Influence of uncorrected accelerogram processing techniques on Newmark's rigid block displacement evaluation

Design seismic motion represents a fundamental issue of many geotechnical applications. In more complex numerical procedures, input motion is required in the complete form of an accelerogram, whereas in simplified prediction methods it is generally expressed by means of synthetic parameters such as peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, Arias intensity, etc. The aim of this paper is to show the sensitiveness of these parameters to small changes in the characteristics of the accelerogram associated with the filtering procedures used for reducing digitisation errors, instrument distortions, etc. and the influence of the consequent uncertainties on geotechnical applications. More specifically this paper examines the incidence of processing techniques of uncorrected records from Italian accelerograph network on slope displacement evaluation based on Newmark's rigid block model. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.