Intermediate-depth Seismic Source Research Articles

Inelastic displacement demand of RC buildings subjected to earthquakes generated by intermediate-depth Vrancea seismic source

Inelastic displacement demand of RC buildings subjected to earthquakes generated by intermediate-depth Vrancea seismic source

Modeling energy release parameters in stochastic simulation of ground motions generated by Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic source

Ground motion time-domain stochastic simulations are performed by generating a white or a Gaussian noise, shaping it with a window, loading its normalized spectrum with the spectrum of the motion at a specific site and transforming it back in time-domain (Boore in Pure Appl Geophys 160: 635–676, 2003). The outcome of the resulted simulations is compared to the target parameters, namely amplitude, frequency content and duration parameters. Using SMSIM (Boore in SMSIM: Fortran programs for simulating ground motions form earthquakes, 2005) and EXSIM (Motazedian and Atkinson in Bull Seismol Soc Am 95(3): 995–1010, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120030207), Coțovanu (J Mil Technol 1(2): 27–32, 2018. https://doi.org/10.32754/jmt.2018.2.05) and Coțovanu and Vacareanu (J Seismol 24(1): 229–241, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-019-09892-5) applied the stochastic simulation method for generating ground motions produced by intermediate-depth Vrancea (Romania) earthquakes and found inconsistent results for duration parameters (significant duration and energy distribution in time-domain). In simulations, the duration of the motion results from the source and path duration, but the significant duration (that contains 90% of the energy) depends on the way the energy is distributed in time, and this distribution is controlled through a noise shaping window. The objective of this paper is to provide an appropriate form of the shaping window that can describe the specific energy release of ground motions generated by Vrancea intermediate depth seismic source (the first 50–70% of energy being rapidly released, the rest of it having a very slow release). For this matter, 371 recorded motions were analyzed and 5 types of energy release were defined. The set with the above described pattern that contained almost half of the analyzed accelerograms was used to define a mean normalized cumulative energy that describes the Vrancea specificity. On this basis, the parameters for the SMSIM implemented exponential window were determined and, because the results were inconsistent, a more adequate window function was defined and implemented in SMSIM. For the newly defined two-interval window function an algorithm for calculating the parameters was described, and the parameters of the mean release of energy were determined. By using the two-interval function for describing the Vrancea specific release of energy, more appropriate ground motion simulations resulted.

Local site conditions modeling in stochastic simulation of ground motions generated by Vrancea (Romania) intermediate-depth seismic source

Analyses of stochastic simulations methods for Vrancea (Romania) intermediate-depth earthquake recorded at seismic station INCERC Bucharest were made. The main research topic highlighted in this paper is the quest for the best model able to simulate the influence of the local site conditions considering to this aim different types of soil behavior. Two types of linear behavior and one type of nonlinear behavior of the soil layers were considered to investigate the site effects. Comparisons between the simulations and the recorded accelerograms and between the simulation methods were made in terms of amplitude parameters, frequency content, duration parameters, and energy release. A better approximation was found when the nonlinear behavior of the soil layers was employed.

Fore-Arc and Back-Arc Ground Motion Prediction Model for Vrancea Intermediate Depth Seismic Source

A next generation ground motion model for the prediction of spectral accelerations both in the fore-arc and back-arc regions of the Carpathians Mountains is developed in this research for the Vrancea intermediate depth seismic source in Romania. This ground motion prediction equation (GMPE) is an updated version of the model given in Vacareanu et al. [2014] and is applicable in both the fore-arc and the back-arc regions. The strong ground motion database from which the prediction model is derived consists of over 700 triaxial accelerograms from Vrancea subcrustal seismic events, as well as from other intermediate-depth earthquakes produced in other seismically active regions in the world. The applicability of this ground motion prediction model in both the fore-arc and the back-arc region is tested using the analysis of residuals. Moreover, the appropriateness of this GMPE for soil classes B and C defined in EN 1998-1, as well as for average soil conditions is investigated. All results suggest that this model is an improvement of the previous versions of ground motion prediction equations for Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic source and its use in both the fore-arc and the back-arc regions make it a reliable candidate for more accurate seismic hazard studies of Romania.