Date of Award:

8-2024

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Brady R. Cox

Committee

Brady R. Cox

Committee

James A. Bay

Committee

Mohsen Zaker Esteghamati

Abstract

An assessment of seismic hazard must be performed for any critical structures designed or built in seismically active regions, where critical structures are defined by ASCE as those that, if damaged excessively, could pose a threat to national security, the economy, or public health, safety, and welfare. This is done, in part, through a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and incorporated site response analysis (SRA). One of the many pieces of information needed to perform a PSHA and an incorporated SRA is the shear wave velocity structure of the site. Additionally, if there are significant topographic features at the site (e.g., steep ridges or slopes) a topographic amplification study may need to be performed.

Prompted by an ongoing PSHA and incorporated SRA update for critical infrastructure at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Mexico, a shear wave velocity structure characterization and topographic amplification investigation were performed for each of the following three LANL sites: TA03, TA16, and TA55. Each site is located atop a broad mesa with steep slopes, which is why the topographic amplification investigations were performed. Data was collected by Dr. Brady Cox and graduate students Kyle Cannon and Tyler Jackson between 6 November 2023 and 10 November 2023.

The shear wave velocity structure characterization at each site was performed using a combination of two surface wave testing methods to obtain dispersion data: multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) and microtremor array measurements (MAM) techniques. The topographic amplification investigation at each site was conducted using spectral ratio methods; namely. the standard spectral ratio method (SSR) and the median reference method (MRM).

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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