Journal of Engineering Geology

Design Spectrum for Near Fault Ground Motions Considering Frequency-Dependence of CH/SC Material Behavior Regarding Laboratory and Field Shear Wave Velocity (Vs)

Nahid Attarchian

Introduction
One-dimensional site response analysis is widely performed to account for local site effects during an earthquake. Most of these approaches assume that dynamic soil properties are frequency independent. Laboratory test results as well as in-situ testing show that shear modulus and damping ratio are dependent on the frequency of loading. Although the amplification factor at ground surface with respect to frequency dependent dynamic properties of mixed alluvium materials under different near-fault motions with various velocity period is recognized, it is not well characterized and quantified.
Material and analysis methods
In this study, the tests results of samples which obtained from the drilling borehole (BH14) form Pardis city in Iran, are used. The soil is classified as clayey of high plasticity/clayey sand (CH/SC) and almost uniform and similar in the whole log profile.
Shear modulus and damping ratios versus shear strain curves (ASTM D3999) of CH/SC natural materials at effective confining pressures of 1, 2 and 5 kg/cm² with frequency of 0.5, 2, 5, and 10 Hz were used in one dimension response analyses using EERA Code.
Generally the damping ratio versus shear strain of the studied materials under low loading frequency (i.e. 0.5 Hz) almost falls in the range identified in literature. However, at higher loading frequencies (5 and 10 Hz) the damping ratios completely fall above the known upper bound trend. It is observed that, in general, the G and D values increase as loading frequency increases. Moreover, at certain strain G/G_max ratio decreases as loading frequency is increased.
Different dynamics behaviour curves were used in analyses, in isotropic consolidation conditions. In order to assess the amplification, acceleration spectra, acceleration spectra ratio, coefficient of B, at ground surface under eight well-known near-fault ground motions, 1728 one dimensional analyses were carried out with EERA code. The analyses have been performed for three base acceleration levels, namely, 0.1 g, 0.35 g and 1 g, using the simple time history scaling method. Field and laboratory test results of shear wave velocity were used in the analyses.
In this study, several well-known near-fault motion records are utilized for ground response analyses. Near-fault earthquakes records were selected from the strong motion database of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and Iran Strong Motion Network (ISMN) for specific reasons of location of the near faults sites.
In current building codes, the upper 30 m soil deposits overlying the higher impedance earth crust are regarded as the most relevant and significant in characterizing the seismic behavior of a site. Therefore, it is useful to accomplish investigations for obtaining their amplification and spectral acceleration for 30 m and even thicker (e.g. 60 m, for usual deep excavation in Iran), in order to have economical and safe designs and constructions.
Results and discussion
Figure 1 presents a comparison of normalized spectral acceleration (B factor) versus period for 30 m and 60 m thick profiles and Vs testing for frequencies dependent and independent analyses under input base acceleration of 0.35g for longitudinal component of used earthquakes. B factor of Iranian Standard 2800 and UBC97 also has been presented in the figure. The spectral acceleration at short period for frequency dependent analysis is higher than that of the frequency independent analysis. The increases in frequency dependent analysis and higher thick profile (i.e. 60 m).
Conclusion
Results show that the effect of loading frequency has a considerable influence on the acceleration response at the ground surface. For both 30 m and 60 m soil columns, the increase of the loading frequency, decreases the amplification factor especially in the short period zone of the spectra. Based on the acceleration response spectra of near field strong motions derived for soils types of I and IV in this study, the period corresponding to in the design spectrum of Iranian Standard 2800 should increase to 0.5 and 1.4, respectively. Therefore, selection of the appropriate G and D curves measured at frequency similar to those of the anticipated cyclic loading (e.g. seismic) has a paramount importance../files/site1/files/134/1.pdf

Prediction of the soil-water characteristic curve of dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process in the Jabal Kandi area

