• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.101-115
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• 2005

For the site characterization at two inland areas, Gyeongju and Hongsung, which represent geomorphic and geologic characteristics of inland region in Korea, in-situ seismic tests containing borehole drilling investigations and resonant column tests were peformed and site-specific seismic response analyses were conducted using equivalent linear as well as nonlinear scheme. The soil deposits in Korea were shallower and stiffer than those in western US, from which the site coefficients and site classification system in Korea were derived. Most sites were categorized as site classes C and D based on the mean shear wave velocity $(V_s)$ of the upper 30 m $(V_s30)$, ranging between 250 and 650 m/s. According to the acceleration response spectra determined from the site response analyses, the site coefficients specified in the current Korean seismic design guide underestimate the ground motion in the short-period band and overestimate the ground motion in mid-period band. These differences can be explained by the differences in the bedrock depth and the soil stiffness profile between Korea and western US. The site coefficients, $F_a$ for short-period and $F_v$ for mid-period, were re-evaluated and the site classification system, in which sites C and D were subdivided according to $V_s20,\;V_s15,\;and\;V_s10$ together with the existing $V_s30$ was introduced accounting for the local geologic conditions at inland region of the Korean peninsula. The proposed site classification system in this paper is still rudimentary and requires modification.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.201-213
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• 2015

Site effects resulting in the amplification of earthquake ground motion are strongly influenced not only by the subsurface soil conditions and structure, but also by the surface topography. Yet, over the last several decades, most studies of site-specific seismic responses in Korea have focused primarily on the seismic amplification associated with geologic and soil conditions. For example, the effects of local geology are now well established and have been incorporated into current Korean seismic design codes, whereas topographic effects have not been considered. To help address this shortcoming, two-dimensional (2D) seismic site response analyses, using finite element (FE) ground modeling with three different slope angles, were performed in order to assess the site effects of surface topography. We then compared our results, specifically peak ground acceleration (PGA) and acceleration response spectrum, to those of one-dimensional (1D) FE model analyses conducted alongside our study. Throughout much of the upper slope region, PGAs and spectral accelerations are larger in the 2D analyses than in the 1D analyses as a result of the topographic effect.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2009

It is necessary to consider the site amplification for estimating SSI (soil structure interaction) and seismic source with more confidence. The horizontal to vertical (H/V) ratio technique in spectral domain is one of several techniques to estimate empirical site transfer function. The technique, originally proposed by Nakamura (1989), is applied to analyze the surface waves in the microtremor records. However, the application of this technique has been widened to the shear wave energy of strong motions for estimating site amplification. The purpose of this paper is to estimate spectral ratio using observed data at the seismic stations distributed within Southern Korean Peninsula from the Fukuoka earthquake including 11 aftershocks. The results show that each station has the its own characteristics of the specific resonance, high-band, and low-band frequency. The characteristics of the resonance frequency is more important because the quality of the seismic records are dependent on the resonance frequency. The result can be used for the study of site classification and removal of the site amplification effects from observed records can give us more reliable seismic source parameters.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

In order to evaluate the effect of shear wave velocity of a seismic control point on site response analysis, one-dimensional equivalent linear site response analysis were performed on the model soil profile based on the results of a detailed site investigation of sedimentary layers at Incheon and Busan. The results of the analysis show that an increase of shear wave velocity on the seismic control point (base rock) results in an increase of acceleration in the soil layers. This was mainly due to an unclear definition of the seismic control point. For this reason, the Korean Seismic Design Standard requires a specific definition of the seismic control point, including spatial conditions and soil properties, similar to the MCE (Maximum Considered Earthquake) in FEMA 369.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.32-49
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• 2010

Site characterization on geological and geotechnical conditions was performed for evaluating the earthquake ground motions associated with seismic site effects at a small urbanized area, Hongseong, where structural damages were recorded by an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 on October 7, 1978. In the field, various geotechnical site investigations composed of borehole drillings and seismic tests for obtaining shear wave velocity profile were carried out at 16 sites. Based on the geotechnical data from site investigation and additional collection in and near Hongseong, an expert system on geotechnical information was implemented with the spatial framework of GIS. For practical application of the GIS-based geotechnical information system to assess the earthquake motions in a small urban area, spatial seismic zoning maps on geotechnical parameters, such as the bedrock depth and the site period ($T_G$), were created over the entire administrative district of Hongseong town, and the spatial distributions of seismic vulnerability potentials were intuitively examined. Spatial zonation was also performed to determine site coefficients for seismic design by adopting a site classification system based on $T_G$. A case study of seismic zonation in the Hongseong area verified that the GIS-based site investigation was very useful for regional prediction of earthquake ground motions in a small urbanized inland area.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.51-58
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• 2002

The relative site amplification factors in southern Korea were determined from coda waves using coda normalization method. The seismograms of 15 events at 79 stations were used in this study. Seismogram envelopes were obtained by the Hilbert transform of bandpass-filtered velocity seismograms with frequency bands at 1-2Hz, 2-4Hz, 4-8Hz, 8-l6Hz and 16-32Hz. The envelopes were stabilized by application of moving-average scheme with time window of 1 second. The relative amplitudes of seismogram envelope were computed by dividing the amplitude of seismogram envelope at one site by the amplitude of seismogram envelope at reference site. The relative site amplification factors were obtained by taking averages of the relative amplitude. Values of relative site amplification factors in southern Korea are generally low in western area and high in eastern area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2001

