Preliminary analysis of the hanging wall effect and velocity pulse of the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake

A preliminary study of the PGA attenuation, hanging wall effect and velocity pulse characteristics from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake ofMS -8.0 is described in this paper. The study was carried out through analyses in the time and frequency domains of main earthquake records. In the PGA attenuation study, records from 316 stations less than 1000 km from the surface rupture of the fault were used as a database and attenuation relationships were developed and compared with some existing relationships that are widely used in China's Mainland, Chinese Taiwan and the US. At the same time, records from 28 stations less than 100 km from the fault were used to study the hanging wall effect and velocity pulse characteristics of this earthquake based on the distribution of PGA, PGV, spectral acceleration, and the velocity pulse peak, and the results are compared with the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. In addition, the large PGAs of the UD components observed in this event are also discussed in this paper. From the results of the preliminary study, some conclusions are developed and suggestions for further research are proposed.

Effects of hanging wall and footwall on demand of structural input energy during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Systematic differences in the duration and frequency content of ground motions from the hanging wall and footwall during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake are investigated,focusing on the influence of these differences on structural input energy based on the elastic and inelastic energy responses of structures.A comparison of the input energy spectra between the hanging wall and the footwall reveal that the structural input energy on the hanging wall is not amplified due to the short duration and low peak ground velocity to acceleration ratio（V/A）.However,the larger demand of structural input energy on the footwall in the range of medium and long periods is observed and the demand increases up to 50% relative to the average level of structural input energy for rupture distances larger than 30 km.The importance of considering the footwall effect on structural input energy when comparing ground motions in the range of medium and long periods is recognized.

Rupture directivity and hanging wall effect in near field strong ground motion simulation

A random synthesis procedure based on finite fault model is adopted for near field strong ground motion simulation in this paper. The fault plane of the source is divided into a number of sub-sources, the whole moment magnitude is also divided into more sub-events. The Fourier spectrum of ground motion caused by a sub-event in given sub-source, then can be derived by means of taking the point source spectrum, attenuation with distance, energy dissipation, and near surface effect, into account. A time history is synthesized from this amplitude spectrum and a random phase spectrum, and being combined with an envelope function. The ground motion is worked out by superposition of all time histories from each sub-event in each sub-source, with time lags determining by the differences between the triggering times of sub-events and distances of the sub-sources. From the example of simulations at 21 near field points in a scenario earthquake with 4 dip angles of the fault plane, it is illustrated that the procedure can describe the rupture directivity and hanging wall effect very well. To validate the procedure, the response spectra and time histories recorded at three near fault stations MCN, LV3 and PCD during the Northridge earthquake in 1994, are compared with the simulated ones.

A new attenuation model of near-fault ground motions with consideration of the hanging wall effect in the Wenchuan earthquake

The hanging wall effect is an important factor that impacts the characteristics of strong ground motions in near-fault areas. Based on a residual analysis of ground motion parameters characterizing the hanging wall effect and in recognition of the nature of the effect, many models have been developed. In this study, after a comprehensive analysis of two existing models, a new model is proposed and used to model the hanging wall effect in horizontal peak ground acceleration （PGAH） and spectral acceleration （SAH） at a period of 0.1s in the Wenchuan earthquake. Finally, comparisons between the modeling results of the hanging wall effect in the Wenchuan earthquake and the results predicted by using Abrahamson and Silva＇s NGA model （AS NGA） indicate that the AS NGA model predicts a much higher hanging wall effect than the model developed in this paper. Furthermore, the AS NGA model predicts a large hanging wall effect even at great distances, while the proposed model more accurately captures the trend of the effect.

