Compatible ground-motion time histories for new national seismic hazard maps

Abstract

Ground-motion time histories which are compatible with the uniform hazard spectra (UHS) provided by the new national seismic hazard maps of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) are simulated. Time histories are simulated for the following cities: Halifax, La Malbaie, Québec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Prince George, Tofino, Vancouver, and Victoria. The target UHS for the time history simulations are the GSC 5% damped horizontal-component spectra for "firm ground" (Class B) sites for an annual probability of 1/500. The Canadian Council on Earthquake Engineering is currently considering the adoption of these maps as the seismological basis for the earthquake design requirements for future editions of the National Building Code of Canada. It is therefore useful to have compatible time histories for these spectra, in order that dynamic analysis methods requiring the use of time histories can be employed. The simulated records provide a realistic representation of ground motion for the earthquake magnitudes and distances that contribute most strongly to hazard at the selected cities and probability level. For each selected city, two horizontal components are generated for a moderate earthquake nearby, and two horizontal components are generated for a larger earthquake farther away. These records match the short- and long-period ends of the target UHS, respectively. These simulations for local and regional crustal earthquakes are based on a point-source stochastic simulation procedure. For cities in British Columbia, records are also simulated for a scenario M8.5 earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone, using a stochastic finite-fault simulation model. Four different rupture scenarios are considered. The ground motions for this scenario event are not associated with a specific probability level, but current information suggests that their probability of occurrence is comparable to that of the 1/500 UHS (the probabilistic analyses performed for the national hazard maps do not explicitly include the Cascadia subduction event). Thus it would be reasonable to conduct engineering analyses for cities in British Columbia using both the simulated crustal-event motions and the simulated Cascadia-event motions for the Cascadia event. The time histories simulated for this study are available free of charge to all interested parties.Key words: compatible time-histories, seismic hazard, ground motions.