Simplified Procedure for Estimating Seismic Slope Displacements for Subduction Zone Earthquakes
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 3
Abstract
Seismic slope displacements are estimated for earth structures or natural slopes subjected to interface earthquakes in subduction zones. The fully coupled, nonlinear seismic slope displacement model captures the important influence of the system’s yield coefficient , its initial fundamental period , and the ground motion’s spectral acceleration at a degraded period of the slope taken as . The model separates the probability of zero displacement (i.e., ) from the distribution of nonzero displacement, so that low values of calculated seismic displacement do not bias the results. The input ground motion is the primary source of uncertainty in assessing seismic performance of an earth slope or system. Thus, a comprehensive database containing 810 two-component ground motion recordings from subduction zone interface earthquakes was developed and used to compute seismic slope displacements. The resulting model provides seismic displacement estimates similar to those from the previous model that was developed using shallow crustal earthquakes along active plate margins, but there are a few important differences. The subduction zone earthquake-induced slope displacement model can be implemented rigorously within a fully probabilistic framework or used deterministically to evaluate seismic displacement potential.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
INNOVATE PERU provided partial financial support to perform this research, which was supplemented by the Faculty Chair in Earthquake Engineering Excellence at University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Robert Darragh, Professor Julian Boomer, and the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center provided some of the ground motion recordings used in this study, which is greatly appreciated. Collaboration with Dr. Tadahiro Kishida of PEER was invaluable for the ground motion processing, as well as discussions with Dr. Norman Abrahamson of UC Berkeley.
References
Abrahamson, N., Gregor, N., and Addo, K. (2016). “BC Hydro ground motion prediction equations for subduction earthquakes.” Earthquake Spectra, 32(1), 23–44.
Abrahamson, N., Silva, W., and Kamai, R. (2013). “Update of the AS08 ground-motion prediction equations based on the NGA-West2 data set.”, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, 143.
Ancheta, T. D., et al. (2013). “PEER NGA-West2 database.”, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Ashford, S. A., and Sitar, N. (2002). “Simplified method for evaluating seismic stability of steep slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 119–128.
Atkinson, G., and Boore, D. (2003). “Empirical ground-motion relations for subduction-zone earthquakes and their application to Cascadia and other regions.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 93(4), 1703–1729.
Bray, J. (2013). “Seismic performance considerations for dams and reservoirs.” New Zealand Society of Large Dams and Australian Committee on Large Dams Annual Conf.: Multiple Use of Dams and Reservoirs, Presentation for Institution of Professional Engineers, Wellington, New Zealand.
Bray, J. D. (2017). “BT07-BMT17-seismic-slope-displacement.” http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/bray /research (Jul. 31, 2017).
Bray, J. D., and Frost, J. D. (2010). “Geo-engineering reconnaissance of the February 27, 2010 Maule, Chile Earthquake.”, GEER Association, Berkeley, CA.
Bray, J. D., and Rathje, E. R. (1998). “Earthquake-induced displacements of solid-waste landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 242–253.
Bray, J. D., and Travasarou, T. (2007). “Simplified procedure for estimating earthquake-induced deviatoric slope displacements.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 381–392.
Bray, J. D., and Travasarou, T. (2009). “Pseudostatic coefficient for use in simplified seismic slope stability evaluation.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1336–1340.
Chopra, A. K., and Zhang, L. (1991). “Base sliding response of concrete gravity dams to earthquakes.”, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Darendeli, M. B. (2001). “Development of a new family of normalized modulus reduction and material damping curves.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX.
EERI (Earthquake Engineering Research Institute). (2011). “Geotechnical Effects of the Mw 9.0 Tohoku, Japan, Earthquake of March 11, 2011.”, El Cerrito, CA.
Elgamal, A. W., Scott, R., Succarieh, M., and Yan, L. (1990). “La Villita dam response during five earthquakes including permanent deformations.” J. Geotech. Eng., 1443–1462.
Greene, W. (2003). Econometric analysis, 5th Ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
ICC (International Code Council). (2012). “International building code.” Country Club Hills, IL.
Jibson, R. W. (2007). “Regression models for estimating coseismic landslide displacement.” Eng. Geol., 91(2–4), 209–218.
Lin, J. S., and Whitman, R. V. (1983). “Decoupling approximation to the evaluation of earthquake-induced plastic slip in earth dams.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 11(5), 667–678.
