Effect of valley topography on the seismic responses of soil sites

In order to analyze the effects of valley topography on the seismic responses of soil sites, the linear and equivalent-linear seismic responses of a valley with a span length of 500 m were calculated by applying the direct finite element method, respectively. As the span of the valley is large, the discrepancy of seismic responses of the soil sites was compared under uniform excitation and traveling wave excitation. At the same time, based on the wave propagation theory, the seismic responses of layered soil were evaluated for discussing the valley topography effect. The results show that the valley topography effect will lead to considerable vertical motion. Comparing with uniform excitation, the horizontal acceleration response is decreased and the vertical acceleration response is increased when under the excitation of traveling waves.