Correlation model for spatially distributed ground‐motion intensities

Abstract Risk assessment of spatially distributed building portfolios or infrastructure systems requires quantification of the joint occurrence of ground‐motion intensities at several sites, during the same earthquake. The ground‐motion models that are used for site‐specific hazard analysis do not provide information on the spatial correlation between ground‐motion intensities, which is required for the joint prediction of intensities at multiple sites. Moreover, researchers who have previously computed these correlations using observed ground‐motion recordings differ in their estimates of spatial correlation. In this paper, ground motions observed during seven past earthquakes are used to estimate correlations between spatially distributed spectral accelerations at various spectral periods. Geostatistical tools are used to quantify and express the observed correlations in a standard format. The estimated correlation model is also compared with previously published results, and apparent discrepancies among the previous results are explained. The analysis shows that the spatial correlation reduces with increasing separation between the sites of interest. The rate of decay of correlation typically decreases with increasing spectral acceleration period. At periods longer than 2 s, the correlations were similar for all the earthquake ground motions considered. At shorter periods, however, the correlations were found to be related to the local‐site conditions (as indicated by site V s 30 values) at the ground‐motion recording stations. The research work also investigates the assumption of isotropy used in developing the spatial correlation models. It is seen using the Northridge and Chi‐Chi earthquake time histories that the isotropy assumption is reasonable at both long and short periods. Based on the factors identified as influencing the spatial correlation, a model is developed that can be used to select appropriate correlation estimates for use in practical risk assessment problems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.