Simulation of Near-Fault Seismic Ground Motions of 03 November, 2002 Denali Earthquake Using Modified Semi-Empirical Approach

An effective earthquake (Mw 7.9) struck Alaska on 3 November, 2002. It ruptured 340 km along three faults namely, the Susitna Glacier, Denali and Totschunda faults in central Alaska. The earthquake was recorded at 23 stations in Alaska and the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) of 0.32g was recorded at station PS10, which was located 3 km from the fault rupture. In this study, strike-slip Denali fault has been considered for studying the characteristics of ground motions through modified semi-empirical approach. The ground motion records of the 2002 Denali earthquake are generated through MATLAB code. The results revealed that modified semi-empirical approach is fairly good in agreement with observed ground motion records at all stations. A perfect match is observed between Fourier amplitude spectra of simulated and observed ground motions at PS09 and CARLO stations. A good match is observed between elastic response spectra of observed and simulated ground motions.