Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Asian Journal of Civil Engineering https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-020-00243-1 ORIGINAL PAPER The correlation between the ground motion intensity measure parameters of earthquakes Emad A. Elhout 1 Received: 22 May 2019 / Accepted: 18 March 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract In performance-based seismic engineering, the choice of ground motion goes hand in hand with dynamic analysis. This paper presents the relationship between the various intensity measures (IMs) parameter of ground motions that can be used in evaluating the behavior of structures. This is through the relationship between them and the ratio of the peak ground acceleration to the peak ground velocity (PGA/PGV). The PGA/PGV ratio has been used an empirical parameter to estimate ground motion frequency content and categorizes ground motion suites for performing nonlinear time history analyses of structures. Regression analyses are performed on data obtained from ground motion records with diferent PGA/PGV ratios. The regression analyses indicate that the best correlation IMs parameter with the PGA/PGV ratio in both near- and far-source earthquakes is the mean period (T m ). Also, the relationships between PGA/PGV ratio and some IMs parameters in near-source earthquakes are stronger than it in far-source earthquakes. Keywords Intensity measure parameters · Near-source records · Far-source records · PGA/PGV Ratio Introduction An earthquake is a natural phenomenon that cannot be avoided from the earth and often leads to damage. The pos- sibility of earthquake damage depends on the characteris- tics of the earth motion and the state of the local site. So, the choice of the ground motion goes hand in hand with dynamic analysis in evaluating the behavior of structures (Pejovica and Jankovic 2015). The intensity measures (IMs) parameters of ground motion are presented as a function of magnitude, distance from the source to the recording sta- tion, faulting mechanism and site class. IMs can quantity the intensity of the ground motion and can depend exclusively on the peak ground motion properties (PGA, PGV and PGD) or on together with structural characteristics. Often the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) are the important IMs of ground motion for carrying out nonlinear time history analysis. PGA is scaled to get design response spectra which are used in many seismic design codes as IMs of ground motion for all structures levels. Seismic studies have indicated that the high-frequency waves are related to PGA, while moderate- or low-frequency waves are related to PGV (Tso et al. 1992). Hence, the study of IMs, which fnds the strength of the earthquake, is one of the most important issues in earthquake engineering, espe- cially after many earthquakes such as Northridge, 1994. Many studies have used the PGA/PGV ratio as an indica- tor to select the appropriate ground motion for a wide range of structures and also for seismic risk analysis (Zhu et al. 1988). Sawada et al. (1992) studied the relative of the PGA/ PGV ratios to the duration and the spectral characteristics of ground motions. It has found that the PGA/PGV ratio is an excellent parameter representing the spectral properties and the duration of earthquake ground motions. Also, the PGA/ PGV ratio is dependent on the magnitude, the predominate periods and the epicentral distance at the sites. Naumoski et al. (1988) and Tso et al. (1992) divided the earthquake ground motions into high, medium and weak ranges accord- ing to the percent of the PGA/PGV ratio. Hence, with PGA (g) and PGV (m/s), the PGA/PGV > 1.2 g/m/s was clas- sifed into the high range, whereas PGA/PGV ˂ 0.8 g/m/s was categorized into the low range. 0.8 g/m/s ≤ PGA/ PGV ≤ 1.2 g/m/s was represented the intermediate range. Rathje et al. (1998, 2004) investigated some IMs param- eters of earthquakes such as the mean period (T m ) which are * Emad A. Elhout emad_aliali@yahoo.com 1 Higher Institute of Engineering and Technology, King- Marriott, Alexandria, Egypt