Sufficiency of the spectral shape in predicting peak and cumulative structural earthquake responses

In recent years, selection of strong ground motion records by means of intensity measures representing the spectral shape of the earthquake excitation has been studied by many researchers. These studies indicate the adequacy of this record selection approach in reduction of the scattering of seismic responses. In present study, this method has been studied more in depth to reveal the sufficiency of the spectral shape in predicting structural seismic responses such as the plastic deformation and the dissipated hysteresis energy which are associated with cumulative properties of the selected records. For this purpose, after selecting the records based on the spectral shape, the correlation of some seismic responses and strong ground motion duration of earthquake records are explored. Findings indicate strong correlation of some structural responses with the significant duration of the records. This fact implies that the spectral shape could not reflect all characteristics of the strong ground motion and emphasizes the importance of additional criteria along with the spectral shape in the record selection.