Evaluation of Damage Potential of Ground Motions During Great Earthquakes

Abstract In order to select appropriate input ground motions for earthquake-resistant design or estimation of seismic safety of structures, their characteristics should be identified. In this paper, damage potential is defined as a spectrum of strength demand required to maintain a damage index less than or equal to a tolerable damage index value. The damage index proposed by Park and Ang (1985) and a bilinear model are used to calculate the strength demand spectrum. The damage index describes the state of the concrete structure from slight damage to severe damage or collapse. Studies of the damage potential of ground motions during the recent great earthquakes, including the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake in Japan and the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan, show that damage potential may be greatly affected by the location of the fault, the geological structure of the site, and the fault rupture mechanism. Furthermore, an estimation of damage potential of ground motions over a large area, Kawasaki City in...