Kazem Badv

Introduction
The geotechnical engineering problems involving unsaturated soils are included water flow, shear strength and volume change. Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) describes the constitutive relationship between soil suction and soil water content. SWCC may be determined directly or indirectly in the laboratory. Because of the various difficulties involved in the direct measurements, a simple and economical laboratory method namely filter paper method is of considerable value. The filter paper method is a laboratory technique that has recently been accepted as a standard method of measuring soil potential, reaching far higher ranges of water potential in comparison to other techniques, and is based on the principle of moisture absorption by filter paper until there is a balance in potential between filter paper and soil.
This paper presents an experimental investigation performed to evaluate the soil water characteristic curves of dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP processes (Sporosarcina pasteurii bacteria with CaCl2 and urea) with contact filter paper method in the Jabal Kandi area.
Material and methods
The dune sand used in this study was obtained from the surface (0–10 cm depth) of Jabal kandi area, located on the south-west of Urmia Lake. SBR polymer is prepared from Paya Resin Company in Esfahan. In the MICP processes, S. pasteurii from Persian Type Culture Collection (PTCC 1645) was used as the urease positive bacterium. Cultivation of the microorganism was conducted in a medium containing 20 g l^-1 yeast extract, 10 g l^-1 NH₄Cl at a pH value of 8. Sporsarcina pasteurii was grown to late exponential phase to final concentration of 1.5 g dry weight l^-1 and urease activity of 2.2 mM urea min^-1 under aerobic batch conditions. Broth cultures were incubated in a shaker incubator operated at 120 rpm. Cementation solution of MICP consisted of CaCl2 and urea. All experiments were performed at an ambient temperature of 25^oC ± 2.
For the tests with Whatman No. 42 filter paper, three different soil samples were prepared (dune sand, dune sand stabilized with (5-10-15) % SBR polymer and dune sand stabilized with (5-10-15) % MICP process). Residual water content is 2.5% and the residual dry density is 15 kN/m³. The soil is mixed with the right quantity of water and placed in a sealed plastic bag for 24 hours to allow the hydric equilibrium to establish. The contact filter paper tests were carried out on soil specimens stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process to the residual water content (2.5%) and nearly residual dry density (15 kN/m³). The soil specimen sizes were 50 mm in diameter and 20 mm height. The test procedure involves placing a piece of initially air dry filter paper against the soil specimen whose matric suction is required and sealing the whole to prevent evaporation. The filter paper was wetted to water content in equilibrium with the magnitude of the soil matric suction, and careful measurement of the water content of the filter paper enables the soil matric suction to be obtained from a previously established correlation. This provides a measure of the matric suction. ASTM D-5298-93 standard is used for the filter paper method.
Results and discussion
The SWCCs for dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process under different SBR polymer and MICP process contents are illustrated in this study. Gradual transition from a unimodel SWCC to a bimodal SWCC was observed as SBR polymer and MICP process content increases. The unimodel SWCC is characterized by having two bends defining the air entry value and residual water content. The air entry value is defined as the matric suction above which air commence to enter the soil pores. The residual water content is defined as the water content beyond which no significant decrease in water content occurs. The bimodal SWCC is characterized by having four distinct bindings: two air entry values and two residual water contents. For SBR polymer and MICP process content equal to or less than 5 percent, the SWCC shows a unimodal form of SWCC. With the increase of SBR polymer and MICP process content greater than 5%, the SWCC indicate a bimodal form. It is further observed that the residual water content and the air entry value increases with the increase of SBR polymer and MICP process content. These observations are attributed to the presence of smaller pore size developed as a result of SBR polymer and MICP process particles filling the voids between sand particles. Bimodal SWCC are generally observed for gap-graded soils as well as soils that include two levels of pore sizes defined as macro pores and micro pores. Therefore, it can be inferred that the increase of SBR polymer and MICP process content, resulted in the formation of micro pores within the dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process. The portion of the soil water characteristic curves representing macro pore sizes range between matric suction of 0.1 to 100 kPa. Whereas, the portion of the SWCC representing micro pore sizes lies between matric suction of 200 and 1500 kPa.
Summary and Conclusions
In this study, the effect of SBR polymer and MICP process content on the soil water characteristic curves of dune sand was evaluated. SBR polymer and MICP process contents considered include 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%. Results from this study indicated that, as the SBR polymer and MICP process content increased, the shape of the SWCC transforms from a unimodal form to a bimodal form. Furthermore, the air entry value and residual water content were observed to increase with increase in SBR polymer and MICP process content signifying increase in water retention capacity. The bimodal form of the SWCC indicates the presence of two levels of pore sizes; namely macro pores and micro pores. For 10% and 15% SBR polymer and MICP process content, the macro pores are considered the dominant pore size covering a broad range of the SWCC from 0.1 to 100 kPa. Therefore, it is inferred that the SWCC of dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process are strongly related to the texture and pore size distribution of the dune sand stabilized with SBR polymer and MICP process which in turn, has a significant impact on its hydraulic characteristics.
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A Dynamic Analysis of the Interaction of Concrete Face and Rockfill Part in Concrete Faced Rockfill Dams

