International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation

Oct. 4-6, 2007, Bucharest, Romania

SHAKE MAPS OF SPECTRAL RESPONSE ORDINATES
AND OF OTHER GROUND MOTION CHARACTERISTICS
FOR VRANCEA EARTHQUAKES

Dan Lungu
1,3
, Iolanda-Gabriela Craifaleanu
1



ABSTRACT

The paper presents results of a comprehensive study on the mapping of nonlinear spectral
ordinates for strong Vrancea earthquakes (moment magnitude, M
w
, larger than 6.0), which
occurred in Romania in the last three decades. The study provides the spatial distribution of
a number of key parameters of the ground motion, as well as of the structure response
spectra, based on ground motions recorded in 1977 (M
w
= 7.4), 1986 (M
w
=7.2) and 1990
(M
w
= 7.0). The analysis of the generated maps, corroborated with data from previous
studies, reveals interesting conclusions for structural design.


INTRODUCTION

During the past few years, an extensive study was performed on Vrancea earthquakes with
moment magnitude, M
w
, larger than 6.0, recorded in Romania in the last three decades.
Maps were generated for peak ground motion characteristics, effective peak ground
characteristics and control (corner) periods of response spectra. A distinct part of the study
focused on the development of maps for linear/nonlinear acceleration and displacement
spectra.

The following Vrancea events were considered: August 30, 1986 (moment magnitude
M
w
= 7.1, focal depth h = 133 km), May 30, 1990 (M
w
= 6.9, h = 91 km) and May 31, 1990
(M
w
= 6.4, h = 79 km). The original digitised records, coming from seismic networks in
Romania and in neighbouring countries, were used in the study. Seismic values were
mapped for each event. Then, based on map ordinates, interpolation surfaces and contours
of constant values were determined, by using specialised GIS software.

MAPS OF PEAK GROUND MOTION VALUES

The maps pointed out significant differences between the spatial distributions of the peak
values of ground motion, recorded in various seismic events (Fig. 1). At the origin of this
phenomenon is mainly the diversity of the source mechanisms, as well as the wave
propagation pattern of the events. Mention should be made that the group of stations
providing seismic data was not the same for all earthquakes considered, either due to the
expansion of seismic networks in Romania, or to the occasional malfunction of some older
accelerometers.


1
National Institute for Building Research, INCERC, Bucharest, Romania, iolanda@incerc2004.ro,
i.craifaleanu@gmail.com
3
National Institute for Historical Monuments, INMI; lungud@inmi.ro.
D. Lungu & I.-G. Craifaleanu 308

a) August 30, 1986


b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 1. PGA distribution for three Vrancea seismic events in Romania

As it can be observed from the above maps, the northeast-southwest pattern of map
contours, very evident for the August 30, 1986 earthquake, is not present on the maps of
the other two seismic events considered. The existence of some records in the northern part
of the country, for these two events, would have been brought valuable information for the
construction of the interpolation surface.

Another remarkable feature is the clear difference between the contour patterns for the two
earthquakes of 1990. While, for the first 1990 event, large PGA values, as compared to the
other stations, were recorded in the eastern part of the Romanian Plain (Fig. 1b), this was
not the case for the second event (Fig. 1c).

Detailed views of the spatial distribution of PGA values in Bucharest, for the three seismic
events considered, are shown in Fig. 2.

International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation

309

a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 2. Bucharest. PGA distribution for three Vrancea seismic events

In this case, also, the contour patterns appear much differentiated from one seismic event to
another. For example, while for the 1986 event, the lowest PGA values were recorded in the
southeast of the city, for the 1990 events this pattern was not observable.

MAPS OF EFFECTIVE PEAK GROUND MOTION VALUES

The effective peak ground acceleration and effective peak ground velocity were calculated
using the following expressions, introduced by (Lungu & Cornea, 1995).

( ) 5 . 2
max
s 0.4 on averaged
SA EPA = , ( ) 5 . 2
max
s 0.4 on averaged
SV EPV = , (1)

where ( )
max
s 0,4 on averaged
SA means the maximum values of the acceleration response
spectra averaged on a 0.4 s period mobile window, and ( )
max
s 0.4 on averaged
SV means the
maximum values of the velocity response spectra averaged on a 0.4 s period mobile
window.

The maps of obtained for EPA and EPV are shown in Figs. 3 to 6.


a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 3. EPA distribution for three Vrancea seismic events in Romania

D. Lungu & I.-G. Craifaleanu 310

a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 4. Bucharest. EPA distribution for three Vrancea seismic events

The geometry of EPA is quite similar to the geometry of PGA maps, respectively, both for
Romania and for Bucharest (Figs. 3 and 4). This confirms, together with a similar
observation, made for PGV and EPV in (Craifaleanu et al., 2006), the validity of the
expressions (1) for the calculation of effective peak ground motion values.


a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 5. EPV distribution for three Vrancea seismic events in Romania

a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 6. Bucharest. EPV distribution for three Vrancea seismic events
International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation

311
MAPS OF CORNER PERIOD OF RESPONSE SPECTRA, T
C


The control (corner) period of the response spectra, T
C
, provides the most reliable and
stable information on the frequency contents of the ground motion. T
C
was calculated using
the following expression:

EPA EPV T
C
2 = . (2)

The maps generated for T
C
are shown, for Romania and for Bucharest, in Figs. 7 and 8.


a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 7. T
C
distribution for three Vrancea seismic events in Romania

For the August 30, 1986, earthquake (Fig. 7 a), the largest values of T
C
occur in the
southwestern part of the analysed zone, whereas, for the 1990 earthquakes (Fig. 7 b and c),
a very different contour pattern can be observed.

