Abstract
A study of combined effects of valley-weathering and valley-shaperatio on the ground motion characteristics and associated differential ground motion (DGM) is documented in this paper. In order to properly quantify the weathering effects, a forth-order-accurate staggered-grid viscoelastic time-domain finite-difference program has been used for the simulation of SH-wave responses. Simulated results revealed that the defocusing caused by valley is frequency-independent in contrast to the ridge-focusing. A decrease of average spectral amplification (ASA) with an increase of shape-ratio of the non-weathered triangular and elliptical valleys was obtained. Overall, the amplification and de-amplification pattern was larger in case of triangular valleys as compared to the elliptical valleys. It can be concluded that the dwelling within or near the topcorners of weathered valleys may suffer more damage as compared to their surroundings. A weathered triangular valley with large shape-ratio may cause unexpected damage very near its top-corners since both the ASA and DGM are largest.
Highlights
This research work is stimulated with the changing structural scenario in the hilly areas
This paper presents the combined effects of valley-shape, valley-shaperatio, and the valley-weathering on the amplification of the SH wave as well as the differential ground motion (DGM) along the valley-flanks in details
To quantify the effects of the shape-ratio on the DGM developed by the SH wave along the non-weathered flanks of the STRV and SELV models, responses were computed on another array with 29 equidistant (10 m apart horizontally) receiver points extending from 0 to 280 m leftwards of the valley-axis
Summary
This research work is stimulated with the changing structural scenario in the hilly areas. There is day by day increase of dwelling as well as the number of mega structures such as dams, bridges, and other life-lines across the valleys in the hilly areas These mega structures may be subjected to non-uniform ground motions due to the spatial variability in ground motion caused by the valley topography. The weathering considered by Zhao (2010) was only along the slant part of the valley, weathering thickness may be even larger on the horizontal/ gentle-slope part of the valley It seems that almost no work is carried out to quantify the combined effects of valley-weathering and valley-shape-ratio on the ground motion amplification and DGM across the valley. A forth order accurate SH-wave time-domain viscoelastic FD program developed by Narayan and Kumar (2013) was used to simulate the responses of various considered models
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