The earthquake attenuation behaviour is a critical part of seismic hazard modelling for regions of low and moderate seismicity. This paper presents a new approach for attenuation modelling, which does not involve the use of strong motion data, and is based on taking measurements of the shear wave velocity (SWV) in bedrock by a noninvasive technique to characterize the transmission of seismic waves. The developed filters are then applied to the generic source model for intraplate earthquakes for calculating the frequency content of seismic waves at the bedrock surface and was used as input to soil response analyses for the determination of site seismic hazard. Ground motion parameters and response spectra are then obtained from the stochastically simulated accelerograms to develop representative attenuation models for rock conditions. The described approach of obtaining a seismic attenuation relationship based on modelling the rock and soil crustal properties is not constrained to any particular environment. Thus, the approach is described as generic. The northern suburbs of the city of Melbourne, Australia, have been used as the study area to illustrate the modelling procedure. The peak ground velocity values (PGV's) predicted from attenuation relationship developed from this study are well correlated with the PGV's inferred from MMI Intensity data of historical earthquakes felt in Melbourne over the past hundred years.
AkiK. (1957). “Space and time spectra of stationary stochastic waves, with special reference to microtremors”, Bulletin of the Earthquake Research Institute, Vol. 35, pp. 415–456.
2.
AllenT.DhuT.CumminsP.SchneiderJ. and GibsonG. (2004). “Some empirical relations for attenuation of ground-motion spectral amplitudes in southwestern western Australia”, Proceedings of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Mt. Gambier, south Australia. Paper no. 11.
3.
AndersonJ.G. and HoughS.E. (1984). “A model for the shape of the Fourier amplitude spectrum of acceleration at high frequencies”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 74, No. 5, pp. 1969–1993.
AstenM. W.LamN.T.K.GibsonG. and WilsonJ.L. (2002). “Microtremor survey design optimized for application to site amplification and resonance modeling”, Proceedings of Conference the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, Adelaide, No. 7.
6.
AstenM.W.DhuT.JonesA. and JonesT. (2003). “Comparison of shear-velocities measured from microtremor array studies and SCPT data acquired for earthquake site hazard classification in the northern suburbs of Perth W.A.”, Proceedings of Conference the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, Melbourne, No.12.
7.
AstenM.W.DhuT. and LamN.T.K. (2004). “Optimised array design for microtremor array studies applied to site classification; observations, results and future use”, Proceedings of the 13th World Conference of Earthquake Engineering, Vancouver, August, Paper 2903.
8.
AstenM.W.StephensonW.R., and DavenportP. (2005). “Shearwave velocity profile for Holocene sediments measured from microtremor array studies, SCPT, and seismic refraction”, Journal of Engineering and Environmental Geophysics, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 235–242, September.
9.
AstenM.W. and BooreD.M. (2005). “Comparison of shear-velocity profiles of unconsolidated sediments near the Coyote borehole (CCOC) measured with fourteen invasive and noninvasive methods”, in AstenM.W., and BooreD.M., eds., Blind Comparisons of Shear-Wave Velocities at Closely Spaced Sites in San Jose, California, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005–1169.
10.
AtkinsonG.M. and MereuR.F. (1992). “The shape of ground motion attenuation curves in southeastern Canada”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 82, No. 5, pp. 2014–2031.
11.
AtkinsonG.M. (1993). “Earthquake source spectra in Eastern North America”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 83, pp. 1778–1798.
12.
AtkinsonG.M. and BooreD.B. (1995). “Ground motion relations for eastern North America”, Bulletins of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 85, pp. 17–30.
13.
AtkinsonG.M. and SilvaW. (1997). “An empirical study of earthquake source spectra for Californian earthquakes”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 87, pp. 97–113.
14.
AtkinsonG.M. and SilvaW. (2000). “Stochastic simulation of Californian Ground motions”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 90, pp. 255–274.
15.
AtkinsonG.M. and SonleyE. (2000). “Empirical relationships between modified Mercalli intensity and response spectra”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 90, No. 2, pp. 537–544.
