CHAPTER 6

EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE OF LINEAR SYSTEMS

One of the most important applications of theory of
structural dynamics is in analyzing the response of structures
to ground shaking caused by an earthquake. This chapter deals
with linear systems, which are elastic systems, so we will
refer to them by linearly elastic systems.
Earthquake Excitation
For engineering, the time variation of ground
acceleration is the most useful way of defining the shaking of
the ground during an earthquake. Ground acceleration appears
on the right hand side of equation of motion when a SDF
system is subjected to ground excitation.
A basic instrument, called strong-motion accelerograph,
records three components of motions including two horizontal
components and one vertical component. Acceleration is
vector quantity in 3-D space that varies with time. It requires
three components to define a vector in 3-D space.

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Instrument does not record continuously all the time. It is

triggered to start recording when the first waves of earthquake
arrive because there may not be any strong ground motion for
months.
Basic element of an accelerograph is a transducer
element, which is an SDF mass-spring-damper system. It is
characterized by its natural frequency f n and viscous damping
ratio ; typically f n =25 Hz and =60% for modern analog
accelerograph and f n =50 Hz and =70% for modern digital
accelerograph. These transducer parameters allow the
instruments to record ground acceleration containing
frequency up to 60% of f n without excessive distortion.
Before 1990s, strong recorded ground motions were very
rare because numbers of instruments were limited and they
were not located near the origin of earthquakes. After 1994
Northridge, California; 1995 Kobe, Japan; 1999 Turkey and
Taiwan earthquakes, hundreds of strong motion records
became available.
Earthquake ground motions are irregular in nature and
they vary widely in terms of amplitude, duration, frequency
content, and wave form. The peak acceleration can be more
than 1g and duration of the strong phase may be as short as a
few seconds or as long as a few minutes.
The factors that affect characteristics of ground motion at
a location are
1) Source (magnitude, fault mechanism)
2) Path
(distance from epicenter, geology, direction)
3) Site
(soil condition at the location considered)

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El Centro Ground Motion

The earthquake ground motion in the north-south
component recorded at the El Centro station during Imperial
Valley earthquake on May 18, 1940 will be used for
discussion in this chapter.
Acceleration is specified at very small time interval
(0.005-0.02 sec) to capture the highly irregular variation with
time. The velocity and displacement time history were
obtained by integrating the acceleration time history.

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Equation of Motion
For a linear SDF system subjected to ground motion
excitation ug ( t ) , the motion of the mass is governed by the
equation
mu + cu + ku = mug ( t )

Divide by m on both sides

u + 2nu + n2u = ug ( t )

For a given ground acceleration ug ( t ) , the response u ( t )

depends on the natural frequency n (or period Tn ) and
damping ratio of the system. Thus, two systems with the
same Tn and will have the same response u ( t ) even if one
of them has more mass and is stiffer than the other.

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Response History
For a given ground motion ug ( t ) , the deformation
response of an SDF system depends on the natural frequency
and damping ratio. The response u ( t ) of an SDF system can
be determined from numerical procedure discussed in the
previous chapter.
Observe the responses u ( t ) of three SDF systems with
the same damping ratio 2%, but different natural period of
vibration. The time required for an SDF system to complete a
cycle of vibration when subjected to earthquake ground
motion is very close to its natural period of vibration.
For these cases, the one with longest natural period has
the largest peak deformation. This trend is not necessarily true
over the entire range of periods.
Compare another three SDF systems, all with the same
natural period of vibration of 2 sec but different damping ratio
of 0, 2, and 5%. The time required for an SDF system to
complete a cycle of vibration is similar for all three cases, but
the amplitude always decreases as damping ratio
increases. This trend is consistent with the study of response
to harmonic and pulse excitations.

