Japanese Geotechnical Society Special Publication 8th International Conference on

Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering

Site-Specific Study for Guwahati, Assam, NE India based on 1D Ground Response Analysis

Borah M.1*, Sharma M. L. 2 and Dubey R. N. 3

1Research Scholar, Dept. of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Roorkee, mborah@eq.iitr.ac.in

2Professor,Dept. of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Roorkee, m.sharma@eq.iitr.ac.in
3Professor, Dept. of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Roorkee, rn.dubey@eq.iitr.ac.in

ABSTRACT

Most parts of North-East (NE) India have witnessed a number of devastating earthquakes time to time. Guwahati being
one of the important cities of Assam, NE India, with seismic zone V, has the highest zone factor (as per Indian Standard
code). With the rapid urbanization and increasing population, the need of site-specific hazard assessment is in great
demand in this city. This study attempts to determine the surface level Response Spectra (RS), Amplification Factors
(AF) for PGA, Fourier Amplitude Ratios (FAR) for Guwahati. The soil properties at various locations are collected
from the micro-zonation atlas for the region and these data are correlated with the VS30 values. The material properties
have been estimated using the standard reference curves. One dimensional (1D) equivalent linear approach has been
adopted in this study. Spectrum compatible earthquake ground motions have been constructed as input motions for the
ground response analysis, based on the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) results for the region. It has
been observed that the local site-effects can significantly amplify the ground motions. Hence, the results are expected
to give a good insight for the site-specific studies of Guwahati and be useful for future planning and design of structures.
Keywords: 1D Ground Response Analysis; Equivalent Linear Approach; Site-Specific Study; Guwahati, NE India

1 INTRODUCTION The regional PSHA results are utilized to construct

The local geology, soil conditions, and regional
seismicity have a great impact on the ground response of
any structure. The ground response is generally
amplified or de-amplified to a great extent depending
upon the local site-effects. Hence, site-specific hazard
analyses play an important role in the evaluation of site-
specific responses of the soil sites to have a better
understanding of the nature of the soils due to seismic
hazard [Bandyopadhyay et al. (2022)]. In order to assess
the site-specific specific spectra, generally one-
dimensional (1D) Ground Response Analysis (GRA) is
performed using various methods, such as linear,
equivalent linear, and non-linear analyses in both time
and frequency domains. Several researchers have carried
out site-specific seismic hazard studies for different
Indian cities [Gupta et al. (2023); Khan and Kumar
(2020); Kiran et al. (2020); Sharma et al. (2013);
Choudhury and Savoikar (2009)] ; including Guwahati,
[Bandyopadhyay et al. (2022); Raghu Kanth et al.
(2008); Nath et al. (2008); Kumar and Krishna (2013);
Siddique and Sharma (2020); Gupta et al. (2021)]. This
paper presents the soil amplification studies for
Guwahati, a major city of Assam, NE India using
Equivalent Linear Ground Response Analysis (ELGRA).
spectrum compatible ground motions for Guwahati. The
soil properties and shear-wave velocities (Vs30) have
been collected from the micro-zonation atlas of
Guwahati prepared by the Department of Science and
Technology (DST). The standard reference curves are
used to estimate the material properties of the soil
profiles. The software package “DEEPSOIL” has been
used for the analysis. The variations of surface level
PGA along with AF, RS and transfer functions/FAR have
been presented for the city. The results are expected to
give an insightful knowledge for the earthquake-resistant
design of structures for the local government agencies,
designers and also for disaster mitigation measures.
2 STUDY AREA
Assam is considered the main gateway to the other seven
states of NE India, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura;
and Guwahati plays a significant role in Assam being in
the capital city of Assam. Fig.1 shows the study area map
of Guwahati with the borehole locations. Due to rapid
urbanization and population growth, the city is facing
more vulnerability for seismic hazard [Kumar et al.
(2017)]. Guwahati city consists of extensive land with

