Aftershock Mainshock

Highway bridges are crucial infrastructures that impact both the economy and society,
especially after a catastrophic event such as a strong earthquake. Consequently, it is necessary
to evaluate structural performance after a mainshock and during aftershocks in order to aid
emergency management procedures and repair/retrofit decision processes. In addition to risk,
resilience is another indicator that accounts for structural functionality and recovery patterns
after hazard occurrence. Most structures designed according to the modern seismic codes only
apply single earthquake on structure modeling and analysis. In order to assess the nonlinear
damage potential of strong aftershocks, this study employs 30 mainshockaftershock seismic
sequences to study the nonlinear behavior and accumulated damage of concrete gravity dams.
The seismic sequences have been recorded within a short period by the same station and in
the same direction.
Earthquakes are usually part of a sequence of ground motions which can be defined as
foreshocks, main shocks and aftershocks. Seismologists usually describe foreshocks and
aftershocks as the beginning and the end of the energy relaxation process. In order to study
the accumulated damage that strong aftershocks bring to the concrete gravity dams, asrecorded seismic sequences including the mainshock and at least one aftershock are needed
for performing nonlinear dynamic analyses. In the previously cited paper by somebody,
mainshockaftershock seismic sequences were modeled by back-to-back identical
accelerograms.
The damage measures such as the local damage indices for the upper zone of the dam are
consistently greater for ground motions with strong aftershocks. While, the accumulated
damage on the dam heel is not very sensitive to the seismic sequences.
Thus in reverse, the seismic parameters can express the damage potential of an earthquake. In
this connection, the individual damage potential for a specific construction is meant. Damage
indicators can quantify the damage of a building and they are specified by nonlinear dynamic
calculations. In the present numerical simulation, the respective seismic loads are represented
by accelerograms. The response parameters of the calculations depend on the load. Since
seismic time acceleration histories can be expressed only heavily by a function, seismic
parameters serve for their indirect description.