Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Civil Engineering

Committee Chair

Shahram Pezeshk

Committee Member

Chris Cramer

Committee Member

Roger Meier

Committee Member

Scott Stovall

Abstract

In this study, I take advantage of up-to-date studies and recently compiled datasets to solve some important problems faced in seismic hazard modeling in the Central and Eastern North America (CENA) as well as in Iran through four separate chapters. In these chapters, I provide useful information to improve treatment of epistemic uncertainty in seismic hazard modeling for CENA and Iran. Seismic hazard modelers in both CENA and Iran may use this study when performing earthquake hazard evaluations. In the first chapter, I assess the applicability of ground-motion models (GMMs) to propose a set of models that can be confidently used for induced seismicity applications within the CENA. This study is the first or one of the earliest studies of this kind that focused on GMMs for induced earthquakes. In the second chapter, I use the same methodology to come up with a shortlist of suitable GMMs for the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) in Iran. The need for assessing models relative performances prior to carrying out seismic hazard studies is crucial for the tectonic region of Iran due to the shortage of experienced domestic experts. In the last two chapters, because of the need of the earthquake engineering community in CENA to predict ground-motion intensity measures (GMIMs) other than the horizontal ground-motion component, I develop a set of new GMMs based on the NGA-East database. I develop these models using the referenced empirical approach. In the third chapter of the present study, I establish a referenced empirical ground-motion model for estimating Arias Intensity (AI) and cumulative absolute velocity (CAV) for CENA using Campbell and Bozorgnia (2019) as the reference model. AI and CAV have extensive applications in assessing the impact of strong-motion duration on slope stability, soil liquefaction, building damage, and seismic response of bridges. In the fourth chapter, I develop three referenced empirical models considering the Bozorgnia and Campbell (2016), Glerce et al. (2017), and Stewart et al. (2016) models. The effect of the vertical component is significant for the design of ordinary highway bridges and vital structures such as nuclear power plants and dams.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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