Collapse risk of buildings in the Pacific Northwest region due to subduction earthquakes

Earthquake Spectra
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Abstract

Subduction earthquakes similar to the 2011 Japan and 2010 Chile events will occur in the future in the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest. In this paper, nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out on 24 buildings designed according to outdated and modern building codes for the cities of Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The results indicate that the median collapse capacity of the ductile (post-1970) buildings is approximately 40% less when subjected to ground motions from subduction, as compared to crustal earthquakes. Buildings are more susceptible to earthquake-induced collapse when shaken by subduction records (as compared to crustal records of the same intensity) because the subduction motions tend to be longer in duration due to their larger magnitude and the greater source-to-site distance. As a result, subduction earthquakes are shown to contribute to the majority of the collapse risk of the buildings analyzed.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Collapse risk of buildings in the Pacific Northwest region due to subduction earthquakes
Series title Earthquake Spectra
DOI 10.1193/012114EQS011M
Volume 31
Issue 4
Year Published 2015
Language English
Publisher Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Contributing office(s) Geologic Hazards Science Center
Description 29 p.
First page 2087
Last page 2115
Country United States
Other Geospatial Pacific Northwest
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