Ali M Rajabi

Introduction
Concrete faced rockfill dams have been considered in recent years more than other types of dams due to their low dependency on the bed and the shape of the valley, as well as the simpler construction technology. In this regard, rockfill dams are a suitable substitute for embankment dams because of higher stability of the body and the availability of rock aggregates. On the other hand, because the permeability of rock aggregates is much higher than other materials, different methods are used to seal these types of dams. One of these methods is the use of non-impermeable concrete facing in the upstream of these dams. This particular type of gravel dams is called Concrete-Faced Rockfill Dams (CRFD). In this study, a contact element with a definition of elastic-plastic failure in the modeling process is proposed to simulate the surface separation and re-contact of the concrete face with the rockfill surface of the dam.
Method
In this paper, behavior of a concrete faced rockfill dam under earthquake loads is investigated. For this purpose, near-field earthquake records with focal depth lower than 15 km (for example Tabas earthquake 1978, M=7.4, and San Fernando earthquake 1970, M=6.6) are used. Moreover, to study the dam behavior under dynamic loads, interaction between concrete face and rockfill part of the dam is investigated and finally, some parameters including displacement, absorbed energy and base shear are evaluated. So, finite element method and Abaqus software is used for the study. Verification of the models is carried out using the results of previous researches by conducting modal analysis and determining natural vibration period. Then, the interaction between the concrete face and rockfill part as well as the effect of water level changes in stability of dam under dynamic load is investigated. Concrete behavior is simulated using concrete damaged plasticity. Therefore, concrete density, compressive strength and tensile strength and elasticity modulus are 2350 kg/m³, 25 MPa, 3 MPa and 29 GPa, respectively. Poisson’s ratio is assumed to be 0.2. Furthermore, 4-node shell elements are used to simulate concrete face and Drucker-Prager constitutive model is used to define rockfill material behavior.
The density and Poisson’s ratio for 2B, 3C and 3B layers are 2150 kg/m³ and 0.35, respectively. The shear modulus values for these layers are respectively 8.93, 2.89, and 3.85 GPa. In order to perform the simulation, the part of the dam structure beside the bed rock and the surrounding rock is considered as fixed bearing, and only the rockfill part and concrete face of the dam is simulated. Based on this assumption that the bed is rigid, there is no need to consider the dam foundation. This method is frequently used in literature review.
All the surfaces of the dam and bed rock are considered as fixed bearing to simulate the real condition where the dam is attached to bed rock and the surrounding rock. The interaction between dam layers is defined as tie. For defining the interaction between rockfill body and concrete face, tangential and normal contacts are defined using penalty method with friction coefficient equal to 0.5. In the next step, the model is meshed using 4-node shell elements for concrete face, 8-node brick and 4-node pyramid solid elements for rockfill body. Rayleigh damping is used to simulate the structure damping. The effective length of the dam reservoir has been determined by conducting several analyzes, so that the minimum required length for reservoir is reached in order to decrease the number of elements of the model.
Results and discussion
1. Interaction between concrete face and rockfill body
The results show that the increase of friction coefficient between concrete face and rockfill part from 0.5 to 0.7 has not affect the displacement of dam crown along the earthquake direction. However, when the concrete face is fixed to the rockfill part, significant changes are induced in dam crown displacement time history. In all cases, the deflection due to the dam weight is increased when the concrete face is attached to the rockfill body. The reason can be attributed to the tied interaction between these layers which results in similar deflection of concrete face with rockfill body and higher deflection of concrete dam crown. However, after the application of earthquake load, the displacement of the dam crown decreased in both analyses when tie interaction is defined between concrete face and rockfill body. In this study, due to the very high volume of analysis and its timeliness, it was not possible to examine the dam behavior in the free vibration regime, and therefore, it is not possible to assume the last displacement values at the end of analyses as the permanent displacement of dam. Figure 1 shows the relative displacement of the dam for the two selected earthquakes with a friction coefficient equal to 0.5 between the concrete face and the gravel body. According to Figure 1, the maximum displacement induced by the earthquake is related to Tabas and then, San Francisco earthquake. Furthermore, the high energy content of the Tabas record has been more effective in inducing greater displacement than the other record.

