STRONG GROUND MOTION ESTIMATION IN HOKKAIDO AREA AND DAMAGE ESTIAMTION OF THE ROAD BRIDGE STRUCTURES

Abstract

 Hokkaido is wide open with some major cities sparsely distributed, and road networks are important facilities. Once a deadly earthquake happens somewhere in the district, it can affect seriously major transportation services suspending rescue and restoring operations. Therefore mapping a rational tactics for recovering transportation srvices based upon a reliable scenario of events is vital before everything. A scenario is developed for the island's largest metropolitan area, Sapporo, and its suburbs with Nopporo Terrace fault system considered as causative. The empirical Green's function method is used to estimate seismic motions in the target area. Then its impact on the major road network is estimated assuming a strong correlation between peak ground velocity and extent of damage to bridges.