Simulation of Ground Motion Using the Stochastic Method

A simple and powerful method for simulating ground motions is to combine parametric or functional descriptions of the ground motion’s amplitude spectrum with a random phase spectrum modified such that the motion is distributed over a duration related to the earthquake magnitude and to the distance from the source. This method of simulating ground motions often goes by the name “the stochastic method.” It is particularly useful for simulating the higher-frequency ground motions of most interest to engineers (generally, f > 0.1 Hz), and it is widely used to predict ground motions for regions of the world in which recordings of motion from potentially damaging earthquakes are not available. This simple method has…