Ground motion models for Arias intensity, cumulative absolute velocity, peak incremental ground velocity, and significant duration in New Zealand

Abstract

This study proposes empirical ground motion models for a variety of non-spectral intensity measures and significant durations in New Zealand. Equations are presented for the prediction of the median and maximum rotated components of Arias intensity, cumulative absolute velocity, cumulative absolute velocity above a 5 cm/s2 acceleration threshold, peak incremental ground velocity, and the 5% to 75% and 5% to 95% significant durations. Recent research has highlighted the usefulness of these parameters in both structural and geotechnical engineering. The New Zealand Strong Motion Database provides the database for regression and includes many earthquakes from all regions of New Zealand with the exceptions of Auckland and Northland, Otago and Southland, and Taranaki. The functional forms for the proposed models are selected using cross validation. The possible influence of effects not typically included in ground motion models for these intensity measures is considered, such as hanging wall effects and basin depth effects, as well as altered attenuation in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The selected functional forms include magnitude and rupture depth scaling, attenuation with distance, and shallow site effects. Finally, the spatial autocorrelation of the models’ within-event residuals is considered and recommendations are made for developing correlated maps of intensity predictions stochastically.