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  1. ABSTRACT

    We have implemented and verified a parallel-series Iwan-type nonlinear model in a 3D fourth-order staggered-grid velocity–stress finite-difference method. The Masing unloading and reloading behavior is simulated by tracking an overlay of concentric von Mises yield surfaces. Lamé parameters and failure stresses pertaining to each surface are calibrated to reproduce the stress–strain backbone curve, which is controlled by the reference strain assigned to a given depth level. The implementation is successfully verified against established codes for 1D and 2D SH-wave benchmarks. The capabilities of the method for large-scale nonlinear earthquake modeling are demonstrated for an Mw 7.8 dynamic rupture ShakeOut scenario on the southern San Andreas fault. Although ShakeOut simulations with a single yield surface reduces long-period ground-motion amplitudes by about 25% inside a waveguide in greater Los Angeles, Iwan nonlinearity further reduces the values by a factor of 2. For example, inside the Whittier Narrows corridor spectral accelerations at a period of 3 s are reduced from 1g in the linear case to about 0.8 in the bilinear case and to 0.3–0.4g in the multisurface Iwan nonlinear case, depending on the choice of reference strain. Normalized shear modulus reductions reach values of up to 50% in the waveguide and up to 75% in the San Bernardino basin at the San Andreas fault. We expect the implementation to be a valuable tool for future nonlinear 3D dynamic rupture and ground-motion simulations in models with coupled source, path, and site effects.

     
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  2. SUMMARY

    We have simulated 0–5 Hz deterministic wave propagation for a suite of 17 models of the 2014 Mw 5.1 La Habra, CA, earthquake with the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Velocity Model Version S4.26-M01 using a finite-fault source. Strong motion data at 259 sites within a 148 km × 140 km area are used to validate our simulations. Our simulations quantify the effects of statistical distributions of small-scale crustal heterogeneities (SSHs), frequency-dependent attenuation Q(f), surface topography and near-surface low-velocity material (via a 1-D approximation) on the resulting ground motion synthetics. The shear wave quality factor QS(f) is parametrized as QS, 0 and QS, 0fγ for frequencies less than and higher than 1 Hz, respectively. We find the most favourable fit to data for models using ratios of QS, 0 to shear wave velocity VS of 0.075–1.0 and γ values less than 0.6, with the best-fitting amplitude drop-off for the higher frequencies obtained for γ values of 0.2–0.4. Models including topography and a realistic near-surface weathering layer tend to increase peak velocities at mountain peaks and ridges, with a corresponding decrease behind the peaks and ridges in the direction of wave propagation. We find a clear negative correlation between the effects on peak ground velocity amplification and duration lengthening, suggesting that topography redistributes seismic energy from the large-amplitude first arrivals to the adjacent coda waves. A weathering layer with realistic near-surface low velocities is found to enhance the amplification at mountain peaks and ridges, and may partly explain the underprediction of the effects of topography on ground motions found in models. Our models including topography tend to improve the fit to data, as compared to models with a flat free surface, while our distributions of SSHs with constraints from borehole data fail to significantly improve the fit. Accuracy of the velocity model, particularly the near-surface low velocities, as well as the source description, controls the resolution with which the anelastic attenuation can be determined. Our results demonstrate that it is feasible to use fully deterministic physics-based simulations to estimate ground motions for seismic hazard analysis up to 5 Hz. Here, the effects of, and trade-offs with, near-surface low-velocity material, topography, SSHs and Q(f) become increasingly important as frequencies increase towards 5 Hz, and should be included in the calculations. Future improvement in community velocity models, wider access to computational resources, more efficient numerical codes and guidance from this study are bound to further constrain the ground motion models, leading to more accurate seismic hazard analysis.

