京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第21461号 / 工博第4536号 / 新制||工||1707(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科建築学専攻 / (主査)教授 松島 信一, 教授 竹脇 出, 教授 池田 芳樹 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

The San Andreas Fault stretches for over 800 miles through California. Along the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, areas in close proximity to the San Andreas Fault Zone may be subject to site amplification of ground motion caused by seismic activity via wave propagation through the subsurface. These seismic hazards are being addressed via the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Faulting Zone Act and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). Shear wave velocity of the subsurface has served as a proxy for ground motion amplification and is therefore a useful parameter to help analyze and reduce seismic hazards. Low shear wave velocities of the subsurface have been known to correlate with higher amplitude ground motion. This study focuses on refraction microtremor analysis (ReMi) of the subsurface in Northern San Bernardino; more specifically, areas encompassing California State University San Bernardino, in close proximity to the San Andreas Fault. The technique will resolve shear wave velocity values for the top 30 meters (Vs30) of the subsurface. This depth of investigation has proven to be an effective means in determining subsurface conditions. ReMi profiles were situated 0.25 to 2.0 miles away from the San Andreas Fault, and in some instances, strategically positioned next to housing developments and structures. Phase velocity dispersion curves were generated by processing ReMi seismic data and subsequently inverted to attain average shear wave velocity profiles with depth. The geologic units in the study area consist of very young wash deposits, young alluvial fan deposits and Pelonist schist deposits. These geologic units may be an indicator to how seismic waves behave in subsurface lithology. To highlight differences in Vs30 values across the project area, a microzonation map was constructed.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第18257号 / 工博第3849号 / 新制||工||1590(附属図書館) / 31115 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 松岡 俊文, 教授 清野 純史, 教授 小池 克明 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

The presence of active fault traces in proximity to any new infrastructure project is a major concern for the design process. The relative displacements that can be experienced in surface fault rupture during a seismic event must be either entirely avoided or mitigated in some way. Blind faults present a significant challenge to engineers attempting to identify these hazards. Current standards of practice employed to locate these features are time consuming and costly. This work investigates the geophysical methods of refraction microtremor (ReMi) and seismic refraction with regard to their applicability in this task. By imaging a distinct lateral variation in the shear wave velocity (Vs) profile across a short horizontal distance, these methods may provide a means of constraining traditional investigation techniques to a more focused area. The ReMi method is still very new, but holds key advantages over other geophysical methods in its ease of application and ability to achieve good results in highly urban settings. It is one of the few geophysical techniques that does not suffer in the presence of high amplitude ambient vibrations. The seismic refraction method is here applied in an attempt to corroborate data obtained through the ReMi analysis procedure. Sensitivity, precision parametric studies are carried out in order to learn how to best apply the ReMi method. Both tests are then applied at a previously trenched fault trace to determine whether the data can be matched to the subsurface information. Finally, the methods are deployed at a location with an inferred fault trace where little to nothing is known about the subsurface. The precision study indicates a coefficient of variation for the ReMi method on the order of 7%. At the known fault trace both methods generally agree qualitatively with available subsurface data and each other. Using the ReMi method, a marked shift is observed in the Vs profile laterally across the fault trace. In the case of the inferred fault trace, the same type of lateral variation in the V­­s profile is observed using the ReMi method. The seismic refraction at this site does not agree with the ReMi data, but seems reasonable given the visible geomorphology. Receiver arrays placed in close proximity to the inferred fault trace recorded erratic signals during seismic refraction testing, and displayed abnormal response modes after transforming the ReMi data to frequency-slowness space. These anomalies may possibly be attributed to the presence of abnormal subsurface structural geometry indicative of faulting.

Local site conditions can greatly increase the intensity and character of earthquake shaking and, thus, the extent and type of structural damage. The removal and replacement of in-situ soils with compacted gravel-sized volcanic rock has been prevalent in the Icelandic foundation subgrade construction practice for decades, despite the unknown seismic site response characteristics of the fill (e.g., the predominant frequency and relative site amplification). To fill this knowledge gap, over 500 hours of microtremor measurements were made at six study sites located throughout the Reykjavík, Iceland, capital region. Measurements recorded at various construction stages (e.g., the in-situ or pre-excavation, post-excavation, intermediate grades, and final grade) reveal the change in site response characteristics before and after gravel fill placement. The data was analyzed using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) technique over a bandwidth of 0.3 to 25 Hz. Generally, the pre-excavation condition had a predominant site frequency between 3.5 and 7 Hz with relative amplification between 3.8 and 3.9 times. The placement of gravel fill atop dense to very dense silty sand underlain by bedrock shifts the predominant frequency between 10 and 16 Hz with a relative peak amplification between 2.5 and 5.3 times, generally increasing with fill thickness. Fill underlain by undulating lava rock also results in a higher a predominant frequency between 9 and 10.5 Hz, but little change in relative site amplification occurred at these frequencies (between 0.95 and 1.2 times). This dissimilarity is due to the unique lava rock HVSR signatures which have large amplification values (between 2.6 to 3.9 times) throughout the high-band frequency range. Additional investigations of sites underlain by lava rock are required to draw stronger empirical trends. The data set produced by this study can serve as a useful tool for the local geotechnical and seismological communities to mitigate seismic risk for the capital region. / Master of Science / Problematic soil conditions can greatly increase the intensity and character of earthquake shaking and, thus, the extent and type of building damage. The removal of native soils and replacement with compacted gravel-sized fill has been the predominant building foundation subgrade construction method in Iceland for decades. The practice of removal and replacement is one of the oldest and conceptually simplest approaches of site improvement to reduce settlement and increase soil strength. However, the understanding of how compacted gravel fill responds to earthquake shaking was nonexistent in literature. To fill this knowledge gap, the response characteristics of compacted gravel fill were derived using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) and standard spectral ratio (SSR) analysis techniques from a data set of over 500 hours of experimental in-field measurements. Measurements were recorded at various construction stages (e.g., pre-excavation or native soil, post-excavation, intermediate fill grades, and the final fill grade) to reveal the change in site response characteristics before and after gravel fill placement. The findings presented in this thesis can serve as useful information for the local geotechnical and seismological communities to mitigate seismic risk (e.g., the probability of building damage and/or loss of lives) of structures with compacted gravel fill subgrades in the Reykjavík, Iceland capital region.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23861号 / 工博第4948号 / 新制||工||1773(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 清野 純史, 教授 三村 衛, 准教授 古川 愛子 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

