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Empirical ground-motion models for point- and extended-source crustal earthquake scenarios in Europe and the Middle East

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An Erratum to this article was published on 06 September 2013

Abstract

This article presents the latest generation of ground-motion models for the prediction of elastic response (pseudo-) spectral accelerations, as well as peak ground acceleration and velocity, derived using pan-European databases. The models present a number of novelties with respect to previous generations of models (Ambraseys et al. in Earthq Eng Struct Dyn 25:371–400, 1996, Bull Earthq Eng 3:1–53, 2005; Bommer et al. in Bull Earthq Eng 1:171–203, 2003; Akkar and Bommer in Seismol Res Lett 81:195–206, 2010), namely: inclusion of a nonlinear site amplification function that is a function of \(\text{ V }_\mathrm{S30}\) and reference peak ground acceleration on rock; extension of the magnitude range of applicability of the model down to \(\text{ M }_\mathrm{w}\) 4; extension of the distance range of applicability out to 200 km; extension to shorter and longer periods (down to 0.01 s and up to 4 s); and consistent models for both point-source (epicentral, \(\text{ R }_\mathrm{epi}\), and hypocentral distance, \(\text{ R }_\mathrm{hyp}\)) and finite-fault (distance to the surface projection of the rupture, \(\text{ R }_\mathrm{JB}\)) distance metrics. In addition, data from more than 1.5 times as many earthquakes, compared to previous pan-European models, have been used, leading to regressions based on approximately twice as many records in total. The metadata of these records have been carefully compiled and reappraised in recent European projects. These improvements lead to more robust ground-motion prediction equations than have previously been published for shallow (focal depths less than 30 km) crustal earthquakes in Europe and the Middle East. We conclude with suggestions for the application of the equations to seismic hazard assessments in Europe and the Middle East within a logic-tree framework to capture epistemic uncertainty.

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Notes

  1. 63 records used by Ambraseys et al. (2005) were not available in unprocessed form so they were not used by Akkar and Bommer (2010).

  2. Akkar and Bommer (2007a) provide coefficients up to 4 s but later Akkar and Bommer (2010) highlighted the unreliability of this model beyond 3 s because of a sharp reduction in the number of records used.

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Acknowledgments

The work presented in this article has been mainly developed within the SHARE (Seismic Hazard Harmonization in Europe) Project funded under contract 226967 of the EC-Research Framework Programme FP7, and within the SeIsmic Ground Motion Assessment (SIGMA) project. We benefitted significantly from the suggestions and comments of Dr. John Douglas, Professor Frank Scherbaum and Professor Fabrice Cotton during early discussions regarding these new models, particularly within the context of the SHARE Project. We are very grateful to David M. Boore and an anonymous reviewer for constructive feedback on the original version of this paper that assisted us in improving the final presentation of the new models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Middle East Technical University, K6 Building, 06800 , Ankara, Turkey

    S. Akkar & M. A. Sandıkkaya

  2. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    J. J. Bommer

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  1. S. Akkar
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  2. M. A. Sandıkkaya
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Correspondence to S. Akkar.

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Akkar, S., Sandıkkaya, M.A. & Bommer, J.J. Empirical ground-motion models for point- and extended-source crustal earthquake scenarios in Europe and the Middle East. Bull Earthquake Eng 12, 359–387 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9461-4

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