Experimental and analytical studies on the performance of hybrid isolation systems

This paper presents experimental and analytical results on the seismic response of a rigid structure supported on isolation systems that consist of either lead rubber or sliding bearings. Shake table tests are conducted with various levels of isolation damping that is provided from the bearings and supplemental viscous fluid dampers. The table motions originated from recorded strong ground motions that have been compressed to the extent that the mass of the model structure corresponds to the mass of a typical freeway overcrossing. Experimental data are used to validate mechanical idealizations and numerical procedures. The study concludes that supplemental damping is most effective in suppressing displacements of rigid structures with moderately long isolation periods (T_I≤3 sec) without affecting base shears. Friction damping is most effective in suppressing displacement amplifications triggered by long duration pulses—in particular, pulses that have duration close to the isolation period. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Earthquake response of structures with partial uplift on winkler foundation

The effects of transient foundation uplift on the earthquake response of flexible structures are investigated. The structural idealization chosen in this study is relatively simple but it incorporates the most important features of foundation uplift. In its fixed base condition the structure itself is idealized as a single-degree-of-freedom system attached to a rigid foundation mat which is flexibly supported. The flexibility and damping of the supporting soil are represented by a Winkler foundation with spring-damper elements distributed over the entire width of the foundation. Based on the response spectra presented for several sets of system parameters, the effects of foundation-mat uplift on the maximum response of structures are identified. The influence of earthquake intensity, structural slenderness ratio, ratio of foundation mass to structural mass, foundation flexibility and p-δ effects on the response of uplifting structures is also investigated.     

Soil-structure interaction for tower structures

The soil-structure system is modelled as a uniform vertical beam, which terminates in a base or foundation mass; this mass is attached to the surface of an elastic half-space. Using known force-displacement relations for the coupled vibrations of a rigid disc on an elastic half-space, the natural frequencies and response to a transverse harmonic force, applied at the tip of the beam, are determined through a continuum approach. Effectively the problem reduces to a beam with frequency-dependent boundary conditions. A parametric study shows that changes in the three ratios, Young's modulus for the beam to that for the half-space, the radius of the base mass to the length of the beam, L, and the second moment of area of the beam cross-section/L⁴, cause large variations in the maximum response, which due to interaction can be considerably smaller or larger than that for a comparable fixed-base cantilever beam. This dynamic behaviour can be explained by considering the variation of natural frequencies, mode shapes and modal damping factors with these ratios. A brief study of the response of the structure to a free-field harmonic acceleration, applied at the soil-structure interface, suggests that interaction depends upon material and geometric properties of the system, rather than on the nature of the excitation.     

城市轨道桥梁桩基抗震简化模型的比较研究

以郑州城郊铁路工程中独柱高架车站为例,将土体化为一系列弹簧,描述土体的变形性质。通过比较《城市轨道交通结构抗震设计规范》中的非线性土弹簧、《铁路桥涵地基和基础设计规范》中的m系数法弹簧及Mindlin解弹簧进行建模计算得到的车站结构的地震响应,由结果可知结构地震响应对承台处弹簧刚度最为敏感。另外,将分布弹簧模型等代为六弹簧模型进行地震反应计算,结果表明桩体质量的影响与承台质量相比很小。     

Vibration of viscoelastic foundations

Simple approximate solutions are presented for the steady-state response of a massless, rigid disk, which is supported at the surface of a linear viscoelastic halfspace and is excited by a harmonically varying horizontal or vertical force, or by a harmonically varying moment about an axis in the plane of the disk. The halfspace is idealized either as a standard Voigt solid or as a constant hysteretic solid. The solution for the massless disk is then applied to the analysis of foundations with mass, and for each mode of excitation, comprehensive numerical data are presented to illustrate the effects of viscoelastic action on the response of both the massless disk and of foundations with mass It is shown that the principal effects of material damping are to increase the damping capacity of the foundation and to reduce its ‘natural’ frequency. In the mathematically equivalent representation of the elastically supported massless disk as a spring-dashpot combination without mass, it is shown that the effective stiffness of the spring may become negative over significant ranges of the exciting frequency, and that it is preferable to model the disk-halfspace system as an oscillator with mass, taking its spring constant equal to the static stiffness of the original system.     

