Extending the Boore and Abrahamson (2023) modified square-root-impedance method for the development of site amplifications consistent with the full-resonance approach to a range of VS30 values

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
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Abstract

The square-root-impedance (SRI) method is commonly used to approximate the seismic site amplifications computed using the full-resonance (FR) method for gradient shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles that are smoothly varying with depth. The SRI site amplifications have been observed to systematically underpredict the FR site amplifications by a ratio of FR/SRI amplifications around 1.05 to 1.3 across a wide  frequency range (Boore, 2013). Recently, Boore and Abrahamson (2023; hereafter, BA23) related this difference in the SRI and FR methods to differences in the exponent η of the ratio of seismic impedances between the two methods. They proposed the implementation of a modified frequency-dependent η in the SRI method to improve its match to the FR site amplifications. This modified η was derived using only five VS profiles. We investigate the performance of the BA23 η for a wide range of realistic gradient VS profiles with VS30 ranging from 180 to 1500 m/s. These gradient VS profiles are constructed using two power-law functions of depth and are constrained by the assigned VS30 value, the depth and velocity of the half-space, and depths to shear-wave velocity horizons of 1.0 and 2.5 km/s (Z1.0 and Z2.5) based on western United States sites. Despite observing a VS30 dependence of η, we find that the BA23 η generally works reasonably well for the range of VS profiles analyzed. Using the VS30-dependent η derived in this study results in improvements in matching the FR site amplification compared to using the BA23 η. These improvements are more pronounced for the soft-site conditions and become modest to negligible for the stiff site conditions

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Extending the Boore and Abrahamson (2023) modified square-root-impedance method for the development of site amplifications consistent with the full-resonance approach to a range of VS30 values
Series title Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
DOI 10.1785/0120240112
Volume 114
Issue 6
Publication Date September 27, 2024
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher Seismological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Earthquake Science Center
Description 10 p.
First page 3093
Last page 3102
Additional publication details