Comparison of 1D non-linear simulations to strong-motion observations: A case study in a swampy site of French Antilles (Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe)

Observations from many recent strong motion events have shown the importance of local soil conditions and non-linear soil behaviour on the seismic ground response (site effects). As demonstrated by previous seismic microzoning studies (Lebrun et al.) [1]), as well as by at least three historical major earthquakes, Pointe-à-Pitre is prone to strong site effects, due to the particular geology of the area. In this paper, we present a comparison between the strong-motion data available from the stations operating on the swampy site of Pointe-à-Pitre airport and the ground motions derived from 1D non-linear finite element simulations.Results show that, for moderate to strong ground motions, 1D simulations reproduce the main characteristics of site response in terms of duration, energy distribution, amplitude and frequency content. It also shows the importance of very superficial soft layers as peat or saturated mud in low frequency site effects simulations. This point is important for further engineering studies since such very soft formations overlain by stiffer landfills are commonly expected in the Antilles context. Our work also shows that Anderson's criteria, used to quantify the goodness-of-fit of simulated ground motions to the observed ones, appear to be an interesting diagnostic tool for testing the quality of numerical simulations from an engineering point of view.