Soil–structure interaction effects observed in the in situ forced vibration and pushover tests of school buildings in Taiwan and their modeling considering the foundation flexibility

In the conventional structural seismic analysis, the rigid base model is usually adopted without considering the flexibility of the ground, leading to inaccurate estimation of the vibration characteristics and the seismic response of the structure. In 2007, several in situ tests were conducted by the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) on the school buildings in the Guanmiao Elementary School in Tainan, Taiwan. For the study of soil–structure interaction (SSI) effects, the forced vibration test (FVT) was performed, and the deformation of the foundation system was measured during the pushover test. In this paper, the results of these in situ tests are presented and discussed, and the finite element models of the school buildings were generated for the simulation of the FVT and for the pushover analysis in order to investigate the difference between the rigid base model and the flexible base model. Results show that the mechanical properties of the structure and the foundation could be demonstrated in these in situ tests. Additionally, the introduction of the flexibility of the foundation has a considerable influence on the results of structural analysis. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In-plane and anti-plane strong shaking of soil systems and structures

The concept of in-plane and anti-plane shaking is introduced with a rigid block on a plane surface with Coulomb friction. Using a hypoplastic constitutive relation to model the mechanical behaviour of the soil, numerical solutions for a rigid block on a thin dry or saturated soil layer are obtained. The coupled nature of dynamic problems involving granular materials is shown, i.e. the motion of the block changes the soil state—skeleton stresses and density—which in turn affects the block motion. Motions of the block as well as soil response can be more realistically calculated by the new model. The same constitutive equation is applied to the numerical simulation of the propagation of plane waves in homogeneous and layered level soil deposits induced by a wave coming from below. Experiments with a novel laminar shake box as well as real seismic records from well-documented sites during strong earthquakes are used to verify the adequacy of the hypoplasticity-based numerical model for the prediction of soil response during strong earthquakes. The response of a homogeneous earth dam subjected to in-plane and anti-plane shaking is investigated numerically. In-plane and anti-plane shaking is shown to cause nearly the same spreading of a sand dam under drained conditions, whereas under undrained conditions anti-plane shaking causes stronger spreading of the dam. The dynamic behaviour of a breakwater founded on rockfill and soft clay during the 1995 Kobe earthquake is back-calculated to show the good performance of the proposed numerical model also with a structure. Section 9 deals with buildings on mattresses of densified cohesionless soils or fine-grained soils with granular columns, slopes with ‘hidden’ dams and structures on piles traversing clayey slopes to show the suitability of hypoplasticity-based models for the earthquake-resistant design and safety assessment of geotechnical systems.     

Approximate dynamic model of embedded foundation in time domain

A discrete model to represent the unbounded soil (halfspace) in a soil–structure interaction analysis in the time domain is developed. For each dynamic degree of freedom of the foundation node, the discrete model consists of a mass M₀ which is attached to a rigid support with a spring K and with a damper C₀. In addition, a free node with the mass M₁ is introduced, which is connected to the foundation node with a damper C₁. All coefficients are frequency-independent. The discrete model is semi-empirical. It is based on a semi-infinite truncated cone, whereby, after enforcing the static stiffness, the remaining parameters are modified to achieve an optimal fit of the dynamic-stiffness coefficient in the frequency domain. The spring K is equal to the static stiffness. The coefficients appearing in the equations for the dampers C₀, C₁ and the masses M₀, M₁ are specified (assuming a homogeneous halfspace) for the disc, the embedded cylinder, the rectangle (also embedded) and the strip. A square on a layer whose stiffness increases with depth resting on a homogeneous halfspace is also treated. For an embedded foundation, eccentricities arise. Material damping increases the damper C₀ and the mass M₀.     

