Ground-motion attenuation and earthquake source scaling in eastern North America

Technical Report · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5346910

Predictions of ground motion within 200 km of earthquake sources are critical to the seismic design of nuclear facilities. This report provides data valuable for predicting ground motion and thereby improving existing models for eastern North America. The project team first investigated characteristics of ground-motion attenuation in the south central southeastern United States, building on previous results from the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. To do this, they analyzed recordings of earthquakes and explosions and generated synthetic seismograms based on regional wave-propagation models. Secondly, investigators tested the validity of three different models of source-scaling relations that have been proposed for the stress-drop parameter. At issue is the fact that a model having increasing stress drop with magnitude predicts greater accelerations for large events than does a constant stress-drop model.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Woodward-Clyde Consultants, Pasadena, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5346910
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR-100409-Tier-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ARKANSAS
ATTENUATION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EARTHQUAKES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
GROUND MOTION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MISSISSIPPI
MOTION
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
REACTOR SAFETY
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAFETY
SCALING LAWS
SEISMIC EFFECTS
SEISMIC EVENTS
SEISMOLOGY
TENNESSEE
USA
VIRGINIA