Rigorous landslide hazard zonation using Newmark's method and stochastic ground motion simulation

• Published in: Soil dynamics and earthquake engineering (1984) Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 305 - 323
• Main Authors: Miles, S.B., Ho, C.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Earthquake-induced landslides; Earthquakes, seismology; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Geographic information systems; Internal geophysics; Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc; Newmark's displacement method; Seismic hazards; Slope stability; United States; California; Slope stability; Seismic hazards; Earthquake-induced landslides; Newmark's displacement method; Geographic information systems; simulation; topography; geographic information systems; accelerograms; ground motion; earthquakes; North America; stochastic models; zoning; displacements; landslides; prediction; Natural hazards; slope stability; statistics
• ISSN: 0267-7261; 1879-341X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0267-7261(98)00048-7

Researchers and practitioners in earthquake engineering have recognized geographic information systems (GIS) to be a significant tool in modeling spatial phenomenon related to hazard and risk. GIS, as an engineering tool, has been primarily used for its spatial data storing and presentation features. Models are often simplified to be more compatible with the light computational capabilities of many GIS. If not simplified, heavy computations are generally performed external to the GIS. A prototype vector-based GIS was developed that employs a rigorous approach to Newmark's displacement method for assessing earthquake triggered landslide hazards. The rigorous Newmark's analysis provides desirable flexibility by allowing input of actual ground motions. The prototype hazard GIS incorporates a popular shot filtered noise technique for generating artificial ground motions. The rigorous approach was compared to a popular simplified approach for computing Newmark displacements. Distribution of regional displacements was found to be similar with the simplified approach giving more and larger extreme displacements. The rigorous approach is suitable for large scales to model various seismic scenarios and their effect on seismically induced landslide potential.