Spectral aspect of earthquakes

Abstract

Abstract Considering ground acceleration associated with earthquakes to be composed of a series of velocity impulses of random amplitude, time spacing, and wave shapes, a statistical approach is used to establish its power spectral density. The general result indicates that if the mean of the velocity pulses is zero, the power spectral density becomes a constant, regardless of wave shape and time spacing, thereby supporting the equipartition of energy theory, first advanced by Housner.