Effects of pulse period of near‐field ground motions on the seismic demands of soil–MDOF structure systems using mathematical pulse models

In this paper, the effects of pulse period associated with near‐field ground motions on the seismic demands of soil–MDOF structure systems are investigated by using mathematical pulse models. Three non‐dimensional parameters are employed as the crucial parameters, which govern the responses of soil–structure systems: (1) non‐dimensional frequency as the structure‐to‐soil stiffness ratio; (2) aspect ratio of the superstructure; and (3) structural target ductility ratio. The soil beneath the superstructure is simulated on the basis of the Cone model concept. The superstructure is modeled as a nonlinear shear building. Interstory drift ratio is selected as the main engineering demand parameter for soil–structure systems. It is demonstrated that the contribution of higher modes to the response of soil–structure system depends on the pulse‐to‐interacting system period ratio instead of pulse‐to‐fixed‐base structure period ratio. Furthermore, results of the MDOF superstructures demonstrate that increasing structural target ductility ratio results in the first‐mode domination for both fixed‐base structure and soil–structure system. Additionally, increasing non‐dimensional frequency and aspect ratio of the superstructure respectively decrease and increase the structural responses. Moreover, comparison of the equivalent soil–SDOF structure system and the soil–MDOF structure system elucidates that higher‐mode effects are more significant, when soil–structure interaction is taken into account. In general, the effects of fling step and forward directivity pulses on activating higher modes of the superstructure are more sever in soil–structure systems, and in addition, the influences of forward directivity pulses are more considerable than fling step ones. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of dynamic soil–structure interaction on the nonlinear response and seismic reliability of multistorey systems

A set of reinforced concrete structures with gravitational loads and mechanical properties (strength and stiffness) representative of systems designed for earthquake resistance in accordance with current criteria and methods is selected to study the influence of dynamic soil–structure interaction on seismic response, ductility demands and reliability levels. The buildings are considered located at soft soil sites in the Valley of Mexico and subjected to ground motion time histories simulated in accordance with characteristic parameters of the maximum probable earthquake likely to occur during the system's expected life. For the near‐resonance condition the effects of soil–structure interaction on the ductility demands depend mainly on radiation damping. According to the geometry of the structures studied this damping is strongly correlated with the aspect ratio, obtained by dividing the building height by its width. In this way, for structures with aspect ratio greater than 1.4 the storey and global ductility demands increase with respect to those obtained with the same structures but on rigid base, while for structures with aspect ratio less than 1.4 the ductility demands decrease with respect to those for the structures on rigid base. For the cases when the fundamental period of the structure has values very different from the dominant ground period, soil–structure interaction leads in all cases to a reduction of the ductility demands, independently of the aspect ratio. The reliability index β is obtained as a function of the base shear ratio and of the seismic intensity acting on the nonlinear systems subjected to the simulated motions. The resulting reliability functions are very similar for systems on rigid or on flexible foundation, provided that in the latter case the base rotation and the lateral displacement are removed from the total response of the system. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response and damage analysis of buildings supported on flexible soils

The investigation reported in this paper studies the effects of soil–structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic response and damage of building–foundation systems. A simple structural model is used for conducting a parametric study using a typical record obtained in the soft soil area of Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Peak response parameters chosen for this study were the roof displacement relative to the base and the hysteretic energy dissipated by the simple structural model. A damage parameter is also evaluated for investigating the SSI effects on the seismic damage of buildings. The results indicate that in most cases of inelastic response, SSI effects can be evaluated considering the rigid‐base case and the SSI period. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inelastic displacement ratios for soil–structure systems allowed to uplift

The simultaneous effects of soil–structure interaction, foundation uplift and inelastic behavior of the superstructure on total displacement response of soil–structure systems are investigated. The superstructure is modeled as an equivalent single‐degree‐of‐freedom system with bilinear behavior mounted on a rigid foundation resting on distributed tensionless Winkler springs and dampers. It is well known that the behavior of soil–structure systems can be well described using a limited number of nondimensional parameters. Here, by introducing two new parameters, the concept is extended to inelastic soil–structure systems in which the foundation is allowed to uplift. An extensive parametric study is conducted for a wide range of the key parameters through nonlinear time history analyses. It is shown that while uplifting soil–structure systems experience excessive displacements, in comparison with systems that are not allowed to uplift, ductility demand in the superstructure generally decreases owing to foundation uplift. A new inelastic displacement ratio (IDR) is proposed in conjunction with a nonlinear static analysis of uplifting soil–structure systems. Simplified expressions are also provided to estimate the proposed IDR. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Systematic assessment of irregular building–soil interaction using efficient modal analysis

