Earthquake Ground Motions Consistent with Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis

The present study deals with the new methodology for simulation of earthquake ground motion for the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) of structures. Peak ground acceleration, acceleration response spectra, and ground motion duration are selected as the parameters to characterize earthquake ground motions. In the proposed method, the seismic hazard curve in terms of peak ground acceleration is calculated and normalized response spectrum and ground motion duration are probabilistically evaluated given that the ground motion intensity exceeds a certain acceleration level. Correlation coefficients between the spectral values at different natural periods are also examined using observed earthquake records. The Monte Carlo technique is adopted to generate sample normalized response spectra in which the correlation relation is taken into account, and the earthquake ground motions for the dynamic response analyses are simulated to fit the sample spectra.