Predicting response spectra for earthquake signals generated as filtered noise

Generating families of earthquake signals which in mean fulfill a given response spectrum can be done by filtering white noise through a linear filter and multiplying the filtered signal with a time-window function. To design the filters, the response spectrum of the filtered white noise sequences must be predicted. In the past years several methods for doing this have been suggested. In this article, we have modified some of these methods and also proposed a new method. We have compared the methods by doing simulations. It was found that the proposed method was useful for predicting response spectra of signals with slow decaying time-window functions. A further benefit of the proposed method is that it could be used for predicting response spectra with time varying frequency content. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.