Shake table tests of suspended ceilings to simulate the observed damage in the M_s 7.0 Lushan earthquake, China

Severe damage to suspended ceilings of metal grids and lay-in panels was observed in public buildings during the 2013 M7.0 Lushan earthquake in China. Over the past several years, suspended ceilings have been widely used practice in public buildings throughout China, including government offices, schools and hospitals. To investigate the damage mechanism of suspended ceilings, a series of three-dimensional shake table tests was conducted to reproduce the observed damage. A full-scale reinforced concrete frame was constructed as the testing frame for the ceiling, which was single-story and infilled with brick masonry walls to represent the local construction of low-rise buildings. In general, the ceiling in the tests exhibited similar damage phenomena as the field observations, such as higher vulnerability of perimeter elements and extensive damage to the cross runners. However, it exhibited lower fragility in terms of peak ground/roof accelerations at the initiation of damage. Further investigations are needed to clarify the reasons for this behavior.

Preliminary investigation of seismic damage to two steel space structures during the 2013 Lushan earthquake

Severe damage to steel space structures is rarely reported when compared to other structural systems damaged during past major earthquakes around the world. Two gymnasiums of steel space structures in downtown Lushan County that were damaged during the 2013 M7.0 Lushan earthquake in China were investigated and the observations are summarized in this paper. Typical damage to these two steel space structures ranges from moderate to severe. Moderate damage includes global buckling and dislocation of bolted connections of truss members, and inelastic elongation of anchor bolts and sliding of pedestal plates of supports. Severe damage includes member fracture caused by local buckling, and fracture failure of anchor bolts and welds. The distribution of structural damage to these two structures is described in detail and future research opportunities are suggested.

Rapid Susceptibility Mapping of Co-seismic Landslides Triggered by the 2013 Lushan Earthquake Using the Regression Model Developed for the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

The primary objective of landslide susceptibility mapping is the prediction of potential landslides in landslide-prone areas. The predictive power of a landslide susceptibility mapping model could be tested in an adjacent area of similar geo- environmental conditions to find out the reliability. Both the 2oo8 Wenchuan Earthquake and the 2o13 Lushan Earthquake occurred in the Longmen Mountain seismic zone, with similar topographical and geological conditions. The two earthquakes are both featured by thrust fault and similar seismic mechanism This paper adopted the susceptibility mapping model of co-seismic landslides triggered by Wenchuan earthquake to predict the spatial distribution of landslides induced by Lushan earthquake. Six influencing parameters were taken into consideration： distance from the seismic fault, slope gradient, lithology, distance from drainage, elevation and Peak Ground Acceleration （PGA）. The preliminary results suggested that the zones with high susceptibility of co- seismic landslides were mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of Lushan, Baoxing and Tianquan counties. The co-seismic landslide susceptibility map was completed in two days after the quake and sent to the field investigators to provide guidance for rescue and relief work. The predictive power of the susceptibility map was validated by ROC curve analysis method using 2o37 co-seismic landslides in the epicenter area. The AUC value of o.71o indicated that the susceptibility model derived from Wenchuan Earthquake landslides showed good accuracy inpredicting the landslides triggered by Lushan earthquake.

Spatial distribution analysis of landslides triggered by the 2013-04-20 Lushan earthquake,China