This thesis develops and explores two methodologies to assess earthquake ground shaking in southwestern British Columbia based on 1D soil layering and 3D basin structure. To assess site response based on soil layering, microtremor array measurements were conducted at two sites of contrasting geology to estimate Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves. A Bayesian inversion algorithm is developed to invert the dispersion data for the shear-wave velocity (VS) profile together with quantitative uncertainty estimates, accounting rigorously for data error covariance and model parameterization selection. The recovered VS profiles are assessed for reliability by comparison with invasive VS measurements at each site with excellent agreement. Probabilistic site response analysis is conducted based on a sample of VS profiles drawn from the posterior probability density of the microtremor inversion. The quantitative uncertainty analysis shows that the rapid and inexpensive microtremor array method provides sufficient resolution of soil layering for practical characterization of earthquake ground motion. To assess the effects of 3D Georgia basin structure on long-period (> 2 s) ground motion for large scenario earthquakes, numerical 3D finite difference modelling of viscoelastic wave propagation is applied. Both deep (> 40 km) subducting Juan de Fuca plate and crustal (5 km) North America plate earthquakes are simulated in locations congruent with known seismicity. Simulations are calibrated by comparing synthetic waveforms with 36 selected strong- and weak-motion seismograms of the 2001 MW 6.8 Nisqually earthquake. The ratio between predicted peak ground motions in models with and without Georgia basin sediments is applied as a quantitative measure of basin amplification. Steep edges in the upper 1 km of the northwest and southeast extents of the basin are coincident with the appearance of surface waves. Focussing of north-to-northeast propagating surface waves by shallow (< 1 km) basin structure increases ground motion in a localized region of southern Greater Vancouver. This effect occurs for both types of earthquakes located south-southwest of Vancouver at distances greater than ~80 km. The predicted shaking level is increased up to 17 times and the duration of moderate shaking (> 3.4 cm/s) is up to 16 times longer due to the 3D Georgia basin structure. / Graduate

Processing of visual stimuli in the vertebrate retina is complex and diverse. The retinal output to the higher centres of the nervous system, mediated by ganglion cells, consists of several different channels. Neurons in these channels can have very distinct response properties, which originate in different retinal pathways. In this work, the retinal origins and possible functional implications of the segregation of visual pathways will be investigated with a detailed, biologically realistic computational model of the retina. This investigation will focus on the two main retino-cortical pathways in the mammalian retina, the parvocellular and magnocellular systems, which are crucial for conscious visual perception. These pathways differ in two important aspects. The parvocellular system has a high spatial, but low temporal resolution. Conversely, the magnocellular system has a high temporal fidelity, spatial sampling however is less dense than for parvocellular cells. Additionally, the responses of magnocellular ganglion cells can show pronounced nonlinearities, while the parvocellular system is essentially linear. The origin of magnocellular nonlinearities is unknown and will be investigated in the first part of this work. As their main source, the results suggest specific properties of the photoreceptor response and a specialised amacrine cell circuit in the inner retina. The results further show that their effect combines in a multiplicative way. The model is then used to examine the influence of nonlinearities on the responses of ganglion cells in the presence of involuntary fixational eye movements. Two different stimulus conditions will be considered: visual hyperacuity and motion induced illusions. In both cases, it is possible to directly compare properties of the ganglion cell population response with psychophysical data, which allows for an analysis of the influence of different components of the retinal circuitry. The simulation results suggest an important role for nonlinearities in the magnocellular stream for visual perception in both cases. First, it will be shown how nonlinearities, triggered by fixational eye movements, can strongly enhance the spatial precision of magnocellular ganglion cells. As a result, their performance in a hyperacuity task can be equal to or even surpass that of the parvocellular system. Second, the simulations imply that the origin of some of the illusory percepts elicited by fixational eye movements could be traced back to the nonlinear properties of magnocellular ganglion cells. As these activity patterns strongly differ from those in the parvocellular system, it appears that the magnocellular system can strongly dominate visual perception in certain conditions. Taken together, the results of this theoretical study suggest that retinal nonlinearities may be important for and strongly influence visual perception. The model makes several experimentally verifiable predictions to further test and quantify these findings. Furthermore, models investigating higher visual processing stages may benefit from this work, which could provide the basis to produce realistic afferent input.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23188号 / 工博第4832号 / 新制||工||1755(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科建築学専攻 / (主査)教授 松島 信一, 教授 竹脇 出, 教授 林 康裕 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM