SPECIFIC EARTHQUAKE

PROJECT WORKSHOP
April 10, 2019
The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Davao City
 THE PROJECT

“Specific earthquake ground motion levels to

help increase the seismic resiliency of
residential and medium-to-high rise
buildings in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao”
IMPLEMENTING AGENCY:

DOST-PHIVOLCS

FUNDING AGENCY:

DOST-PCIEERD
 RESEARCH RATIONALE
• Metro Davao is the leading
metropolitan area in Mindanao
• Metro Davao has a population of 2.5
million (2015 census), rapidly
developing
• The need for more industrial,
commercial and residential buildings
will consequently arise.
• If construction is not properly guided
by appropriate seismic data, this can
lead to an increase in vulnerability of
Metro Davao to earthquake hazards.
ACTIVE FAULTS IN DAVAO REGION
 PHIVOLCS FaultFinder App
The PHIVOLCS FaultFinder, is a web-based and mobile phone (android) application to locate the nearest active
fault from a specified location or the named barangay. This application facilitates easy access to quality data for
disaster preparedness, land use, risk assessment and in real-estate.

URL: http://faultfinder.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph
EARTHQUAKE-RELATED HAZARDS

Fault

Faulting (Ground) Ground Shaking Liquefactio

Rupture n

Tsunami Fire
Landslide
 RESEARCH RATIONALE

• To achieve a more earthquake-resilient Metro

Davao, building designs must consider the ground
motion levels of the area where the structure
stands.

• Results may be used by local administrators in their

land use planning and strict implementation of
seismic design of residential and medium-to-high
rise buildings from the effect of short and long
period seismic motion
 RESEARCH
RATIONALE

• Knowledge of subsurface
structures underlying urban
regions is key to determine
site-specific earthquake motion
levels in urban regions
• For this study, variation of
shear wave velocity (Vs) in
geologic strata is used as a
parameter in evaluating
specific site effects
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• To use non-conventional
methods in determining
site specific earthquake
ground motion levels

• Past researches
(conventional) used
intrusive methods,
wherein boreholes had to
be drilled and sensors
had to be lowered at
various depths to record
P-and S-wave velocity
©geometrics.com
 CONVENTIONAL VS. ALTERNATIVE
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
CONVENTIONAL GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
Intrusive: boreholes have to be drilled
Sensors have to be lowered down the
drillholes
Artificial source of seismic waves -
Costly
Very site specific and limited to depth
of borehole
Takes time to drill and set up sensors
ALTERNATIVE GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
Non-Intrusive: the instruments will only
be placed on the surface
sensors will be planted on the ground
and will record for a few minutes before
being transferred to next site
Utilizes passive source – ambient noise,
microtremors
Cost-effective
Can cover a wider range of area, and up
to 3 kms depth
Fast and efficient, one complete survey
can take up to 4 hours at most
 DATA GATHERING METHODS
• This project uses data gathering methods that are
non-intrusive

• Researchers use portable seismometers that will

be placed on the surface to record for a number of
minutes

• The three data gathering methods conducted for

Metro Davao were:
1. Microtremor Survey Method
2. Refraction Microtremor Survey
3. Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio Method
 MICROTREMOR SURVEY METHOD

• This method uses seven (7) portable

seismometers that will record
microtremors for a few minutes

• Each instrument is equipped with

Global Positioning System for time
synchronization and location
coordinates

Set up for an array microtremor measurement

 REFRACTION MICROTREMOR METHOD

• A series of geophones planted on the ground connected to a

seismograph
• A hammer striking a steel plate is used as the seismic source
• Propagating waves are measured and analyzed
HORIZONTAL-TO-VERTICAL SPECTRAL RATIO METHOD
• Uses the same
instrument as the ones
used in microtremor
array method
• Single station, does not
need to be set up as an
array
• Records fundamental
ground period of an
area
• Only requires a
recording time of 20
minutes at most
CONCEPT OF PERIOD
What is a period?
• the time (seconds) it takes for the building to naturally vibrate
back and forth

high rise
(>2 seconds period)
medium rise
(1 second period)
“Smaller structures
take shorter time to
low rise
(<1 second period) vibrate back and forth
than larger structures”

image source: www.iris.edu/educate

• The ground, where structures are built, also has its own natural
period during motion (e.g. earthquake).

• Period of ground motion is generally controlled by the ground’s

stiffness.
hard bedrock

shorter period longer period soft sediment

image source: www.iris.edu/educate

Effect of ground motion period to structures during earthquake
large ship has unaffected
Analogy long period

affected
small boat has
short period

small, frequent waves (short period)

affected
seawater

Small, frequent waves will shake small boats unaffected

but will leave large ships unaffected. The
effect is opposite in the case of large,
infrequent waves. large, infrequent waves (long period)
image source: www.iris.edu/educate
before earthquake after earthquake
high rise unaffected
(long period)

low rise
(short period) affected

hard rock hard rock

(short period) (short period)

before earthquake after earthquake

high rise
(long period)
affected

low rise
(short period) unaffected

soft sediment soft sediment

(long period) (long period)
image source: www.iris.edu/educate
Effect of ground motion period to structures during earthquake

Building
Response
Response of low-
rise and high-rise
building, and fluid-
filled tanks from
different
earthquake ground
motions
 SUMMARY

• When the period of ground motion matches the

natural period of a structure (e.g. building), the
structure will suffer the greatest damage when an
earthquake occurs.
 IMPLICATION

• Regulating building designs to avoid resonance of

ground to building period is important to avoid
supplementary structural damages in the event of
an earthquake
OUTPUT

• Seismic microzoning maps indicating areas that are critical for

residential buildings and medium-to-high rise buildings in the
event of an earthquake

• The produced maps for all the cities and municipalities of metro
Davao have been compiled and published as the Metro Davao
Site Response Atlas
RESULTS FROM CURRENT PROJECT

Metro Davao Site Response Atlas