     
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  3. SUMMARY

    The near-surface seismic structure (to a depth of about 1000 m), particularly the shear wave velocity (VS), can strongly affect the propagation of seismic waves and, therefore, must be accurately calibrated for ground motion simulations and seismic hazard assessment. The VS of the top (<300 m) crust is often well characterized from borehole studies, geotechnical measurements, and water and oil wells, while the velocities of the material deeper than about 1000 m are typically determined by tomography studies. However, in depth ranges lacking information on shallow lithological stratification, typically rock sites outside the sedimentary basins, the material parameters between these two regions are typically poorly characterized due to resolution limits of seismic tomography. When the alluded geological constraints are not available, models, such as the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Community Velocity Models (CVMs), default to regional tomographic estimates that do not resolve the uppermost VS values, and therefore deliver unrealistically high shallow VS estimates. The SCEC Unified Community Velocity Model (UCVM) software includes a method to incorporate the near-surface earth structure by applying a generic overlay based on measurements of time-averaged VS in top 30 m (VS30) to taper the upper part of the model to merge with tomography at a depth of 350 m, which can be applied to any of the velocity models accessible through UCVM. However, our 3-D simulations of the 2014 Mw 5.1 La Habra earthquake in the Los Angeles area using the CVM-S4.26.M01 model significantly underpredict low-frequency (<1 Hz) ground motions at sites where the material properties in the top 350 m are significantly modified by the generic overlay (‘taper’). On the other hand, extending the VS30-based taper of the shallow velocities down to a depth of about 1000 m improves the fit between our synthetics and seismic data at those sites, without compromising the fit at well-constrained sites. We explore various tapering depths, demonstrating increasing amplification as the tapering depth increases, and the model with 1000 m tapering depth yields overall favourable results. Effects of varying anelastic attenuation are small compared to effects of velocity tapering and do not significantly bias the estimated tapering depth. Although a uniform tapering depth is adopted in the models, we observe some spatial variabilities that may further improve our method.

     
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  4. null (Ed.)
    Robots are entering various domains of human societies, potentially unfolding more opportunities for people to perceive robots as social agents. We expect that having robots in proximity would create unique social learning situations where humans spontaneously observe and imitate robots’ behaviors. At times, these occurrences of humans’ imitating robot behaviors may result in a spread of unsafe or unethical behaviors among humans. For responsible robot designing, therefore, we argue that it is essential to understand physical and psychological triggers of social learning in robot design. Grounded in the existing literature of social learning and the uncanny valley theories, we discuss the human-likeness of robot appearance and affective responses associated with robot appearance as likely factors that either facilitate or deter social learning. We propose practical considerations for social learning and robot design. 
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  5. Metazoans host complex communities of microorganisms that include dinoflagellates, fungi, bacteria, archaea and viruses. Interactions among members of these complex assemblages allow hosts to adjust their physiology and metabolism to cope with environmental variation and occupy different habitats. Here, using reciprocal transplantation across depths, we studied adaptive divergence in the corals Orbicella annularis and O. franksi , two young species with contrasting vertical distribution in the Caribbean. When transplanted from deep to shallow, O. franksi experienced fast photoacclimation and low mortality, and maintained a consistent bacterial community. By contrast, O. annularis experienced high mortality and limited photoacclimation when transplanted from shallow to deep. The photophysiological collapse of O. annularis in the deep environment was associated with an increased microbiome variability and reduction of some bacterial taxa. Differences in the symbiotic algal community were more pronounced between coral species than between depths. Our study suggests that these sibling species are adapted to distinctive light environments partially driven by the algae photoacclimation capacity and the microbiome robustness, highlighting the importance of niche specialization in symbiotic corals for the maintenance of species diversity. Our findings have implications for the management of these threatened Caribbean corals and the effectiveness of coral reef restoration efforts. 
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  6. Clark Chinn ; Edna Tan ; Carol Chan ; Yael Kali (Ed.)
  7. ABSTRACT

    Empirical transfer functions (ETFs) between seismic records observed at the surface and depth represent a powerful tool to estimate site effects for earthquake hazard analysis. However, conventional modeling of site amplification, with assumptions of horizontally polarized shear waves propagating vertically through 1D layered homogeneous media, often poorly predicts the ETFs, particularly, in which large lateral variations of velocity are present. Here, we test whether more accurate site effects can be obtained from theoretical transfer functions (TTFs) extracted from physics-based simulations that naturally incorporate the complex material properties. We select two well-documented downhole sites (the KiK-net site TKCH05 in Japan and the Garner Valley site, Garner Valley Downhole Array, in southern California) for our study. The 3D subsurface geometry at the two sites is estimated by means of the surface topography near the sites and information from the shear-wave profiles obtained from borehole logs. By comparing the TTFs to ETFs at the selected sites, we show how simulations using the calibrated 3D models can significantly improve site amplification estimates as compared to 1D model predictions. The primary reason for this improvement in 3D models is redirection of scattering from vertically propagating to more realistic obliquely propagating waves, which alleviates artificial amplification at nodes in the vertical-incidence response of corresponding 1D approximations, resulting in improvement of site effect estimation. The results demonstrate the importance of reliable calibration of subsurface structure and material properties in site response studies.

     
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