SCEC Award Number 11187 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Spatial Variability in Building Seismic Response Investigated using Scenario Ground Motion Simulations
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Abbie Liel University of Colorado, Boulder
Other Participants 1 student (Gradate Research Assistant)
SCEC Priorities B6, C, B4 SCEC Groups SHRA
Report Due Date 02/29/2012 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 This project combines recent advancements in broadband ground motion simulation and nonlinear prediction of building seismic performance to quantify spatial variability in building response associated with a single earthquake event. The study uses scenario ground motion simulations developed for the ShakeOut and Puente Hills earthquake scenarios to predict the dynamic response of concrete frame structures hypothetically located at hundreds of sites throughout the affected region. These scenario predictions generate a database of building response predictions, which serve to quantify spatial variability. This represents a first step toward incorporating these spatial variabilities in probabilistic regional risk assessment.
Intellectual Merit An improved understanding of correlations is essential for accurate, probabilistic assessments of risk useful for communities, building owners and managers of lifeline and transportation systems. As these preliminary results indicate, correlations in building response may be significant even for relatively dissimilar buildings within an urban area (i.e. in the range of 0 to 50 km). Work is ongoing to quantify the characteristics of the ground motions and building properties that make these correlations most significant. The study is expected to provide the basis for future work in quantifying risk of earthquake-induced economic losses and fatalities, rather than individual buildings alone to obtain system-level forecasts of seismic risk (SCEC3 science priority objective C). This is accomplished by using one of SCEC’s unique research products, physics-based broadband ground motion simulations, in a novel way.
Broader Impacts This research has been carried out by the P.I. and several graduate students at the University of Colorado. Kristen Rowe conducted most of the building simulations, and wrote her M.S. thesis comparing structural response to simulated and recorded ground motions. Jack Garrison and D. Jared DeBock have worked on the quantification of correlations and spatial correlations for their M.S. and Ph.D. research, respectively. Their involvement with the SCEC project positions them for future research or work as an earthquake engineer. Results have already been used to generate class discussion in Earthquake Engineering. At the completion of the study, students will serve as coauthors on a paper summarizing the findings to be published in a peer-reviewed earthquake engineering journal article.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1. Correlations in maximum interstory drift in identical buildings as a function of distance between sites for (a) Northridge earthquake ground motions and (b) ShakeOut earthquake ground motions.