Response of Marmaray Submerged Tunnel during 2014 Northern Aegean Earthquake (Mw=6.9): Fid-Bau Portal

Response of Marmaray Submerged Tunnel during 2014 Northern Aegean Earthquake (Mw=6.9)

Dikmen, S.U.

Abstract For the resilience of communities against natural hazards, it is important that the critical structures perform as per their design objectives. Thus continuous monitoring of these structures is important to identify changes in their behavior and/or response characteristics. In this respect, low intensity earthquakes provide valuable information about the performance of the monitoring systems and the structure being monitored. Marmaray Submerged Tunnel (MST), which is considered to be one of the major engineering achievements of the recent years, forms an important link in Istanbul's transportation network. This paper presents a study made on the response of MST during the May 24, 2014 Northern Aegean Earthquake (Mw=6.9) that occurred 300km away from MST. The data used in the study are obtained from the seismic monitoring system of MST and Istanbul earthquake rapid response network.

Highlights • Train induced vibrations successfully filtered from records by 15Hz low pass filter. • Tunnel moved with the surrounding soil having a fundamental frequency around 1.0Hz. • Long duration motion observed due to free vibration of sediments and 2D/3D effects. • Acceleration amplification ratios as high as 3.5 (in NS direction) is observed.