Effects of the Georgia Sedimentary Basin on the Response of Modern Tall RC Shear-Wall Buildings to M9 Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 8
Abstract
Tall residential RC shear wall buildings (RCSW), which are predominant in Metro Vancouver, have the potential to experience large magnitude earthquakes generated by the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). Furthermore, the region lies above the Georgia sedimentary basin, which can amplify the intensity of ground motions at medium to long periods and the resulting damage in tall structures. This study provides insights into the effects of the Georgia sedimentary basin amplification on (1) spectral accelerations associated with magnitude 9 (M9) CSZ earthquakes, (2) resulting force- and deformation-controlled actions in modern tall RCSW buildings, and (3) ensuing earthquake-induced repair costs and times. To this end, we leveraged a suite of physics-based ground motion simulations of a range of M9 CSZ earthquake scenarios, which explicitly consider basin effects, and benchmarked these scenarios against a range of seismic hazard intensities, which neglects basin effects. While the M9 simulations have an estimated 500-year return period, at deep basin sites their spectra exceed the 2,475-year hazard in the 1–3 s period range. Nonlinear dynamic analysis results under probabilistic seismic hazard estimates result in negligible collapse risk. In contrast, collapse risk conditioned on the occurrence of the M9 motions results in probabilities as high as 15%. Additionally, seismic demands from the M9 simulations at deep basin sites result in earthquake-induced repair costs and times that exceed those associated with the 2,475-year hazard level.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository or online in accordance with funder data retention policies. The data compiled as a companion to this paper can be found by locating the paper in the publications list found on the following web page (https://www.carlosmolinahutt.com/publications) and accessing the supplied “Electronic Supplement” link. The electronic supplement includes the following:
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S1. Archetype RC Shear Wall Building Design Summary
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S2. Structural Analysis Models
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S3. Engineering Demand Parameters
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S4. Ground Motion Suites
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S5. Building Performance Model Assumptions
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council under Discovery Grant No. RGPIN-2019-04599 and Engage Grant No. 543549–19, as well as Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund–Exploration under Grant No. NFRFE-2018-01060. The authors are very grateful to the M9 team at the University of Washington for sharing the results of their M9 simulations in southwest British Columbia, particularly Nasser A. Marafi, Marc O. Eberhard, Jeffrey W. Berman, Arthur D. Frankel, and Erin A. Wirth. The authors also highly appreciate Armin Bebamzadeh’s input on the structural modeling work and Sai Mithra Dyaga’s help compiling the simulated M9 ground motions.
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Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 8 • August 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 6, 2021
Accepted: Mar 3, 2021
Published online: May 18, 2021
Published in print: Aug 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Oct 18, 2021
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Cited by
- Pouria Kourehpaz, Carlos Molina Hutt, Machine Learning for Enhanced Regional Seismic Risk Assessments, Journal of Structural Engineering, 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003421, 148, 9, (2022).
- Diane Moug, Arash Khosravifar, Peter Dusicka, Ground Deformation Evaluation Using Numerical Analyses and Physics-Based Mega-thrust Subduction Zone Motions, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Performance Based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (Beijing 2022), 10.1007/978-3-031-11898-2_73, (961-970), (2022).