Integrated Earthquake Simulation

Book excerpt: Integrated earthquake simulation (IES) is a new method for evaluating earthquake hazards and disasters induced in cities and urban areas. It utilises a sequence of numerical simulations of such aspects as earthquake wave propagation, ground motion amplification, structural seismic response, and mass evacuation. This book covers the basics of numerical analysis methods of solving wave equations, analyzing structural responses, and developing agent models for mass evaluation, which are implemented in IES. IES makes use of Monte-Carlo simulation, which takes account of the effects of uncertainties related to earthquake scenarios and the modeling of structures both above and below ground, and facilitates a better estimate of overall earthquake and disaster hazard. It also presents the recent achievement of enhancing IES with high-performance computing capability that can make use of automated models which employ various numerical analysis methods. Detailed examples of IES for the Tokyo Metropolis Earthquake and the Nankai Trough Earthquake are given, which use large scale analysis models of actual cities and urban areas.