https://doi.org/10.3208/jgssp.v10.OS-47-03 2181
diverse soil deposits which vary from alluvial to stiff.
Hence, being seismically active region with varying soil
profiles, site-specific study with local site-effects for this
city is of utmost importance.
Fig. 1. Study area map of Guwahati.
3 METHODOLOGY
Seismic ground response analysis is conducted for the
evaluation of surface response of a soil profile in terms
of PGA, stress-strain, and response spectrum subjected
to a ground motion at the bedrock level. Generally one-
dimensional (1D) Ground Response Analysis (GRA) is
performed using various methods, such as linear,
equivalent linear, and non-linear analysis in both time
and frequency domains [Kramer (1996)]. Linear analysis
works on the assumption that shear modulus and
damping is strain independent and constant throughout
the soil profile. Equivalent Linear Ground Response
Analysis (ELGRA) has been commonly used in
frequency domain with the aid of linear transfer
functions known as the Fourier Amplitude Ratio (FAR).
ELGRA is performed to simulate of the non-linear soil
behavior, where shear modulus and damping are strain
dependent in terms of equivalent linear properties
corresponding to effective shear strain using iterative
method [Kramer (1996)]. Generally, the effective shear
strain is estimated to be 65% of the maximum shear
strain developed in the soil layer. The methodology
simply consists of the steps: (i) to collect soil data and
shear-wave velocities and to establish the material
properties, (ii) to input earthquake ground motion, and
(iii) to execute the analysis and interpret the results.
3.1 ELGRA in Frequency Domain
1D GRA studies vertical propagation of shear waves
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through a linear viscoelastic system. In this sense, the
soil is assumed to have the shearing characteristics of a
Kelvin-Voigt solid with a linear elastic shear modulus
and viscous damping [Kramer (1996)]. The stress-strain
relationship for a Kelvin-Voigt solid is given in Eq. (1).
𝜕𝛾
𝜏 = 𝐺𝛾 + 𝜂 𝜕𝑡 (1)
where, τ, G, 𝜂, and γ are the shear stress, shear
modulus, coefficient of viscous damping, and shear
strain, respectively.
The equation for a vertically propagating shear
wave motion (in z-direction) is given by Eq. (2).
𝜕2 𝑢 𝜕𝜏
𝜌 𝜕𝑡 2 = 𝜕𝑧 (2)
where, ρ and u are the mass density of the
medium and displacement along lateral direction.
The wave equation is derived by substituting Eq.
(1) into Eq. (2) which is written as:
𝝏𝟐 𝒖 𝝏𝟐 𝒖 𝝏𝟑 𝒖
𝝆 𝝏𝒕𝟐 = 𝑮 𝝏𝒛𝟐 + 𝜼 𝝏𝒛𝟐𝝏𝒕 (3)
The solution of Eq. (3) gives the 1d ground
response. The frequency domain equivalent linear
ground response analysis works on the assumption that
the modulus and damping properties are constant and
independent of the strain level considering a linear
viscoelastic system of soil. For a given ground motion,
the propagated surface motion is evaluated using initial
estimates of shear modulus and damping values. The
process is iterated until a convergent solution is attained.
The analysis is performed considering all the layers to
have discrete points.
4 DATA COLLECTION
The primary input parameters required for the equivalent
analysis include the soil properties such as unit weight,
Vs30 and the material properties of the soil profiles at
various locations. The soil properties are collected for
200 borehole sites from the micro-zonation atlas of
Guwahati city prepared by DST, 2006. The city consists
of soil layers of granitic basement overlain by layers of
unconsolidated sand, silt, and clay of varying thickness.
The shear-wave velocities for the soil layers are
calculated using the standard correlations with the
standard penetration test-numbers (SPT-N) for different
types of soil as given in Eq. (4), (5), and (6).
𝑉𝑠 = 5.3𝑁 + 134 for clay and Silty clay (4)
𝑉𝑠 = 4.3𝑁 + 218 for Silt loam and sandy clay (5)
𝑉𝑠 = 5.1𝑁 + 152 for sand and gravelly sand (6)
The Vs30 profile grids of Guwahati lie in the range of
200-360 m/sec are shown in Fig. 2 and the properties for
14 distinctive soil profiles are presented in Table 1. For
developing the material properties, the standard material
curves proposed by [Seed and Idriss (1970)] for sandy
soil and [Vucetic and Dobry (1991)] for clay have been
used with proper damping values. The unit weights of
the soil samples are in the range of 11-23.5 KN/m3 and
the bedrock is assumed to be half elastic with Vs30 = 1500
m/sec. The plasticity index for the clayey soil is assumed
as 15-18% based on the soil profiles.
acceleration (PGA), uniform hazard response spectrum
(UHRS), controlling earthquake and source to site
distance from disaggregation studies, Vs30 value. In this
study, the PSHA results from [Borah et al. (2023)] are
utilized to form the UHRS and disaggregation analysis
for Guwahati city. The controlling earthquake’s
magnitude and source-to site distance are considered as
the base ground motion and this ground motion is
matched with the respective UHRS for the site of interest
to construct the spectrum compatible ground motions.
The UHRS and Disaggregation studies for the
controlling earthquake are shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2. Vs30 map of Guwahati.

Table 1. Effective shear wave velocities for 14 sites in

Guwahati.
Fig. 3(a). UHRS for Guwahati.

