Empirical models for Fourier amplitude spectrum of ground-motion calibrated on data from the Iranian plateau

• Published in: Bulletin of earthquake engineering 2024-06, Vol.22 (8), p.3845-3874
• Main Authors: Davatgari-Tafreshi, Mehran, Pezeshk, Shahram, Bora, Sanjay Singh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceleration; Amplitude; Amplitudes; Civil Engineering; Datasets; Degrees of freedom; Design engineering; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Empirical models; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Frequency ranges; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Ground motion; Hydrogeology; Movement; Original Article; Physics; Regression analysis; Response spectra; Seismology; Spectra; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Structural Geology; Wave velocity
• ISSN: 1570-761X; 1573-1456
• DOI: 10.1007/s10518-024-01876-2

Ground-motion models (GMMs) are frequently used in engineering seismology to estimate ground motion intensities. The majority of GMMs predict the response spectral ordinates (such as spectral acceleration) of a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator because of their common application in engineering design practices. Response spectra show how an idealized structure reacts to applied ground motion; however, they do not necessarily represent the physics of ground motion. The functional forms of the response spectra GMMs are built around ideas taken from the Fourier spectral concept. Assuming the validity of Fourier spectral concepts in the response spectral domain could cause physically inexplainable effects. In this study, using a mixed-effects regression technique, we introduce four models capable of predicting the Fourier amplitude spectrum that investigates the impact of incorporating random-effect event and station terms and variations in using a mixed-effects regression technique in one or two steps using truncated dataset or all data (nontruncated dataset). All data consists of 2581 three-component strong ground motion data resulting from 424 events with magnitude ranging from 4.0 up to 7.4, from 1976 to 2020, and 706 stations. The truncated dataset’s records, events, and stations are reduced to 2071, 408, and 636, respectively. As part of this study, we develop GMMs to predict the Fourier amplitude spectrum for the Iranian plateau within the frequency range of 0.3–30 Hz. We adopted simple, functional forms for four models, and we included a limited number of predictors, namely M w (moment magnitude), R jb (Joyner–Boore distance), and V S30 (time-averaged shear-wave velocity in the top 30 m). Due to statistical analyses, the style-of-faulting term was excluded from the final functional forms. The robustness of the derived models is indicated by unbiased residual variation with predictor variables.