Effects of earthquake characteristics on ground response spectra

A parametric study was carried out to estimate the effects of statistical variation in the characteristics of an input earthquake. Strong motion records from California and Turkey were scaled to different peak acceleration levels and a number of soil profiles, within the old sector of Istanbul, were selected to study the influence of input earthquake characteristics on the response of different types of soil profiles. The statistical distribution of the calculated peak ground accelerations, predominant soil periods, and response spectra were evaluated leading to a probability analysis that can be utilized in the selection of a design earthquake for site response analyses and microzonation studies. -Authors