• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

In the seismic design of bridges, formation of plastic hinges plays an important role in the dissipation of seismic energy. In the case of conventional fixed-base bridges, the plastic hinges are allowed to form in the superstructure alone. During seismic event, such bridges may be safe from collapse but the superstructure undergoes significant plastic deformations. As an alternative design approach, the plastic hinges are guided to form in the soil thereby utilizing the inevitable yielding of the soil. Rocking foundations work on this concept. The formation of plastic hinges in the soil reduces the load and displacement demands on the superstructure. This study aims at evaluating the seismic response of bridge pier supported on rocking shallow foundation. For this purpose, a BNWF model is implemented in OpenSees platform. The capability of the BNWF model to capture the SSI effects, nonlinear behavior and dynamic loading response are validated using the centrifuge and shake table test results. A comparative study is performed between the seismic response of the bridge pier supported on the rocking shallow foundation and conventional fixed-base foundation. Results of the study have established the beneficial effects of using the rocking shallow foundation for the seismic response analysis of the bridge piers.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2022

In this study, centrifuge model tests were performed to evaluate the seismic response of multi-DOF structures with shallow foundations. Also, elastic time history analysis on the fixed-base model was performed and compared with the experimental results. As a result of the centrifuge model test, earthquake amplification at the fundamental vibration frequency of the soil (= 2.44 Hz) affected the third vibration mode frequency (= 2.50 Hz) of the long-period structure and the first vibration mode (= 2.27 Hz) of the short-period structure. The shallow foundation lengthened the periods of the structures by 14-20% compared to the fixed base condition. The response spectrum of acceleration measured at the shallow foundation was smaller than that of free-field motion due to the foundation damping effect. The ultimate moment capacity of the soil-foundation system limited the dynamic responses of the multi-DOF structures. Therefore, the considerations on period lengthening, foundation damping, and ultimate moment capacity of the soil-foundation system might improve the seismic design of the multi-DOF building structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.401-413
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• 2019

The concept of base isolation for equipment is well known. Its application in buildings and structures is rather challenging. Introduction of horizontal flexibility at the base helps in proper energy dissipation at the base level thus reducing the seismic demand of the super structure to be considered during design. The present study shows the results of a series of numerical simulation studies on seismic responses of secondary system (SS) housed in non-isolated and base-isolated primary structures (PS) including equipment-structure interactions. For this study the primary structure consists of two similar single bay three-store reinforced cement concrete (RCC) Frame building, one non-isolated with conventional foundation and another base isolated with Lead plug bearings (LPB) constructed at IIT Guwahati, while the secondary system is modeled as a steel frame. Time period of the base isolated building is higher than the fixed building. Due to the presence of isolator, Acceleration response is significantly reduced in both (X and Y) direction of Building. It have been found that when compared to fixed base building, the base isolated building gives better performance in high seismic prone areas.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 1995

A soil-structure interaction formulation is used here which is based on consideration of the dynamics of the structure with a free, rather than a fixed, base. This approach is shown to give a quite simple procedure for coupling the dynamic characteristics of the structure to those of the foundation and soil in order to obtain a matrix formulation for the complete system. In fixed-base studies it is common to presume that each natural mode of the structure has a given fraction of critical damping, and since the interaction formulation uses a free-base model, it seems natural for this situation to assign the equal modal damping values to free-base modes. It is shown, though, that this gives a structural model which is significantly different than the one having equal modal damping in the fixed-base modes. In particular, it is found that the damping matrix resulting in equal modal damping values for free-based modes will give a very significantly smaller damping value for the fundamental distortional mode of the fixed-base structure. Ignoring this fact could lead one to attribute dynamic effects to interaction which are actually due to the choice of damping.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2024

This study investigated the impact of soil-structure interaction on multi-degree-of-freedom structures using the shallow-foundation Winkler model, known as the BNWF model. The model's period was determined through eigenvalue analysis and compared to results obtained from FEMA's formula. Results indicated that considering the soil, the structure's period increased by up to 8.7% compared to the fixed-base model, aligning with FEMA's calculations. Furthermore, with adequate ground acceleration, roof displacement increased by 3.4% to 3.8%, while base shear decreased by 4% to 10%. However, roof displacement and base shear increased in some earthquake scenarios due to spectral shape effects in regions with extended structural periods. Foundation damping effects, determined through the foundation's moment-rotation history, grew with higher ground acceleration. This suggests that accounting for period elongation and foundation damping can enhance the seismic design of multi-degree-of-freedom structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.39-55
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• 2015

