Abstract
Residuals of the peak horizontal acceleration for site-independent attenuation relations are shown to have weak positive correlation with the average observed peak horizontal/vertical acceleration ratio (q) at the recording site. This ratio systematically increases as the hardness of the soil decreases. Taking the average observed q at the recording station into account reduces the scatter of data slightly in fitting the assumed peak acceleration attenuation law. If the soil classification of the data is available, soil dependence is found to be weaker if the data are corrected for the effect of q prior to regression. This correction reduced the mean value of q = 1.85 for the Dinarides area to q = 1.52, which, on the average, is characteristic of rock sites.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ambraseys N.N. and Simpson K.A., 1996. Prediction of vertical response spectra in Europe. Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 25, 401–412.
Ambraseys N.N., Simpson K.A. and Bommer J.J., 1996. Prediction of horizontal response spectra in Europe. Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 25, 371–400.
Boore D.M., Joyner W.B. and Fumal T.E., 1997. Equations for estimating horizontal spectra and peak acceleration from western North American earthquakes: A summary of recent work. Seism.Res. Lett., 68, 128–153.
Campbell K.W., 1981. Near-source attenuation of peak horizontal acceleration. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 71, 2039–2070.
Herak M., Markuýi S. and Ivanšić I., 2001. Attenuation of peak horizontal and vertical acceleration in the Dinarides area. Stud. geophys. geod., 45, 383–394.
Joyner W.B. and Boore D.M., 1981. Peak horizontal acceleration and velocity from strong-motion records including records from the 1979 Imperial Valley, California earthquake. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 71, 2011–2038.
Kono K. and Ohmachi T., 1998. Ground-motion characteristics estimated from spectral ratio between horizontal and vertical components of microtremor. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 88, 228–241.
Lermo J. and Chávez-García ??, 1993. Site effects using spectral ratios with only one station. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 83, 1574–1594.
Lokmer I., Herak M., Panza G.F. and Vaccari F., 2001. Amplification of strong-ground motion in the city of Zagreb, Croatia, estimated by computation of synthetic seismograms. Preprint IC/2001/26, Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, 1–17.
McGuire R., 1980. RMS accelerations and spectral amplitudes of strong ground motion during the San Fernando, California, earthquake. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 70, 1907–1919.
Nakamura Y., 1989. A method for dynamic characteristics estimation of subsurface using microtremor on the ground surface. Quarterly Report of the Railway Technical Research Institute, 30, 25–33.
Romanelli F. and Vaccari F., 1999. Site response estimation and ground motion spectrum scenario in the Catania area. J. Seismology, accepted for publication.
Panza G.F., Romanelli F. and Vaccari F., 2000. Seismic wave propagation in laterally heterogeneous anelastic media: theory and applications to the seismic zonation. Advances in Geophysics, 43, 1–95.
Sabetta F. and Pugliese A., 1987. Attenuation of peak horizontal acceleration and velocity from Italian strong-motion records. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 77, 1491–1513.
Sabetta F. and Pugliese A., 1996. Estimation of response spectra and simulation of nonstationary earthquake ground motions. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 86, 337–352.
Satoh T., Kawase H. and Matsushima S., 2001. Differences between site characteristics obtained from microtremors, S-waves, P-waves and codas. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 313–334.
Tsuboi S., Saito M. and Ishihara Y., 2001. Verification of horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique for estimation of site response using borehole seismographs. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 499–510.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Markušić, S., Herak, M., Herak, D. et al. Peak Horizontal-to-Vertical Acceleration Ratio and Local Amplification of Strong Ground Motion. Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica 46, 83–92 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019889600531
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019889600531