UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

JAVA PROGRAMS FOR USING NEWMARK'S METHOD AND SIMPLIFIED DECOUPLED ANALYSIS TO MODEL SLOPE PERFORMANCE DURING EARTHQUAKES

Randall W. Jibson and Matthew W. Jibson

Open-File Report 03-005

2003

[Supersedes Open-File Reports 01-116 and 02-201]

This package of programs is designed to facilitate conducting Newmark analysis (also called sliding-block or permanent-deformation analysis) of slopes in order to estimate slope behavior during earthquakes. The program allows selection from among more than 2100 strong-motion records from 29 earthquakes as well as letting users add their own records to the collection. Any number of earthquake records can be selected using a search interface that selects records based on desired properties. Newmark analyses are then conducted on the selected group of records, and results are compiled and statistically analyzed in both graphical and tabular form. Simplified methods for conducting rigid-block and decoupled analysis are also included.

Before using this program, users should be familiar with Newmark's method, including the basic sliding-block model, the underlying model assumptions, situations where the model should and should not be applied, and the limitations and weaknesses of the model. The program Help files contain a document that briefly addresses these issues and provides a primer on conducting Newmark analyses.

The program interface contains several tabs that sequentially move through the program sequence:

• Getting Started contains a title page with brief overview of the program and its various pages.
• Rigorous Rigid-Block Analysis contains a series of pages to lead users through a rigorous rigid-block Newmark analysis.
• Simplified Analyses contains pages that allow users to conduct (1) various types of simplified rigid-block analyses or (2) simplified decoupled analysis.
• Record Manager contains pages allowing users to add earthquake records to the database and to modify their properties.
• Utilities contains programs designed to convert existing strong-motion files into different forms.
• Help contains help files for each of the program pages and detailed documentation of Newmark's method.

Detailed descriptions of how to conduct various analyses are available in the Help menu.

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Please address any comments or questions to the first author at jibson@usgs.gov. Updates to this program will be available for downloading at the following website:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/products

PROGRAM NOTES
This program was compiled with Sun's Java Development Kit, version 1.3.1 on 14 January 2003.

DISCLAIMER
This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.