Hazard-consistent earthquake scenarios

Earthquake-resistant design and seismic analysis often require the earthqua ke action to be represented in the form of acceleration time-histories. Rea l accelerograms can be selected based on matching an earthquake scenario, d efined by magnitude and distance, and scaled if necessary. The scaled accel erograms should reflect the hazard in terms of the parameters that characte rise the inelastic demand on structures, including response spectral ordina tes, duration and energy content. In order to maintain realistic ground mot ions, the scaling factors should not differ greatly from unity. It is found that in many cases, where the hazard is influenced by more than one seismi c source, it is impossible to define a single earthquake scenario that is c ompatible with the results of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. Even if a hazard-consistent scenario can be defined, there are difficulties enc ountered in using the results to select and scale real accelerograms. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.