Site Effects

NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
LABORATORY OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

Site effects on ground motion
Ioannis N. Psycharis

NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS Ioannis Psycharis
LABORATORY FOR EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING Site effects on the ground motion
Site effects
Ground motion propagation from source to site (Kramer, 1996)
Site effects
Local ground response
Influence of the soil response on the seismic motion at the
ground surface.
Usually it is considered through the nonlinear one-dimensional
response of a soil column.
Basin effects
Influence of two- or three-dimensional sedimentary basin
structures on ground motions, including wave reflections and
surface wave generation at basin edges.
Effect of surface topography
Ridges
Canyons
Slopes

Basic definitions
Free surface motion
= the motion at the surface of a soil deposit
Bedrock motion
= the motion at the base of a soil deposit
Rock outcropping motion
= the motion at a location where bedrock is exposed at the
ground surface

Free surface

Rock outcropping

Bedrock

Local ground response
Effect of soil on response spectra
Average normalized response spectra for 107 earthquake records
grouped in four soil categories (Seed et al. 1976)
Ground motion amplification
Average spectral amplification vs. V
s-30
recorded during the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (Borcherdt & Glassmoyer, 1994)

Amplification of SA Amplification of SV
(average for T=0.1-0.5 s) (average for T=0.4-2.0 s)
Soil classification (EC8)
Typically based on the average shear wave velocity at the top 30
m of the soil profile (e.g. EC8)
h
i
= thickness of layer (m)
v
i
= elastic shear wave velocity
= no. of layers at the top 30 m of soil deposit

Ground
type
Description
Parameters
S,30
(m/s)
SPT
c
u
(kPa)
A
Rock or other rock-like geological formation
> 800 _ _
B
Deposits of very dense sand, gravel, or very
stiff clay
360 - 800 > 50 > 250
C
Deep deposits of dense or medium-dense sand,
gravel or stiff clay
180 - 360 15 - 50 70 - 250
D
Deposits of loose-to-medium cohesionless soil
or of predominantly soft-to-firm cohesive soil
< 180 < 15 < 70
E
A soil profile consisting of a surface alluvium
layer with v
s
values of type C or D and
thickness varying between about 5 - 20 m,
underlain by stiffer material with v
s
> 800 m/s

=
=
N , 1 i i
i
30 , S
v
h
30
v
EC8 Elastic response spectrum
, T (sec)
S
e
/ a
g
2.5
.
S
.
S
0

C
T
D
2.5
.
S
.
.
T
C
/T
2.5
.
S
.
.
T
C
.
T
D
/T
2
Ground
type
(sec)
C
(sec)
D
(sec) S

0.15 0.40 2.50 1.00

0.15 0.50 2.50 1.20
C
0.20 0.60 2.50 1.15
D
0.20 0.80 2.50 1.35
E
0.15 0.50 2.50 1.40
EC8 Elastic response spectrum
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
0 1 2 3 4 5
S
e

/

a
g
Period, (sec)
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type D
Type E
Soil response for weak earthquakes
Small shear strains ( < 10
-5
) elastic response
The elastic shear modulus, G
max
=V
s
2
, is used for the
calculation of the response
Profiles of V
s
can be obtained from in situ measurements
(downhole, crosshole, geophysical techniques)
Elastic response (homogeneous soil)
Shear cantilever behavior
Equation of motion
where
Eigenperiods

Eigenmodes

Participation factors
g s
x
z
u
V
t
u

=
c
c
c
c
2
2
2
2
2
G
V
s
max
=
... , , i ,
V ) i (
H
2 1
1 2
4
s
i
=
=
(

=
H
z ) i (
) z (
2
1 2
sin
i
1 2
4
i
) i (
=
2
max
1
2
H
G
=
2
max
2
2
3
H
G
=
2
max
3
2
5
H
G
=
Bedrock
g
x

H
z
u(z,t)
G
max
, , V
s

Elastic soil response
Surface amplification (Kanai 1962)

T = period of seismic waves
T
soil
= predominant period of soil

2
soil
soil
2
2
soil
3 0
1
1
1
1
) (
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
(
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
=
T
T
T
.
T
T
T A
Bedrock
g
x

soil
, V
soil
, T
soil
rock
V
rock

(period T)
rock rock
soil soil
V
V
=
Soil
Soil response for strong earthquakes
Large shear strains inelastic response
The secant shear modulus and the hysteretic damping are
used for the calculation of the response through an iteration
procedure.
Relations of G/G
max
and damping as functions of the shear
strain are given in the literature for common soil types.

