Earthquakes and Ground Motions - Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design - page 264

One pulse Two pulses

Figure 7.42 Menun's proposal (after Menun and Fu, 2002 a,b)

Another analytical model of ground motion pulses is the one presented by
Agrawal and He (2002), He and Agrawal (2008). It is very important to notice that
this proposal can generate various forms of pulses, by appropriately selecting pulse
parameters.

7.5.4 Numerical Simulations: 3-D Computational Methods in Engineering
Seismology

During the last decades, two earthquakes have been a reminder about what can be
still learned about the fault rupture effect and the resulting ground motions. The
1994 Northridge earthquake produced the destruction which is possible when the
fault rupture arises below a populated area. Fortunately, most of the seismic energy
propagated away from the center of population. The recorded ground motions in
the most affected area are very scarce, showing the difficulty of achieving effective
network stations. In additions, the singular very high values recorded at the
Tarzana station seem to be produced by local site conditions. One year later, during
the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the rupture propagated toward the city, showing that
even a moderate earthquake can cause substantial damage. Records from these two
events significantly increased the knowledge about the ground motions close to