The 2013-04-20 Lushan earthquake（seismic magnitude Ms 7.0 according to the State Seismological Bureau）induced a large number of landslides.In this study,spatial characteristics of landslides are developed by interpreting digital aerial photography data.Seven towns near the epicenter,with an area of about 11.11 km2,were severely affected by the earthquake,and 703 landslides were identified from April 24,2013 aerial photography data over an area of 1.185 km2.About 55.56% of the landslide area was less than 1000 m2,whereas about 3.23 % was more than 10,000 m2.Rock falls and shallow landslides were the most commonly observed types in the study area,and were primarily located in the center of Lushan County.Most landslide areas were widely distributed near river channels and along roads.Five main factors were chosen to study the distribution characteristics of landslides：elevation,slope gradients,fault,geologic unit and river system.The spatial distribution of coseismal landslides is studied statistically using both landslide point density（LPD）,defined as the number of landslides（LS Number）per square kilometer,and landslide area density（LAD）,interpreted as the percentage of landslides area affected by earthquake.The results show that both LPD and LAD have strong positive correlations with five main factors.Most landslides occurred in the gradient range of 40°-50° and an elevation range of 1.0-1.5 km above sea level.Statistical results also indicate that landslides were mainly formed in soft rocks such as mudstone and sandstone,and concentrated in IX intensity areas.

A study on the uncertainties of the centroid depth of the 2013 Lushan earthquake from teleseimic body wave data

Centroid depth of earthquakes is essential for seismic hazard mitigation. But, various studies provided different solutions for the centroid depth of the damaging 2013 Lushan earthquake, thus hindering further studies of the earthquake processes. To resolve its centroid depth and assess the uncertainties, we apply the teleseismic cut and paste method to invert for centroid depth with teleseismic body waves in the epicentral distance of 300-90~. We performed the inversion for P waves only as well the case of both P and SH waves and found that both cases lead to depth solutions with difference less than 0.5 km. We also investigated the effects on depth inversion from azimuth gap of seismic stations, source duration, and comer fre- quency of filter. These various tests show that even azi- muthal distribution of seismic stations is helpful for accurate depth inversion. It is also found that estimate of centroid depth is sensitive to source duration. Moreover, the depth is biased to larger values when corner frequency of low-pass filter is very low. The uncertainty in the velocity model can also generate some error in the depth estimation （- 1.0 km）.With all the above factors consid- ered, the centroid depth of Lushan earthquake is proposed to be around 12 km, with uncertainty about 2 km.

Upper crustal anisotropy observed around the Longmenshan fault in the 2013 M_S7.0 Lushan earthquake region

Based on the shear wave splitting analysis of the seismic recordings at 17 temporary stations and three permanent stations, we measured the shear wave splitting parameters(i.e., the polarization direction of fast shear wave and the time delay of slow wave) to perform a systematic analysis of the crustal seismic anisotropy around the Longmenshan fault in the 2013 M7.0 Lushan earthquake region. We observed apparent spatio-temporal characteristics in the shear wave splitting parameters. The spatial distribution of fast polarization directions showed a clear partitioning in the characteristics from northwest to southeast in the focal region,which changed from NW-SE to NE-SW. In the northwest of the focal region, the fast polarization direction was oriented to NW-SE, which was parallel to the maximum horizontal compressive stress direction. However, the NE-SW fast polarization direction in the southeast of the focal region was parallel to the Longmenshan fault strike. For station BAX on the Central fault in the middle of the focal region, the distribution of fast polarization directions showed a bimodal pattern, with one dominant in the NE-SW direction and the other in the NW-SE direction. With regard to the temporal variation, the time delays were large in the initial stage after the mainshock but then gradually decreased over time and tended to be stable in the later period. This indicated that stress in the focal region increased to a maximum when the main shock occurred, with the stress release caused by the mainshock and aftershock activity, and the stress gradually decreased after a period of time. The scatter of fast polarization directions was large after the main shock, but over time the scatter gradually decreased, indicating that the Lushan earthquake caused a large perturbation in the local stress field. As the stress gradually decreased and was adjusted by the aftershock activity, the perturbation gradually weakened.

