Assessment of a technique for faster time integration in application to seismic wave propagation analysis

•Application of the SEB THAAT in analysis of wave propagation problems.•Good performance of the SEB THAAT in application to analysis of the Lower San Fernando Dam.•Considerable but limited reduction of run-time in analysis of wave propagation problems.•Potential increase in engineer's interest in using time integration in structures seismic analysis. To analyze structural systems’ oscillatory behaviors, time integration is a versatile broadly accepted time-consuming tool. In 2008, a technique, recently addressed as the SEB THAAT (Step-Enlargement-Based Time-History-Analysis-Acceleration-Technique), was proposed to accelerate the analysis when the excitation is available in digitized format. After many successful experiences regarding structural dynamic analysis, in this paper, it is tested whether the SEB THAAT can be successfully applied to seismic wave propagation analyses. As the main results; for wave propagation analyses, by using the SEB THAAT, we may be able to reduce the analysis run-time without significantly affecting the accuracy of the response; and the amount of the reduction is considerable and around those of structural dynamic analyses. Besides, when the behavior is highly oscillatory, application of the SEB THAAT may be unsuccessful, while the accuracy considerations also do not recommend using the SEB THAAT. The achievements broaden applicability of the SEB THAAT and, due to the improved efficiency, may increase the interest of structural engineers in seismic time history analysis.