Seismic microzonation of the island of Montreal

Montreal is the third largest city in Canada according to the size of its population, and ranks second in terms of seismic vulnerability. In the past decades many studies of the soil deposits of the Montreal Island have taken place without considering the influence of unconsolidated soils. The objective of this thesis is to determine the predominant frequency and amplification of the ground acceleration of the unconsolidated soils, on the Island of Montreal.The methodology consists of applying the widely known Nakamura's technique to obtain the predominant frequency of resonance. The technique consists in calculating the ratio between the horizontal and vertical components of the response spectra. One-dimensional analyses of soil columns are used to validate the frequency of the first method and to estimate the amplification factors. The analysis is carried out using Shake 91. A thorough study of the soils and their characteristics was necessary to conduct the analysis. The final product includes maps for the predominant frequency and amplification factors for four seismic scenarios