Ground-motion response spectra in eastern north America for different critical damping values

National seismic hazard maps in Canada and the United States generally provide input ground motions in the form of 2%/50-year response spectra for an assumed 5% of critical damping. This paper presents a practical method to modify 5%-damped response spectra for sites in eastern North America (ENA) to provide response spectra for damping values other than 5%, based on analysis of typical ENA earthquake ground-motion signals over a range of magnitudes and distances.