Abstract
We investigated earthquakes in Japan, where strong ground motion records coincided with building damage data, examining correlation between various indices of seismic destructive power and building damage ratios. We also carried out earhtquake response analyses and calculated responses to one-cycle sine-wave inputs. We proposed the average elastic acceleration or velocity response at periods from 1.2 to 1.5 s with a damping factor of 0.05 as an optimum destructive power index of strong ground motion for predicting building damage ratios. The period range is based on the equivalent periods that are calculated for residences with typical elastic periods considering inelastic elongation. We then formulated the vulnerability function using this proposed index and modified the JMA seismic intensity scale for obtaining better correlation with actual building damage.
