Effect of Peak Ground a/v Ratio on Structural Damage

Three sets of real earthquake records are selected to represent seismic ground motions in the low, normal, and high a/v (peak ground acceleration/peak ground velocity) ranges. The inelastic responses of single‐degree‐of‐freedom stiffness degrading systems to the three sets of records are analyzed statistically to investigate the significance of such ground motion characteristics on structural damage. Both damage due to peak inelastic deformation and cumulative fatigue‐type damage due to a large number of reversed inelastic deformations are considered. Three damage parameters, each reflecting information on peak inelastic deformation, stiffness deterioration, and hysteretic energy dissipation, respectively, are used to measure structural damage. The mean values of the three damage indicators are obtained for the three sets of accelerograms, and the corresponding dispersion characteristics are examined. It is found that ground motion a/v range has a significant effect not only on peak inelastic response but also on hysteretic energy dissipation and stiffness deterioration of stiffness degrading systems. The effect on hysteretic energy dissipation is more pronounced than that of peak inelastic response.