CHARACTERISTICS OF TORSIONAL GROUND MOTIONS

Abstract

Due to the inherent difficulty in directly recording the rotational ground motions, torsional ground motions have to be estimated from the recorded spatially varying translational motions. In this paper, an empirical coherency function, which is based on the recorded motions at the SMART-1 array, is suggested to model the spatial variation of translational motions. Then, the torsional ground motion power spectral density function is derived. It depends on the translational motion power spectral density function and the coherency function. Both the empirical coherency function and the torsional motion power spectral density function are verified by the recorded motions at the SMART-1 array. The response spectra of the torsional motions are also estimated. Discussion on the relations between the torsional motion response spectrum and the corresponding translational motion response spectrum is made. Numerical results presented can be used to estimate the torsional ground motion power spectral density function and response spectrum.