The 2017 Pohang earthquake afflicted more significant economic losses than the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, even if these earthquakes had a similar moment magnitude. This phenomenon could be due to local site conditions that amplify ground motions. Local site effects could be estimated from methods using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio, standard spectral ratio, and the generalized inversion technique. Since the generalized inversion method could estimate the site effect effectively, this study modeled the site effects in the Korean peninsula using the generalized inversion technique and the Fourier amplitude spectrum of ground motions. To validate the method, the site effects estimated for seismic stations were tested using recorded ground motions, and a ground motion prediction equation was developed without considering site effects.

The stochastic point-source model has been widely used in generating artificial ground motions, which can be used to develop a ground motion prediction equation and to evaluate the seismic risk of structures. This model mainly consists of three different functions representing source, path, and site effects. The path effect is used to emulate decay in ground motion in accordance with distance from the source. In the stochastic point-source model, the path attenuation effect is taken into account by using the geometrical attenuation effect and the inelastic attenuation effect. The aim of this study is to develop accurate equations of ground motion attenuation in the Korean peninsula. In this study, attenuation was estimated and validated by using a stochastic point source model and observed ground motion recordings for the Korean peninsula.

The Pohang earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 occurred on November 15, 2018. The epicenter of this earthquake located in south-east region of the Korean peninsula. Since instrumental recording for earthquake ground motions started in Korea, this earthquake caused the largest economic and life losses among past earthquakes. Korea is located in low-to moderate seismic region, so that strong motion records are very limited. Therefore, ground motions recorded during the Pohang earthquake could have valuable geological and seismological information, which are important inputs for seismic design. In this study, ground motions associated by the 2018 Pohang earthquake are generated using the point source model considering domestic geological parameters (magnitude, hypocentral distance, distancefrequency dependent decay parameter, stress drop) and site amplification calculated from ground motion data at each stations. A contour map for peak ground acceleration is constructed for ground motions generated by the Pohang earthquake using the proposed model.

For estimating the seismic demand of buildings, most seismic design provisions permit conducting linear and nonlinear response history analysis. In order to obtain reliable results from response history analyses, a proper selection of input ground motions is required. In this study, an accurate algorithm for selecting and scaling ground motions is proposed, which satisfies the ASCE 7-10 criteria. In the proposed algorithm, a desired number of ground motions are sequentially scaled and selected from a ground motion library without iterations.

In low to moderate seismic regions, there are limited earthquake ground motion data recorded from past earthquakes. In this regard, th e Gyeongju earthquake (M=5.8)occurred on September 12, 2016 produces valuable information on ground motions. Ground motions w ere recorded at various recording stations located widely in Korean peninsula. Without actual recoded ground motions, it is impossible t o make a ground motion prediction model. In this study, a point source model is constructed to accurately simulate ground motions rec orded at different stations located on different soil conditions during the Gyeongju earthquake. Using the model, ground motions are ge nerated at all grid locations of Korean peninsula. Each grid size has 0.1°(latitude)x0.1°(longitude). Then a contour hazard map is constr ucted using the peak ground acceleration of the simulated ground motions