Figure 1. Lateral displacement of dam crown relative to the dam base for the selected earthquakes; Tabas and San Fernando.
The results also indicate that when the friction coefficient between concrete face and rockfill body is 0.5, the lowest damage occurs in the dam compared to that happens when friction coefficient is 0.7 or when the surfaces are tied. When the tied surfaces are used, the most damages takes place in concrete face, since all rockfill body displacement transmits to concrete face which results in much more concrete damages compared to the other interaction cases.
2. Effect of water level in reservoir on dam behavior
In this section, the effect of water level on seismic behavior of dam is investigated. For this purpose, the dam reservoir is analyzed in three cases including empty, half full and full (90% of dam height). Each study cases are examined under San Fernando and Tabas earthquakes. Figure 2 shows the relative displacement of dam crown in the three water level case for San Fernando and Tabas earthquakes.

Figure 2. Relative displacement of dam crown in three water level cases of empty, half and full for (a) Tabas and (b) San Fernando earthquakes
According to Figure 2, for both earthquakes, the dam crown displacement along the earthquake direction is significantly increased by increasing the water level, so that the maximum displacement in full case is 50% higher than empty case.
Conclusion
In this study, using the finite element method and simulation by Abaqus, the seismic behavior of concrete face rockfill dams has been investigated. For this purpose, the verification is firstly carried out using previous research results in literature. In the next step, nonlinear dynamical analysis is carried out, taking into account large displacements for the models under the earthquake record acceleration. The results illustrate that increasing the friction coefficient between the concrete face and the rockfill body from 0.5 to 0.7 has no significant effect on the displacement of the dam crown under earthquake load. Moreover, by using tie interaction between the concrete layer and the rockfill body, there is a substantial difference in the history of the relative displacement of the dam, and the displacement of the dam due to its weight has been increased. Furthermore, the results of this study exhibit that, with increasing the water level in dam reservoir, the deformation of the crown of the dam along the earthquake application direction has had a relatively significant increase, such that in the full state, the maximum displacement is increased by about 50% compared to that of the empty case. This is while the most damage of concrete is observed in the case when half height of dam in filled by water. Due to the more destructive power of near-field earthquakes and their impact nature, only near-fault earthquakes have been used in this research. Therefore, the results of this study are valid only for the behavior of dam under near-field earthquakes.
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The Abrasion and Brittleness Coefficients of Tabriz’s Metro Aggregates

