Ground-motion model for the standardized version of cumulative absolute velocity

After publishing its original definition of cumulative absolute velocity ( CAV), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) proposed a standardized version of CAV that it recommended is a better indicator of damage to structures of good design and construction than CAV. We refer to this intensity measure (IM) as CAV STD . EPRI proposed 0.16 g-s (1.57 m/s) as the threshold value of CAV STD that corresponds to the onset of damage to structures of good design and construction. Although this damage threshold was conservatively applied to nuclear power plants, its development using recordings from sites subjected to MMI VII shaking suggests that it is appropriate for civil structures. In 2011, we developed a ground-motion model (GMM) for the version of CAV STD that was adopted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for determining when a nuclear power plant must be shut down for inspection after an earthquake, which we called CAV DP . In this study, we develop a GMM for CAV STD conditioned on values of CAV and peak ground acceleration ( PGA) using an extensive database of recordings compiled for the NGA-West2 project. We demonstrate how the conditional GMM developed in this study can be used together with predicted values of CAV and PGA to provide unconditional estimates of CAV STD and its standard deviations when values of these IMs are unknown.