A Semi-Automated Procedure for Selecting and Scaling Recorded Earthquake Motions for Dynamic Analysis

Abstract

Suites of earthquake ground motions play an important role in the seismic design and analysis process. A semi-automated procedure is described that selects and scales ground motions to fit a target acceleration response spectrum, while at the same time the procedure controls the variability within the ground motion suite. The basic methodology selects motions based on matching the target spectral shape, and then fits the amplitude and standard deviation of the target by adjusting the individual scale factors for the motions. The selection of motions from a larger catalog of motions is performed through either a rigorous method that tries each possible suite of motions or an iterative approach that considers a smaller set of potential suites in an effort to find suites that provide an acceptable fit to the target spectrum. Guidelines are provided regarding the application of the developed procedures, and example applications are described.