Amirhasan Rezaei Farei

Introduction
Urban development and rapid extension of cities have been accompanied by a considerable growth in mechanized tunneling. The abrasivity of rock and even soil is a factor with considerable influence on the wear of tools. Soil abrasion and the resulting tool wear has a major impact on machine operation, utilization, and tunneling costs and time. One of the problematic aspects of working in abrasive grounds is the frequent need for the replacement of cutting tools, especially in pressurized face tunnel boring machines (TBMs). The effect of worn and damaged TBM cutter heads has been documented for numerous tunnel projects around the world. However, the lack of a standard or universally accepted test for soil abrasivity in geotechnical investigations has made the prediction of tool wear a difficult task.
Material and methods
A reliable prognosis of the abrasiveness of soils on a project would be of great benefit for designers, clients, and contractors. Many abrasion tests exist for rocks, and some have been proposed for soils; however, there is no universally accepted or international standard test for soil abrasivity testing. One of the most important and available tests in this field is LCPC abrasivity test which was developed by the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées in the 1980’s. The LCPC Abrasivity Coefficient (ABR or LAC) can be used as a measure for both the abrasivity of the soil material and the influence of the grain size. The abrasivity testing of rock is controlled by well-known parameters, whereas in soils many factors are influencing the abrasivity such as in-situ soil conditions, sedimentary petrology and technical properties.
Tabriz metro line 2 Project about 22 km in length that will connect eastern part of the Tabriz city to its western part, considered as a case study. The project comprises a single tunnel which has been constructed using two earth pressure balance EPB-TBM with a cutting-wheel diameter of 9.49 m. In this study, based on geological and geotechnical properties, the tunnel route was divided into four parts and the abrasion and brittleness coefficients of alluviums determined by LCPC test. Besides that, the influences of some factors such as moisture content, mineralogy, grain size and shape, type and amount of foam have been studied.
Results and discussion
Based on more than 130 LCPC test results, in general, the Tabriz Metro’s line-2 route alluviums have the abrasion in the range of low to very high and the brittleness in the range of high to very high. In order to measure the effect of moisture content on abrasion and brittleness coefficient, the LCPC test was done on some samples related to the tunnel route in dried and moistened modes (5%, 0%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%). Three types of sandstone, andesite, and conglomerate of the route were used to test the effect of moisture and petrology on abrasion. In a moisture range of 0 to 5%, in all types of materials, abrasion was increased. In a moisture range of 5 to 10%, abrasion was decreased in all three types, and this shows that a moisture level of 10% is a normal moisture content to create minimum abrasion. The behavior of sandstone and conglomerate is similar at higher moisture contents, and an increase in moisture content to 30% can increase abrasion of materials in both types. In conglomerate, abrasion at higher moisture levels is significantly more than in other modes. In andesite, an increase in moisture content to 20% can increase abrasion, although the abrasion is decreased with a moisture content of over 20%. In most samples, increase in moisture content led to decrease in brittleness of materials. In general, the highest abrasion level was related to conglomerate and the lowest level was related to sandstone. Moreover, andesite was at a lower level than conglomerate and a higher level than sandstone in terms of abrasion. Also, the results show that increased grain size led to increased abrasion, and the changes in andesite were greater than in sandstone.
In order to test the effectiveness of foam on abrasion, the foam used in workshops (A 168) made by Komeil Company Kashan was used for four types of petrography: conglomerate, andesite, sandstone, and silica. This test was conducted in the range of dried to 100 ml foam. In all types, decreased abrasion is observed from 0 to 20 ml and increased abrasion is observed from 20 to 100 ml.
Conclusion
The following conclusions are drawn from this research.
- With regard to the effect of grain size, increased size of grains could lead to more abrasion and less brittleness
- In terms of the effect of mineralogy, the conglomerate had the most effect on abrasion. In terms of brittleness, andesite was the most brittle.
- When the foam is moisturized in the sample, minimum abrasion is observed and above this level, the abrasion is increased.
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Finite Difference Numerical Evaluation of Liquefaction with Effective Stress Method and Numerical Estimation of Liquefaction in Bandar Abbas’s Mosque Project (Case Study)