Effects of rainfall on soil–structure system frequency: Examples based on poroelasticity and a comparison with full-scale measurements

In this paper, a simple two-dimensional soil–structure interaction model, based on Biot's theory of wave propagation in fluid saturated porous media, is used to explain the observed increase of the apparent frequencies of Millikan library in Pasadena, California, during heavy rainfall and recovery within days after the rain. These variations have been measured for small amplitude response (to microtremors and wind excitation), for which Biot's linear theory is valid. The postulated hypothesis is that the observed increases in frequency are due to the water saturation of the soil. The theoretical model used to explore this hypothesis consists of a shear wall supported by a circular foundation embedded in a poroelastic half-space. This rigid foundation model may be appropriate only for the NS response of Millikan library. This paper presents results for the foundation stiffness, and for the system response for model parameters similar to those for Millikan library (located on alluvium with shear wave velocity of about 300 m/s). The foundation impedance matrix, foundation input motion and system response are compared for dry and fully saturated half-space, with permeable and impermeable foundation. The results show that for embedded foundations, the effects of saturation on the horizontal foundation stiffness are as significant as for the vertical stiffness, contrary to what has been known for surface foundations investigated by other authors. Further, the results suggest a 1–2% increase in system frequency of the first two modes of vibration, depending on the drainage condition along the foundation–soil interface. Such increases agree qualitatively with the observations.     

Antiplane dynamic soil-bridge interaction for incident plane SH-waves

The analysis of dynamic soil-bridge interaction has been performed in three steps. These are:

• 1. The analysis of input motions.
• 2. The force-displacement relationships for the foundations.
• 3. The dynamic analysis of the structure itself, i.e. the bridge.

Based on the exact solution of the first two steps, the dynamic interaction of a simple two-dimensional bridge model erected on an elastic half-space has been investigated for a single span case. The two-dimensional model under study consists of an elastic shear girder bridge supported by two rigid abutments and rigid foundations which have a circular cross-section and are welded to the half-space. It has been shown that the dynamic interaction depends on:

• 1. The incidence angle of plane SH-waves.
• 2. The ratio of the rigidity of the girder and the soil.
• 3. The ratio of the girder mass to the mass of the rigid abutment-foundation system.
• 4. The span of the bridge.

The dynamic response of the girder and the effect of the radiative damping in the half-space on the interaction of the girder have been studied.     

Restoring forces on vertical circular cylinders forced by earthquakes

An eigenfunction solution is presented for the dynamic response of vertical circular cylinders to earthquake excitation in a compressible fluid of finite depth. This single eigenseries expansion eliminates the need for a double summation over both the eigenfunctions and the trial functions as required by Rayleigh-Ritz methods. Revised definitions for the added mass and hydrodynamic radiation damping coefficients per unit length are derived from the hydrodynamic fluid pressures. Based on comparisons between these newly defined coefficients, the compressibility of the fluid is found to be relatively more important at dimensionless frequencies greater than unity (ω > 1.0) when analysing both rigid and flexible cylinders having relatively large diameter to water depth ratios,r₀/h > 0.25 (squatty type). This conclusion regarding the relative importance of the fluid compressibility is derived from a comparison between the relative magnitudes and the vertical distributions over depth of both the added mass and radiation damping coefficients per unit length for both rigid and flexible squatty cylinders. From additional comparisons with Rayleigh-Ritz solutions that require trial functions, the results for totally immersed flexible slender cylinders (r₀/h< 0.10) are shown to be equivalent; but the results for totally immersed flexible squatty cylinders (r₀/h > 0.25) are not. The reason for this difference appears to be in the truncation of the trial function series in the Rayleigh-Ritz methods, which excludes the higher mode shapes, and in the definitions of the added mass coefficients. Comparisons with laboratory data for both rigid and flexible cylinders confirm the accuracy of the solutions obtained by the eigenseries in the limited frequency interval above the highest frequency for surface gravity waves (f > 1.0 Hz) and below the first dimensionless cut-off frequency for acoustic waves (ω< 1.0).     

