Development of Synthetic Ground Motion-based Attenuation Relationship for Bihar Region for Seismic Ground Response Analysis Considering Central Seismic Gap

Abstract

Ground Motion Prediction Equation (GMPE) is one of the significantly important tools to perform the seismic hazards analysis of any region. Therefore, the development of GMPEs at the bedrock level is utmost important especially when the region does not have any earthquake recording stations. The present study discussed the development of a GMPE at bedrock level for the Bihar region based on the stochastic model. The different seismic parameters such as magnitudes (Mw) 4.0‐8.5, spectral periods of 0‐10 s and distances up to 300 km have been considered for the stochastic model. Based on the results, it was found that the stochastic model is capable to predict the ground motion synthetically and the proposed GMPE, for Bihar region, predicts the spectral acceleration in most precise way. Further, the ground motion amplification analysis was carried out using synthetically generated bedrock motion to analyze the effect of soil deposits on the amplification or de‐amplification of the bedrock peak ground acceleration. It was found that that the seismic wave gets amplified at ground level by 10% to 70% from the input motion PGA ranging from 0.175g‐0.435g, indicating amplification and de‐amplification of seismic wave. The maximum spectral acceleration at surface level was also found to be increased by approximately 60%, 56% and 27%, when bedrock input motion of PGA = 0.175g, 0.256g and 0.435g, respectively. Thus, based on the results, it can be stated that the developed GMPE can be used to assess the seismic hazards analysis in Bihar region. Further, it can be suggested that there is a need of the development of a predictive attenuation relationship at the surface level PGA, for Bihar region or any earthquake prone area, incorporating different site classes and regional seismicity since, the seismic wave amplified due to the presence of soil deposits.