Earthquake –

Resistant Structures

Seismic Waves and

Measurements
Dr. Anis Shatnawi
Dept. of Civil Engineering
Lecture # 4

,𝑻 𝒇 𝟏 ⁄𝑻

for displacement-time relationships.

Wavelength = wave velocity x period 2

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 Seismic Waves
(Earthquake’s energy is transmitted through the earth as seismic waves)

 Two main types of seismic waves:

(1) Body waves: transmit energy through
earth’s interior. Propagates through a body.
Primary (P) wave:
 Rocks vibrate parallel to direction of wave propagation
(Longitudinal).
 Compression and expansion (slinky example).
 Involves volume change.
 Can propagate both in solid and in liquid.
 The faster wave ( approx. 5 to 6 km/sec)

Secondary or Shear (S) wave:

 Rocks vibrate perpendicular to direction of wave
propagation.
 Rock shearing (rope-like or ‘wave’ in a stadium).
 Involves shape change and is polarized.
 Transverse and longitudinal components.
 Can propagate only in solid with speed approximately 3
to 4 km/sec.
3

Seismic Waves
(2) Surface waves: transmit energy along (parallel to)
earth’s surface.
Love Waves (L-waves)
 Arrives after S waves. Typical velocity Depends
on earth structure, but less than velocity of S-
waves and faster than Rayleigh waves.
 Composed of transverse S only. (Rock moves
from side to side like snake).
 Behavior: Causes shearing motion (horizontal)
similar to SH-waves.

Rayleigh Waves
 Arrives after Love waves. Typical velocity: ~
0.9 that of the S-wave. They usually arrive last
on a seismogram.
 Composed of both P and longitudinal S waves.
(Rolling Pattern like oceanic waves). Causes
vertical together with back-and-forth
horizontal motion. Motion is similar to that of
being in a boat in the ocean when a swell
moves past. 4

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 5

P-wave

S-wave

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P wave involves volume expansion and contraction
P can propagate in liquid as well as solid
It is the faster than all other elastic waves
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Primary Waves

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Oscillate perpendicular to the direction of propagation
Polarized in a direction determined by the source
No S in liquid; bombs does not generate S waves
Earthquakes (faulting) makes large S waves
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Secondary Waves
S waves

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 11

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 Primary waves
They are body wave type.
P-waves, compressional or longitudinal.
Typical crustal velocity: 6 km/s ( ~13,500 mph)
Travel through solids, liquids, or gases
Material movement is in the same direction Even for P waves (which
as wave movement (parallel to the wave can travel all the way
direction). through) we see some
changes in the path at
Behavior: Cause dilation and contraction
certain points within
(compression) of the earth material through
which they pass.
Earth. This is due to the
discontinuities present at
Arrival: They arrive first on a seismogram different boundaries in
(fastest waves). earth structure .

13

Secondary (Shear) Waves

They are body wave type.
 S waves (Secondary)
 Typical crustal velocity: 3 to 4 km/s (
~6,750 mph).
 Behavior: Cause shearing and
stretching of the earth material
through which they pass. Generally
cause the most severe shaking; very
damaging to structures. S-wave velocity drops to
zero at the core-mantle
 Travel through solids only.
boundary or Gutenberg
 shear waves – material moves Discontinuity, since they
perpendicular to wave movement.
do not travel through
 Arrival: Second on a seismogram.
liquid media.

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Shadow Zone - no earthquake waves 15

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- Surface wave

Composed of SH waves
Oscillate in the transverse direction (side-by-side motion).

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 - Surface wave

Rayleigh forms from an interference of

SV and P Oscillates in the vertical and
radial directions (up-and-down rolling).

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Surface Waves (Longitudinal) Waves

Traveljust below or along the

ground’s surface
Slower than body waves;
rolling and side-to-side
movement
Especially damaging to
buildings

 Love Waves (L-waves)

 Arrives after S waves
 Composed of transverse S only
 Rayleigh Waves
 Arrives after Love waves
 Composed of both P and longitudinal S waves 20

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Two most common types of surface waves

Love Waves

Rayleigh Waves 21

Love Waves Rayleigh Waves

Side-to-side motion

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More on Surface Waves

It is called surface waves because the

motion is the largest near the surface of
the Earth.

