APPLICABILITY OF THE JAPANESE RECIPE FOR PREDICTING STRONG GROUND MOTIONS BY HERP TO EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST CRUSTAL EARTHQUAKES

The procedure of evaluating fault parameters, so called Recipe, for predicting strong ground motions by the HERP [Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, 2005], Japan, is often applied to assessment of design input earthquake motions for nuclear power plants in Japan. Due to this situation, the International Atomic Energy Agency [2015] adopted this Recipe in Safety Report Series No. 85. However, this Recipe was validated only for Japanese earthquakes. Hence, we examined the validation of the Recipe by comparing the estimated strong ground motions based on the Recipe with those by the GMPE (Ground Motion Prediction Equation) obtained by Akkar et al. [2014] from the Europe and Middle East crustal earthquakes. We concluded that the short-period level in the Recipe should be reduced to 50% for the second-stage earthquakes and that the stress drop equation of a circular crack should be altered. We also concluded that the short-period level should be reduced to 55% for the first-stage earthquakes under the condition that the stress drop equation of a circular crack should be maintained.