Stochastic seismic analysis in the Messina Strait area

Abstract

After 1908 Messina earthquake significant progresses have been carried out in the field of earthquake engineering. Usually seismic action is represented via the so called elastic response spectrum or alternatively by time histories of ground motion acceleration. Due the random nature of the seismic action, alternative representations assume the seismic action as zero-mean Gaussian process fully defined by the so-called Power Spectral Density function. Aim of this paper is the comparative study of the response of linear behaving structures adopting the above representation of the seismic action using recorded earthquakes in the Messina strait area. In this regard, a handy method for determining the power spectral density function of recorded earthquakes is proposed. Numerical examples conducted on the existing space truss located in Torre Faro (Messina) will show the effectiveness of stochastic approach for coping with the seismic analysis of structures.