Ground‐Motion Spatial Variation Effects on Circular Arch Responses

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of spatial variations of multiple earthquake ground excitations on responses of in‐plane circular incompressible arches. The responses of arches subjected to both correlated horizontal and vertical multiple excitations are calculated. The ground‐motion spatial correlations are modeled by an empirically obtained coherency‐loss function. The multiple input effects on arches having different properties are studied by varying the arch span length and material properties. The effects of multiple horizontal and vertical excitations on arch antisymmetric and symmetric modes are discussed. The responses of arches subjected to the combined horizontal and vertical excitations are also discussed. The quasi‐static responses caused by the partially correlated multiple input are calculated and their effects on the total structural responses are analyzed. Also calculated are the responses of arches subjected to the various simplified input such as the conventionally used uniform input or multiple input with phase shifts only. The effects of those assumptions on the total arch responses are studied. Some conclusions about the multiple input effects on arches are drawn.