Soil structure interaction

About: Soil structure interaction is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3653 publications have been published within this topic receiving 48890 citations.

Assessment and modeling of embankment participation in the seismic response of integral abutment bridges

Abstract: The dynamic response and seismic performance of bridges may be appreciably affected by numerous contributing factors, with soil–structure interaction being the dominant exogenous influence. The most familiar form is the so-called soil–pile interaction, but embankment–abutment interaction is also documented through field observations and analytical investigations, particularly evident in integral R.C. bridges. Recent studies have shown that this form of interaction may significantly alter the bridge response and should be taken into account during design and assessment, especially in the case of typical highway overcrossings that have abutments supported on earth embankments. In light of this emerging problem and in order to facilitate quantitative estimates of the interaction effects, the question of appropriate modeling and seismic assessment of R.C. integral bridges is the main object of the present paper. Based on already established procedures to account for soil–structure interaction, a new approach is proposed to model the contribution of the embankment, the bent and the abutments to the overall bridge response. Furthermore, the capacity curve of the entire bridge system is evaluated through the implementation of Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), therefore allowing for seismic assessment of the complex superstructure–foundation system with well established displacement based procedures. Using as a benchmark case two typical instrumented U.S. highway bridges located in California, the proposed method is implemented and provided results from this analysis are correlated successfully with available field data. Results obtained from the analysis indicate excessive displacement demands for the entire bridge–embankment system owing to the embankment contribution and the soil degradation under increasing shear strains. Furthermore, seismic performance is strongly related to the central bent deformation capacity, with soil–pile interaction effects being of critical importance.

Seismic Pile-Group—Structure Interaction

Abstract: A detailed multi-step procedure is outlined for a complete seismic soil-pile-foundation-structure interaction analysis, within the format of kinematic-inertial decomposition. Newly-developed simplified methods of solution are presented to determine kinematic seismic displacements and bending moments, as well as dynamic impedances, of single piles and pile groups. Characteristic results from the intermediate steps of the analysis are presented, elucidating aspects of the mechanics of soil-pile interaction. Results of unexpected behavior are also displayed and discussed. Extensive comparisons of the developed simplified methods with the extended-Tajimi method reveal a good agreement.

Effects of Space Distribution of Excitation on Seismic Response of Arch Dams

Abstract: The effects of the ground motion spatial variation and of the canyon geometry on the dynamic response of arch dams during the event of an earthquake is studied in this paper. The seismic response of a dam subject to time harmonic longitudinal, shear, and Rayleigh waves impinging the dam site from different directions is analyzed. Several canyon and reservoir geometries are considered. A three-dimensional boundary element model which allows for the rigorous representation of the dynamic interaction between the dam, the foundation rock, and the water is used. The foundation rock is modeled as a uniform viscoelastic boundless domain where the incident traveling wave field is defined by its analytical expression, which may include any spatial variation. The obtained results show the importance of three-dimensional effects which are many times neglected.