A numerical approach for modeling near-fault ground motion and its application in the 1994 Northridge earthquake

An approach for simulating near-fault ground motion was presented by combining the finite fault model with a numerical algorithm, named investigated lump method presented in this paper for wave propagation. The investigated lumps are constructed from the auxiliary quadrilateral grids. The dynamic equilibrium equations of a typical investigated lump have been derived and obtained by integrating the stresses along the contour of the investigated lump. The stresses are calculated using the constitutive relations and the interpolation techniques. The investigated lump method is then implemented using the equilibrium equations of investigated lumps and the calculations of stresses alternately in time domain. The stability criterion of the algorithm has been given. Comparisons with the discrete wave-number method solutions for predicting the ground motions at the Pacoima Dam during the San Fernando earthquake show the validity of the method presented in this paper for simulating near-field ground motions. A finite fault source model has been implemented in the algorithm here. The source parameters given by Wald et al. (1996) [18] are applied to synthesize the ground motions at three stations during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The simulating results qualitatively match to the corresponding ground motion records. The studies demonstrated that the approach presented in this paper is an effective tool for the numerical simulation of near-fault ground motion.

► A new numerical method was presented for wave propagation in elastic media.
► The free-surface boundary condition does not need any special treatment.
► The method is named investigated lump method and it is of good accuracy.
► The subfault sources can be implemented easily in the investigated lump method.
► The scheme proposed in this work can effectively simulate near-fault ground motions.