Seismic response of rocking frames with top support eccentricity

The seismic response of rocking frames that consist of a rigid beam freely supported on rigid freestanding rectangular piers has received recent attention in the literature. Past studies have investigated the special case where, upon planar rocking motion, the beam maintains contact with the piers at their extreme edges. However, in many real scenarios, the beam‐to‐pier contact lies closer to the center of the pier, affecting the overall stability of the system. This paper investigates the seismic response of rocking frames under the more general case which allows the contact edge to reside anywhere in‐between the center of the pier and its extreme edge. The study introduces a rocking block model that is dynamically equivalent to a rocking frame with vertically symmetric piers of any geometry. The impact of top eccentricity (ie, the distance of the contact edge from the pier's vertical axis of symmetry) on the seismic response of rocking frames is investigated under pulse excitations and earthquake records. It is concluded that the stability of a top‐heavy rocking frame is highly influenced by the top eccentricity. For instance, a rocking frame with contacts at the extreme edges of the piers can be more seismically stable than a solitary block that is identical to one of the frame's piers, while a rocking frame with contacts closer to the centers of the piers can be less stable. The concept of critical eccentricity is introduced, beyond which the coefficient of restitution contributes to a greater reduction in the response of a frame than of a solitary pier.     

考虑土与结构相互作用效应的结构减震控制大型振动台模型试验研究

本文设计并完成了考虑土与结构相互作用的结构减震控制大型振动台模型试验。通过对四种结构形式的对比试验，探讨了土与结构相互作用（ＳＳＩ）效应对结构地震反应的影响以及调谐质量阻尼器（ＴＭＤ）在刚性和柔性地基条件下对主体结构的减震效应。通过比较同一地震动作用下主体结构在刚性和柔性两种地基条件下的地震反应，可知：ＳＳＩ效应具有降低和提高结构减震控制效果的双重作用，其综合效果与输入地震动的频谱特性、加速度峰值大小有关。由于ＳＳＩ效应在结构地震反应中发挥着双重的作用，因而使得基于刚性地基假定下设计的ＴＭＤ减震控制系统在柔性地基条件下的控制效果不太理想，甚至会出现负面效应。本文还探讨了在柔性地基条件下影响结构减震控制效果的一些因素。     

A Statistical Estimation Model for the Impact Force of Dry Granular Flow Against Rigid Barrier

The impact force on retaining structure, which is caused by granular flow comprised of dry particles originated from shallow landslide failure, still lacks systematic studies. In order to support the potential design requirement of structure used to resist this kind of impact, a series of dry granular impact experiments are conducted on one rigid barrier model. According to parametric analysis results, one nonlinear regression model is proposed to correlate total normal impact force at critical time (F_cr) with its influential parameters. Further, we complete a systematic statistics analysis and obtain a subsequent optimum regression equation based on the proposed model. According to experience and dimension balance, the equation is modified and finally transformed into one non-dimensional equation, which shows good agreement between predicted and observed results.     

Dynamic response and optimal design of structures with large mass ratio TMD

This paper investigates the dynamic behavior and the seismic effectiveness of a non‐conventional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) with large mass ratio. Compared with conventional TMD, the device mass is increased up to be comparable with the mass of the structure to be protected, aiming at a better control performance. In order to avoid the introduction of an excessive additional weight, masses already present on the structure are converted into tuned masses, retaining structural or architectural functions beyond the mere control function. A reduced order model is introduced for design purposes and the optimal design of a large mass ratio TMD for seismic applications is then formulated. The design method is specifically developed to implement High‐Damping Rubber Bearings (HDRB) to connect the device mass to the main structure, taking advantage of combining stiffness and noticeable damping characteristics. Ground acceleration is modeled as a Gaussian random process with white noise power spectral density. A numerical searching technique is used to obtain the optimal design parameter, the frequency ratio alpha, which minimizes the root‐mean‐square displacement response of the main structure. The study finally comprises shaking table tests on a 1:5 scale model under a wide selection of accelerograms, both artificial and natural, to assess the seismic effectiveness of the proposed large mass ratio TMD. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

