A Time–Frequency Representation Model for Seismic Ground Motions

Abstract

ABSTRACT A probabilistic model of the time–frequency power spectral density (TFPSD) is presented. The model is developed, based on the time–frequency representation of records from strike-slip earthquakes, in which the time–frequency representation is obtained by applying the S-transform (ST). The model for the TFPSD implicitly considers the amplitude modulation and frequency modulation for the nonstationary ground motions; this differs from the commonly used evolutionary PSD model. Predicting models for the model parameters, based on seismic source and site characteristics, are developed. The use of the model to simulate ground motions for scenario seismic events is illustrated, in which the simulation is carried out using a recently developed model that is based on the discrete orthonormal ST and ST. The illustrative example highlights the simplicity of using the proposed model and the physical meaning of some of the model parameters. A model validation analysis is carried out by comparing the statistics of the pseudospectral acceleration obtained from the simulated records to those obtained using a few ground-motion models available in the literature and considered actual records. The comparison indicates the adequacy of the proposed model.