Nonlinear soil response
Definition of secant shear modulus and hysteretic damping
E
D
E
S
= G
s
2
S
D
4 E
E
=
Nonlinear soil response
G/G
max

Sand: Seed & Idriss Average
Clay: Seed and Sun, 1989

Damping (%)

Sand: Seed & Idriss Average
Clay: Idriss, 1990

One-dimensional analysis
Considers effects of soil response on one-dimensional (nearly
vertical) wave propagation
Assumptions:
All soil layers are horizontal
SH-waves that propagate vertically from the bedrock
Cannot model:
Slopping
Irregular ground surfaces
Basin effects
Embedded structures
In such cases 2-D and 3-D analyses are required

Equivalent linear analysis
Soil layers Equivalent MDOF lamped-mass model

(From Park & Hashash, 2004)
Equivalent linear analysis
Iterative procedure
Make an initial estimation of shear
modulus and damping
Calculate the strain time-histories for
each layer for the given seismic motion
at the bedrock
Obtain the maximum strain values for
each layer and calculate the
corresponding effective shear strain
(~65% of peak strain)
Use the G/G
max
and curves to obtain
better estimation of shear modulus and
damping
Repeat until convergence is reached

Limitation: Constant shear modulus and
damping is used during each iteration for the
whole time-history (overestimates stiffness)
Verification
Comparison of recorded ground surface accelerations and
predictions by SHAKE
E-W component
(Borja et al. 1999)
N-S component
Verification
Comparison of acceleration response spectrum for Treasure
Island strong motion (Loma Prieta, 1989 earthquake)
Recorded motion
Calculated
motion using
nearby rock
recordings as
control motion
(Idriss 1993)
Basin effects
Basin effect
Flat soil layer case
The seismic waves may resonate in the layer but cannot become
trapped
Basin case
The seismic waves become trapped within the basin if incidence
angles larger than the critical are developed
(Stewart et al. 2001)
Basin effect
(Stewart et al. 2001,
Graves 1993)
Basin effect
Amplification factors, defined relative to the prediction for
the site class, vs. basin depth (Field et al. 2000)
Effect of surface topography
Effect of ridges
Crest amplification maximizes
at wave lengths
corresponding to the ridge
half-width
Maximum spectral
amplification is about 1.6 for
this case
(Stewart et al. 2001,
Geli et al. 1988)
Effect of canyons
Maximum amplification
near the canyon edge
at wave lengths similar
or smaller to the
canyon dimension
Maximum amplification
is about 1.4 for this
case
(Trifunac 1973)
Effect of slopes
Maximum crest
amplification is about 1.2
(Stewart & Sholtis 1999)
Spectral amplification at crest of
a 21 m tall, 3:1 (h:v) slope
EC8 Topographic amplification factors
EN-1998-5, Appendix A
Isolated cliffs and slopes
A value ST > 1,2 should be used for sites near the top edge
Ridges with crest width significantly less than the base width
A value ST > 1,4 should be used near the top of the slopes for
average slope angles greater than 30 and a value ST > 1,2
should be used for smaller slope angles
Presence of a loose surface layer
In the presence of a loose surface layer, the smallest ST value
given above should be increased by at least 20%
Spatial variation of amplification factor
The value of ST may be assumed to decrease as a linear
function of the height above the base of the cliff or ridge, and
to be unity at the base.

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NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS

LABORATORY OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

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