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Once the deformation response history has been

evaluated by dynamic analysis of structure, the internal forces
can be determined by static analysis of structure at each time
instant. By the concept of equivalent static force f S , which is
related to the earthquake force specified in building code,
f S = ku ( t )

where k is the lateral stiffness of the frame. k = n2 m

f S = mn2u ( t ) = mA ( t )

where

A ( t ) = n2u ( t )
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A ( t ) is called pseudo-acceleration. The equivalent static

force equal mass time pseudo-acceleration, not the total

acceleration ut ( t ) . A ( t ) is obtained by multiplying u ( t ) by
2
n2 = ( 2 / Tn ) .

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Internal Forces
For a one-story frame, the internal force can be
determined at any time instant by static analysis of the
structure subjected to the equivalent static lateral force f S ( t )
at the same time instant.

Base shear

Vb ( t ) = f S ( t ) = mA ( t )

Overturning moment

M b ( t ) = hf S ( t ) = hVb ( t )

where h is the height of the structure.

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Response Spectrum Concept

First introduced by M. A. Biot (1932), the response
spectrum method is a central concept in earthquake
engineering. It provides a convenient mean to summarize the
peak response of all possible SDF systems to a particular
component of ground motion.
A plot of peak value of a response quantity as a function
the natural vibration period Tn or frequency n or cyclic
frequency f n is called response spectrum. Each plot is for a
fixed damping ratio . Engineers prefer to use Tn rather than
n because Tn is more familiar.
A variety of response quantity can be defined.
Deformation response spectrum

uo (Tn , ) max u ( t , Tn , )
t

Relative velocity response spectrum uo (Tn , ) max u ( t , Tn , )

t

Acceleration response spectrum

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uot (Tn , ) max ut ( t , Tn , )

t

Deformation, Pseudo-Velocity, and Pseudo-Acceleration

Response Spectra
Previously we learned that only deformation u ( t ) is
needed to compute internal forces. Pseudo-velocity and
pseudo-acceleration are discussed because they are useful in
studying characteristic of response spectra, constructing
design spectra, and relating structural dynamics to building
codes.
Deformation response spectra
The peak value of deformation time history response of
an SDF system with natural period Tn due to a particular
ground excitation can be plotted as a point on the deformation
response spectra. The peak value of deformation is denoted by
D = uo = max u ( t )
t

If many of such analyses are repeated for many SDF

systems with a fixed damping ratio but different natural
periods Tn , the deformation response spectra can be
constructed for the range of Tn considered.
Similar spectrum for other value of damping ratio can be
constructed in a similar manner.

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Pseudo-velocity response spectrum

Consider a quantity V for an SDF system with natural
frequency n which has the peak deformation D
V = n D =

2
D
Tn

The quantity V has units of velocity. It is related to the peak

value of strain energy Eso by
mV 2
Eso =
2

derived from

kuo2 kD 2 k (V / n )
mV 2
Eso =
=
=
=
2
2
2
2
2

V is called the peak relative pseudo-velocity or peak pseudovelocity. It is not the same as peak relative velocity uo .

Pseudo-velocity response spectrum is a plot of V as a

function of the natural period Tn or natural frequency n of
the system.

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Pseudo-acceleration response spectrum

2

2
A = n2 D =
D
T
n

The quantity A has units of acceleration and is related to

the peak value of base shear Vbo as
Vbo = f So = mA =

A
w
g

where w is the weight of the structure and g is the

gravitational acceleration.
A / g may be interpreted as the base shear coefficient or

lateral force coefficient. It is used in building codes to

represent the coefficient that is multiplied to the weight to
obtain base shear force.
The pseudo-acceleration A is different from the total
acceleration ut so it is called pseudo.

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Combined D-V-A spectrum

Because the three quantities are related through
A

= V = n D or

Tn
2
A =V =
D
2
Tn

They can be combined in one plot and three different

quantities can be read from three different axes. Such a fourway plot in logarithmic scale is called the tripartite plot.

V can be read from the vertical axis, while A and D can

be read from diagonal axes.

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Combined D-V-A response spectra for El Centro ground

motion are plotted for damping ratio = 0, 2, 5, 10, and 20% to
cover the range of damping ratio in practically real structures.
The response spectra are plotted for a wide range of natural
period Tn from 0.02 to 50 sec.

