Taiwan Non-Ergodic Ground Motion Prediction Equations for Spectral Accelerations and Instantaneous Powers

Currently, available Taiwan ground motion prediction equations were developed based on ergodic assumption, which means that the same ground motion prediction equation is applicable to any ground motion scenarios occurred in Taiwan no matter what locations of earthquake sources are; what paths from sources to sites are, and what locations of sites are. However, several recent studies have shown that the regional differences of source, path and site effects of ground motion in Taiwan are significant. As a result, the prediction for some specific ground motion scenarios in Taiwan may be biased, and the aleatory uncertainty of the ground motion may be over-estimated by using current available Taiwan ground motion prediction equations. Based on it, the aim of this study is to develop new Taiwan ground motion prediction equations for spectral accelerations and instantaneous powers based on non-ergodic assumption which are depended on the source and site locations to consider the regional differences of source, path and site effects of ground motion in Taiwan by using available ground motion records, 3-D velocity models, and horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectra ratios. A better ground motion prediction result with higher accuracy and lower uncertainty will be achieved based on the proposed non-ergodic Taiwan ground motion prediction equations in this study. Structural damage induced by a scenario-based earthquake can be estimated more precisely by using the proposed non-ergodic ground motion prediction models for spectral acceleration and instantaneous power at fundamental period simultaneously.