Investigation of Damage Potential of Ground Motions of the 6 February 2023 Pazarcik Turkey Earthquake by Developing Spatial Distribution of Inelastic Spectra

Esra Zengin, Yousef Bozorgnia, Aidin Tamhidi, & Silvia Mazzoni

Submitted September 10, 2023, SCEC Contribution #13128, 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #180

A devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the southeastern part of Turkey on February 6, 2023 followed by a powerful aftershock magnitude 7.7. These earthquakes resulted in extensive damage across southern Turkey and northern Syria, presenting significant challenges for both modern seismic designs and pre-existing buildings. In this study, we evaluate the destructive potential of Pazarcik mainshock ground motions through the inelastic strength demand spectra. These spectra are particularly insightful when viewed in terms of the yield coefficient, denoted as “Cy”, representing the ratio between the yield strength of the system and the weight of the building. It plays a crucial role in seismic design, helping engineers ensure that structures can safely withstand the expected seismic loads without experiencing excessive deformations or failure. Given recorded ground motions, we generate time series for non-instrumented sites using a Gaussian Process Regression model (Tamhidi et al. 2023).We construct inelastic constant-ductility spectra by utilizing recording stations located within 100 km of the rupture distance, and observe that, for structural periods of 0.3 sec and 1.0 sec, the Cy demand at a ductility level of 3 is higher than the Cy levels specified in the seismic design code for the 475-year return period, particularly when the rupture distance is less than 10 km. Inelastic analyses are performed to investigate how ductility demand varies across the area. Finally, we compare our findings with observed damage patterns.

Key Words
Spatial distribution of damage, inelastic spectrum, ductility demand

Citation
Zengin, E., Bozorgnia, Y., Tamhidi, A., & Mazzoni, S. (2023, 09). Investigation of Damage Potential of Ground Motions of the 6 February 2023 Pazarcik Turkey Earthquake by Developing Spatial Distribution of Inelastic Spectra. Poster Presentation at 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Ground Motions