Empirical Correlations between Cumulative Absolute Velocity and Amplitude-Based Ground Motion Intensity Measures

Abstract

Empirical correlation equations are developed between cumulative absolute velocity (CAV) and other common ground motion intensity measures, namely, peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), 5% damped pseudo spectral acceleration (SA), acceleration spectrum intensity (ASI), spectrum intensity (SI), and displacement spectrum intensity (DSI). It is found that, for a given earthquake rupture, CAV has the strongest correlation with high and moderate frequency intensity measures (IMs), that is, ASI, PGA, PGV and high-frequency SA, and to a lesser extent with low frequency IMs (DSI and low-frequency SA). The largest positive correlations of approximately 0.7 however are not high in an absolute sense, a result of the cumulative nature of CAV. The equations allow estimation of the joint distribution of these intensity measures for a given earthquake rupture, enabling the inclusion of CAV, and its benefit as a cumulative intensity measure, in seismic hazard analysis, ground motion selection, and seismic response analysis