Strong motion characteristics of the M_w 6.6 Lushan earthquake,Sichuan,China——an insight into the spatial difference of a typical thrust fault earthquake

Near-field strong ground motions are useful for engineering seismology studies and seismic design, but dense observation networks of damaging earthquakes are still rare. In this study, based on the strong-motion data from the M w 6.6 Lushan earthquake, the ground motion parameters in different spatial regions are systematically analyzed, and the contributions from different effects, like the hanging-wall effect, directivity effect, and attenuation effect are separated to the extent possible. Different engineering parameters from the observed ground motions are compared with the local design response spectra and a new attenuation relation of Western China. General results indicate that the high frequency ground motion, like the peak ground acceleration, on two sides of the fault plane is sensitive to the hanging-wall effect, whereas the low frequency ground motion, like the long period spectral acceleration, in the rupture propagation direction is affected by the directivity effect. Moreover, although the M w 6.6 Lushan earthquake is not a large magnitude event, the spatial difference of ground motion is still obvious; thus, for a thrust faulting earthquake, in addition to the hanging effect, the directivity effect should also be considered.

Detection of a half-microgal coseismic gravity change after the Ms7. 0 Lushan earthquake

Because only a small near-field coseismie gravity change signal remains after removal of noise from the accuracy of observations and the time and spatial resolution of the earth＇s surface gravity observation system, it is difficult to verify simulations of dislocation theory. In this study, it is shown that the GS15 gravimeter, located 99.5 km from the epicenter of the Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake on April 20, 2013 at 08 ： 04 UTC ＋ 8, showed the influence of the earthquake from 2013-04-16 to 2013-04-26 after a time calibration, tide correc- tions, drift correction, period correction and relaxation correction were applied to its data. The post-seismic relaxation process of the spring in the gravimeter took approximately 430 minutes and showed a 2. 5 ×10^-8 ms^-2 gravity change. After correcting for the relaxation process, it is shown that a coseismic gravity change of approximately ＋0.59 ＋-0. 4 ~ 10-Sms-2 was observed by the GS15 gravimeter; this agrees with the simulated gravity change of approximately 0.31 ~ 10 -8 ms-2. The rate of the coseismie gravity change and the coseismic vertical displacement, as measured by one-second and one-day sampling interval GPS units, is also consistent with the theoretical rate of change. Therefore, the GS15 gravimeter at the Pixian Station observed a coseismic gravity change after the Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake. This and similar measurements could be applied to test and confirm the theory used for these simulations.

Source rupture process inversion of the 2013 Lushan earthquake,China

The spatial and temporal slip distribution of the Lushan earthquake was estimated using teleseismic body wave data. To perform a stable inversion, we applied smoothing constraints and determined their optimal relative weights on the observed data using an optimized Akaike＇ s Bayesian Information Criterion （ABIC）. The inversion generated the source parameters. Strike, dip and slip were 218°, 39° and 100. 8° ,respectively. A seismic moment （M0） was 2. 1 × 10^20 Nm with a moment magnitude （Mw） of 6. 8, and a source duration was approximately 30 second. The rupture propagated along the dip direction, and the maximum slip occurred at the hypocenter. The maximum slip was approximately 2. 1 m, although this earthquake did not cause an apparent surface rupture. The energy was mainly released within 10 second. In addition, the Lushan earthquake was apparently related to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. However, the question of whether it was an aftershock of the Wenchuan earthquake requires further study.

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Earthquake Stress Drops between the 2008 Wenchuan and 2013 Lushan Earthquakes

As a case study of spatial and temporal variations in earthquake stress drops between the 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan and 2013 Ms 7.0 Lushan earthquakes,we computed 1828 stress-drop values for earthquakes with magnitudes 1.7≤ML≤5.0 during an eight-year time span before and after major earthquakes.We divide the study area into three subregions(the southern segment of the Longmen Shan fault zone;the southwestern junction of the Longmen Shan and Sichuan Basin;and the southwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin)and calculate individual event stress drops in each.The results show that regions of alternating high and low stress drop are found on either side of the southwestern segment of the Longmen Shan fault zone.During the two-year period after the 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake,the stress state of the southern Longmen Shan fault shows no significant change.A marked increase in stress level appears about 18 months before the 2013 Ms 7.0 Lushan earthquake near the Lushan hypocenter zone.Two months after the Ms 7.0 event,the stress drops suddenly attenuate,with significantly less seismic energy release per event.We find that changes in the patterns of high and low stress drop values are consistent with the process of stress accumulation or transfer from the pre-mainshock to postmainshock periods.The results indicate that major earthquakes are the dominant cause of temporal and spatial evolution in stress levels.Stress drop variations show obvious temporal and spatial patterns that may suggests subtle changes in the character of stress fields on faults and spatial variations related to local intense compression and tectonic effects.