In this paper an efficient methodology applying modal analysis is developed to assess systematically the combined soil–structure interaction and torsional coupling effects on asymmetric buildings. This method is implemented in the frequency domain to accurately incorporate the frequency‐dependent foundation impedance functions. For extensively extracting the soil–structure interaction effects, a diagonal transfer matrix in the modal space is derived. A comprehensive investigation of asymmetric building–soil interaction can then be conveniently conducted by examining various types of response quantities. Results of parametric study show that the increasing height‐to‐base ratio of a structure generally amplifies its translational and torsional responses. Moreover, both the translational and torsional responses are reduced for the case where the two resonant frequencies are well separated and this reduction is enhanced with the decreasing values of the relative soil stiffness and the height‐to‐base ratio. The most noteworthy phenomenon may be the fact that the SSI effects can enlarge the translational response if the structure is slender and the two resonant frequencies are very close. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated foundation–structure seismic assessment through non‐linear dynamic analyses

This paper aims at clarifying the role of dynamic soil–structure interaction in the seismic assessment of structure and foundation, when the non‐linear coupling of both subsystems is accounted for. For this purpose, the seismic assessment of an ideal set of bridge piers on shallow foundations is considered. After an initial standard assessment, based on capacity design principles, the evaluation of the seismic response of the piers is carried out by dynamic simulations, where both the non‐linear responses of the superstructure and of the foundation are accounted for, in the latter case through the macro‐element modeling of the soil–foundation system. The results of the dynamic simulations point out the beneficial effects of the non‐linear response of the foundation, which provides a substantial contribution to the overall energy dissipation during seismic excitation, thus allowing the structural ductility demand to decrease significantly with respect to a standard fixed‐base or linear‐elastic base assessment. Permanent deformations at the foundation level, such as rotation and settlement, turn out to be of limited amount. Therefore, an advanced assessment approach of the integrated non‐linear system, consisting of the interacting foundation and superstructure, is expected to provide more rationale and economic results than the standard uncoupled approach, which, neglecting any energy dissipation at the foundation level, generally overestimates the ductility demand on the superstructure. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimum lateral load pattern for seismic design of elastic shear‐buildings incorporating soil–structure interaction effects

Recently, several new optimum loading patterns have been proposed by researchers for fixed‐base systems while their adequacy for soil–structure systems has not been evaluated yet. Through intensive dynamic analyses of multistory shear‐building models with soil–structure interaction subjected to a group of 21 artificial earthquakes adjusted to soft soil design spectrum, the adequacy of these optimum patterns is investigated. It is concluded that using these patterns the structures generally achieve near optimum performance in some range of periods. However, their efficiency reduces as soil flexibility increases especially when soil–structure interaction effects are significant. In the present paper, using the uniform distribution of damage over the height of structures, as the criterion, an optimization algorithm for seismic design of elastic soil–structure systems is developed. The effects of fundamental period, number of stories, earthquake excitation, soil flexibility, building aspect ratio, damping ratio and damping model on optimum distribution pattern are investigated. On the basis of 30,240 optimum load patterns derived from numerical simulations and nonlinear statistical regression analyses, a new lateral load pattern for elastic soil–structure systems is proposed. It is a function of the fundamental period of the structure, soil flexibility and structural slenderness ratio. It is shown that the seismic performance of such a structure is superior to those designed by code‐compliant or recently proposed patterns by researchers for fixed‐base structures. Using the proposed load pattern in this study, the designed structures experience up to 40% less structural weight as compared with the code‐compliant or optimum patterns developed based on fixed‐base structures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EFFECTIVE OPTIMAL STRUCTURAL CONTROL OF SOIL–STRUCTURE INTERACTION SYSTEMS

A methodology is developed in this paper to include soil–structure interaction effects in optimal structural control, General Multi-Degree-Of-Freedom (MDOF) structural models are considered. The SSI transfer functions for ground motion and control force in the physical space are presented first, followed by a methodology for using system identification techniques to find an equivalent fixed-base model of an MDOF SSI system. An iterative technique is applied to combine these methods for the determination of optimal control gains. The control effectiveness of considering soil–structure interaction is investigated for the controlled SSI system. It is found that the control algorithm considering SSI effects is more effective than the corresponding control algorithm assuming a fixed-base system model. In addition, the advantage of applying this methodology is observed to be more prominent in the cases where the SSI effects are more significant. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic soil–structure interaction in multi‐span bridges: Application to a railway bridge

