Spatial Variation of Earthquake Hazard for Amaravati City of Peninsular India: A Probabilistic Approach

Abstract

Earthquakes begin with abrupt shifts along the faults. These movements release seismic waves that propagate through the Earth, shaking the ground as a result of the stored “elastic strain” energy being released. Property loss and human deaths occur due to improper design of structures under the earthquake loading conditions. It is observed that Peninsular India witnessed steady-to-serious earthquakes in the last 50 years. Amaravati is the prospective capital city of Andhra Pradesh State, which is situated on the Coromandel Coast of Peninsular India. The upcoming capital city, Amaravati, requires an earthquake hazard analysis because important engineering structures and infrastructure systems will be constructed in the near future. In this study, a probabilistic approach is used to assess the earthquake hazard for Amaravati City (latitudes: 16∘24[Formula: see text]36[Formula: see text]–16∘35[Formula: see text]24[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]N and longitudes: 80∘24[Formula: see text]25[Formula: see text]–80∘36[Formula: see text]18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]E), India. The seismic risks of Amaravati City presented in terms of the configuration of ground motion parameters, peak ground acceleration (PGA), and spectral response acceleration ([Formula: see text]) at 0.05[Formula: see text]s and 1[Formula: see text]s for 2% and 10% Risks of Exceedance in 50 years, are produced. The uncertainties involved in seismic risk prediction are accounted for by selecting different attenuation relations developed for globally shallow crustal intraplate earthquakes with a logic tree approach. Additionally, the seismic risk values are disaggregated for Amaravati City (16∘31[Formula: see text]37[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]N and 80∘29[Formula: see text]46[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]E) to understand the individual contributions of seismic sources in terms of earthquake magnitude and site distance. The uniform hazard spectra are developed for the important places of the Amaravati Capital City and are compared with the Indian seismic code [IS 1893 (Part 1): Criteria for earthquake-resistant design of structures — Part 1: General provisions and buildings] for the rocky site. It is found that the estimated PGA values for Amaravati City are higher than the values recommended by IS 1893 (Part 1) for the rocky site. The results of this study will be very helpful for the composition of earthquake-resistant infrastructures in Amaravati City.