PEER Reports

PEER Reports

Ground-Motion Directivity Modeling for Seismic Hazard Applications, PEER 2019/03

Jennifer L. Donahue
Jonathan P. Stewart
Nicolas Gregor
Yousef Bozorgnia
2019

We reviewed five models for modifying the natural log mean and within-event standard deviation of ground-motion models (GMMs) to account for directivity effects in the near-fault environment. We found broad consistency for strike–slip ruptures, with positive and negative directivity effects for cases of rupture towards and away from a site of interest, respectively. We found substantial divergence among directivity models for reverse slip, with some providing maximum directivity for sites positioned to experience the peak alignment of rupture direction with the fault-slip direction (this...

Direct-Finite-Element Method for Nonlinear Earthquake Analysis of Concrete Dams Including Dam–Water–Foundation Rock Interaction, PEER Report 2019/02

Arnkjell Løkke
Anil Chopra
2019

Evaluating the seismic performance of concrete dams requires nonlinear dynamic analysis of two- or three-dimensional dam–water–foundation rock systems that include all the factors known to be significant in the earthquake response of dams. Such analyses are greatly complicated by interaction between the structure, the impounded reservoir and the deformable foundation rock that supports it, and the fact that the fluid and foundation domains extend to large distances. Presented in this report is the development of a direct finite-element (FE) method for nonlinear earthquake analysis of two-...

Flow-Failure Case History of the Las Palmas, Chile, Tailings Dam, PEER Report 2019/01

R. E. S. Moss
T. R. Gebhart
J. D. Frost
C. Ledezma
2019

This report documents the flow failure of the Las Palmas tailings dam that was induced by the 27 February 2010 Maule Chile M8.8 earthquake. The Las Palmas site is located in Central Chile in Region VII near the town of Talca. Construction of the tailings dam occurred between 1998 as part of a gold mining operation and was no longer in active use.

The ground shaking from the earthquake induced liquefaction of the saturated tailings material and resulted in a flow failure that ran out upwards of 350 m, flowing downslope in two directions. This report is broken into three sections:...

Cripple Wall Small-Component Test Program: Dry Specimens (PEER-CEA Project), Project 2020-17

Brandon Schiller
Tara Hutchinson
Kelly Cobeen
2020

This report is one of a series of reports documenting the methods and findings of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary project coordinated by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The overall project is titled “Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings,” henceforth referred to as the “PEER–CEA Project.”

The overall objective of the PEER–CEA Project is to provide scientifically based information (e.g., testing, analysis,...

Hybrid Simulations for the Seismic Evaluation of Resilient Highway Bridge Systems, PEER Report 2020-11

Yingjie Wu
Selim Gunay
Khalid M. Mosalam
2020

Bridges often serve as key links in local and national transportation networks. Bridge closures can result in severe costs, not only in the form of repair or replacement, but also in the form of economic losses related to medium- and long-term interruption of businesses and disruption to surrounding communities. In addition, continuous functionality of bridges is very important after any seismic event for emergency response and recovery purposes. Considering the importance of these structures, the associated structural design philosophy is shifting from collapse prevention to maintaining...

Long-Term Monitoring of Bridge Settlements using Vision-Based Embedded System, PEER Report 2020-26

Henry L. Teng
Khalid Mosalam
2020

The State of California is highly seismic, capable of generating large-magnitude earthquakes that could cripple the infrastructure of several large cities. Yet the annual maintenance of the State’s bridges, such as highway overpasses, is not robust due to budget and staff constraints. Over 1000 bridges were not inspected according to the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) 2015 Maintenance Plan. To help engineers monitor infrastructure conditions, presented within is a device recently developed that employs modern sensing, computing, and communication technologies to...

Regionalized Ground-Motion Models for Subduction Earthquakes Based on the NGA-SUB Database, PEER Report 2020-25

Norman Abrahamson
Zeynep Gülerce
2020

A set of global and region-specific ground-motion models (GMMs) for subduction zone earthquakes is developed based on the database compiled by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) Next Generation Attenuation - Subduction (NGA-SUB) project. The subset of the NGA-SUB database used to develop the GMMs includes 3914 recordings from 113 subduction interface earthquakes with magnitudes varying between 5 and 9.2 and 4850 recordings from 89 intraslab events with magnitudes varying between 5 and 7.8. Recordings in the back-arc region are excluded, except for the Cascadia region...

Seismic Performance of Single-Family Wood-Frame Houses: Comparing Analytical and Industry Catastrophe Models (PEER-CEA Project), PEER Report 2020-24

Evan Reis
2020

This report is one of a series of reports documenting the methods and findings of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary project coordinated by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER and funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The overall project is titled “Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings,” henceforth referred to as the “PEER–CEA Project.”

The overall objective of the PEER–CEA Project is to provide scientifically based information (e.g., testing, analysis, and...

Earthquake Damage Workshop (PEER-CEA Project), PEER Report 2020-23

Kylin Vail
Bret Lizundia
David P. Welch
Evan Reis
2020

This report is one of a series of reports documenting the methods and findings of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary project coordinated by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER and funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The overall project is titled “Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings,” henceforth referred to as the “PEER–CEA Project.”

The overall objective of the PEER–CEA Project is to provide scientifically based information (e.g., testing, analysis, and...

Models for the Cyclic Resistance of Silts and Evaluation of Cyclic Failure during Subduction Zone Earthquakes, PEER Report 2023-01

Armin W. Stuedlein
Ali Dadashiserej
Amalesh Jana
2023

This report describes several advances in the cyclic failure assessment of silt soils with immediate and practical benefit to the geotechnical earthquake engineering profession. First, a database of cyclic loading test data is assembled, evaluated, and used to assess trends in the curvature of the CRR-N (cyclic resistance ratio - the number of equivalent cycles) relationship. This effort culminated in a plasticity index-dependent function which can be used to estimate the exponent b in the power law describing cyclic resistance, and may be used to estimate the cyclic resistance of silt...