EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING IMPLICATIONS OF BASEMENT FOCUSING OF IN-PLANE GROUND MOTION

Abstract

The dissertation titled “Earthquake Engineering Implications of Basement Focusing of In-Plane Ground Motion’’. It tells us about how the presence of basement affects the amplitude of the waves and also studying about the basement characteristics such as its depth and material properties affect the incident seismic waves. In this, we come to know whether the presence of basement affects the incident wave and whether it amplifies or de-amplify the wave and also how this amplification affects the buildings and structures during earthquakes. We also come to know about a phenomenon known as basement focusing effect in which the presence of basement focuses the incident seismic waves at a particular location which in turn leads to amplification of waves which occurs due to interaction of soil layers that are present below the earth’s crust. Understanding this phenomenon is very important for the scientists and engineers to assess the impact that will be caused due to this and also helps in reducing the hazards thereby caused and helps in reducing the risks and also loss of life to an extent. This study employs finite difference numerical method (FD) Narayan, J. P., & Kumar, V. (2014) for the sake of determining the effects. In this, we have considered two types of cases which are unbounded media and bounded media. In unbounded media, there is no interaction of free surface where as it is there in other case.