Damage potential of near-fault records: sliding displacement against conventional “Intensity Measures”

The potential of a particular ground accelerogram to inflict damage to asymmetric strongly-inelastic systems is studied in the paper. An idealised analogue, the rigid block with frictional contact on an inclined base, is adopted as the generic representation of such systems. The inclined base (of (a sufficiently steep) angle) is shaken with numerous strong records bearing the effects of forward-directivity and/or fling-step. The accumulated slippage, D, of the block caused by each record is taken as the induced “damage” to the system. The relevance of a variety of ‘Intensity Measures’ of each accelerogram (ranging from PGA and PGV to Housner’s and Arias’ Intensities) in predicting this damage, is investigated statistically. It is shown that only a few of these ‘Intensity Measures’ are reasonably successful and their use could therefore be recommended, but only for statistical inference. A detailed deterministic analysis presented in the paper for one of these successful measures, Arias Intensity, reveals the unacceptably poor predictive power of this measure. Upper-bound curves of slippage provided in closed-form expressions, are an improvement over the state-of-practice Makdisi & Seed diagrams.     

Shear vibration of vertically inhomogeneous earth dams

Closed-form solution to the problem of free vibrations of vertically inhomogeneous earth dams, modelled as truncated-wedge-shaped shear beams, has been obtained by implementing an inverse procedure in which the determination of the function descrbing the inhomogeneity constitutes part of the problem. The resulting cube-root variation of the shear-wave velocity with distance from the crest compares very favourably with measurements in two Japanese dams. The results of the method are presented in theform of natural periods, modal shapes and average seismic coefficients for a number of truncation ratios. Compared with an ‘equivalent’ homogeneous dam, the inhomogeneous experiences sharper amplification of modal displacements and greater averge seismic, coefficients near the crest and has natural periods which are closer to each other. This behaviour is in better agreement with the observed response of a 37m-high dam during five earthquake motions.     

Response of three Athens metro underground structures in the 1999 Parnitha earthquake

The M_s 5.9 earthquake of 1999 produced valuable records in three underground structures, as follows: (a) in the just completed cut-and-cover station of Sepolia two accelerographs recorded the free-field and the station-base motion; (b) in the still under-construction tunnelled station of Monastiraki an accelerograph recorded the ground surface motion, and (c) in the nearby Kerameikos station, abandoned for non-technical reasons, the temporary prestressed-anchor piled (PAP) wall was still in place and produced a record of total seismic displacement at its top. Directly or indirectly utilising these records, the article outlines the results of numerical analyses aimed at ‘recovering’ the complete seismic response of the three underground structures. Particular emphasis is given to Sepolia station, where the developed accelerations (with PGA of about 0.17 g at the station base and 0.43 g at the station roof) are shown to have been almost exactly equal to the design accelerations according to the seismic code under the assumption that the station responds as an aboveground structure. The successful performance of the two temporary structures, in Monastiraki and Kerameikos (which had been designed against minimal acceleration levels but experienced ground-surface high-frequency accelerations of the order of 0.50 g) is explained through dynamic response analyses.     

Foundation–structure systems over a rupturing normal fault: Part II. Analysis of the Kocaeli case histories

Motivated by the observed (successful and unsuccessful) performance of numerous structures on top of, or immediately next to a normal fault that ruptured during the Kocaeli 1999 earthquake, this paper: (i) develops a two-step finite element methodology to study the propagation of a fault rupture through soil and its interplay with the foundation–structure system, denoted hereafter “Fault Rupture–Soil– Foundation–Structure Interaction” (FR–SFSI), (ii) provides validation of the developed methodology through successful Class “A” predictions of centrifuge model tests, and (iii) applies the centrifuge-validated methodology to study one-by-one the Kocaeli case histories of the first paper (Part I). It is shown that the presence of a structure on top of an outcropping fault may have a significant influence on the rupture path: with heavy structures founded on continuous and rigid foundations, the fault rupture diverts substantially and may avoid rupturing underneath the structure. The latter undergoes rigid body rotation, with its foundation sometimes loosing contact with the bearing soil, but in most cases retaining its structural integrity. In stark contrast, buildings on isolated footings and, perhaps surprisingly, piles exert a smaller diversion of the rupture which is thus likely to outcrop between the footings or pile caps; the latter may thus undergo devastating differential displacements. It is shown that structures in the vicinity of faults can be designed to survive significant dislocations. The “secret” of successful performance lies on the continuity, stiffness, and rigidity of the foundation.     