The wave motion is small at a depth

commensurate with the wavelength.

Wavelength = wave velocity x period

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Surface Waves
Huge close to the Earth’s surface
Decrease in amplitude at greater depth
amplitude
Earth Surface
depth

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 More on Rayleigh Waves
When Rayleigh arrives the ground does
a BACKWARD ELLIPTICAL FLIP.
Rayleigh Wave Motion
It could become the
strong and severe ground
motion – for example,
during the 1985 Mexico
City earthquake.
Useful for determination
of Earth’s structures.
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Rayleigh Wave Motion

Direction of
Ground movement
Direction of
Propagation

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Movement of Earth

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Location and Intensity
of Earthquake
Seismographic stations around the
World work together to
 Record earthquake location.
 Determine earthquake strength.

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Waves Recorded at a Station

Motions at three mutually perpendicular
directions are measured.

These are usually in the North-South,

East-West, and Up-Down directions.

On the seismograms the “above”

motions on these usually indicate N, E
and Up, respectively.
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 Vertical
Component

Horiz. (N-S)
Component

Horiz. (E-W)
Component

See zoom in next slide

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Vertical Component

Horiz. (N-S) Component

Horiz. (E-W) Component

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 Aleutians

Hawaii
Mariana
Guram

Solomon Is.

Tonga
NWAO

Kermadec

New Zealand

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For a Californian earthquake
Waves comes in almost due West.
Vertical and E-W P wave motions.
S may be on all three components.
Love in ??? Direction.
Rayleigh in ??? Directions.

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 P wave from S. America
Ground
Surface UP

E
W E

Direction of wave
propagation

Direction of
P
Ground movement
E-W P wave

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SV waves from California

UP

E
W E

Direction of wave
propagation

Direction of
SV
Ground movement

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For a south American
earthquake
Seismic waves comes in almost due
South.
 P waves on U-D and N-S.
 S waves on all three directions.
 Love waves in ??? Direction.
 Rayleigh waves in ??? Directions.

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P wave from S. America

Ground
Surface UP

N
S N

Direction of wave
propagation

Direction of
P
Ground movement
U-D and N-S P wave

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 SV waves from S. California
UP

S
S N

Direction of wave
propagation

Direction of
SV
Ground movement

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More on S Waves
The transverse component of S (SH) has
only horizontal motion (i.e., L wave).
The SV component will have longitudinal
(i.e. R-wave) and vertical motions.
The S wave polarization is determined
mainly by the source of the wave motion.
Cause destruction during strong shaking.

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Continental Seismicity
The long belt from Mediterranean to the
Himalaya.
 Spain/Italy/Greece/Turkey/Iran/Afghanistan
Pamirs/Himalaya/Tibetan Plateau.
 Kunlun/Tianshan/Mongolia/China.
Basin and Range Province
 Nevada/Utah/Idaho
East African Rift.

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Continental Seismicity (Cont’d)

New York State
 Ramapo
 Adirondacks
 Western New York (Buffalo/Attica)
New Madrid Seismic zone (1811-1812)
Australian earthquakes
Relatively broad and more diffused
seismicity

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A Brief History of Seismology
Ancient legends.
Japanese Namazu.
Chinese seismo-scope (Chang Heng,
132 AD)
Invention of seismometers in Japan by
Gray/Milne/Ewing, 1890’s
Modern Seismology (1920- current)

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Seismometer
= Seismogram + Seismograph:

Mass – inertia.
Restoring force.
Resonance.
Damping.
Force-balanced system.

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 Seismogram

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Seismograph
Amplifier.
Filter – pick and choose signal freq. Range.
Clock – from pendulum to GPS.
Digitization.
Recording system:
 Old: optical – messy.
 New: digital; need computer .

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 Modern
Seismograph
(Horizontal)

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Modern
Seismograph
(Vertical)

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Measurement of Ground Motions
Strong ground motions vs. weak motions.
Acceleration (up to 2000 cm/sec2= 2 g).
Velocity (up to 300 cm/sec).
Displacement (up to 10 meters – 1000cm).
For distant earthquakes:
 Displacement of few microns (0.0001 cm).
 On the moon: 0.000001 cm!