Adel Asakereh

Introduction
Estimation of Liquefaction is one of the main objectives in geotechnical engineering. For this purpose, several numerical and experimental methods have been proposed. An important stage to predict the liquefaction is the prediction of excess pore water pressure at a given point. In general, there are two important methods for soil dynamics analyses, fully coupled effective stress and uncoupled total stress analysis. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the model capacity of the finite difference software, FLAC, based on effective stress analysis methods to predict the excess pore water pressure during seismic loading. A level ground centrifuge test conducted during the VELACS project on the Nevada sand with a density of 40%, was utilized to calibrate the numerical model. After the validation of the numerical model, a model was conducted to predict excess pore pressure and consequently the liquefaction for the site of Bandar Abbas Mosque.
Theoretical bases
A fully coupled u–P formulation, where pore pressures and displacements are computed simultaneously and interactively at each time step, is used in FLAC software. This feature is used to simulate the excess pore water pressure time histories during cyclic loading.
The finite difference based software, FLAC, used the Finn model that incorporates two equations correlating the volumetric strain induced by the cyclic shear strain and excess pore water pressure produced during cyclic loading. As mentioned above, the pore water pressure generation can be computed from two sets of equations: Martin et al. (1975) and the Byrne (1991) formulations in which the volumetric strain that was produced in any cycle of loading is depended on the shear strain that was formed during that cycle as well as the previously accumulated volumetric strain.
Modeling and Results
The VELACS model # 1 centrifuge test representing a level ground site constituted of the Nevada sand at 40% relative density has been numerically simulated in the current study to validate the numerical model. The centrifuge model contains a laminar box with slipping “rings” that allows differential horizontal displacements. This was simulated in the FLAC model by free-field boundary conditions which prevent reflection of the waves in the side walls. Figure 1 shows comparison of EPWP time histories ratio of numerical modeling and centrifuge test. Static analysis was carried out before dynamic analysis in order to find initial stress and strain state. At the next stage, the dynamic loads were applied at the base of the model and dynamic analysis was performed.

The Bandar Abbas mosque project is located approximately 500 meters from the coast. In the project, due to the groundwater level and the existence of loose layers of silt, investigating the potential of liquefaction is necessary.
For numerical modeling the results of the general soil mechanics test on soil samples and standard penetration test performed on the site were used to calibrate the parameters and select the model constants.
Conclusion
The results of numerical modeling have been matched to experimental results of the centrifuge test using both Martin and Byrne formulations, except for the case of 5 m the numerical model has predicted lower excess pore water pressure values than the experimental values. This may be originated from the fundamental assumption of the Martin et al. (1975) EPWP theory, in which excess pore water pressure is directly related to the relevant volume changes. On the other hand, the Martin et al. (1975) model was adopted for one-dimensional measures of shear strain, while, in a 2D analysis under both horizontal and vertical shakings, there are three strain rate measures. FLAC uses some assumptions to solve this problem and it can affect the results.
The results of the numerical model showed liquefaction to a depth of about 5 meters that is almost compatible with the results from the lab, which has declared that the depth 2 to 5 m is liquefiable.
With careful selection of numerical model parameters one can generally use the simulation results to have a general sense on the pore water pressure generation and liquefaction prediction.
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Application of Response Surface Method to the Estimation of Bond Work Index

Aref Alipour

Introduction
The main objective of this contribution is to focus on the portion of the comminution process which deals with the prediction of the energy consumption due to the comminution portion of the milling processes.
The comminution energy in mineral processing and cement industry is usually determined by empirical Bond Work Index (BWI), regardless of the mechanical properties of a rock. The BWI is a measure of ore resistance against grinding and is determined by using the Bond grindability test. Determining the BWI value is quite complicated and time consuming. Its value constitutes ore characteristic and is used for industrial commination plants designing and optimization. The BWI is deﬁned as the calculated speciﬁc energy (kW h/t) applied in reducing material of inﬁnite particle size to 80% passing 100 µm. The higher the value for BWI, the more energy is required to grind a material in a ball mill. The energy consumed in the process of comminution depends on both the mechanism of comminution and the mechanical properties of the materials being ground. It is interesting to study the effect of the essential ones of these properties on the energy efficiency of grinding process.
Material and methods
Several attempts have been made to obtain and optimize the comminution energy. An efficient Response Surface Method, (RSM)-based method for the BWI approximate value determination, which is based on physico-mechanical tests, is presented in this paper.
BWI and some physico-mechanical tests on 8 typical rock samples and its correlation are studied; it would be beneficial to examine this relation based on physical concept. The database including Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS), Abrasion (AT), Hardness (HT) and Modulus of Elasticity (ME) are assembled by collecting data from Haffez experiments.
Results and discussion
The determination of the BWI from RSM- based multivariate model is almost matched with measured Bond’s work index. As a result of analysis the best equation obtained from RSM-based model is formulized in Equation 1:
(1)
Standard statistical evaluation criteria are used to evaluate the performances of predictive models.
Conclusion
The performance of the estimator models can be controlled by R², VAF, RMSE, MAPE, VARE and MEDAE. The RSM- based model with higher VAF as well as lower RMSE, MAPE, VARE, MEDAE shows better performance in comparison to the Haffez single-variable models. AT and ME have the greatest effect on the value of BWI; and also HT has the least impact../files/site1/files/134/6.pdf

