Wavelet-Based Method for Generating Nonstationary Artificial Pulse-Like Near-Fault Ground Motions

• Published in: Computer-aided civil and infrastructure engineering Vol. 29; no. 10; pp. 758 - 770
• Main Authors: Amiri, G. Ghodrati, Rad, A. Abdolahi, Hazaveh, N. Khanmohamadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2014
• ISSN: 1093-9687; 1467-8667
• DOI: 10.1111/mice.12110

A method to generate a suite of artificial near‐fault ground motion time histories for specified earthquakes is presented. A wavelet‐based nonstationary (WB‐NS) model has been employed to effectively capture the time‐varying frequency content of a particular acceleration record and continuous wavelet transform has been used to simulate the largest velocity pulse. Furthermore, an iterative procedure using discrete wavelet transform is utilized to modify an earthquake ground motion and generate energy‐compatible ground motion. Eventually, the artificial near‐fault accelerogram is achieved via the superposition of a coherent extracted velocity pulse with a random acceleration record corresponding to a WB‐NS model and multiplied by a time‐modulating envelope function. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by comparing the spectral response and Arias intensity curves of the simulated accelerograms with those of the real records.