Empirical Correlations between Cumulative Absolute Velocity and Amplitude-Based Ground Motion Intensity Measures

Abstract

Empirical correlation equations are developed between cumulative absolute velocity ( CAV) and other common ground motion intensity measures, namely, peak ground acceleration ( PGA), peak ground velocity ( PGV), 5% damped pseudo spectral acceleration ( SA), acceleration spectrum intensity ( ASI), spectrum intensity ( SI), and displacement spectrum intensity ( DSI). It is found that, for a given earthquake rupture, CAV has the strongest correlation with high and moderate frequency intensity measures (IMs), that is, ASI, PGA, PGV and high-frequency SA, and to a lesser extent with low frequency IMs ( DSI and low-frequency SA). The largest positive correlations of approximately 0.7 however are not high in an absolute sense, a result of the cumulative nature of CAV. The equations allow estimation of the joint distribution of these intensity measures for a given earthquake rupture, enabling the inclusion of CAV, and its benefit as a cumulative intensity measure, in seismic hazard analysis, ground motion selection, and seismic response analysis.