Strong ground motions and site amplification

Abstract

The major factors that control strong motion characteristics on ground surface are source, path, and site conditions. Acceleration records obtained in near field during recent earthquakes with relatively short distances apart have demonstrated that certain source factors such as fault type, rupture mechanism, rupture directivity, and fault orientation as well as geotechnical site conditions such as soil stratification, depth of ground water table, and properties of soil layers could have significant influence on strong motion characteristics on ground surface. The acceleration records obtained during recent major earthquakes in Turkey will be evaluated based on the source and site conditions to demonstrate the variability and the effects of these factors. An important step in estimating the design ground motion requires a comprehensive assessment of source characteristics as well as geotechnical and geological site conditions taking into consideration variability observed in nature.