HORIZONTAL‐TO‐VERTICAL SPECTRUM RATIO OF EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTION FOR SITE CHARACTERIZATION

Abstract

Nakamura's method, which uses a horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectrum ratio of microtremor, has become popular to determine the predominant period and amplification of a site. In this study, this method is extended for earthquake ground motion recordings using new strong motion data recorded by JMA-87-type accelerometers. From the analysis of these accelerograms, horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectrum ratios of a site for different earthquakes are also found to be stable irrespective of magnitude, distance and depth. To establish this fact, attenuation relations of velocity response spectra for horizontal and vertical components are derived for three damping ratios (0, 2 and 5 per cent) using the JMA data. Then the horizontal-to-vertical ratios of the velocity response spectra are obtained. The results show that the horizontal and vertical velocity response spectra are dependent on magnitude, distance and depth, but that their ratios are almost independent of magnitude, distance and depth. However, since the current data set consists of mostly intermediate to far field data, this observation should be limited to records of these distance ranges. Introducing station coefficients, representing site amplification, to this relation yields the value comparable to the horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectrum ratio at a specific site. The stability of the spectrum ratio is explained by the transfer function between the ground surface and stiff-soil outcrop due to S-wave propagation. These results suggest that site amplification characteristics can be evaluated by one-point two-component surface recordings of earthquake ground motion, in a similar manner as proposed by Nakamura for microtremor. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.