Rosario Pérez, Manuel E.

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    Influence of spectrum-compatible ground motions on nonlinear site response
    (2014) Rosario Pérez, Manuel E.; Suárez, Luis E.; College of Engineering; Martínez Cruzado, José A.; Montejo Valencia, Luis A.; Department of Civil Engineering; Bollman, Dorothy
    Performing seismic wave transmission analysis is crucial to develop site-specific earthquake ground motions, especially in the nuclear industry to define the safe shutdown earthquake. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission specifies it in Appendix E of the 2007 Regulatory Guide 1.208 (R.G.1.208). Acknowledging the non-linear nature of the site response, emphasis is made on the selection of input ground motions because this has a significant impact on the amplification observed. When performing site response analyses, the use of recorded accelerograms or modified recorded ground motions is specified and fully synthetic motions are not allowed. This thesis investigates the influence of spectrum-compatible earthquake records on the site response of different soil deposits. Both 1-D frequency-domain equivalent-linear (EL) and time-domain nonlinear (NL) site response methods are applied to evaluate the response of four KiK-net stations. KiK-net is a large Japanese strong-motion network which consists of pairs of accelerographs installed deep in a borehole and on the ground surface. The site class of the KiK-net deposits selected for the study range from 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 (B) to 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘪𝘭 (D) according to the NEHRP classification. Empirical (i.e. measured) data from the vertical arrays is used to characterize the response of each soil deposit. Differences on the response of the EL and NL methods are discussed and model limitations are pointed out. For the generation of the modified earthquake records, a uniform hazard response spectrum for generic rock in western USA is used as target and records are generated in compliance with R.G.1.208-Appendix F. A wavelet transform-based methodology is used to generate the spectrum-compatible records. Three batches of accelerograms are generated, each causing increasing soil response (elastic, intermediate, and nonlinear). Variability on the surface response spectra is investigated for each deposit and batch. The influence of seed-based spectrum-compatible earthquakes on the variability of site response is a topic of great interest as the ground accelerations obtained with such procedures are often used to perform seismic analyses of critical facilities and special structures. Enhancing the understanding of the inelastic demand imposed by these records on different soil deposits, and how this affects the variability of the seismic ground acceleration and its response spectra can help in the assessment of current procedures and in the development of future methods.