UC Irvine

The effect of the earthquake ground motion parameters on the probabilistic loss estimation

of buildings is the major interest of this study. For the seismic performance assessment,

real ground motion records from the past earthquakes are required. Estimation of repair

costs in future earthquakes is the major component for seismic loss analysis. This study

addresses the sensitivity of the statistical characteristics of ground motions contributing to

the building loss. Among these characteristics are the ground-shaking intensity (Arias In-

tensity),duration, and frequency at the middle of strong-shaking phase of the ground motion.

These parameters are vital in determining the seismic response of the building structure. A

ne study on the sensitivity of the seismic response and corresponding loss of the building

structure to ground motions model parameters is carried out using Performance-based Earth-

quake Engineering and Performance Assessment Computational Tool, respectively. But due

to the scarcity of moderate to large earthquakes, the real records fail to match the required

characteristics of motions, as there are insufficient set of data available for analysis to be

carried out. Even, the of technique scaling ground motions results in overall unrealistic properties. This has led to the simulation of ground motions which will provide the additional

and hopefully accurate predicted information on characteristics of the moderate to large

earthquakes. Hence, a fully non-stationary stochastic model for strong earthquake ground

motion model is considered which employs the statistical characteristics (waveform parameters) as model parameters matched with those of identied for a large sample of recorded ground motions for specfied earthquake and site characteristics, to deliver simulated ground motions to examine the building loss metrics, which depends on the uncertainties in various analysis process starting from obtaining Intensity Measure (IM), Demand parameters (EDPs) to the repair cost estimates. From the predictive equations, specifed earthquake and site characteristics results in the model parameters.

Further, the validity of simulated ground motion time series representing the real ground

shaking during future earthquakes is a crucial step. This study employs the hybrid broad-

band ground motion simulation applied simulations to validate against the real records. With

the help of hybrid approach, making use of wave propagation phenomena and site response

characterization, effort has been taken for validation of these simulated ground motions is

conducted for the sensitivity of seismic response and loss for these simulated ground motions.