Topographic proxies from 2-D numerical analyses

Abstract

We use 2D numerical analyses at ground motion stations from the NGA-West2 dataset to develop parameters to predict the effect of surface topography on response spectra. The simplistic numerical analyses use sinusoidal input motions, uniform soil profiles, elastic soil properties, and absorbing boundary conditions. We define several topographic parameters for stations using the natural logarithm of 2D amplifications in peak ground acceleration of a sinusoidal input motion in different orientations. The natural log of 2D amplifications when averaged over multiple orientations is found to have the most predictive power among the studied parameters. We also explore the relationship between the topographic parameters developed in this study, and the topographic parameters developed at the same sites in an earlier study (Rai et al. in Earthq Spectra, 2016b).