Abnormal strain changes observed by a borehole strainmeter at Guza Station before the Ms7. 0 Lushan earthquake

Several days before the MsT. 0 Lushan earthquake, the YRY-4 borehole Strainmeter at Guza Station recorded prominent abnormal changes. The strain anomalies are very striking on the smooth background of several years＇ recording after the Wenchuan earthquake. However, because construction in the town of Guza has been undergoing rapid development in recent years, many factors have interfered with observations at the station. Whether or not the observed strain changes before the Lushan earthquake were affected by any of the sources of interference becomes a question that must be answered. Among the likely sources of interference, apartment construction, sportsground reconstruction, and tunnel cutting can be excluded by analyzing the morphological characteristic of the anomalies. The two remaining most possible sources are road construction in front of the station and the water level change of the nearby Dadu River caused by water filling into and discharging from an upstream reservoir. Through field investigation, comparison of the correlation between the strain and the seismographic recordings, comparison of the correlation between the strain and the Dadu River flow recordings, and analysis of the strain anomaly characteristics, we conclude that the abnormal changes observed at Guza Station cannot be attributed to either of these two sources but should be related to the Lushan earthquake.

Near-field surface deformation during the April 20,2013,Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake measured by 1-Hz GNSS

The April 20, 2013, Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake was successfully recorded by closely spaced Continuous Global Positioning System （CGPS） stations owned by the Crustal Movement Observation Network of Chi- na （CMONC）. The 1-Hz GNSS data from eight CGPS stations, which are located between 30 km and 200 km from the hypocenter, were processed within quasi-real-time. The near-field surface deformation indicated the following characteristics ： the near-field movements were limited to several centimeters ; the peak of the deformation wave was significantly larger than the static permanent offset; at the beginning of the event, the north wall of the fault moved to the southeast as the south wall moved to the southwest ; station SCTQ, which was the closest station to the hypocenter at 30 km, had the largest static permanent displacement of 2 cm; the peaks of the deformation waves were 1.5 cm, 5 cm and 3 cm, to the east, the south and vertically upward, respectively ; and the peaks of velocity and acceleration, derived from the deformation, were 3.4 cm/s and 5.3 cm/s^2,respectively.

Factor analysis of earthquake-induced geological disasters of the M7.0 Lushan earthquake in China

The seismic intensities, lithologic characteristics and terrain features from a 3000 km2-region near the epicenter of the Lushan earthquake are used to analyze earthquake-induced geological disaster. The preliminary results indicate that secondary effects of the earthquake will affect specific areas, including those with glutenite and carbonate bedrock, a seismic intensity of IX, slopes between 40° and 50°, elevations of less than 2500 m, slope change rates between 20° and 30°, slope curvatures from - 1 to -0.5 and 0. 5 to 1, and relief between 50 and 100 m. Regions with susceptibility indices greater than 0.71 are prone to landslides and collapses. The secondary features are mainly distributed on both sides of the ridges that extend from Baosheng to Shuangshi and from Baosheng to Longxing. Other features are scattered on both sides of the ridges that extend from Qishuping to Baosheng and from Masangping to Lingguan. The distribution of the earthquake-related features trends in the NE direction, and the area that was most affected by the Lushan earthquake covers approximately 52.4 km^2.

