On the Analysis of Strong Earthquake Seismic Signals Using Variational-Mode Decomposition

Abstract

In this paper, the use of Variational-mode decomposition (VMD) is proposed as an alternative technique for the analysis of the seismic accelerogram signals related to strong earthquake events. The proposed method was tested using several accelerogram signals recorded at different stations during the Mw 7.8 Pedernales earthquake, Ecuador in April 2016. Signal decomposition analysis allowed to create heat maps for better visualization and interpretation of the earthquake’s travelling wave and the attenuation frequency phenomena. The results obtained agree with seismic studies about the Pedernales earthquake.