Empirical evaluation of site effects in the metropolitan area of San Jose, Costa Rica

摘要

Site effects for 11 selected locations were determined in the capital city of Costa Rica. We used a strong motion network made of eight K2 and three SSA accelerographs. The network recorded more than 60 earthquakes in the magnitude rang from 2 to 5 during a period of nine months. The site effects were determined using the sediment-to-bedrock spectral ratio (SBSR) and the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) techniques and a time window 4s beginning from the S-wave arrival. The result suggests that the amplification in the capital city is to be in the range from 2.0 to 3.0.