The effects of soil‐structure interaction on the seismic response of multi‐span bridges are investigated by means of a modelling strategy based on the domain decomposition technique. First, the analysis methodology is presented: kinematic interaction analysis is performed in the frequency domain by means of a procedure accounting for radiation damping, soil–pile and pile‐to‐pile interaction; the seismic response of the superstructure is evaluated in the time domain by means of user‐friendly finite element programs introducing suitable lumped parameter models take into account the frequency‐dependent impedances of the soil–foundation system. Second, a real multi‐span railway bridge longitudinally restrained at one abutment is analyzed. The input motion is represented by two sets of real accelerograms: one consistent with the Italian seismic code and the other constituted by five records characterized by different frequency contents. The seismic response of the compliant‐base model is compared with that obtained from a fixed‐base model. Pile stress resultants due to kinematic and inertial interactions are also evaluated. The application demonstrates the importance of performing a comprehensive analysis of the soil–foundation–structure system in the design process, in order to capture the effects of soil‐structure interaction in each structural element that may be beneficial or detrimental. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inelastic seismic behavior of soil–pile raft–structure system under bi-directional ground motion

Performance based design of structure requires a reasonably accurate prediction of displacement or ductility demand. Generally, displacement demand of structure is estimated assuming fixity at base and considering base motion in one direction. In reality, ground motions occur in two orthogonal directions simultaneously resulting in bidirectional interaction in inelastic range, and soil–structure interaction (SSI) may change structural response too. Present study is an attempt to develop insight on the influence of bi-directional interaction and soil–pile raft–structure interaction for predicting the inelastic response of soil–pile raft–structure system in a more reasonably accurate manner. A recently developed hysteresis model capable to simulate biaxial interaction between deformations in two principal directions of any structural member under two orthogonal components of ground motion has been used. This study primarily shows that a considerable change may occur in inelastic demand of structures due to the combined effect of such phenomena.     

The role of soil in the collapse of 18 piers of Hanshin Expressway in the Kobe earthquake

An investigation is presented of the collapse of a 630 m segment (Fukae section) of the elevated Hanshin Expressway during the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The earthquake has, from a geotechnical viewpoint, been associated with extensive liquefactions, lateral soil spreading, and damage to waterfront structures. Evidence is presented that soil–structure interaction (SSI) in non‐liquefied ground played a detrimental role in the seismic performance of this major structure. The bridge consisted of single circular concrete piers monolithically connected to a concrete deck, founded on groups of 17 piles in layers of loose to dense sands and moderate to stiff clays. There were 18 spans in total, all of which suffered a spectacular pier failure and transverse overturning. Several factors associated with poor structural design have already been identified. The scope of this work is to extend the previous studies by investigating the role of soil in the collapse. The following issues are examined: (1) seismological and geotechnical information pertaining to the site; (2) free‐field soil response; (3) response of foundation‐superstructure system; (4) evaluation of results against earlier studies that did not consider SSI. Results indicate that the role of soil in the collapse was multiple: First, it modified the bedrock motion so that the frequency content of the resulting surface motion became disadvantageous for the particular structure. Second, the compliance of soil and foundation altered the vibrational characteristics of the bridge and moved it to a region of stronger response. Third, the compliance of the foundation increased the participation of the fundamental mode of the structure, inducing stronger response. It is shown that the increase in inelastic seismic demand in the piers may have exceeded 100% in comparison with piers fixed at the base. These conclusions contradict a widespread view of an always‐beneficial role of seismic SSI. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of foundation embedment on inelastic response of structures

In this research, a parametric study is carried out on the effect of soil–structure interaction on the ductility and strength demand of buildings with embedded foundation. Both kinematic interaction (KI) and inertial interaction effects are considered. The sub‐structure method is used in which the structure is modeled by a simplified single degree of freedom system with idealized bilinear behavior. Besides, the soil sub‐structure is considered as a homogeneous half‐space and is modeled by a discrete model based on the concept of cone models. The foundation is modeled as a rigid cylinder embedded in the soil with different embedment ratios. The soil–structure system is then analyzed subjected to a suit of 24 selected accelerograms recorded on alluvium deposits. An extensive parametric study is performed for a wide range of the introduced non‐dimensional key parameters, which control the problem. It is concluded that foundation embedment may increase the structural demands for slender buildings especially for the case of relatively soft soils. However, the increase in ductility demands may not be significant for shallow foundations with embedment depth to radius of foundation ratios up to one. Comparing the results with and without inclusion of KI reveals that the rocking input motion due to KI plays the main role in this phenomenon. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response of a bridge–soil–foundation system under the combined effect of vertical and horizontal ground motions