Usually the analyses of structures are carried out by assuming the base of structures to be fixed. However, the soil beneath foundation alters the earthquake loading and varies the response of structure. Hence, it is not realistic to analyze structures by considering it to be fixed. The importance of soil-structure interaction was realized from the past failures of massive structures by neglecting the effect of soil in seismic analysis. The analysis of massive structures requires soil flexibility to be considered to avoid failure and ensure safety. Present study, considers the seismic behavior of multi-storey reinforced concrete narrow and wide buildings of various heights with and without shear wall supported on raft foundation incorporating the effect of soil flexibility. Analysis of the three dimensional models of six different shear wall positions founded on four different soils has been carried out using finite element software LS DYNA. The study investigates the differences in spectral acceleration coefficient (Sa/g), base shear and storey shear obtained following the seismic provisions of Indian standard code IS: 1893 (2002) (IS) and International building code IBC: 2012 (IBC). The base shear values obtained as per IBC provisions are higher than IS values.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.1045-1075
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• 2016

Shallow footings are one of the most common types of foundations used to support mid-rise buildings in high risk seismic zones. Recent findings have revealed that the dynamic interaction between the soil, foundation, and the superstructure can influence the seismic response of the building during earthquakes. Accordingly, the properties of a foundation can alter the dynamic characteristics (natural frequency and damping) of the soil-foundation-structure system. In this paper the influence that shallow foundations have on the seismic response of a mid-rise moment resisting building is investigated. For this purpose, a fifteen storey moment resisting frame sitting on shallow footings with different sizes was simulated numerically using ABAQUS software. By adopting a direct calculation method, the numerical model can perform a fully nonlinear time history dynamic analysis to realistically simulate the dynamic behaviour of soil, foundation, and structure under seismic excitations. This three-dimensional numerical model accounts for the nonlinear behaviour of the soil medium and structural elements. Infinite boundary conditions were assigned to the numerical model to simulate free field boundaries, and appropriate contact elements capable of modelling sliding and separation between the foundation and soil elements are also considered. The influence of foundation size on the natural frequency of the system and structural response spectrum was also studied. The numerical results for cases of soil-foundation-structure systems with different sized foundations and fixed base conditions (excluding soil-foundation-structure interaction) in terms of lateral deformations, inter-storey drifts, rocking, and shear force distribution of the structure were then compared. Due to natural period lengthening, there was a significant reduction in the base shears when the size of the foundation was reduced. It was concluded that the size of a shallow foundation influences the dynamic characteristics and the seismic response of the building due to interaction between the soil, foundation, and structure, and therefore design engineer should carefully consider these parameters in order to ensure a safe and cost effective seismic design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2017

The focus of this paper is the study on the seismic performance of RC buildings with two different connections at the base level under near-fault earthquakes. It is well-known that the impulsive nature of the near-fault ground motions causes severe damages to framed buildings especially at base connections. In the scope of this study, two types of 3-dimensional RC Moment Frames with Fixed Support (MFFS) and Hinged Support (MFHS) containing 5 and 10 stories are assessed under an ensemble of 11 strong ground motions by implementing nonlinear response history analysis. The most vulnerable locations of MFFS, are the connections of corner columns to foundation especially under strong earthquakes. On the other hand, using beams at the base level as well as hinged base connections in MFHS buildings, prevents damages of corner columns and achieves more ductile behavior. Results denote that the MFHS including Base Level Beams (BLB) significantly shows better behavior compared with MFFS, particularly under pulse-type records. Additionally, the first story beams and also interior components undergo more actions. Role of the BLBs are similar to fuses decreasing the flexural moments of the corner columns. The BLBs can be constructed as replaceable members which provide the reparability of structures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2002

This paper describes a numerical method for pile foundation subjected to earthquake loading using dynamic Winkler foundation model. To verify the numerical method, shaking table tests were carried out. In shaking table tests, accelerations and pile bending moments were measured for single pile and pile groups with a spacing-to-diameter ratio of 2.5 under fixed input base acceleration. In numerical analysis, the input base and free field accelerations measured from shaking table tests were used as input base motions. Based on the results obtained, free field acceleration was magnified relative to input base acceleration, whereas pile head accelerations reduced relatively to free field acceleration for soil-pile interaction. Measured and predicted bending moments for both cases have maximum value within the distance 10cm(4d) from the pile top. However, there are some differences between the results of numerical analysis and shake table test below 10cm(4d) from the pile top.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.491-502
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• 2022

A model experiment with a scale of 1:150 has been conducted to investigate the dynamic responses of a freestanding four-column bridge tower subjected to regular wave, random wave and coupled wave-current actions. The base shear forces of the caisson foundation and the dynamic behaviors of the superstructure were measured and analyzed. The comparisons of the test values with the theoretical values shows that wave-induced base shear forces on the bridge caisson foundation can be approximated by using a wave force calculation method in which the structure is assumed to be fixed and rigid. Although the mean square errors of the base shear forces excited by joint random wave and current actions are approximately equal to those excited by pure random waves, the existence of a forward current increases the forward base shear forces and decreases the backward base shear forces. The tower top displacements excited by wave-currents are similar to those excited by waves, suggesting that a current does not significantly affect the dynamic responses of the superstructure of the bridge tower. The experiment results can be used as a reference for similar engineering design.