Mathematical Modeling of Strong Ground Velocity Pulses Using Spectral Decomposition and Forward Directivity Effects

Afshin Meshkat-Dini

Introduction
The nature of near-field earthquake records is very complicated and uncertain. Due to this complexity, the prediction of the real structural responses has become very difficult. Based on the analysis of the physical characteristics of near-field records, it is possible to use the simplified mathematical models. Near-field ground motions which are often associated with a progressive directional phenomenon due to their particular type of the causative fault, have much more destructive effects on the structures than the other quake tremors. The related research results show that under the influence of a strong near-field ground motion which contains forward directivity effects, the structural responses would be entered to a great nonlinear domain. On the other hand, due to the limited number of available near-field records, it is needed to prepare artificial acclerograms which can simulate the characteristics of the strong ground motions. Thus, it is possible to achieve a vast data base corresponding to wide range of powerful ground motions using mathematical wavelets. As a result, it provides a general overview of these types of artificial quake tremors and prepares an extended knowledge on the performance of structures in confronting these destructive movements.
Material and methods
The results obtained from the seismological studies on strong near-field records indicate that the most of these tremors contain large amounts of kinetic energy corresponding to the content of low frequency band. Additionally, by ignoring the high-frequency band the coherent velocity pulses can be detected with acceptable accuracy. In order to separate the high and low frequency bands, the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method is used based on programming in MATLAB software. Various methods have been proposed for simulation of near-field records which most of them is based on using harmonic functions and the spectral assessment of the low frequency band of earthquake records.
In this regards, one of the best closed form evaluation has been performed by Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou (2003) which is to be formulated by making parametric changes to the so-called Gabor wavelet and replacing a simpler function instead of the Gaussian curve with a more efficient algebraic statement. Ghodrati Amiri et al. (2012) proposed another efficient formulation matched either of the benefits of Mavroeidis’s and Gabor wavelets. Both of the aforementioned models are based on the preparing of an efficient multi-statement parametric configuration of harmonic wavelets as noted above. In this study, in addition to calibrate the desired closed-formulations on the velocity pulses of the selected strong records, the accuracy of the notified simulation has also been investigated from the spectral and energy point of views.

Results and discussion
The band of high frequencies corresponding to the spectral content of strong near-field records can be ignored appropriately. This is because the major amount of the related kinetic energy is usually transmitted in the form of a low frequency pulse along with a number of high frequency spikes. Generally, these features are displayed over a relatively short time domain. In this study, the analytical attention to this subject is concentrated on the simulation of coherent multiple pulses via EMD method. The purpose of such simulation is to create a wide range of powerful and high-energy artificial motions. Moreover, due to the limited availability of natural near-field earthquake records, the proposed pulses can be used to evaluate the structural seismic performance.
Conclusion
Generally, strong near-field records contain a few consecutive pulses with different periods and spectral configurations. The essential effects of these pulses must not be ignored in conducting of nonlinear dynamic time history analyses. Obviously, the effects of these type of earthquake records on the seismic response of mid-to-high rise structures (with a large periodic range) will be significant. Furthermore, the probable occurrence of the resonant mode, may cause destructive effects on the seismic response of structural skeletons. The proposed pulses in this study were formulated through the EMD method as well as performing an analytical calibration process related to both bands of high and low frequencies. The spectral evaluations of the fitted mathematical closed-form pulses were accomplished for the selected earthquake records. The obtained results indicate a good analytical convergence and correlation with the physical parameters of the natural ground motions.

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