Different levels of model sophistication have recently emerged to support seismic risk assessment of bridges, but mostly at the expense of neglecting the influence of vertical ground motions (VGMs). In this paper, the influence of VGMs on bridge seismic response is presented and the results are compared with the case of horizontal‐only excitations. An advanced finite element model that accounts for VGMs is first developed. Then, to investigate the effect of soil–structure interaction (SSI) including liquefaction potential, the same bridge with soil‐foundation and fixed boundary conditions is also analyzed. Results show that the inclusion of the VGMs has a significant influence on the seismic response, especially for the axial force in columns, normal force of bearings, and the vertical deck bending moments. However, VGMs do not have as much influence on the seismic demand of the pile cap displacements or pile maximum axial forces. Also, the significant fluctuation of the column axial force can reduce its shear and flexural capacity, and a heightened reversal of flexural effects may induce damage in the deck. In addition, relative to the fixed base case, SSI effects tend to reduce response quantities for certain ground motions while increasing demands for others. This phenomenon is explained as a function of the frequency content of the ground motions, the shift in natural vertical periods, and the VGM spectral accelerations at higher modes. Moreover, the mechanisms of liquefaction are isolated relative to SSI effects in nonliquefiable soils, revealing the influence of liquefaction on bridge response under VGMs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil–structure interaction in yielding systems

The effects of soil–structure interaction in yielding systems are evaluated, including both kinematic and inertial interaction. The concepts developed previously for interacting elastic systems are extended to include the non‐linear behavior of the structure. A simple soil–structure system representative of code‐ designed buildings is investigated. The replacement oscillator approach used in practice to account for the elastic interaction effects is adjusted to consider the inelastic interaction effects. This is done by means of a non‐linear replacement oscillator defined by an effective ductility together with the known effective period and damping of the system for the elastic condition. To demonstrate the efficiency of this simplified approach, extensive numerical evaluations are conducted for elastoplastic structures with embedded foundation in a soil layer over elastic bedrock, excited by vertically propagating shear waves. Both strength and displacement demands are computed with and without regard to the effect of foundation flexibility, taking as control motion the great 1985 Michoacan earthquake recorded at a site representative of the soft zone in Mexico City. Results are properly interpreted to show the relative effects of interaction for elastic and yielding systems. Finally, it is demonstrated how to implement this information in the context of code design of buildings. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Free‐vibration analysis of a three‐dimensional soil–structure system

A procedure which involves a non‐linear eigenvalue problem and is based on the substructure method is proposed for the free‐vibration analysis of a soil–structure system. In this procedure, the structure is modelled by the standard finite element method, while the unbounded soil is modelled by the scaled boundary finite element method. The fundamental frequency, and the corresponding radiation damping ratio as well as the modal shape are obtained by using inverse iteration. The free vibration of a dam–foundation system, a hemispherical cavity and a hemispherical deposit are analysed in detail. The numerical results are compared with available results and are also verified by the Fourier transform of the impulsive response calculated in the time domain by the three‐dimensional soil–structure–wave interaction analysis procedure proposed in our previous paper. The fundamental frequency obtained by the present procedure is very close to that obtained by Touhei and Ohmachi, but the damping ratio and the imaginary part of modal shape are significantly different due to the different definition of damping ratio. This study shows that although the classical mode‐superposition method is not applicable to a soil–structure system due to the frequency dependence of the radiation damping, it is still of interest in earthquake engineering to evaluate the fundamental frequency and the corresponding radiation damping ratio of the soil–structure system. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probabilistic analysis of soil‐structure interaction effects on the seismic performance of structures

This paper revisits the phenomenon of dynamic soil‐structure interaction (SSI) with a probabilistic approach. For this purpose, a twofold objective is pursued. First, the effect of SSI on inelastic response of the structure is studied considering the prevailing uncertainties. Second, the consequence of practicing SSI provisions of the current seismic design codes on the structural performance is investigated in a probabilistic framework. The soil‐structure system is modeled by the sub‐structure method. The uncertainty in the properties of the soil and the structure is described by random variables that are input to this model. Monte Carlo sampling analysis is employed to compute the probability distribution of the ductility demand of the structure, which is selected as the metrics for the structural performance. In each sample, a randomly generated soil‐structure system is subjected to a randomly selected and scaled ground motion. To comprehensively model the uncertainty in the ground motion, a suite of 3269 records is employed. An extensive parametric study is conducted to cover a wide range of soil‐structure systems. The results reveal the probability that SSI increases the ductility demand of structures designed based on the conventional fixed‐based assumption but built on flexible soil in reality. The results also show it is highly probable that practicing SSI provisions of modern seismic codes increase the ductility demand of the structure. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of FEMA-440 for including soil-structure interaction

