Determination of seismic hazard and soil response of a critical region in Turkey considering far-field and near-field earthquake effect

Abstract

Evaluation of earthquake impacts in settlements with a high risk of earthquake occurrence is important for the determination of site-specific dynamic soil parameters and earthquake-resistant structural planning. In this study, dynamic soil properties of Karliova (Bingol) city center, located near to the intersection point of the North Anatolian Fault Zone and the East Anatolian Fault Zone and therefore having a high earthquake risk, were investigated by one-dimensional equivalent linear site response analysis. From ground response analyses, peak ground acceleration, predominant site period, 0.2-sec and 1-sec spectral accelerations and soil amplification maps of the study area were obtained for both near-field and far-field earthquake effects. The average acceleration spectrum obtained from analysis, for a near-field earthquake scenario, was found to exceed the design spectra of the Turkish Earthquake Code and Eurocode 8. Yet, the average acceleration spectrum was found to remain below the respective design spectra of the two codes for the far-field earthquake scenario. According to both near- and far-field earthquake scenarios in the study area, the low-rise buildings with low modal vibration durations are expected to be exposed to high spectral acceleration values and high-rise buildings with high modal vibration durations will be exposed to lower spectral accelerations. While high amplification ratios are observed in the north of the study area for the near-distance earthquake scenario, high amplification ratios are observed in the south of the study area for the long-distance earthquake scenario.