ABSTRACT
Accurate estimation of the damage states and the associated losses of spatially distributed structural portfolios is important for stake holders in post-earthquake decision making. This study explores how updating recordings (in the form of ground motion intensity measures, IMs) available from spatially distributed seismic stations after an earthquake event can help facilitate more confident regional seismic risk estimates. A hypothetical highway bridge portfolio subjected to a scenario earthquake is considered to evaluate the influence of different updating IM selection on uncertainty reduction of the spatial IM random field and on the regional seismic risk estimates. The results suggest that, compared with record updating with a scalar spectral acceleration (Sa), updating with a general vector Sa can contribute to more universal uncertainty reduction of the spatial IM random field over a wide range spectral periods, thus leading to more confident post-event regional risk estimates, particularly for infrastructure portfolios like highway bridges in regional transportation networks.
