A neural network based methodology to predict site-specific spectral acceleration values

• Published in: Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 459 - 472
• Main Authors: Kamatchi, P., Rajasankar, J., Ramana, G. V., Nagpal, A. K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration 01.12.2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algorithms; BP神经网络算法; Civil Engineering; Control; Dynamical Systems; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earthquakes; Geological engineering; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Ground motion; Neural networks; Seismic activity; Seismology; Vibration; Wave propagation; 加速度; 地震带; 强地面运动; 波传播模型; 结构抗震; Delhi India; India; India, Delhi; response spectra; local soil conditions; neural network; amplification factor
• ISSN: 1671-3664; 1993-503X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11803-010-0041-1

A general neural network based methodology that has the potential to replace the computationally-intensive site-specific seismic analysis of structures is proposed in this paper. The basic framework of the methodology consists of a feed forward back propagation neural network algorithm with one hidden layer to represent the seismic potential of a region and soil amplification effects. The methodology is implemented and verified with parameters corresponding to Delhi city in India. For this purpose, strong ground motions are generated at bedrock level for a chosen site in Delhi due to earthquakes considered to originate from the central seismic gap of the Himalayan belt using necessary geological as well as geotechnical data. Surface level ground motions and corresponding site-specific response spectra are obtained by using a one-dimensional equivalent linear wave propagation model. Spectral acceleration values are considered as a target parameter to verify the performance of the methodology. Numerical studies carried out to validate the proposed methodology show that the errors in predicted spectral acceleration values are within acceptable limits for design purposes. The methodology is general in the sense that it can be applied to other seismically vulnerable regions and also can be updated by including more parameters depending on the state-of-the-art in the subject.