Source differentiation, modeling and simulating strong-motion data from Iran

For designing a structure to withstand the effects of strong earthquake ground motions, it is necessary to characterize the type of motion that probably affects the structure. The strong-motion accelerograms contain numerous data regarding the source, path, and receiver. Variables such as the Richter magnitude, hypocenter depth, duration of the event, and focal mechanism relate to the source. The soil parameter and distance to epicenter, relate to the path. The application of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) process in modeling an earthquake accelerogram of three different regions of Iran reveals a formulation, which relates the physical variables via a regression analysis. In order to generate time history data of a probable future earthquake, it is recommended to use the regression equations for a specific type of earthquake focal mechanism if the future earthquake mechanism and physical variables are known; otherwise, regional equations are more suitable.