a) August 30, 1986 b) May 30, 1990 c) May 31,1990
Figure 8. Bucharest. T
C
distribution for three Vrancea seismic events

For Bucharest, the general tendency appears to consist in larger values of T
C
in the
southeastern part of the city, as compared with the rest of the stations. This feature was
underlined in previous studies by Lungu et al. (Lungu et al., 2005), where it was found to be
related with local soil conditions.
The values of T
C
tend to decrease with seismic magnitude.
D. Lungu & I.-G. Craifaleanu 312
MAPS OF ELASTIC AND INELASTIC RESPONSE SPECTRUM ORDINATES

Response spectrum ordinates used for the generation of maps were computed for the
earthquake of August 30, 1986, the strongest seismic event analysed in the study. A
damping ratio of 5% and three values of structure period (T = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 s) were
considered.

Inelastic behaviour was modelled by considering a simple elastic-perfectly plastic hysteretic
model. Spectral values were calculated for a set of specified values of ductility, i.e. = 1
(elastic behaviour) and = 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (inelastic behaviour).

The study focused on spectral accelerations and spectral displacements, in order to explore
the spatial distribution of seismic demands on building structures with different stiffness and
ductility characteristics.

Spectral Accelerations










=1.0 =1.5 =2 =4
Figure 9. August 30, 1986.
Distribution of
elastic spectral
acceleration.
T = 0.5 s
Figure 10. August 30, 1986. Distribution of
inelastic spectral acceleration
for structure period T = 0.5 s
and three ductility ratios

Maps of elastic and inelastic spectral acceleration ordinates for the earthquake of August
30, 1986, the strongest seismic event analysed in the study, are shown in Figs. 9 to 12.

International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation

313






=1.0 =1.5 =2 =4
Figure 11. Aug. 30, 1986.
Distribution of
elastic spectral
acceleration.
T = 1.5 s
Figure 12. August 30, 1986. Distribution of
inelastic spectral acceleration for
structure period T = 1.5 s
and three ductility ratios

By examining the maps, a clear tendency of decrease of spectral ordinates with the increase
of ductility can be observed. The spatial distribution of spectral accelerations becomes more
and more uniform as ductility increases. This phenomenon can be observed on all maps,
irrespective of the structure period for which the spectral ordinates were computed.
However, the interpolation surface does not flatten uniformly, as the rate of variation of
spectral ordinates with ductility is different from one ground motion record to another.

The structure vibration period does also have an important influence on spectral
accelerations. However, for T = 1.5s, this amplitude of this variation attenuates considerably,
as a consequence of the frequency contents of the ground motions analysed.
T
Contour maps are also sensitive to factors as the number of stations which provided seismic
records and the values of the numeric parameters used for the generation of interpolation
surface.

One of the most significant consequences of the observations concerning the maps of
spectral accelerations is that, for building structures with inelastic behaviour, the spatial
distribution of seismic strength demands is more uniform than for structures behaving
elastically. It results that, for common structures, for which inelastic behaviour is allowed for
the design earthquake, the influence of the other factors affecting spatial distribution is less
important than expected.

Detailed analyses of inelastic response spectra for the Vrancea seismic motions considered
in the present study can be found in (Lungu et al., 1996) and (Craifaleanu, 1996-2005).

D. Lungu & I.-G. Craifaleanu 314
Apart from the previous observations, it is also worth noting for the maps of Romania, Figs.
9 and 10, the northeast-southwest orientation of map contours for the 1986 earthquake,
similar to that observed on the maps of PGA (Fig. 1), EPA (Fig. 3) and EPV (Fig. 5), for the
same seismic event.

Spectral Displacements

Maps of elastic and inelastic spectral displacement ordinates are shown in Figs. 13 to 16, for
the August 30, 1986 earthquake.







=1.0 =1.5 =2 =4
Figure 13. Aug. 30, 1986.
Distribution of
elastic spectral
displacement.
T = 0.5 s
Figure 14. August 30, 1986. Distribution of
inelastic spectral displacement for
structure period T = 0.5 s
and three ductility ratios

The variation of spectral ordinates with ductility is non-monotonous. There is a marked
increase of ordinates with structure period. The above remarks, which are consistent with
previous studies on inelastic displacement spectra, can be made with respect to both
Romania and Bucharest generated maps. Consequently, the beneficial effect of inelastic
behaviour, described for spectral accelerations, does not apply for spectral displacement
maps.

The observation concerning the northeast southwest orientation of map contours can also
be made for spectral displacements.

International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation

315






=1.0 =1.5 =2 =4
Figure 15. Aug. 30, 1986.
Distribution of
elastic spectral
displacement.
T = 1.5 s
Figure 16. August 30, 1986. Distribution of
inelastic spectral displacement for
structure period T = 1.5 s
and three ductility ratios

CONCLUSIONS

(i) The spatial distribution of all mapped parameters varies significantly from one seismic
event to another. The explanation of this phenomenon comes from the mobility of
frequency contents and intensity of ground motion with earthquake magnitude and
risk characteristics.
(ii) The dynamic characteristics of the structure have a strong influence on the spatial
distribution of strength and displacement demands. The influence is consistent to the
one pointed out by the study of response spectra.
(iii) There is a significant attenuation of strength demands, whose spatial distribution
becomes more uniform, with the increase of ductility.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been prepared in a large extent as a part of the NATO Project SfP 980468
Harmonization of Seismic Hazard and Risk Reduction in Countries Influenced by Vrancea
Earthquakes.


D. Lungu & I.-G. Craifaleanu 316
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