Lin, J.-S., and Whitman, R. V. (1986). “Earthquake induced displacements of sliding blocks.” J. Geotech. Eng., 44–59.
Macedo, J. L. (2009). “Dynamic analysis of Yuracmayo earth dam.” Civil Engineering License thesis, National Univ. of Engineering, Lima, Peru.
Macedo, J. L. (2017). “Simplified procedures for estimating earthquake-induced displacements.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Makdisi, F., and Seed, H. B. (1978). “Simplified procedure for estimating dam and embankment earthquake-induced deformations.” J. Geotech. Eng., 104(7), 849–867.
Matsumoto, N. (2010). “The recent earthquakes and dam safety in Japan.” 8th European Club Symp., ICOLD European Club, Innsbruck, Austria, 571–576.
Newmark, N. (1965). “Effects of earthquakes on dams and embankments.” Geotechnique, 15(2), 139–160.
Nikolaou, S., et al. (2016). “Geo-engineering reconnaissance of the April 16, 2016 Muisne, Ecuador Earthquake.”, GEER Association, Berkeley, CA.
Pestana, J. M., et al. (1996). “Stress and deformation analysis of La Esperanza Dam using GeoFEAP and CONSWELL.” ICOLD 4th Int. Benchmark Workshop on Numerical Analysis of Dams, ICOLD, Paris.
Rathje, E. M., and Antonakos, G. (2011). “A unified model for predicting earthquake-induced sliding displacements of rigid and flexible slopes.” Eng. Geol., 122(1–2), 51–60.
Rathje, E. M., and Bray, J. D. (1999). “An examination of simplified earthquake induced displacement procedures for earth structures.” Can. Geotech. J., 36(1), 72–87.
Rathje, E. M., and Bray, J. D. (2000). “Nonlinear coupled seismic sliding analysis of earth structures.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1002–1014.
Rathje, E. M., and Bray, J. D. (2001). “One- and two-dimensional seismic analysis of solid-waste landfills.” Can. Geotech. J., 38(4), 850–862.
Rathje, E. M., and Saygili, G. (2008). “Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for the sliding displacement of slopes: Scalar and vector approaches.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 804–814.
Rodriguez-Marek, A., et al. (2001). “Geotechnical earthquake engineering reconnaissance of the June 23, 2001, Southern Peru earthquake: A preliminary report.”, GEER Association, Berkeley, CA.
Rodriguez-Marek, A., et al. (2007). “Preliminary reconnaissance report on the geotechnical engineering aspects of the August 15, 2007 Pisco, Peru earthquake.”, GEER Association, Berkeley, CA.
Sancio, R., Rice, A., Been, K., and Villet, W. (2015). “Seismic stability performance of a coastline slope beneath a pipeline: A case history of onshore observations for offshore application.” Proc., Offshore Technology Conf., Offshore Technology Conference, Houston.
Song, J., and Rodriguez-Marek, A. (2014). “Sliding displacement of flexible earth slopes subject to near-fault ground motions.” J. Geotech. Eng., 04014110.
Tokimatsu, K., and Seed, H. B. (1987). “Evaluation of settlements in sands due to earthquake shaking.” J. Geotech. Eng., 861–878.
Urzúa, A., and Christian, J. T. (2013). “Sliding displacements due to subduction-zone earthquakes.” Eng. Geol., 166(Nov), 237–244.
Verdugo, R., et al. (2012). “Seismic performance of earth structures: Dams, levees, tailings dams and retaining walls.” Earthquake Spectra, 28(S1), S75–S96.
Wartman, J., Bray, J. D., and Seed, R. B. (2003). “Inclined plane studies of the Newmark sliding block procedure.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 673–684.
Yamaguchi, Y., Kondo, M., and Kobori, T. (2012). “Safety inspections and seismic behavior of embankment dams during the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku earthquake.” Soils Found., 52(5), 945–955.
Yamaguchi, Y., Kondo, M., Kobori, T., and Mitsuishi, S. (2011). “Effects on dams due to the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku earthquake.”, Public Works Research Institute, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan.
Zhao, J. X., et al. (2006). “Attenuation relations of strong ground motion in Japan using site classification based on predominant period.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 96(3), 898–913.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 3 • March 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 9, 2016
Accepted: Aug 9, 2017
Published online: Dec 29, 2017
Published in print: Mar 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 29, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.