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Strong motion seismographs

e.g.,
Seismographs  Designed to pickup strong,
high-amplitude shaking
in India
close to quake source.
 Most common type is the
accelerometer.
 Directly records ground
acceleration.
 Recording is triggered by
first waves.
 Difficult to differentiate P,S
and surface waves.

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 Seismogram interpretation
 Seismograms can provide
information on
 epicenter location.
 Magnitude of earthquake.
 source properties.
 Most seismograms will record
P, S & surface waves.
 First arrival is P wave.
 After a pause of several
seconds/10s seconds the
higher amplitude S wave - surface waves follow and may
arrives. continue for tens of seconds
 Defines S-P interval. - surface waves are slower but
persist to greater distances than
P & S waves
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Wave terminology
 Wave amplitude
 height of a wave above its
zero position.
 Wave period
 time taken to complete
one cycle of motion.
 Frequency
 number of cycles per
second (Hertz)
 felt shaking during quake
has frequencies from 20
down to 1 Hertz. Human ear can detect frequencies
down to 15 Hz

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 Ground Motion Recording
The actual ground motion at a
given location is derived from
instrumentally recorded motions.
The most commonly used
instruments for engineering
purposes are strong motion
accelerographs/ accelerometers.
These instruments record the
acceleration time history of
ground motion at a site, called
an accelerogram.
By proper analysis of a recorded accelerogram to account for instrument
distortion and base line correction, the resulting corrected acceleration record
can be used by engineers to obtain ground velocity and ground displacement
by appropriate integration. 57

Accelerometer
Types of Accelerometers:
 Electronic : transducers
produce voltage output.
 Servo controlled: use
suspended mass with
displacement transducer.
 Piezoelectric: Mass attached Principle: An acceleration a will cause the
mass to be displaced by ma/k or alternatively,
to a piezoelectric material, if we observe a displacement of x, we know that
which develops electric the mass has undergone an acceleration of
kx/m.
charge on surface.

Generally accelerometers are placed in three orthogonal directions

to measure accelerations in three directions at any time. Sometimes
geophones (velocity transducers) are attached to accelerometers
to measure the seismic wave velocities. 58

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 Seismic Networks
A collection of seismic stations
with data collected and used
together.

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Early Network
British Network: 1890’s-1920, Milne
seismographs.

Jesuit Network (JN): 1900-1950’s;

(Global)
 Non-standard seismographs
 Uneven distribution
 Clock problems
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 World-Wide Standard Seismograph
Network, WWSSN

Funded by US Department of Defense.

120 stations in non-communist countries.
Standard seismographs.
WWV short wave radio timing control.
Short and long period recording.
photographic recording.

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Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)

IRIS or Global Seismic Network

GSN replaced WWSSN.
Digitally recorded at 24 bit.
Many real time stations.
1 station within 1000 km radius.
Many island stations.
Some permanent ocean-bottom sites.

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 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),

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Different Instrument for

Different Purposes:
Accelerometers – Earthquakes engineering
(and close-to-the-fault measurements).

Velocity sensors – traditionally used by

earth and geological scientists.

Displacement sensors-used often for very

long period measurements.

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Other Instruments Used in
Earthquake Studies
GPS (like everybody else) for measuring
ground deformation
Strain meter.
Water well level sensors.
Electrical and electromagnetic sensors –
somewhat hocus-pocus. ‫ﻧﻮﻋﺎ ً ﻣﺎ ﺧﺎﺩﻉ ﻭﻏﻴﺮ ﺩﻗﻴﻖ‬

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Earthquake Location

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Why Locate Earthquakes?
For rescue effort – without it the
emergency vehicles do not know where
to go!

For identifying active faults.

For mapping earthquake activities and

understanding their relations to global
tectonics.
67

What to Locate?

Hypocenter or focus – the place where

an earthquake (rupture) initiates and
where the first seismic wave are
radiated.

Epicenter – the point on the surface of

the Earth above the earthquake.

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(Sharp points or lines)

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 What do we need?

