidence. The horizontal to vertical (H/V) ratio technique in spectral domain is one of several techniques to estimate empirical site transfer function. The technique, originally proposed by Nakamura (1989), is applied to analyze the surface waves in the microtremor records. However, the application of this technique has been widened to the shear wave energy of strong motions for estimating site amplification. The purpose of this paper is to estimate spectral ratio using observed data at the seismic stations distributed within Southern Korean Peninsula from the Fukuoka earthquake including 11 aftershocks. The results show that each station has the its own characteristics of the specific resonance, high-band, and low-band frequency. The characteristics of the resonance frequency is more important because the quality of the seismic records are dependent on the resonance frequency. The result can be used for the study of site classification and removal of the site amplification effects from observed records can give us more reliable seismic source parameters.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.135-141
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• 2009

For more reliable estimation of soil-structure interaction and seismic source and attenuation properties, site amplification function should be considered. This study use the Nakamura's method (1989) for estimating site amplification though various methods for the same purpose have been proposed. This method was originally applied to the surface waves of background noise and therefore there are some limitation for applications to general wave energy. However, recently this method has been extended and applied to the S wave energy successfully. This study applied the method to the coda wave energy which is equivalent to the backscattered S wave energy. We used more than 60 observed ground motions from 5 earthquakes which occurred recently, with magnitude range from 3.6 to 5.1 Each station showed characteristic site amplification property in low-, high- and resonance frequency ranges. In the case of comparing these results to those from S wave energy, lots of information to the site classification work can be gained. Moreover, removal of site amplification can give us more reliable seismic source parameters.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.175-180
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• 2006

The horizontal to vertical ratio technique in spectral domain is a common useful technique to estimate empircal site transfer function. The technique, originally proposed by Nakamura, is porposed to analyse the surface waves in the micortremor records. The purpose of this paper is to estimate spectral ratio using observed data at the seismic stations in Korean Peninsula from the Fukuoka earthquake including many aftershocks. The results show that most of the stations have fairly good amplification factors. However, some of the stations show that very high amplification factors at narrow high frequency band. Those stations which have very high amplification factors seem to do some kind of mechanical consideration for quality observation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2009

Site amplification should be considered in order to estimate Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI), seismic source and attenuation parameters with a greater degree of reliability. The horizontal to vertical (H/V) ratio technique, originally proposed by Nakamura (1989), has been applied to analyze the surface waves in microtremor records. Recently, its application has been extended to the shear wave energy of strong motion in order to study the site transfer function. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the H/V spectral ratio using the observed data from 9 seismic stations distributed within the Southern Korean Peninsula, from the Odesan earthquake (2007/01/20). The results show that most of the stations have more stable amplification characteristics in a low frequency band than in a high frequency band. However, each seismic station showed its own characteristic resonant frequency and low and high frequency. The resonant frequency at each station should be estimated carefully, because the quality of seismic data is dependent on the resonant frequency. It can be obtained more reliable results of seismic source and attenuation parameters, if seismic ground motions which deconvolved from site transfer function is used. The site amplification data from this study can be used to generally classify the sites within the Southern Korean Peninsula.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.432-439
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• 2009

For more reliable estimation of seismic source, attenuation properties and dynamic ground property, site amplification function should be considered. Among various estimation methods, this study used the Nakamura's method (1989) for estimating site amplification characteristics. This method was originally applied to the surface waves of background noise and therefore there are some limitations in applying to general wave energy. However, recently this method has been extended and applied to the S wave energy successfully. This study applied the method to S wave and Coda wave energy, which is equivalent to the backscattered S wave energy. We used more than 60 observed ground motions from 5 earthquakes which were occurred recently, with magnitude range from 3.6 to 5.1. Each station showed characteristic site amplification property in low-, high- and resonance frequencies. Some of the stations showed as high as 4 times of site amplification in the range of specific frequencies, which may imply abnormal small scale geologic strata below the station or development of various trapped modes in the basin structure. Moreover, removal of site amplification can give us more reliable seismic source and attenuation parameters, addition to the seismic hazard estimation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.191-199
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• 2019

To calculate proper seismic design load and seismic design category, the exact site class for construction site is required. At present, the average shear-wave velocity for multi-layer soil deposits is calculated by the sum of shear-wave velocities without considering of vertical relationship of the strata. In this study, the transfer function for the multi-layered soil deposits was reviewed on the basis of the wave propagation theory. Also, the transfer function was accurately verified by the finite element model and the eigenvalue analysis. Three methods for site period estimation were evaluated. The sum of shear-wave velocities underestimated the average shear-wave velocities of 526 strata with large deviations. The equation of Mexican code overestimated the average shear-wave velocities. The equation of Japanese code well estimated the average shear-wave velocities with small deviation.