Effects of hanging wall and forward directivity in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake on inelastic displacement response of structures

The characteristics of the inelastic response of structures affected by hanging wall and forward directivity in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake are investigated. Inelastic displacement ratios （IDRs） for ground motions impacted by these nearfield effects are evaluated and comprehensively compared to far-field ground motions. In addition, the inelastic displacement responses to hanging wall and footwall ground motions are compared. It is concluded that the inelastic displacement response is significantly affected in the short period range by hanging wall and in the long period range by footwall. Although high peak ground acceleration was observed at hanging wall stations, the IDRs for structures on hanging wall sites are only larger than footwall sites in the very long period range. Forward directivity effects result in larger IDRs for periods longer than about 0.5s. Adopting statistical relationships for IDRs established using far-field ground motions may lead to either overestimation or underestimation in the seismic evaluation of existing structures located in near-field regions, depending on their fundamental vibration periods.

Geometric effects resulting from the asymmetry of dipping fault:Hanging wall/ footwall effects

Root-mean-square distance Drms with characteristic of weighted-average is introduced in this article firstly. Drms can be used to capture the general proximity of a site to a dipping fault plane comparing with the rupture distance Drup and the seismogenic distance Dseis. Then, using Drup, Dseis and Drms, the hanging wall/footwall effects on the peak ground acceleration (PGA) during the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake are evaluated by regression analysis. The logarithm residual shows that the PGA on hanging wall is much greater than that on footwall at the same Drup or Dseis when the Drup or Dseis is used as site-to-source distance measure. In contrast, there is no significant difference between the PGA on hanging wall and that on footwall at the same Drms when Drms is used. This result confirms that the hanging wall/footwall effect is mainly a geometric effect caused by the asymmetry of dipping fault. Therefore, the hanging wall/footwall effect on the near-fault ground motions can be ignored in the future attenuation analysis if the root-mean-square distance Drms is used as the site-to-source distance measure.

Xinji Wall Hanging,a Flower of Chinese Folk Art

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Preliminary Study on the Correlation between Intensity Isoseismals and the Seismic Source Process of the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan,China

The M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan caused heavy casualties and serious economic loss because of damage to engineering structures in high earthquake intensity regions. Earthquake intensity, especially in the near source region, as a macroscopic description of distribution of strong ground motions certain correlations with the earthquake source process, such as rupture directivity and the hanging-wall effect of the near-fault ground motions of this earthquake. In this article some qualitative analyses are carried out. The conclusion of this study may be useful for emergence response and rescue after earthquakes, when the strong ground motion recordings and the intensity distribution are not available immediately.

Simulation of Near-Fault Strong Ground Motion in the Beijing Region

On the basis of previous study of the 1679 Sanhe-Pinggu(M8.0) earthquake,the biggest event in history ever recorded in Beijing and its adjacent area,we made a 3-D strong ground motion simulation utilizing the staggered-grid finite differences method to study the distributions of peak ground velocity with different earthquake source models in the Beijing region.In the paper,earthquake source models and a transmission medium velocity model are established and the corresponding parameters are given in accordance to the results from a related previous study.Then,using a three-dimensional finite difference computing program of near-fault strong ground motion developed by Graves,the peak ground velocity caused by a destructive earthquake in the Beijing area is simulated.In our computation model,the earthquake source is 3km in depth,and a total number of 21,679 observation points on the ground surface are figured out.The transmission medium velocity model is composed of four stratums which are the Quaternary deposit,the upper crust,the upper part of the middle crust and the lower part of the middle crust.With the minimum grid spacing of 0.15km,a total of 2.28×106 grids are generated.Using a time step of 0.02 seconds we calculated the peak ground velocity for a duration of 8 seconds.After the analysis of the simulation results,we observed some basic characteristics of near-fault strong ground motion such as the concentration effect of near-fault peak ground velocity,rupture directivity effect,hanging wall effect,and basin effect.The results from our simulation and analysis suggest that the source and transmitting medium parameters in our model are suitable and the finite difference method is applicable to estimate the distribution of strong ground motion in the study region.

Beijing Opera Facial Masks As Wall Hangings

In Beijing opera. and many other traditional operas, the jing roles. or warriors, usually have their faces painted in colorful designs to represent various elements of their character. Each color has its own meaning. Red stands for loyalty and bravery: black for courage and honesty. and white is the color of deceitfulness.