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Peak structural response from the response spectrum

If the response spectrum is available for a given ground
motion, the peak value of deformation and internal forces can
be readily determined.
2

T
T
uo = D = n V = n A
2
2
f So = kD = mA

No further dynamic is required. Only static analysis of

structure subjected to the equivalent static force provides the
peak values of internal forces during response to the given
earthquake.
Vbo = kD = mA
M bo = hVbo

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Response Spectrum Characteristics

We now study the important characteristic of response
spectrum of earthquake ground motions. The response
spectrum for north-south component of El Centro ground
motion for damping ratio = 0, 2, 5, and 10% is plotted
together with the ground motion parameters u go , u go , and ugo .

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To show the relationship between response spectrum and

ground motion parameters u go , u go , and ugo , the response
spectrum for El Centro ground motion is plotted in term of
normalized response quantities D / u go , V / u go , and A / ugo .

And the curve for damping ratio=5% only is shown together

with the idealized smooth multi-linear curve, which can be
separated into 7 parts between points a, b, c, d, e, and f.
Ta , Tb , Tc , Td , Te , and T f may be different for other ground
motions

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For systems with very short period, Tn < Ta =0.035 sec, A

approaches ugo for all damping ratio and D is very small.
This trend is understood based on physical reasoning that a
very short period system is very rigid and moves together
with the ground.
From the response history of an SDF system with
Tn = 0.02sec due to El Centro ground motion, we can
observe that the deformation is very small and total
acceleration is approximately equal to the ground
acceleration and equal to negative of pseudo-acceleration.

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From equation of motion, because the system is very rigid,

u + 2nu + n2u = ug ( t )
u 0 and u 0
A ( t ) = ug ( t ) and ut ( t ) = ug ( t ) + u( t )  ug ( t )

For very long period system, Tn > T f = 15sec , D approached

u go for all damping ratio and A is very small.
This case is concerned with very flexible systems where the
mass essentially stays still while the ground at the base
moves rapidly.
The deformation equal to ground displacement with
opposite sign u ( t ) = u g ( t ) . The total acceleration is close to
zero ut  0 .
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Therefore, from above observation, a response spectrum can

be divided into three regions:
1) For the very short period region, Tn < Ta , A is equal to ugo .
For Tb < Tn < Tc , A may be idealized as constant at a value
equal to ugo amplified by a factor depending on . This
region ( Tn < Tc ) is called acceleration-sensitive region.
2) For the very long period region, Tn > Td , D equals to u go .
For Td < Tn < Te , D may be idealized as constant at a value
equal to u go amplified by a factor depending on . This
region ( Tn > Td ) is called displacement-sensitive region.
3) For intermediate region, Tc < Tn < Td , V may be idealized as
constant at a value equal to u go amplified by a factor
depending on . This region is called velocity-sensitive
region.
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Effect of Damping on Response Spectrum

The effects of damping vary with spectral regions.

Damping is most influential in the velocity-sensitive region.

Effect of damping is stronger for smaller damping values.

If damping ratio increases from 0 to 2%, reduction of

response is greater than when damping ratio increases from
10 to12%.

If the ground motion is nearly harmonic, e.g. Mexico city

1985, the effect of damping will be larger than short
duration ground motion like pulse.

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Elastic Design Spectrum

Ground motions at the same location during different
earthquake events can be significantly different.
Factors includes magnitude of earthquake, fault
mechanism, distance of site from earthquake fault, geology
and travel path of seismic waves, and the local soil conditions.

The response spectrum to be used for structural design

should not be for a particular ground motion but rather
represent possible ground motions based on statistics of many
ground motions.
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The average of many response spectra is the mean

response spectrum, whereas the mean-plus-one-standarddeviation response spectrum can also be evaluated.
These response spectra are smoother than a response
spectrum for an individual ground motion.
Researchers have developed procedures to construct a
smooth design spectrum using ground motion parameters u go ,
u go , and ugo , and amplification factors A , V , and D in
different spectral regions based on statistics.
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Comparison of Design and Response Spectra

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