Earthquake ground motion

Most of the effort in seismic design of buildings and other structures is focused on structural design. This chapter addresses another key aspect of the design process—characterization of earthquake ground motion. Section 3.1 describes the basis of the earthquake ground motion maps in the Provisions and in ASCE 7. Section 3.2 has examples for the determination of ground motion parameters and spectra for use in design. Section 3.3 discusses and provides an example for the selection and scaling of ground motion records for use in response history analysis.