Recommended Path Durations for Stochastic Simulations of Ground Motions Generated by Vrancea Intermediate-Depth Seismic Source

Because of the scarcity of recorded seismic ground motions from Vrancea intermediate-depth source that can be used in designing a structure, engineers are bound to use scaled, artificial, or simulated accelerograms. Out of these options, the first two might incompletely account for the phenomena that may appear. Although complicated, simulated accelerograms provide one of the best options for defining the seismic demand in engineering design, but further research is needed to adapt the simulation methods to the source, path, and site-specific characteristics. As some parameters used in simulations were not addressed yet specifically for the Vrancea-intermediate seismic source, the specific path duration is investigated in this paper. Using a database with the recorded ground motions from March 4, 1977, August 30, 1986, May 30 and May 31, 1990, October 27, 2004 Vrancea earthquakes (the only five recorded earthquakes with moment magnitudes at least equal to 6), the path and magnitude dependent duration specific to Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic source to be used in the stochastic simulation is developed.