역사적 지진 발생 기록이 풍부하고 양산 단층 영향권 내에 있어 지진 발생 가능성이 높은 경주 지역을 대상으로 지진민감도 분석을 수행하였다. 지형적 특성을 고려한 지반조사와 현장 및 실내 시험을 통하여 대상 지역 지반의 지층 구성과 각 지층의 동적 특성을 분석 평가하고, 이를 토대로 한 지반 응답 해석을 수행하였다. 9개의 시험공을 시추하여 2개소의 크로스홀 시험과 7개소의 다운홀 시험을 실시하였고, 시추부지 포함 13개소에서 SASW 시험도 수행하였다. X선 회절 및 풍화도 분석과 공진주 시험 등의 실내시험도 병행하였다. 이러한 시험 결과를 바탕으로 El Centro 지진에 의한 지표면 최대 가속도를 등가 선형 부지응답해석을 통해 평가한 결과 붕괴방지 수준에서 0.158g~0.286g, 기능수행 수준에서 0.067g~0.116g의 분포를 보였고 퇴적층에 의하여 형성된 경주 시가지 분지 지형에서 증폭정도가 심하다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 해석 결과로 볼 때, 현행 건교부 기준 설계응답스펙트럼은 경우에 따라 지반 운동을 과소평가하고 지반 고유의 공진 현상을 고려하지 못하였다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위하여 개선된 지반 분류방법을 소개하였고 부지고유의 지반응답평가의 중요성에 대해 제시하였다.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3C
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• pp.187-196
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• 2008

An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 occurred at Ssang-gye-sa, a Buddhist temple in Jirisan, located near the southern border of the Korean peninsula on 4 July 1936. It resulted in severe damage of several buildings and structures in Ssang-gye-sa. Particularly, the top component of a five-story stone pagoda in the temple was tipped over and fell down during the earthquake. This earthquake damage case would be usefully applied to estimating the intensity of ground motion in the Korean peninsula, a moderate seismicity region, where strong motion has never been recorded with the exception of historic seismic events. In order to estimate the local site effects and the corresponding ground motion at Ssang-gye-sa site, intensive site investigations including borehole drilling and in-situ seismic tests such as crosshole and SASW tests were performed in the temple area. Based on the site characteristics, site-specific seismic response analyses using various input motions were conducted for a representative Ssang-gye-sa site by means of both one-dimensional equivalent-linear and nonlinear methods with six input rock outcrop acceleration levels ranging from 0.044g to 0.220g. The resultant site-specific seismic responses indicated the amplified ground motions in the short-period range near the site period of Ssang-gye-sa. Furthermore, the intensity on rock outcrop of the 1936 Jirisan earthquake was estimated by making a comparison between the site responses analysis results in this study and the full-scaled seismic test of pagoda model in the prior study.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2007

The site effects of seismic stations were evaluated by conducting a simultaneous inversion of the stochastic point-source ground-motion model (STGM model; Boore, 2003) parameters based on the accumulated dataset of horizontal shear-wave Fourier spectra. A model parameter $K_0$ and frequency-dependent site amplification function A(f) were used to express the site effects. Once after a H/V ratio of the Fourier spectra was used as an initial estimate of A(f) for the inversion, the final A(f) which is considered to be the result of combined effect of the crustal amplification and loca lsite effects was calculated by averaging the log residuals at the site from the inversion and adding the mean log residual to the H/V ratio. The seismic stations were classified into five classes according to $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f), the maximum level of the site amplification function in the range of 1 Hz < f < 10 Hz, i.e., A: $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f) < 0.2, B: 0.2 $\leq$ $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f) < 0.4, C: 0.4 $\leq$ $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f) < 0.6, D: 0.6 $\leq$ $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f) < 0.8, E: 0.8 $\leq$ $logA_{1-10}^{max}$(f). Implication of the classified result was supported by observing a shift of the dominant frequency of average A(f) for each classified stations as the class changes. Change of site classes after moving seismic stations to a better site condition was successfully described by the result of the station classification. In addition, the observed PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration)-values for two recent moderate earthquakes were well classified according to the proposed station classes.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.250-255
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• 2017

When an earthquake occurs, it is necessary to evaluate the site-specific ground response while considering ground characteristics in seismic design. The design seismic force of Korean seismic design criteria is borrowed from the Uniform Building Code(UBC-1997). However, the criteria are based on the ground characteristics of the United States, which are different from the ground characteristics in Korea, and using them could cause over-or under-designing. Therefore, it is important to develop a proper design response spectrum for Korean ground characteristics. In this study, 158 ground sites in Korean urban areas were selected and compared to those in the western part of the United States, and their site-specific ground responses were analyzed. The classification standard in the seismic design criteria classifies the 158 sites into 37 sites, 107 sites, and 14 sites. Using 7 earthquake inputs, the criteria were compared for each group.The Korean design response spectrum underestimates the amplification of the short-period range and overestimates the amplification in the long-period range. There were large differences in the results of the and sites,which account for 77 percent of the 158 sites. Therefore, there is a need to modify the amplification factor in the Korean seismic criteria to properly reflect Korean ground characteristics.