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A Study of Local Soil Effect on the Earthquake Ground Motion in Bhaktapur City, Nepal Using Equivalent Linear and Non-linear Analysis

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Abstract

The local site has a significant impact on the scale of destruction during an earthquake. Past large historical earthquakes in Nepal have always resulted in substantial damages in Bhaktapur city mainly due to the local soil amplification effect. Bhaktapur is one of the historically enriched cities of the Kathmandu Valley, giving the name of the living Museum. To assess the conservation and preservation of historic structures, seismic demand of the particular sites is required. In this study, the one-dimensional site response analysis of Bhaktapur city is carried out using the equivalent linear and non-linear analysis methods. Eleven deep boreholes that lie in the historically important locations of Bhaktapur city were selected. The dynamic properties of the soil layers were assigned in reference to the past research works. A suite of input earthquake ground motions matching the target response spectrum was considered in this study. The predominant period obtained from the numerical analysis was compared with the predominant period obtained from the microtremor test for the reliability check of numerical analysis. The amplification factor obtained from equivalent linear analysis varies from 0.9 to 1.5 whereas, for non-linear analysis, it ranged from 0.80 to 1.30. The predominant period obtained from equivalent linear ranged from 0.3 to 0.6 s and, for non-linear analysis, it ranged from 0.15 to 0.4 s. The shaking maps show that the far-west and east-south parts are seismically more vulnerable. The results were further compared with the damage scenario observed during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express sincere thanks to Professor Dr. Netra Prakash Bhandary, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Japan, for providing us with the microtremor instrument.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur, Nepal

    Chandra Kiran Kawan, Prem Nath Maskey & Gokarna Bahadur Motra

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  1. Chandra Kiran Kawan
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  2. Prem Nath Maskey
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  3. Gokarna Bahadur Motra
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Correspondence to Chandra Kiran Kawan.

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Kawan, C.K., Maskey, P.N. & Motra, G.B. A Study of Local Soil Effect on the Earthquake Ground Motion in Bhaktapur City, Nepal Using Equivalent Linear and Non-linear Analysis. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 46, 4481–4498 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-022-00858-1

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