AN EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR SELECTION AND MODIFICATION OF GROUND MOTIONS FOR DYNAMIC TIME HISTORY ANALYSIS

In this study, first a three-step screening process is presented for selection of consistent earthquake records in which number of suitable earthquakes is quickly screened and reduced from a few thousands to a handful number for practical use in the time history analysis. Records that remain at the end of this screening process are the most appropriate for the studied structures meaning that they considerably reduce the dispersion of structural responses. Then, an effective method is presented for spectral matching and modification of the selected records. A number of commonly available methods for scaling of records are examined comparatively. Dispersion of structural responses is explored using different statistical measures for each scaling procedure. It is shown that the Uniform Design Method, presented in this study for scaling of earthquake records, results in most cases in the least dispersion measure.