考虑SSI效应的层间隔震结构自振特性及随机响应分析

基于水平摇摆阻尼系统模型,建立土-层间隔震结构简化分析模型,将地基土等效到上部结构,推导得到简化模型动力特性参数表达式,并通过对结构周期比及振型参与位移进行分析,讨论质量比及土体剪切波速对层间隔震结构自振特性的影响规律。利用虚拟激励法及均匀调制非平稳随机响应分析方法,分别从时域和频域角度分析不同场地条件下SSI效应对层间隔震结构的振动响应影响。结果表明：在刚性地基下,结构质量比对结构周期比及振型参与位移的影响较小,SSI效应放大了各子结构响应,尤其对下部子结构响应影响最大,各子结构在场地土差异下变化明显,软土场地下各子结构响应变大。     

Effect of stiffness variability on the response of isolated structures

Results are presented of an investigation, the objective of which was to determine the relationship between the stiffness variability of the bearings of an isolation system and the response variability of the structure. The system is modeled as a rigid, rectangular structure that is free to translate and rotate. The isolation system consists of N isolation bearings arranged in a rectangular pattern, each with a stiffness k_i that is an independent, normally distributed, random variable. Response spectrum analysis is used to obtain the analytical solution for the structure response. Approximate closed‐form expressions are obtained for the variance of the centreline displacement, rotation, corner displacement and base shear, that are in terms of the variability of the isolator stiffness, aspect ratio of the structure, and the number and layout of isolation bearings. Results show that the standard deviation of the centreline displacement and base shear decrease with increasing number of isolation bearings, and are independent of the aspect ratio and layout of isolators, and in all cases are less than 1/4 the standard deviation of the isolator stiffness. The standard deviation of the corner displacement is a function of all of the system parameters, and is bounded below by the standard deviation of the centreline displacement and above by the standard deviation of a bar aligned perpendicular to the direction of ground motion with m isolation bearings distributed along the length. The approximate expressions are shown to be in good agreement with the results of Monte Carlo simulations. The results should be of use to designers of isolated structures and manufacturers of isolation systems, in assessing the significance of stiffness variability on the response of the isolated structure. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vertical acceleration demands on column lines of steel moment‐resisting frames

In this paper, vertical peak floor acceleration (PFA_v) demands on elastic multistory buildings are statistically evaluated using recorded ground motions. These demands are applicable to the assessment of nonstructural components that are rigid in the vertical direction and located at column lines or next to columns. Hence, PFA_v demands of the floor system away from column lines and their effects on nonstructural components are not addressed. This study is motivated by the questionable general assumption that typical buildings are considered to be relatively flexible in the horizontal (lateral) direction but relatively rigid in the vertical (longitudinal) direction. Consequently, only few papers address the evaluation of vertical component acceleration demands throughout a building, and there is no consensus on the relevance of vertical accelerations in buildings. The results presented in this study show that the vertical ground acceleration demands are amplified throughout the column line of a steel frame structure. This amplification is in many cases significant, depending on the vertical stiffness of the load‐bearing system, damping ratio, and the location of the nonstructural component in the building. From these outcomes it can be concluded that the perception of a rigid‐body response of the column lines in the vertical direction is highly questionable, and further research on this topic is required. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic performance of an existing bridge with scoured caisson foundation

A three-dimensional rigid body on the shape of a parallelepiped is modelled in order to rock on a side or a vertex of the base,in order to evaluate the seismic response of rigid blocks lying on a horizontal support.The center of mass of the body is considered as eccentric with respect to its geometric center.As seismic input,three Italian recorded accelerograms,with different spectral content,are used.The study is mainly conducted to highlight the differences between the seismic response of 2D and 3D models of rigid blocks,with the aim to understand if,in some cases,the use of the 3D model of rigid block is required to obtain safer results.In fact,the outcomes show that in some ranges of the geometrical and mechanical parameters that characterize the excitation and the body,a two-dimensional model,which is not able to consider the 3D rocking on a vertex,can provide unsafe results.In particular,it is found that the overturning process of the three-dimensional block can occur under excitations which are lower than those which overturn a corresponding two-dimensional block.