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Characterization of Nonlinear Soil Behavior in a Systematic Manner at Japanese Kik-Net Sites and Correlation With Geological and Geotechnical Parameters

Description: 

Local soil conditions at a site can greatly influence incoming earthquake ground-motions. For small ground motions and stiff sites, the local soil-response behaves linearly, while for larger ground motions and softer sites, nonlinear site-effects are expected. In this study we systematically characterize the nonlinear soil-behavior for 210 instrumented sites in the Japanese Kiban–Kyoshin Network (KiK-net). This is done by measuring the effects of nonlinear soil-response in the stations’ surface-to-borehole ratios, i.e. the change in amplitude and shift in frequency between strong-motion events and the linear site-response. These empirical measurements are then consistently analyzed to derive station-specific parameters for nonlinearity. We use these parameters to explore the correlation between strong nonlinear soil- behavior and a selection of geological and geotechnical indicators. Our results indicate that nonlinear soil-behavior is very site-specific and that finding site parameters for predicting nonlinear site-effect remain a challenge.

Session: Site-specific Modeling of Seismic Ground Response: Are We Quantitative Enough to Predict?

Type: Oral

Date: 4/19/2023

Presentation Time: 09:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Karina Loviknes

Student Presenter: Yes

Invited Presentation: 

Authors