Soil Longitude Latitude Effective Vs30

Profile 0
( E) (0N) (m/sec)

1 91.66 26.14 331.13

2 91.67 26.16 245.00
3 91.66 26.15 295.86
4 91.64 26.15 234.74
5 91.68 26.16 274.73
6 91.77 26.19 285.71
7 91.80 26.14 214.59
8 91.81 26.13 304.88 Fig. 3(b). Disaggregation analysis for 10% PoE for Guwahati
9 91.76 26.17 357.14
The maximum potential earthquake for
10 91.78 26.14 264.90 Guwahati is found to have a magnitude of 6.5 Mw at 25
11 91.78 26.12 204.92 km source to site distance from the disaggregation
studies. The 1979 Imperial Valley Earthquake with 6.53
12 91.79 26.12 225.10 Mw and source to site distance 23.17 km is taken and
13 91.67 26.13 255.10 matched with the UHRS obtained for Guwahati region
14 91.69 26.21 314.47 at the particular site of interest. The ground motion
details along with matched acceleration time histories
(spectrum compatible) and response spectrum for 2%
5 GROUND MOTION
probability of exceedance (PoE) in 50 years, i.e., for
A crucial step for the ground response analysis is to 2475-year return period, are presented in Table 2 and Fig.
select the appropriate ground motions depending upon 4.
the seismicity of the site of interest. Suitable acceleration
time-histories can be constructed based on the PSHA Table 2. Ground motion details.
results for the region in terms of peak ground Name Imperial Valley Earthquake, 1979

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 Station Calipatria Fire Station
Magnitude (Mw) 6.53
Type Strike-slip
Rjb (km) 23.17
Rrup (km) 24.6
Scaled max PGA (g) 0.28 (for return period = 2475 years)
Predominant period 0.2
(sec)

Fig. 5(a). PGA variation with depth.

Fig. 4(a). Accelerogram for input motion.

Fig. 5 (b). 5% damped response spectra at surface level.

Fig. 4(b). Response spectrum for input motion.

6 RESULTS
Ground response analysis for Guwahati city has been
carried out using equivalent linear approach at certain
borehole locations. The results for 14 distinctive soil Fig. 5(c). FAR vs. frequency at surface level.
profiles are presented in terms of PGA with respect to
depth up to 30 m, Surface level response spectra with
respect to time at 5% damping ratio, and Fourier The Fourier amplitude ratio (FAR) is known as
amplitude ratio (FAR) with respect to frequency in Fig. the transfer function which is the ratio of surface vs.
5. bedrock Fourier amplitude, and the frequency having the
maximum FAR is known as the predominant frequency.
It is observed that the amplification factor (AF) in terms
of PGA ranges from 1.04-1.64 and the response spectra

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also have a significant amplification at the surface level.
The transfer functions show a noticeable variation
having maximum values at lower frequencies i.e. higher
period of vibration. The results are presented and
compared with the existing results as well in Table 3 and
Fig. 6, respectively. The results show a significant
variation from the existing studies.

Table 3. Soil amplification results.

Soil AF for Predominant
profile PGA frequency
(Hz)
1 1.35 2.27
2 1.04 1.33
3 1.25 1.82 Fig. 7. Surace level PGA for Guwahati.
4 1.25 1.53
5 1.14 1.64 7 CONCLUSIONS
6 1.25 1.56
7 1.11 1.35 A site-specific seismic hazard analysis has been
8 1.36 2.04 performed for Guwahati based on 1D GRA using
9 1.43 2.82
equivalent linear approach. The effects of local soil
10 1.14 1.88
11 1.64 1.23 conditions on the surface level ground motion have been
12 1.36 1.7 evaluated, considering Vs30 values and material
13 1.32 1.51 properties as basic parameters. The PSHA results are
14 1.11 1.68 utilized to construct the ground motions, making the
hazard results as accurate as possible with the use of
regional seismicity. The results are expected to give a
good insight on the local site effects for the seismic
hazard scenario of the region. The following conclusions
have been drawn based on the results of this study.
The surface level PGA ranges from 0.29 g to
0.46 g with the highest amplification factor as 1.64. This
illustrates that this region faces more vulnerability to
seismic hazard at the surface level. In other words, the
local site conditions significantly amplify the ground
motions. Therefore, site-specific studies have to be
considered in designing the structures in this city and
the results can also be employed for the retrofitting of the
existing structures. The surface level response spectrum
can be used for the dynamic analyses of the important
Fig. 6. Comparison of surface level PGA with existing studies. structures. The lower predominant frequencies indicate
that this region is not safe for high-rise structures. It
The surface level hazard maps (Fig. 7) are also necessitates detailed assessment for the design of high-
presented in terms of PGA with 2% probability of rise structures. Further, non-linear ground response
exceedance in 50 years or for return period of 2475 years. analysis is recommended to obtain more understandings
for the design of important structures with high period of
vibration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Ministry of Human
Resources (MHRD) for financial support. Also,
Department of Science and Technology (DST) is
acknowledged for proving the micro-zonation atlas for
the site of interest.

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