Simulation of coseismic effects of the Ms7. 0 Lushan earthquake

Using plane dislocation theory and the seismic-wave inversion results from the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration and the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences models, the surface coseismic deformation and gravity changes caused by the 2013 Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake are simulated. The simulations of coseismic gravity change and deformation indicate that the dislocation has dip-slip characteristics. The results also show that the coseismic deformation exhibits a symmetrical, positive-and-negative distribution, with the deformation usually being less than 10 mm in the far- field but up to 140 mm in the near-field. The gravity changes are concentrated on the fault-projection area, which is greatly affected by the vertical surface deformation. The gravity change and vertical deformation in the far field are usually less than and 5 mm, respectively, but reach and 330 mm, respectively, in the near field. The simulated results agree well with the measured resuhs, which suggests a theoretical basis for the observed change in gravity before and after this earthquake.

Preliminary results of strong ground motion simulation for the Lushan earthquake of 20 April 2013,China

The earthquake occurred in Lushan County on 20 April, 2013 caused heavy casualty and economic loss. In order to understand how the seismic energy propagates during this earthquake and how it causes the seismic haz- ard, we simulated the strong ground motions from a rep- resentative kinematic source model by Zhang et al. （Chin J Geophys 56（4）：1408-1411, 2013） for this earthquake. To include the topographic effects, we used the curved grids finite difference method by Zhang and Chen （Geophys J Int 167（1）：337-353, 2006）, Zhang et al. （Geophys J Int 190（1）：358-378, 2012） to implement the simulations. Our results indicated that the majority of seismic energy con- centrated in the epicentral area and the vicinal Sichuan Basin, causing the XI and VII degree intensity. Due to the strong topographic effects of the mountain, the seismic intensity in the border area across the northeastern of Boxing County to the Lushan County also reached IX degree. Moreover, the strong influence of topography caused the amplifications of ground shaking at the moun- tain ridge, which is easy to cause landslides. These results are quite similar to those observed in the Wenchuan earthquake of 2008 occurred also in a strong topographic mountain area.

The characteristics of shear wave splitting in the source region of the April 20,2013 Lushan earthquake

Using seismic data of the aftershocks sequence of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake recorded by seismic temporary and permanent stations in the source region, with the visual inspection of particle motion diagrams, this paper preliminarily contains the polarization directions of fast shear wave and the time-delays of split shear waves at every station, and analyzes the crustal anisotropic characteristics in the source region. In the study area, the polarization direc- tions at stations BAX, TQU, L 132, L 133, L 134, and L 135 are northeast, which is consistent with the strike of Dachuan- Shuangshi fault. There are two polarization directions at MDS and L131, which are northeast and southeast. The scatter of polarization directions suggests the complex stress field around these two stations where two faults intersect. For the normalized time-delays at every station, the range is 1.02-8.64 ms/km. The largest time-delay is from L134 which is closest to the mainshock, and the smallest one is from L133. The variations in time-delays show the decreasing at stations BAX, L134, and L135 because of the stress-relaxation after earthquake.

Rapid report of June 1,2022 M_(W) 5.9 Lushan earthquake,China with geodetic and teleseismic data

Timely response to earthquake characterization can facilitate earthquake emergency rescue and further scientific investigations.On June 1,2022,M_(W) 5.9 earthquake occurred in the southern area of the Longmenshan fault zone.This event also happened at the south end of the Dayi seismic gap and is the largest earthquake that has occurred in this seismic gap since the 1970 M 6.2 event.The slip-distribution model constrained by the seismic waveforms suggests a thrust-dominated faulting mechanism.The main slip occurs at a depth of~14 km,and the cumulative energy is released in the first 6 s.The variations of Coulomb stress caused by the mainshock show a positive change in the southwest area of the Dayi seismic gap,indicating possible activation of future earthquakes.In addition,we emphasize the importance of rapid estimation of deformation for near-field hazard delineation,especially when interferometric radar fails to image coseismic deformation in a high relief terrain.