16.
BalendraT.LamN.T.K.WilsonJ.L. and KongK.H. (2002). “Analysis of long-distance earthquake tremors and base shear demand for buildings in Singapore”, Engineering Structures, Vol. 24, pp. 99–108.
17.
BooreD.M. (1983). “Stochastic simulation of high-frequency ground motions based on seismological model of the radiated spectra”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 73, No. 6, pp. 1865–1894.
18.
BooreD.M. and JoynerW.B. (1997). “Site amplifications for generic rock sites”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 87, No. 2, pp. 327–341.
19.
ChandlerA.M. and LamN.T.K. (2002). “Scenario predictions for potential near-field and far-field earthquakes affecting Hong Kong”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 22, pp. 29–46.
20.
ChandlerA.M. and LamN.T.K. (2004). “An attenuation model for distant earthquakes”, Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 183–210.
21.
ChandlerA.M.LamN.T.K. and TsangH.H. (2005a). “Shear wave velocity modelling in crustal rock for seismic hazard analysis”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 167–185.
22.
ChandlerA.M.LamN.T.K. and TsangH.H. (2005b). “Near-surface attenuation modelling based on rock shear wave velocity profile”, Journal of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. In-press.
23.
GaullB.A.Michael-LeibaM.O. and RynnJ.M.W. (1990). “Probabilistic earthquake risk maps of Australia”. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 37, pp.169–187.
24.
Global Crustal Model CRUST2.0. (2001). Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, San Diego.
25.
IdrissI.M. and SunJ.I. (1992). Users Manual for SHAKE-91, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Maryland, USA, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, USA.
26.
LamN.T.K. (1993). Assessment of Torsion in Regular Multistory Buildings Subjected to Earthquake Ground Motions, PhD Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
27.
LamN.T.K.WilsonJ.L. and HutchinsonG.L. (2000). “Generation of synthetic earthquake accelerograms using seismological modeling: A review”, Journal of Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 321–354.
28.
LamN.T.K. (2002). Program GENQKE Users' Manual, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Melbourne.
29.
LamN.T.K.WilsonJ.L.ChandlerA.M. and HutchinsonG.L. (2002). “Response spectrum predictions for potential near-field and far-field earthquakes affecting Hong Kong: Rock sites”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Vol. 22, pp. 47–72.
30.
LamN.T.K. and WilsonJ.L. (2003). “The component attenuation model for low and moderate seismic regions”, 2003 Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand, Paper No. 99.
31.
LamN.T.K.SinadinovskiC.KooR.C.H. and WilsonJ.L. (2003). “Peak ground velocity modelling for australian earthquakes”, International Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 11–22.
32.
McCueK.DentV. and JonesT. (1995). “The characteristics of Australian strong motion”, Proceedings of the 5th Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Vol.1, pp. 71–80.
33.
NewmarkN.M. and RosenbluethE. (1971). Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
34.
OkadaH. (2003). The Microseismic Survey Method, Society of Exploration Geophysicists of Japan, Tulsa.
35.
RobertsJ. and AstenM. (2004). “Resolving a velocity inversion at the geotechnical scale using the microtremor (passive seismic) survey method”, Exploration Geophysics, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 14–18.
36.
RobertsJ.AstenM.TsangH.H.VenkatesanS.LamN.T.K. and ChandlerA.M. (2004). “Shear wave velocity profiling in Melbourne Silurvian mudstone using the SPAC Method”, Proceedings of the Annual Technical Conference of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, November, Paper No. 15.
37.
RobertsJ. and AstenM.W. (2005). “Estimating the shear velocity profile of Quaternary silts using microtremor array (SPAC) measurements”, Exploration Geophysics, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 34–40.
38.
WilkieJ. and GibsonG. (1995). “Estimation of seismic quality factor Q for Victoria, Australia”, Australian Geological Survey Organisation Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 511–517.
39.
WilsonJ.L. and LamN.T.K. (2003). “A recommended earthquake response spectrum model for Australia”, Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, Institution of Engineers Australia, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 17–27.
