An investigation of the effects of surface topography on the seismic structural demands for a region of istanbul

Abstract

In this study, we provide preliminary results from an ongoing study—funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TUBITAK—investigating the effects of site-specific surface topography and soil stratigraphy on dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI) behavior of structures located within a region of Istanbul. To achieve this, nonlinear time-domain responses of various soil-foundation-structure systems subjected to strong remote earthquake excitations for various site conditions will be investigated. The goal is to transform SSI analyses to consider realistic site conditions. An important part of this effort involves the creation of a map of topography-induced SSI response amplification factors for the south European side of Istanbul by performing 3D simulations using real site topography and soil stratigraphy data, and realistic bedrock ground motions, which are available from previously completed earthquake scenario and seismic microzonation studies. This paper presents preliminary results of large-scale 3D simulations performed for the south European side of Istanbul.