Field survey around strong motion stations and its implications on the seismic intensity in the Lushan earthquake on April 20,2013

The Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake on April 20, 2013 is another destructive event in China since the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 and Ms7.1 Yushu earth- quake in 2010. A large number of strong motion recordings were accumulated by the National Strong Motion Obser- vation Network System of China. The maximum peak ground acceleration （PGA） at Station 51BXD in Baoxing Country is recorded as -1,005.3 cm/s2, which is even larger than the maximum one in the Wenchuan earthquake. A field survey around three typical strong motion stations confirms that the earthquake damage is consistent with the issued map of macroseismic intensity. For the oscillation period 0.3-1.0 s which is the common natural period range of the Chinese civil building, a comparison shows that the observed response spectrums are considerably smaller than the designed values in the Chinese code and this could be one of the reasons that the macroseismic intensity is lower than what we expected despite the high amplitude of PGAs. The Housner spectral intensities from 16 stations are also basically correlated with their macroseismic intensities, and the empirical distribution of spectral intensities from Lushan and Wenchuan Earthquakes under the Chinese scale is almost identical with those under the European scale.

High-resolution seismic tomography of the upper crust in the source region of the April 20,2013 Lushan earthquake and its seismotectonic implications

Both P- and S-wave arrivals were collected for imaging upper crustal structures in the source region of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake. High-resolution, three- dimensional P and S velocity models were constructed by travel-time tomography. Moreover, more than 3700 after- shocks of the Lushan earthquake were relocated via a grid search method. The P- and S-wave velocity images of the upper crust show largely similar characters, with high and low velocity anomalies, which mark the presence of sig- nificant lateral and vertical heterogeneity at the source region of the Lushan earthquake. The characteristics of the velocity anomalies also reflect the associated surface geo- logical tectonics in this region. The distributions of high velocity anomalies of both P- and S-waves to 18 km depth are consistent with the distributions of relocated after- shocks, suggesting that most of the ruptures were localized inside the high velocity region. In contrast, low P and S velocities were found in the surrounding regions without aftershocks, especially in the region to the northeast of the Lushan earthquake. For the relocated aftershocks of the Lushan earthquake from this study, we found that mostaftershocks were concentrated in a zone of about 40 km long and 20 km wide, and were located in the hanging wall of Dayi-Mingshan fault. The focal depths of aftershocks increase from the southeast to the northwest region in the direction perpendicular to the fault strike, suggesting that the fault ruptured at an approximate dip angle of 45°. The main depths of the aftershocks in the northwest of the main shock are significantly shallower than expected, revealing the different seismogenic conditions in the source region.

Co-seismic deformation derived from GPS observations during April 20th,2013 Lushan Earthquake,Sichuan,China

We process the standard 30 s, static GPS data and the 1 s, high-rate GPS （HRGPS） data provided by the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China with GAMIT/GLOBK software package, and obtain the co- seismic displacements of near field and far field, and the epoch-by-epoch time series of HRGPS during Lushan earthquake. GPS data from about 20 sites in Sichuan province, which located between 40 and 450 km from the epicenter, are analyzed so as to study the characteristics of the static displacements and the dynamic crustal defor- mations, with periods ranging from several minutes to over a month. The result shows that： the static displacements caused by Lushan earthquake are limited to several centi- meters; the nearest station SCTQ at 43 km from the epi- center has the largest static displacement of about 2 cm, while the other stations generally have insignificant dis- placements of less than 5 mm. the stations in the east ofSichuan-Yunnan region shifts 5-10 mm toward the southwest, and the stations in the middle-west of Sichuan Basin moves indistinctively 1-2 mm toward the northwest; station SCTQ has the largest kinematic displacement of about 4 and 3 cm peak-to-peak on the north and east component, respectively, and is much greater than the static permanent displacement; for the stations located at a distance greater than 150 km from the epicenter, the kinematic motions are generally insignificant; exception- ally, station SCNC and station SCSN in central Sichuan Basin have significant kinematic motions although they are more than 200 km away from the epicenter.