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Abstract: Observations from many recent strong motion events have shown the importance of local soil conditions and non-linear soil behaviour on the seismic ground response (site effects). As demonstrated by previous seismic microzoning studies (Lebrun et al.) ), as well as by at least three historical major earthquakes, Pointe-à-Pitre is prone to strong site effects, due to the particular geology of the area. In this paper, we present a comparison between the strong-motion data available from the stations operating on the swampy site of Pointe-à-Pitre airport and the ground motions derived from 1D non-linear finite element simulations. Results show that, for moderate to strong ground motions, 1D simulations reproduce the main characteristics of site response in terms of duration, energy distribution, amplitude and frequency content. It also shows the importance of very superficial soft layers as peat or saturated mud in low frequency site effects simulations. This point is important for further engineering studies since such very soft formations overlain by stiffer landfills are commonly expected in the Antilles context. Our work also shows that Anderson''s criteria, used to quantify the goodness-of-fit of simulated ground motions to the observed ones, appear to be an interesting diagnostic tool for testing the quality of numerical simulations from an engineering point of view. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The destructive 1999 Chi–Chi earthquake (Mw 7.5) was the largest inland earthquake in Taiwan in the 20th century. Several observations witness the non-linear seismic soil response in sediments during the earthquake. In fact, large settlements as well as evidence of liquefaction attested by sand boils and unusual wet ground surface were observed at some sites. In this paper, we present a seismic response simulation performed with CyberQuake software on a site located within the Chang-Hwa Coastal Industrial Park during the 1999 Chi–Chi earthquake in Taiwan. A non-linear multi-kinematic dynamic constitutive model is implemented in the software. Computed NS, EW and UP ground accelerations obtained with this model under undrained and two-phase assumptions, are in good agreement with the corresponding accelerations recorded at seismic station TCU117, either for peak location, amplitudes or frequency content. In these simulations, liquefaction occurs between depths 1.3 and 11.3m, which correspond to the observed range attested by in place penetration tests and other liquefaction analyses. Moreover, the computed shear wave velocity profile is very close to post-earthquake shear wave velocity profile derived from correlations with CPT and SPT data. Finally, it is shown that in non-linear computations, even though a 1D geometry is considered, it is necessary to take into account the three components of the input motion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]