Site Response Evaluation Using the H/V Ratio at the Yan-Liau Station in Hualien, Taiwan

Four days after the December 13, 1990 Hualien, Taiwan earthquake (ML ¼ 6.9), a temporary array of fifteen triaxial digital accelerographs was deployed in the epicenter area to monitor aftershocks. Approximately 600 earthquakes triggered this array during the three-month deployment period. The Yan-Liau station (S63) alone recorded 162 events. Most of the accelerograms at S63 exhibit resonance. We have estimated site responses at the Yan-Liau station using both the single-station spectral ratio (or H/V ratio) method and the traditional spectral ratio method that compares ratios at a soil site with those at a reference hard rock site. Based on site response analyses of S waves and coda waves of ground motion recordings, both types of waves show that the H/V ratio provide a good estimate at the resonant frequency although the site amplification factor is overestimated. In addition, the study of microtremor is also a good alternate for estimating the site predominant frequency. While the ground acceleration (or PGA) gradually increases, the resonant frequency shifts to lower frequencies.