GMPE compendium : Dr John Douglas, senior lecturer and seismic-hazard consultant, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, UK. Download short CV

Ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs), also called ground-motion models (GMMs) and attenuation relations, estimate the shaking (strong ground motion) that may occur at a site if an earthquake of a certain magnitude occurs at a nearby location. GMPEs are crucial for engineering seismology and earthquake engineering (branches of civil engineering) as they are used to assess seismic hazard, thereby providing estimates of the loading that a structure may undergo during a future earthquake.

Details of models for the intensity measures (IMs) of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and linear elastic response spectral ordinates (acceleration, velocity and displacement) are provided. Also given are characteristics of models for: peak ground velocity (PGV) and displacement (PGD), Arias intensity (AI), cumulative absolute velocity (CAV), Fourier spectral amplitudes (FSA), maximum absolute unit elastic input energy (IE), inelastic response spectral ordinates (ISO), Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity, macroseismic intensity (MI, intensity prediction equations), mean period (MP), relative significant duration (RSD) and vertical-to-horizontal response spectral ratio (VH). The focus is on empirical GMPEs (derived from recorded strong-motion data). Lists are provided of simulation-based GMPEs and models derived in other ways (e.g. hybrid and backbone). GMPEs for both natural (crustal and subduction) and induced/triggered earthquakes are included. It provides a curated reading list for ground-motion prediction.

Review articles based on this compendium were published in Earth-Science Reviews in 2003 and 2016. Read a general review of ground-motion prediction.

Read a recent open-access article on "Comparison and selection of ground motion prediction equations for the Sichuan–Yunnan area, southwest China"

Download the compendium in PDF, access the compendium as a webpage (can be slow) or download an Excel spreadsheet of the tables. Last updated 31 March 2022

Please contact me if a model is missing, if you find an error or you have a comment/suggestion. Thank you.

Download these figures and other introductory material (e.g. some nomograms) on engineering seismology, with citable DOIs.

Watch various online talks on engineering seismology topics.

Download various GMPE-related datasets and the program CHEEP (Composite Hybrid Equation Estimation Program), developed in 2006.

Play a simple earthquake early warning game developed for the H2020 TURNkey project.

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Ground motion prediction equations (1964-2020) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.