Strong ground motion characteristics observed in the February 6,2023 M_(W)7.7 Türkiye earthquake

Türkiye is located in a seismically active region,where the Anatolian,African,and Arabian tectonic plates converge.High seismic hazards cause the region to be struck repeatedly by major earthquakes.On February 06,2023,a devastating M_(W)7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye at 01:17 am local time(01:17 UTC).In this regard,near and far-field ground motion data within the distance of 120 km are compiled and later characterized to identify the key ground motion intensity measures.Additionally,the vertical components of ground motions were examined to capture the complete three-dimensional nature of the seismic event.Moreover,the effect of Pulse-Like(PL)and Non-Pulse-Like(NPL)ground motion on a representative RC frame structure built as per the Türkiye code was investigated.The results indicate that PL behavior was observed in both horizontal and vertical components of ground motions and PL behavior were noted both near the epicenter and at higher distances from the epicenter.Moreover,the ratio of the peak vertical acceleration to peak horizontal acceleration at certain stations was found to be close to 1.Finally,the non-linear time history analysis of the representative reinforced concrete frame structure for ground motions recorded at stations located equidistant from the epicenter,indicated that PL ground motions led to more significant damage compared to NPL ground motions.

Evaluation of ground motion parameters and seismic response of reinforced concrete buildings from the Mw 6.9,2011 Sikkim earthquake

The continuous collision of the Eurasian plate and the Indian plate has resulted in several earthquakes in the Himalayan region.The 6.9 Mw 2011 Sikkim earthquake,which caused immense damage to the built environment in Sikkim,was triggered by an intraplate source on the overriding Eurasian plate.Strong ground motions from the earthquake were recorded at stations established by IIT Roorkee as part of the PESMOS program.In this paper,near-field and far-field ground motions from this earthquake were analyzed to evaluate their key characteristics and examine their time-frequency features by employing Fast Fourier Transforms(FFTs)and Continuous Wavelet Transforms(CWTs).A comparison between the ground motion parameters of near-field and far-field seismic waves highlights the distinct characteristics of near-field ground motions.Additionally,the impact of near-field and far-field ground motions on the seismic response of a code-compliant RC building is investigated.The results from the non-linear time history analyses indicate that the roof displacements,drift ratio and strain induced in the frame elements are less than the code-prescribed maximum limits.Further,the demand and capacity levels for the RC frame elements were evaluated to compute the performance ratios.The results indicate that the extensive damage to reinforced concrete buildings in the 2011 Sikkim quake was primarily due to the nonengineered nature of the structures and also due to the non-compliance of the built structures to the seismic design code provisions.