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William B. Joyner

Publications and source records attributed to William B. Joyner.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2020

Damping values derived from surface-source, downhole-receiver measurements at 22 sites in the San Francisco Bay Area of central California and the San Fernando Valley of southern California

A method discussed in Gibbs, Boore, et al. (1994) was applied to surface‐source, downhole‐receiver recordings at 22 boreholes, in the San Francisco Bay area in central California and the San Fernando Valley of southern California, to determine the average damping ratio of shear waves over depth intervals ranging from about 10 m to as much as 245 m (at one site), with most maximum depths being between 35 and 90 m. The average damping values range from somewhat less than 1% to almost 8%, with little dependence on grain size for sites in sediments. Surprisingly, the average damping values for sites with average velocities greater than about 450    m / s "> 450 m / s 450 m/s ⁠ , including, but not limited to rock sites, are generally larger than for sites with lower average velocities. The combined effect of the higher damping and shorter travel times through the rock columns, however, leads to an effective attenuation that is generally comparable or smaller than for soil sites.

California↗
USGS2000

Comparison of phase velocities from array measurements of Rayleigh waves associated with microtremor and results calculated from borehole shear-wave velocity profiles

Shear-wave velocities (V S ) are widely used for earthquake ground-motion site characterization. V S data are now largely obtained using borehole methods. Drilling holes, however, is expensive. Nonintrusive surface methods are inexpensive for obtaining V S information, but not many comparisons with direct borehole measurements have been published. Because different assumptions are used in data interpretation of each surface method and public safety is involved in site characterization for engineering structures, it is important to validate the surface methods by additional comparisons with borehole measurements. We compare results obtained from a particular surface method (array measurement of surface waves associated with microtremor) with results obtained from borehole methods. Using a 10-element nested-triangular array of 100-m aperture, we measured surface-wave phase velocities at two California sites, Garner Valley near Hemet and Hollister Municipal Airport. The Garner Valley site is located at an ancient lake bed where water-saturated sediment overlies decomposed granite on top of granite bedrock. Our array was deployed at a location where seismic velocities had been determined to a depth of 500 m by borehole methods. At Hollister, where the near-surface sediment consists of clay, sand, and gravel, we determined phase velocities using an array located close to a 60-m deep borehole where downhole velocity logs already exist. Because we want to assess the measurements uncomplicated by uncertainties introduced by the inversion process, we compare our phase-velocity results with the borehole V S depth profile by calculating fundamental-mode Rayleigh-wave phase velocities from an earth model constructed from the borehole data. For wavelengths less than ~2 times of the array aperture at Garner Valley, phase-velocity results from array measurements agree with the calculated Rayleigh-wave velocities to better than 11%. Measurement errors become larger for wavelengths 2 times greater than the array aperture. At Hollister, the measured phase velocity at 3.9 Hz (near the upper edge of the microtremor frequency band) is within 20% of the calculated Rayleigh-wave velocity. Because shear-wave velocity is the predominant factor controlling Rayleigh-wave phase velocities, the comparisons suggest that this nonintrusive method can provide V S information adequate for ground-motion estimation.

California↗
USGS2000

Strong motion from surface waves in deep sedimentary basins

It is widely recognized that long-period surface waves generated by conversion of body waves at the boundaries of deep sedimentary basins make an important contribution to strong ground motion. The factors controlling the amplitude of such motion, however, are not widely understood. A study of pseudovelocity response spectra of strong-motion records from the Los Angeles Basin shows that late-arriving surface waves with group velocities of about 1 km/sec dominate the ground motion for periods of 3 sec and longer. The rate of amplitude decay for these waves is less than for the body waves and depends significantly on period, with smaller decay for longer periods. The amplitude can be modeled by the equation log y = f(M, RE) + c + bRB where y is the pseudovelocity response, f(M, RE) is an attenuation relation based on a general strong-motion data set, M is moment magnitude, RE is the distance from the source to the edge of the basin, RB is the distance from the edge of the basin to the recording site, and b and c are parameters fit to the data. The equation gives values larger by as much as a factor of 3 than given by the attenuation relationships based on general strong-motion data sets for the same source-site distance. It is clear that surface waves need to be taken into account in the design of long-period structures in deep sedimentary basins. The ground-motion levels specified by the earthquake provisions of current building codes, in California at least, accommodate the long-period ground motions from basin-edge-generated surface waves for periods of 5 sec and less and earthquakes with moment magnitudes of 7.5 or less located more than 20 km outside the basin. There may be problems at longer periods and for earthquakes located closer to the basin edge. The results of this study suggest that anelastic attenuation may need to be included in attempts to model long-period motion in deep sedimentary basins. To obtain better data on surface waves in the future, operators of strong-motion networks should take special care for the faithful recording of the long-period components of ground motion. It will also be necessary to insure that at least some selected recorders, once triggered, continue to operate for a time sufficient for the surface waves to traverse the basin. With velocities of about 1 km/sec, that time will be as long as 100 sec for a basin the size of the Los Angeles Basin.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
USGS1994

The attenuation of seismic shear waves in quaternary alluvium in Santa Clara Valley, California

