Seismic assessment of the rigid sliding displacements caused by pulse motions

•Residuals of rigid block sliding displacements for pulse-like motions are analyzed.•A modified model is developed for rigid sliding displacements for pulse-like motions.•Issues of depicting small displacements using ground motion parameters are indicated.•The modified model is used in probabilistic seismic hazard analyses of slopes.

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the rigid block sliding displacement of slopes subjected to ground motions with large velocity pulses. A comparison of the performance of various existing empirical displacement models is provided through analyses of the displacement residuals of slopes subject to pulse-like motions. Except for the PGA- and PGV-based Saygili and Rathje model (2008, referred to as SR08), positive medians of residuals are observed for selected models, indicating an under-estimation. There is a negative constant shift in the total residuals for the SR08 model, which can be easily fixed by changing the constant term in the predictive equation. The residuals from the SR08 model also have the smallest standard deviation compared to the other models. A modified SR08 model is developed for predicting rigid block sliding displacements for pulse-like motions. The modified predictive model is used in probabilistic seismic displacement analyses of slopes in a hypothetical near-fault region.