Travel time curves,

A network of stations,
A map and protractor (‫)ﺃﺩﺍﺓ ﻗﻴﺎﺱ ﺍﻟﺰﻭﺍﻳﺎ‬,
Or a computer with simple and, Very
complicated, automated software.

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Travel Time Curves

 Simple earth
xo x - xo
station

𝑥 𝑥 𝑧𝑜
𝑇 zo
𝑉
EQ: (xo, zo)

x-xo = distance from station to earthquake on surface (epicenter).

zo = depth of earthquake focus (hypocenter), h.

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Travel Time Curves
Ways to derive travel times:
 Using artificial shots – hammer, gun-shells, air-gun,
explosives in drill holes, quarry blasts, nuclear tests.

 Using natural earthquakes, landslides, or anything

that generates a boom or shaking.

 Using a string of stations along a line or a network of

stations, all with accurate clocks.

 Plot travel times of P, S, L and R vs. displacement, Δ

73

Location with a Single Station

Reading the arrival times of P, S, Love or
Rayleigh waves.
Use P, S, L and R to determine direction of
the earthquake.
Use (TS-TP) or (TR-TP) to determine
distance. 𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺
𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝑫 𝑻𝑺 𝑻𝑷
𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺
D: the distance from the seismograph to the epicenter

Use the angle and distance to locate

earthquake.
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 Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter
Seismic wave behavior
 P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R

 After an earthquake, the difference in arrival times at a

seismograph station can be used to calculate the distance
from the seismograph to the epicenter (D).

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If average speeds for all these waves is known, use the

S-P (S minus P) time formula: a method to compute the
distance (D) between a recording station and an event.
Distance
Time 
Velocity
P wave has a velocity V P ; S wave has a velocity V S .
VS is less than VP .
Both originate at the same place - -the hypocenter.
They travel the same distance
but the S wave takes more time than the P wave.
D
Time for the S wave to travel a distance D: TS  ;
VS
D
Time for the P wave to travel a distance D: TP  . Assuming Vp/Vs = 1.73, the
VP
The time difference hypocentre distance can be
estimated as
 1 1  V VS 
TS  TP 
D D

VS VP
 D    D  P
V
 S V 
 VP VS 
P 
Now solve for the Distance D:
where D is in kilometres,
 V V 
D =  P S TS  TP  and S-P is in second
VP VS 
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Location with Many Stations
(TS – TP) can be used or one can use only TP
(the easiest to read and the most accurate).

Based on the travel time curve, adjust the

location of the earthquake until the fit between
the expected arrival times and the actual
arrival times is quite good.

What do we mean by “adjust” and “quite

good”?
77

Location with an Array

Array can be used to determine the slope of the
travel time curve very accurately.
The travel time curve is also a function of slope
and therefore the slope tells us how far away
the event is.
The array is also very good for finding direction
of the event (like a radar!).
Use distance and direction – BINGO.
Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers
on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller.

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Wadati Plot

Vp/Vs = 1.73

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Travel Time Curves

Travel time curve for earthquake at 10 km

with Vp = 6 km/sec, Vs= 3.5 km/sec

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 Seismic Travel-time Curve: If the speeds of the seismic waves are
not known, use Travel-Time curve for that region to get the distance

1. Measure time
between P and S
wave on
seismogram
2. Use travel-time
curves for the
specified region to
get distance to
epicenter.

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Global Travel Time Curve

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Location with a few stations
(at least three)
Use time of arrival of P waves, Tp, and time
of arrival of S waves, TS

(TS-TP ) is a function of distance, so knowing

the two arrival times we can determine how
far a station is from the earthquake.

Use data from several stations to determine

the location by intersection of circles (coming
slide).

83

𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺
𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝑫 𝑻 𝑻𝑷
𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺 𝑺
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3-Circle Method: 3-Circle Steps:
1) Read S-P time from 3
North seismograms.
2) Compute distance for
D1 each event/recording
D2
station pair (D1, D2, D3)
using S-P time formula.
3) Draw each circle of
radius Di on map.
4) Overlapping point is
the event location.
D3
Assumption: Source is
relatively shallow;
epicenter is relatively
close to hypocenter.
𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺
𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝑫 𝑻 𝑻𝑷
𝑽𝑷 𝑽𝑺 𝑺
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Earthquake Processes

Frictional Stress.
Statics and Dynamics.
Water and Earthquakes.

