Broad-Band Near-Fault Strong Motion Time Histories Simulations – Surface Faulting and Rupture Directivity Effects

Unique to the near-source large earthquake is the occurrence of strong impulsive long-period ground motion and surface faulting. The well-recorded time history event of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake has confirmed the existence of permanent displacements, referred to as ‘fling-step’, coupled with rupture directivity motions. The objective of this study is to characterize forward directivity and fling effects as a function of limited number of model input parameters for synthesizing broad-band time histories. The results show that the overall agreement between developed analytical methodology, and the recorded waveforms as well as the available empirically based predictive relationships is quite satisfying.

Keywords:

Near-source , Strong motion , Surface faulting , Directivity.