Replacing the entire soil-structure system with a fixed base oscillator to consider the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) is a common analysis method in seismic design. This technique has been included in design procedures such as NEHRP, ASCE, etc. by defining an equivalent fundamental period and damping ratio that can modify the response of the structure. However, recent studies indicate that the effects of SSI should be reconsidered when a structure undergoes a nonlinear displacement demand. In recent documents on Nonlinear Static Procedures (NSPs), FEMA-440 (2005), a modified damping ratio of the replacement oscillator was proposed by introducing the ductility of the soil-structure system obtained from pushover analysis. In this paper, the damping defined in FEMA-440 to include the soil-structure interaction effect is evaluated, and the accuracy of the Coefficient Method given in FEMA-440 and the Equivalent Linearization Method is studied. Although the improvements for Nonlinear Static Procedures (NSPs) in FEMA-440 are achieved for a fixed base SDOF structure, the soil effects are not perfectly obtained. Furthermore, the damping definition of a soil-structure system is extended to structures to consider bilinear behavior.     

Probabilistic evaluation of soil–foundation–structure interaction effects on seismic structural response

Complex seismic behaviour of soil–foundation–structure (SFS) systems together with uncertainties in system parameters and variability in earthquake ground motions result in a significant debate over the effects of soil–foundation–structure interaction (SFSI) on structural response. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of foundation flexibility on the structural seismic response by considering the variability in the system and uncertainties in the ground motion characteristics through comprehensive numerical simulations. An established rheological soil‐shallow foundation–structure model with equivalent linear soil behaviour and nonlinear behaviour of the superstructure has been used. A large number of models incorporating wide range of soil, foundation and structural parameters were generated using a robust Monte‐Carlo simulation. In total, 4.08 million time‐history analyses were performed over the adopted models using an ensemble of 40 earthquake ground motions as seismic input. The results of the analyses are used to rigorously quantify the effects of foundation flexibility on the structural distortion and total displacement of the superstructure through comparisons between the responses of SFS models and corresponding fixed‐base (FB) models. The effects of predominant period of the FB system, linear vs nonlinear modelling of the superstructure, type of nonlinear model used and key system parameters are quantified in terms of different probability levels for SFSI effects to cause an increase in the structural response and the level of amplification of the response in such cases. The results clearly illustrate the risk of underestimating the structural response associated with simplified approaches in which SFSI and nonlinear effects are ignored. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probabilistic estimation of inelastic displacement demands in soil–structure interaction systems on cohesive soils

Inelastic displacement ratios (IDRs) of nonlinear soil–structure interaction (SSI) systems located at sites with cohesive soils are investigated in this study. To capture the effects of inelastic cyclic behavior of the supporting soil, the Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) model is used. The superstructure is modeled using an inelastic single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system model. Nonlinear SSI systems representing various combinations of unconfined compressive strengths and shear wave velocities are considered in the analysis. A set of strong ground motions recorded at sites with soft to stiff soils is used for considering the record-to-record variability of IDRs. It is observed that IDRs for nonlinear SSI systems are sensitive to the strength and the stiffness properties of both the soil and the structure. For the case of SSI systems on the top of cohesive soils, the compressive strength of the soil has a significant impact on the IDRs, which cannot be captured by considering only the shear wave velocity of the soil. Based on the results of nonlinear time-history analysis, a new equation is proposed for estimating the mean and the dispersion of IDRs of SSI systems depending on the characteristic properties of the supporting soil, dimensions of the foundation, and properties of the superstructure. A probabilistic framework is presented for the performance-based seismic design of SSI systems located at sites with cohesive soils.     

Considering dynamic soil structure interaction (SSI) effects on seismic isolation retrofit efficiency and the importance of natural frequency ratio

This paper utilizes and expands on existing coupled BEM–FEM (finite element method) methods for the investigation of the effects of soil structure interaction (SSI) on both an un-retrofitted and seismically isolated typical bridge structure. A simple numerical model of the bridge and surrounding soil is formulated and excited by an earthquake excitation. Utilizing Newmark's β FEM solution method along with the closed form B-spline BIRF method, the structural damped period, composite damping ratio, pier relative displacement, and base shear demand are monitored. From these results, the effects of SSI on this structure are identified. Additionally, the importance of the relative rigidity between the soil-foundation system and the bridge structure is also investigated. The results of the studies indicate that the response of the complete structure system considered is affected by the inclusion of SSI effects. Furthermore, the efficiency of the isolation measures designed using fixed base conditions is decreased by considering SSI over a certain relative rigidity range that is quantified using the structure to soil-foundation natural frequency ratio.