ABSTRACT
Starting in the middle 1960’s, pioneering studies analyzed the wave passage effect on the response of buildings, bridges and pipelines (e.g., [65], [245], [366], [367], [561], [562]). Since then, the installation of dense instrument arrays and the estimation of the coherency from seismic data have led to a plethora of studies investigating the effect of spatially variable excitations on the response of a large variety of structural systems. Studies examined the response of large, mat, rigid foundations, such as those of nuclear power plants, induced by spatially variable seismic ground motions (e.g., [203], [224], [267], [322], [324], [345], [391], [480], [554], [555]); developed response spectra incorporating spatial variability in the excitations (e.g., [534], [539], [584], [585]); analyzed the response of symmetric and asymmetric buildings (e.g., [189], [192], [198], [218]) and pounding of adjacent buildings (e.g., [49], [199]) caused by spatially variable excitations; assessed the influence of spatially variable excitations on the response of offshore structures [356], [357]; evaluated the response of buried pipelines and tunnels (e.g., [124], [217], [221], [595], [600]); considered the effect of spatial variability on the response of dams (e.g., [21], [44], [100], [272], [273], [305], [328], [378]); and investigated the response of suspension bridges (e.g., [2], [3], [306], [571]) and cable-stayed bridges (e.g., [1], [307], [362], [511]) subjected to spatially variable seismic ground motions. The structural configuration, however, that has attracted by far the most significant research interest is that of highway bridges. Early evaluations of the effect of the spatial variability of seismic ground motions on the response of highway bridges considered very simple models of the structures, namely single-span or multi-span, multiply supported beams, as, e.g., [195], [209], [210], [315], [334], [413], [590], [591], [600]. Section 6.4.5 presented an example illustration of these analyses, which, even though simple, provided insight into the complex problem of the effect of the spatial variability of the seismic ground motions on the response of the structures. The research interest on the subject increased over the years with the investigation of the linear and nonlinear response of more realistic models of highway bridges and viaducts, as, e.g., among many others, in Refs. [113], [130], [137], [247], [268], [291], [306], [319], [320], [321], [325], [347], [348], [353], [354], [355], [379], [394], [401], [442], [443], [453], [454], [455], [456], [468], [546], [575] and references therein.
