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Stochastic finite-fault ground motion simulation for the Mw 6.7 earthquake in Lushan, China

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Abstract

The Ya’an, Sichuan Mw 6.7 earthquake occurred on April 20, 2013. In this article, the stochastic finite-fault method (EXSIM) based on dynamic corner frequency, proposed by Motazedian and Atkinson (Bull Seismol Soc Am 95(3):995–1010, 2005), is validated to be an intelligible and productive approach for the generation of high-frequency strong ground motion. The validated model parameters were considered for the simulation at 31 selected stations, which are less than 200 km away from the fault. The input parameters included site condition, source term, and path term. The calibration of the input parameters, such as the stress drop, was achieved by using misfit functions between the observed PSA (pseudo-acceleration response spectra) and simulated PSA in the time domain. Some of the other parameters, such as distance-dependent duration, high-frequency attenuation parameter kappa, and local amplification functions, were calibrated by considering the observed recordings. In this study, we attempted to employ two different slip models for strong ground motion simulation, so that the influence on the simulation results can be revealed. Our results depicted that although the method cannot combine well, the directivity effects and the soil conditions are not adequately represented at individual stations, the synthetics satisfactorily match with the seismic characteristics regarding peak ground acceleration (PGA), response spectra, Fourier spectrum, and time history, for both the time and frequency range considered. The results also demonstrated that there is a slight difference between the simulation results of the two slip models. Finally, we compared the effects of different distance-dependent duration models for the simulated PGA. It illustrates that it is difficult to find a balance between the ground motion duration and PGA at stations with fault distance less than 20 km, which makes the duration and PGA to coincide well with the observed recordings.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51378479 and 51078337. The authors would like to thank Jian Song for his sincerely help in drawing images using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software. Appreciations are also given to Boore, who selflessly shared his stochastic finite-fault simulation program code. The most important thanks are to Xiaodan Sun, who is an associate professor at Southwest Jiaotong University. Last but not least, the author also thanks the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and advise. The observed acceleration time histories of Lushan earthquake were provided by China Strong Motion Network Center (CSMNC).

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  1. Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration, No. 29 Xuefu Road, Harbin, 150080, Heilongjiang Province, China

    Pengfei Dang

  2. Key Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration of China Earthquake Administration, Harbin, China

    Pengfei Dang

  3. School of Civil Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, No. 1701 Binhe Road, Suzhou, 215011, Jiangsu Province, China

    Qifang Liu

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Dang, P., Liu, Q. Stochastic finite-fault ground motion simulation for the Mw 6.7 earthquake in Lushan, China. Nat Hazards 100, 1215–1241 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03859-3

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