We used shear waves, generated by an air-powered source at the ground surface and recorded in a borehole, to estimate the shear-wave quality factor at strong-motion station Gilroy no. 2. We find similar values of Q using both the decay of the spectra with depth and the slope of the spectral ratio at two depths; we find no evidence of a frequency dependence of Q . The mean value of Q over the depth range 10 to 115 m is close to 10. The use of this value over the depth of the borehole and the observed travel time of 0.358 sec gives a cumulative attenuation factor t * of 0.036 sec for the upper 180 m of the Quaternary alluvium. This is comparable to the differential decay between Gilroy no. 2 and a rock site 1.9 km away (Gilroy no. 1), as measured from the decay of the high-frequency spectra of accelerograms from large earthquakes, plotted on a log-linear scale: t * = 0.05, 0.04, and 0.03 sec for the 1979 Coyote Lake, 1984 Morgan Hill, and 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakes, respectively. The similarity between the attenuations measured from the low-strain surface source and those from the larger amplitude earthquake sources suggests that increases of damping due to nonlinear wave propagation effects are limited.

California↗
USGS1994

Including near-field terms in the isochrone integration method for application to finite-fault or kirchhoff boundary integral problems

In many types of seismological and engineering problems, it is necessary to perform a surface integral involving a Green's function having either a source or receiver point on the surface. For far-field terms of the Green's function, it is well known that the surface integral can be reduced to a line integral, yielding a considerable computational advantage. In this work we show that a similar transformation to a line integral can be made for the near-field terms when the Green's function is for a uniform whole space. The necessary condition is that the various terms in the Green's function can be transformed into sums of nondispersive pulses. We accomplish this for near-field terms in a whole space by repeatedly time-differentiating the terms.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
USGS1981

Peak horizontal acceleration and velocity from strong-motion records including records from the 1979 imperial valley, California, earthquake

We have taken advantage of the recent increase in strong-motion data at close distances to derive new attenuation relations for peak horizontal acceleration and velocity. This new analysis uses a magnitude-independent shape, based on geometrical spreading and anelastic attenuation, for the attenuation curve. An innovation in technique is introduced that decouples the determination of the distance dependence of the data from the magnitude dependence.

California↗
USGS1981

Peak horizontal acceleration and velocity from strong motion records including records from the 1979 Imperial Valley, California, earthquake

We have taken advantage of the recent increase in strong-motion data at close distances to derive new attenuation relations for peak horizontal acceleration and velocity. Acceleration data from 183 recordings of 24 earthquakes and velocity data from 62 recordings of 10 earthquakes have been used. This new analysis uses a magnitude-independent shape for the attenuation curve based on geometrical spreading and anelastic attenuation. A magnitude-dependent shape could be accommodated by the method, but the data do not support it. An innovation in technique is introduced that decouples the determination of the distance dependence of the data from the magnitude dependence.

California↗
USGS1978

Estimation of ground motion parameters

Strong motion data from western North America for earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 are examined to provide the basis for estimating peak acceleration, velocity, displacement, and duration as a function of distance for three magnitude classes. Data from the San Fernando earthquake are examined to assess the effects of associated structures and of geologic site conditions on peak recorded motions. Small but statistically significant differences are observed in peak values of horizontal acceleration, velocity, and displacement recorded on soil at the base of small structures compared with values recorded at the base of large structures. Values of peak horizontal acceleration recorded at soil sites in the San Fernando earthquake are not significantly different from the values recorded at rock sites, but values of peak horizontal velocity and displacement are significantly greater at soil sites than at rock sites. Three recently published relationships for predicting peak horizontal acceleration are compared and discussed. Considerations are reviewed relevant to ground motion predictions at close distances where there are insufficient recorded data points.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1977

A FORTRAN program for calculating nonlinear seismic ground response

The program described here was designed for calculating the nonlinear seismic response of a system of horizontal soil layers underlain by a semi-infinite elastic medium representing bedrock. Excitation is a vertically incident shear wave in the underlying medium. The nonlinear hysteretic behavior of the soil is represented by a model consisting of simple linear springs and Coulomb friction elements arranged as shown. A boundary condition is used which takes account of finite rigidity in the elastic substratum. The computations are performed by an explicit finite-difference scheme that proceeds step by step in space and time. A brief program description is provided here with instructions for preparing the input and a source listing. A more detailed discussion of the method is presented elsewhere as is the description of a different program employing implicit integration.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1976

Analysis of seismograms from a downhole array in sediments near San Francisco Bay

A four-level downhole array of three-component instruments was established on the southwest shore of San Francisco Bay to monitor the effect of the sediments on low-amplitude seismic ground motion. The deepest instrument is at a depth of 186 meters, two meters below the top of the Franciscan bedrock. Earthquake data from regional distances (29 km ≤ Δ ≤ 485 km) over a wide range of azimuths are compared with the predictions of a simple plane-layered model with material properties independently determined. Spectral ratios between the surface and bedrock computed for the one horizontal component of motion that was analyzed agree rather well with the model predictions; the model predicts the frequencies of the first three peaks within 10 percent in most cases and the height of the peaks within 50 percent in most cases. Surface time histories computed from the theoretical model predict the time variations of amplitude and frequency content reasonably well, but correlations of individual cycles cannot be made between observed and predicted traces.

California↗