Lai, Tao

Evaluation of Shake and Liquefaction Damages Due To Earthquake Scenarios in Boston, Massachusetts

Abstract eng:
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States with many 19th-century apartments and numerous architecturally and culturally significant historical buildings. The Boston area is known to have moderate seismicity, but the largest event in modern history was the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake. Given the immense growth and development in the last two centuries compounded with the practice of land making in the city, the recurrence of an event similar to the Cape Ann earthquake could have a significant impact in terms of damage and loss. In this study, multiple earthquake scenarios are evaluated to provide a historical perspective of loss and also damage estimates of event scenarios that are consistent with the design hazard level in the Massachusetts Building Code. Out of these scenarios, plausible events are selected and a detailed shake and liquefaction study is performed. Our detailed analysis was made possible by developing high resolution shear-wave velocity, liquefaction susceptibility, and groundwater depth maps for Boston and leveraging AIR’s existing US Earthquake model. The existing building inventory for Boston is modeled using AIR’s high resolution building exposure database. Our evaluation shows that while the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake would be devastating if it were to happen again today, a future event with a design code level recurrence and intensity could cause much more devastation and inflict tens of billions of dollars in economic losses. Building damage due to ground shaking could be significant but the damage due to liquefaction is much less severe than those observed in very susceptible areas. Construction practice, using timber piles rather than shallow foundations to support the buildings, is one of the main reasons that the threat of liquefaction is less severe to buildings. However, liquefaction damages to utilities, roads, and aging infrastructures could be significant, where the extent of damage could have a profound effect on the resiliency of the city after such an event.

Contributors:

Kianirad, Ehsan

Conference Title:

Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

Conference Title:

16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering

Conference Venue:

Santiago (CL)

Conference Dates:

2017-01-09 / 2017-01-13

Rights:

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