A Simple and Quantitative Algorithm for Identifying Pulse‐Like Ground Motions Based on Zero Velocity Point Method

Pulse‐like ground motions, which are mainly concentrated in near‐fault regions, can induce severe damage on structures. This article presents a simple and effective method used for quantitatively identifying pulse‐like ground motions. First, zero velocity point method is proposed based on the properties of trigonometric functions. This method can reveal the time‐domain characteristics of ground‐motion velocity time history and can be used to detect the potential velocity pulse which is included in corresponding original ground motion. Second, pulse‐like ground motions are classified into two classes: single‐pulse‐like and multi‐pulse‐like ground motions. Further, single‐pulse‐like is divided into significant‐single‐pulse‐like and non‐significant‐single‐pulse‐like, while multi‐pulse‐like is divided into double‐pulse‐like, three‐pulse‐like, and four‐pulse‐like. Third, energy method is adopted to formulate the identification criterion for each type of pulse‐like ground motion. Finally, the energy parameters of the detected potential velocity pulse for a large number of ground motions are calculated, and the proposed identification criteria are applied to identify whether these ground motions are pulse‐like or not. A comparison of the methodology proposed in this study with previous identification methods is presented. Analysis results indicate that the methodology proposed in this study can accurately distinguish pulse‐like and non‐pulse‐like ground motions.