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In situ assessment of soil dynamic parameters for characterizing nonlinear seismic site response using KiK-net vertical array data

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Abstract

In this study, we utilize acceleration time histories data at eight KiK-net vertical arrays in Japan, recorded between January 2009 to June 2014, to analyze nonlinear seismic site response. Ground motion records provided by seismic vertical arrays allow estimation of in situ soil dynamic parameters. First, the shear modulus is computed from the shear wave velocity using seismic interferometry by deconvolution. Considering each record as an in situ cyclic test under seismic loading, the shear strain is computed as the velocity ratio between two sensors and the shear stress is assumed as a spatial function of accelerations. Using classic hyperbolic regression models, we quantitatively assess the relationships between the in situ soil dynamic parameters and the level of ground motion. We found nonlinearity starts at a quite low level of shear strain of 5 × 10−6–5 × 10−5, and becomes much more significant beyond a relatively high level of strain of 1 × 10−4. The threshold strains from ground motion observations are well consistent with those from previous laboratory tests. Finally, a parametric analysis is presented to discuss the influence of plasticity index on nonlinear soil behavior evaluations. It is concluded that the threshold acceleration of soil nonlinear behavior (generally ranging from 20 to 100 cm/s2) is mainly controlled by the stiffness and plasticity index, and the degree of soil nonlinear behavior is mainly controlled by the stiffness, plasticity index and the level of ground motion.

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Data and resources

The shear-wave velocity profiles and seismic data used in this study were provided by National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) in Japan, and they are available online (http://www.kyoshin.bosai.go.jp/kyoshin/db/index_en.html?all, last accessed April 2018). A detail introduction to KiK-net can be found in Okada et al. (2004).

Change history

  • 02 January 2019

    We are very sorry to report a mistake in our recent paper (doi.org/10.1007/s10518-018-00539-3), which left one of the authors (Kenneth W. Campbell) in a reference.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41372335, 51778260, 51378234). It is gratefully acknowledged that the velocity profiles and earthquake records were provided by NIED in Japan.

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  1. Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration, Xuefu Road 29, Harbin, 150080, People’s Republic of China

    Hai-Yun Wang, Wei-Ping Jiang & Su-Yang Wang

  2. School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Luoyu Road 1037, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Su-Yang Wang & Yu Miao

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Wang, HY., Jiang, WP., Wang, SY. et al. In situ assessment of soil dynamic parameters for characterizing nonlinear seismic site response using KiK-net vertical array data. Bull Earthquake Eng 17, 2331–2360 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-018-00539-3

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