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 Friction and Faulting
Friction prevents faults from moving while
strain accumulates:
   N
Friction stress = friction coeff. x Normal stress

REBOUND THEORY- Upon overcoming the

friction the ground rebounds to cause an
earthquake.
Leads to cycles of strain accumulation and
earthquakes.
87

Effect of Water on Friction

Water pressure in the rock can counteract
the normal stress:

   ( N  PW )
By increasing the water pressure the effect
of the normal stress can be neutralized.

Can we use this effect to control earthquake?

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Importance of water on Faulting
From laboratory experiments we know
that the friction will be very high at depth
because of the high normal stress.

Fault movement can not take place

unless…
We have water under pressure
near the fault!

Do we have water down at depth?

89

Earthquake Control Experiment

The strange earthquakes in Denver in 1962.
 Concentrated near Rocky Mountain arsenal.
 Correlation of earthquake activities when injection
took place 1962-1963 and 1964-1965.
 Knowing what you know now and what would you
suspect was happening?

Rangeley Oil Field experiment in 1969.

 Proved that the water pressure
can cause EQ.
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 91

No. of EQ’s recorded in Denever area

Effect of injected
water on EQ’s
occurrence.

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Reservoir and Earthquakes
1936 Lake Mead (Hoover Dam) earthquakes
followed by M5.

It is now known that when height of a dam

exceeds 100 m, there is a likelihood (4%) of
triggering earthquakes.

Examples: Kariba (Zambia), Koyna (India),

Xingfengjiang (S. China), Nurek (Kazakhistan).

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Reservoir and Earthquakes

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Reservoir
and
Earthquakes

95

India

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Dynamic Friction
Once the fault gets moving then the
friction drops a bit, i.e., once the fault
gets moving it is easier to move more –
an instability.

Depending on the condition in the fault

zone the fault may begin to grow larger
as time continues.

97

Earthquake Sequence
Ambient earthquakes.
Foreshock - Main shock - Aftershock
Storms and Swarms
 Volcanic
 Non-volcanic
 Foreshocks and Aftershocks.

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 Fore-, Main- and Aftershocks: Chaos
(Disorder) in the Fault Zone?
Normally when a small earthquake occurs the
fault zone overall remains “stable”.
But a small event in an unstable
environment – when the fault zone is all
stressed up, then
a “foreshock” may lead to a cascade (flow) of
events in the fault zone, resulting in the Main
Shock and followed by the Aftershocks.

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Fault = Weakness in Rocks/Offset in Strata

(levels or layers)

Active and inactive faults.

Active faults are weak “planes” or zones in the
earth – has had equations on it “recently”.
Faulting creates offsets .
Strike and dip of the “fault plane”.
Fault zone – crushed/deformed
rocks/gouge/slickensides.

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 Predicting Earthquakes
Strange Animal Behavior
Stress in the rocks causes tiny hairline fractures to form, the
cracking of the rocks evidently emits high pitched sounds
and minute vibrations imperceptible to humans but
noticeable by many animals.
Foreshocks
Unusual increase in the frequency of small earthquakes
before the main shock
Changes in water level
Porosity increases or decreases with changes in strain
Seismic Gaps
Based of the chronological distribution of major earthquakes 10
1

PROTECTING AGAINST EARTHQUAKE

DAMAGE
Prepare a Seismic Risk Map for the globe which identifies rock
types, liquefaction potential, landslide potential.

Extensive geologic surveying has to be done to identify all active

faults, including hidden faults.
Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures:
Enact building codes to design and build earthquake-resistant
structures in high seismic risk areas. Wood, steel and reinforced
concrete are preferred as they tend to move with the shaking
ground (unreinforced concrete and heavy masonry tend to move
independently and in opposition to the shaking, battering one
another until the structure collapses).
Critical facilities such as nuclear power plants and dams should
be built on stable ground and as far as possible from active faults.
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