Neural network analysis of overturning response under near-fault type excitation

Under strong seismic excitation, a rigid block will uplift from its support and undergo rocking oscillations which may lead to （complete） overturning. Numerical and analytical solutions to this highly nonlinear vibration problem are first highlighted in the paper and then utilized to demonstrate how sensitive the overturning behavior is not only to the intensity and frequency content of the base motion, but also to thc presence of strong pulses, to their detailed sequence, and even to their asymnletry. Five idealised pulses capable of representing ＂rupture-directivity＂ and ＂fling＂ affected ground motions near the fault, are utilized to this end ： the one-cycle sinus, the one-cycle cosinus, the Ricker wavelet, the truncated （T）-Ricker wavelet, and the rectangular pulse ＂Overturning-Acceleration Amplification＂ and ＂Rotation＂ spectra are introduced and presented. Artificial neural network modeling is then developed as an alternative numerical solution. The neural network analysis leads to closed-form expressions for predicting the overturning failure or survival of a rigid block, as a function of its geometric properties and the characteristics of the excitation time history. The capability of the developed neural network modeling is validated through comparisons with the numerical solution. The derived analytical expressions could also serve as a tool for assessing the destructiveness of near-fault ground motions, for structures sensitive to rocking with foundation uplift.     

Dynamic pile-soil-pile interaction. Part II: Lateral and seismic response

A simplified three-step procedure is proposed for estimating the dynamic interaction between two vertical piles, subjected either to lateral pile-head loading or to vertically-propagating seismic S-waves. The starting point is the determination of the deflection profile of a solitary pile using any of the established methods available. Physically-motivated approximations are then introduced for the wave field radiating from an oscillating pile and for the effect of this field on an adjacent pile. The procedure is applied in this paper to a flexible pile embedded in a homogeneous stratum. To obtain analytical closed-form results for both pile-head and seismic-type loading pile-soil and soil-pile interaction are accounted for through a single dynamic Winkler model, with realistic frequency-dependent ‘springs’ and ‘dashpots’. Final- and intermediate-step results of the procedure compare favourably with those obtained using rigorous formulations for several pile group configurations. It is shown that, for a homogeneous stratum, pile-to-pile interaction effects are far more significant under head loading than under seismic excitation.     

Local-soil and source-mechanism effects in the 1986 kalamata (Greece) earthquake

An M_s ～ 6 earthquake, originating at a normal fault directly underneath the town of Kalamata, caused substantial structural damage to reinforced-concrete and masonry buildings, to contemporary as well as centuries-old churches, and to a major harbour quaywall. Two accelerograms were recorded on stiff alluvial deposits. The seismologic and engineering facts of the earthquake are presented in the first half of the paper. Particular attention is paid to the non-uniform pattern of damage distribution, at both regional and local scale. The second half of the paper investigates the possible role of the ‘local soil conditions’ and of the ‘mechanics of the source’ in the observed pattern of damage and in the amplitude and frequency composition of the two records. To this end, numerical modelling of site-specific motions is attempted using state-of-practice methods, and utilizing the results of an extensive geotechnical exploration programme. It is concluded that substantial evidence does exist indicating that both soil and source effects have contributed to the non-uniform spatial distribution of damage. The effect of through-soil ‘filtering’ of the seismic waves appears most evident in the coastal neighbourhoods of the town, where the underlying loose saturated silty sands in the over-50 m-deep soil deposit may have played a beneficial role in weakening the ground-surface shaking; the structural damage in these areas was insignificant. Qualitative arguments are also put forward for explaining some aspects of the observed pattern of damage in terms of fault orientation and ‘directivity’ effects.     

Seismic shear vibration of embankment dams in semi-cylindrical valleys

A rigorous analytical solution is developed for the lateral linear shear response of embankment dams in semi-cylindrical valleys. Closed-form algebraic expressions are presented pertaining to both free and base-induced oscillations, and extensive parametric and comparative studies elucidate the prominent effects of canyon geometry (shape and aspect ratio) on dynamic response. Harmonic steady-state as well as earthquake-induced accelerations, displacements and shear strains in the dam are studied and compared with those obtained from 3-Dimensional analyses for other canyon geometries, as well as from 2-Dimensional (2-D) analyses of the dam mid-section. It is shown that such 2-D analyses may provide significantly lower values of near-crest accelerations, but slightly higher values of shear strains and stresses than the 3-D analyses. The proposed method of analysis is at least three orders of magnitude less expensive than other presently available numerical procedures.     

Wavelet analysis for relating soil amplification and liquefaction effects with seismic performance of precast structures

Precast concrete structures are preferred for facilities with large open areas due to easiness in construction. Such structures are typically composed of individual columns and long‐span beams, and are quite flexible and of limited redundancy. In this paper, nonlinear dynamic analyses of a typical such structure are conducted using as excitation 54 ground motions recorded on top of a variety of soils (hard, soft, and liquefied soil sites). The results show that liquefaction‐affected level‐ground motions systematically impose a greater threat to precast‐concrete structures in terms of seismic demand, even when low values of elastic spectral acceleration prevail, as opposed to soft‐soil records and even more to hard‐soil ones. Thus, elastic spectral acceleration appears to be an insufficient engineering demand parameter for design. Soil effects, the “signature” of which is born on ground motions, are first uncovered using wavelet analysis to detect the evolution of the energy and frequency content of the ground motion in the time domain. From this, the changes in effective (“dominant”) excitation period are noted, persuasively attributed to the nature of the soil, and finally correlated with the observed structural behavior. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.