Attenuation of peak ground accelerations from the great Wenchuan earthquake

Over 800 accelerograms recorded by 272 ground-level stations during the Wenchuan earthquake are used to analyze the influence of rupture distance, local site conditions and azimuth on peak ground accelerations (PGAs). To achieve a better understanding of the characteristics of ground motions, the spatial distributions of the EW, NS and UD components of PGAs are obtained. Comparisons between the EW and NS components, the fault-normal and fault-parallel components, and the vertical and horizontal components of PGAs are performed, and the regression formula of the vertical-to-horizontal ratio of PGAs is developed. The attenuation relationship of peak horizontal accelerations (PHAs) is compared with several contemporary attenuation relationships. In addition, an analysis of residuals is conducted to identify the potential effects of rupture distance, azimuth and site conditions on the observed values of PHAs. The analysis focuses on medium-hard soil site conditions, as they provided most of the data used in this study.