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Towards the Development of Static Ground Displacement and Transient Ground Strain Shakemaps

Description: 

Damage to buried structures and lifelines can be caused both by and permanent deformation from faulting, broad uplift, or ground failure and dynamic strains. We are considering developing two new tools to complement the U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMapÒ product suite: (1) static ground displacement (SGD) and (2) transient ground strain (TGS). SGD maps require vector representation, static deformation estimates rather than response spectral estimates, and geodetic observations. TGS ShakeMaps require strain calculations—often approximated as = PGV/C, where PGV is peak ground velocity, and C is a site's shear velocity—but rigorous strain calculations require C to be the horizontal phase velocity. Calibration with three-dimensional (3-D) earth and rupture models aids in our analyses, but we are using waveform analyses to determine whether body- or surface waves are responsible for the TGS. Our initial calibration phases will provide insight into the ground-motion conditions that dominate the effects of SGD versus TGS, which have not been well characterized to date. TGS ShakeMaps require conditioning on TGS observations, including strainmeters, seismic arrays, and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). Our analyses and ShakeMaps will facilitate the development of more accurate pipeline fragilities and will ultimately be useful to underground lifeline utilities, among others, for planning and response. Part of our motivation for presenting these concepts at an early stage is to solicit feedback, identify use cases, and motivate collaboration among scientists, engineers, lifeline utility operators, and other potential users. The challenges and potential benefits of rapid SGD and TGS mapping have the potential to motivate researchers in those disciplines, along with developing applications that incorporate the latest available data processing and modeling tools for necessary input constraints from, for example, InSAR and DAS, along with more traditional ground motion modeling strategies earlier perfected by seismologists.

Session: Earthquake Ground Motions and Structural Response: Emerging Tools and Applications - I

Type: Oral

Date: 4/16/2026

Presentation Time: 09:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: David J. Wald

Student Presenter: No

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