Abstract
When a number of ground motions having different characteristics are considered as candidates of design input motions, it is difficult to select or synthesize a representative wave among those waves. In order to solve this problem, this paper presents a scheme for clustering ground motions considering their effects on nonlinear structural response values. Characteristics of ground motions are expressed using probability density functions (PDFs) of nonlinear response values of structural models and their dissimilarity is quantified by Jensen-Shannon divergence. As a clustering method, hierarchical clustering algorithm is utilized. The proposed method is applied to a set of spectrum compatible ground motions, which are adequately classified in the viewpoint of total input energy to the target structure. Moreover, waves which have unique characteristics are classified as independent clusters.
