Simplified Method for Predicting Average Shear-Wave Velocity of Ground at Strong-Motion Stations

Abstract eng:
We develop a method for estimating average shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 meters of the ground (VS30) at a strong-motion station by using recorded motions at a pair of stations located closely each other. For the station pair, an estimate of VS30 at one of the stations where the soil condition is unknown is derived mainly from VS30 at another station where the shear-wave velocity data is available and relative amplification factor between the stations. By applying this method to the ground motion records of the JMA, K-NET and KiK-net strong-motion networks in Japan, the VS30 values are estimated at 261 JMA strong-motion stations throughout Japan. The VS30 estimated in this study are compared with those inferred from boring data obtained in the vicinity of the JMA station. The result indicates that the method proposed in this study can predict the VS30 values at a strong-motion station with an accuracy of approximately +/- 50 m/sec. As the additional validation, correlations are examined between the estimated VS30 and the site classification at the JMA stations, and between the predicted peak ground velocities from the estimated VS30 and the observed ones for Japanese recent major earthquakes. The results indicate the validity of the estimated VS30 values.

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