SCEC Award Number 16036 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title A Vs30-based site response module for modifying ground motion time-series on reference site conditions
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Domniki Asimaki California Institute of Technology
Other Participants Jian Shi, California Institute of Technology (Graduate student)
SCEC Priorities 6e, 6c, 6b SCEC Groups EEII, GMSV, GMP
Report Due Date 03/15/2017 Date Report Submitted 04/06/2017
Project Abstract
 This is the first part of our attempt to develop a Vs30-based site response amplification factors based on complex Fourier spectral ratios (i.e., both amplitude and phase), that can be used in modifying ground motion time series on reference site conditions (i.e., Vs30 = 760 m/s). The site response module that we are developing has three key features: (i) it is based on the Sediment Velocity Model (SVM), a Vs30-based functional form developed by the authors that enables us to translate soil stiffness proxies into velocity profiles; (ii) the hybrid hyperbolic (HH) soil constitutive model also developed by the authors as part of previous SCEC funded research, which gives us the opportunity to perform fully nonlinear site response analyses using as input only the SVM profile mentioned above; and the hysteretic nonlinear site response solver, again, developed as part of previous SCEC funded research. With SVM almost complete, we are starting to perform parametric studies on the amplitude and frequency of randomized realizations of SVM to understand and model the statistics of site amplification factors.
Intellectual Merit The intellectual merit lies in the development of Vs30-based site response amplification factors based on complex Fourier spectral ratios (i.e., both amplitude and phase), that can be used in modifying ground motion time series on reference site conditions (i.e., Vs30 = 760 m/s).
Broader Impacts The broader impacts lie in the extension of this work to develop Fourier-based amplification factors for ground motion prediction equations, which are currently also based on spectral ratios and Vs30 proxies.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1