Collapse ratios of buildings due to the 1995 Kobe earthquake and interference between S-wave and the second surface wave at basin edge

• DOI: 10.1360/03wd0193
• Publication Date: 2004-03-01T03:29:42Z
• Authors: Zhixin ZHAO
• Keywords: 0211 other engineering and technologies; 02 engineering and technology; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The distribution characteristics of collapse ratios of buildings in Kobe city due to the 1995 M7.2 Hyogo-ken Nanbu, Japan (Kobe) earthquake and the interferences due to SH or P-SV and the second surface waves propagating in heterogeneous medium are discussed in this paper by using numerical simulation technique of wave equation. The staggered grid real value fast Fourier transform differentiation (SGRFFTD) is used in the pseudospectral method of ground motion simulations because of its speed, high stability and accuracy. The results show that the maximum amplitude of simulated acceleration wave-forms on the ground coincides well with the complicated distributions of collapse ratios of buildings. The peak collapse ratio of buildings away from the earthquake fault also coincides well with the peak ground acceleration. The spatial interference process is analyzed by using the snap shots of seismic wave propagation. The peak ground acceleration is probably caused by the interferences due to the second surface wave transmitting from the bedrock to sedimentary basin and the upward body wave. Analyses of the interference process show that seismic velocity structure and geologic structure strongly influence the distribution of the maximum amplitude of acceleration waveforms. Interferences occurring near the basin boundary are probably the cause of the peak collapse ratio of buildings away from the fault. Therefore it is necessary to analyze wave propagations and interference process using numerical simulation strategy for studies on the seismic disasters.