Continuity and Derivability Issues in Modeling the Energy Release Shaping Window in Stochastic Simulation of Ground Motions Generated by Vrancea Intermediate-Depth Seismic Source

Digital Object Identifier 10.32754/JMT.2019.2.07 43 1Abstract—When applying the stochastic method in time domain ground motions simulations, a shaping function is required for modeling the energy release during an earthquake. It was noticed that Vrancea (Romania) intermediate-depth source produces strong pulse-type accelerations that contain up to 50-70% of the energy in a first phase that lasts only few seconds (under 5 seconds). After that the motion enters in a second phase that releases the rest of the energy slowly (in 30-50 seconds). For modeling the described behavior, a multi-interval function for modeling the energy release during an earthquake was required. In this paper the problem of continuity and derivability of such windowfunction is analyzed and discussed.