Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212

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Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/soildyn

Feasibility of reducing three-dimensional wave energy by introducing

periodic foundations
Zhifei Shi n, Jiankun Huang
School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new seismic isolation foundation called the periodic foundation is proposed, which can be described as
Received 13 September 2012 a three-dimensional typical cell consisting of a high density core, a soft coating and a concrete matrix.
Received in revised form Utilizing the attenuation zones (AZs) resulted by the periodicity of the foundation, the mechanism of this
28 February 2013
new seismic isolation system is different from the traditional ones. The seismic waves with the
Accepted 21 March 2013
Available online 23 April 2013
frequencies in the AZs cannot propagate across the foundation. Thus, the seismic responses on the top
surface of the periodic foundation can be reduced significantly. In this paper, the dispersion curves of the
Keywords: three-dimensional three-component (3D–3C) periodic foundations are analyzed by the finite element
Periodic foundation method (FEM). The influencing factors such as physical and geometrical parameters of the typical cell are
Seismic isolation
investigated. In order to verify its feasibility, a three-dimensional (3D) soil-foundation finite element
Attenuation zone
model is analyzed, and the frequency zones of seismic attenuations are consistent with the AZs. The
New seismic isolation system
periodic foundation can greatly reduce the seismic response, which implies that the periodic foundation
has a great potential application on seismic isolation.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction base isolation systems produce large horizontal displacements due to

Earthquakes often cause a great loss on lives and properties. In
the past three decades, a number of important achievements to resist
seismic waves have been achieved and several effective seismic
isolation methods have been developed. Different control techniques
including passive, semi-active and active control systems have been
developed for civil engineering structures [1]. The passive control
technique includes the use of tuned-mass-dampers, base isolations,
friction and viscous dampers and so on [2]. The basic principles of a
seismic isolation system is to extend the natural period of a super-
structure by inserting isolation bearings such as laminated rubber
bearings between the superstructure and the foundation [3,4]. In
semi-active techniques the vibration is attenuated through an
indirect manner by changing the structural parameters of the
machine, such as damping and stiffness [1]. Various active control
techniques have been developed recently and the optimal control
methods are popular [5]. However, the traditional seismic isolation
methods need to be improved. For example, the vertical bearing
capacity of the rubber base is relatively poor. The seismic isolation
support may yield when the ratio of high-rise in certain orientation
aspect is large, and then entire overturn may occur [6]. Second, most
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 010 51688367.
E-mail addresses: zfshi178@bjtu.edu.cn, zfshi178@sohu.com (Z.F. Shi),
05231064@bjtu.edu.cn (J.K. Huang).
the low stiffness in the horizontal direction [4,7]. Third, seismic
structural design is based on the rigid base assumption, and inter-
action within the soil-foundation system is either ignored or carried
out separately [8]. The interaction between soil and foundation
caused by seismic waves plays a key role in the study of the general
earthquake response of a structure [9]. The static and dynamic
behavior of structures, which are partially or totally embedded into
the ground, can be greatly affected by their embedment into the soil
[10]. Finally, the responses of the superstructure with seismic
isolation systems subjected directly to the seismic waves from an
oblique direction have not been studied comprehensively.
On the other hand, investigations in the field of Solid-State
Physics find that periodic structures can enjoy the unique dynamic
property, the band of frequency gaps (BFGs) or the attenuation
zones (AZs) [11]. When frequencies of a wave fall into the AZs, it
cannot propagate in the structures. Therefore, periodic structures
have numerous potential applications, such as noise control,
vibration isolation, earthquake and coastal protection [11,12]. By
using the finite difference time domain method, Chandra et al. [13]
theoretically investigated an acoustic propagating in the three-
dimensional two-component (3D–2C) periodic structures. In
Chandra's periodic structures, some spherical inclusions are
embedded in an epoxy matrix on a face-centered cubic configura-
tion. Zhang et al. [14] investigated the AZs in the 3D–2C periodic
structures by using the plane wave expansion method. Liu et al.
[15] fabricated a three-dimensional three-component (3D–3C)

0267-7261/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2013.03.009
 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212 205

Fig. 1. The configuration of a periodic foundation. (a) A periodic foundation embedded into the field. and (b) The configuration of a typical cell.

periodic structure, which exhibit spectral AZs with a periodic displacement vector as
constant two orders of magnitude smaller than the relevant ∂ ∂
wavelength. Jia and Shi [16] firstly proposed a new isolation −ρðrÞω2 ui ¼ ∇ðμðrÞ∇ui Þ þ ∇ðμðrÞ ∇uÞ þ ðλðrÞ∇uÞ; i ¼ x; y; z ð1Þ
∂xi ∂xi
technology called Periodic Foundation enlightened by the inherent
property of AZs. Furthermore, Shi and his coworkers [4,17–20] where ρ is the density of the medium, λ and μ are lames' constants,
studied the possible applications of one-dimensional (1D) and r¼ (x, y, z) denotes the position vector, ω is the angular frequency,
two-dimensional (2D) periodic structures in seismic isolation or u ¼ui(x, y, z) is the displacement vector, and ∇ is the three-
vibration isolation in the field of civil engineering. dimensional (3D) differential operator.
In this paper, a 3D–3C periodic foundation is introduced. The
periodic foundation consists of some typical cells, which
arranged spatially in a periodic configuration, as shown in 2.2. Bloch's theorem
Fig. 1(a). The cubic typical cell consists of a cubic core, a soft
coating shell and a concrete matrix, as shown in Fig. 1(b). First, Bloch-Floquet's theorem states that the energy eigenfunction of
the basic equations of a 3D–3C periodic foundation are given a periodic structure may be written as the product of a plane wave
and the calculation method of dispersion curves is introduced. envelope function [23]. According to the Bloch-Floquet's theory,
Second, the influencing factors on the first attenuation zone the displacement field of a periodic structure can be expressed as
(AZ) of an infinite periodic structure are investigated. After that,
the dynamic responses of the field with and without a periodic uðr; tÞ ¼ uK ðrÞeiðK r−ωtÞ ð2Þ
foundation are numerically investigated. The present investiga- where, K is the Bloch wave vector and t is the time. K ¼(Kx, Ky, Kz)
tion shows that once the main frequencies of a seismic wave fall is the wave vector limited to the first Brillouin zone, and uk ðrÞ is a
into the AZs of the periodic foundation, the dynamic response of periodic function with the same periodicity as the typical cell.
the periodic foundation can be significantly reduced, which A periodic function (periodic Bloch function) uk ðrÞ with the same
indicates that periodic foundations have a great potential periodicity as the potential enjoys the following property [24]:
application in the seismic isolation design.
uK ðr þ RÞ ¼ uK ðrÞ ð3Þ

where R is the lattice constant vector. Then the following expres-

sion can be obtained [16]
2. Computational method
uðr þ R; tÞ ¼ eiðK⋅ðrþRÞ−ωtÞ ⋅uK ðr þ RÞ ¼ eiK⋅R ⋅eiðK⋅r−ωtÞ ⋅uK ðrÞ

The periodic foundation considered in the present paper ¼ uðr; tÞ⋅eiK⋅R ð4Þ
consists of some typical cells and these cells are arranged in a That is to say, for all the points on the boundaries, the following
periodic and repeated configuration. According to the periodic equation should be satisfied:
theory, we just need to use a typical cell to draw the dispersion
curves and obtain the AZs. To study the propagation of elastic uðr þ aÞ ¼ eiðK⋅aÞ uðrÞ ð5Þ
waves in a periodic foundation, including longitudinal (P-) wave
where a is the periodic constant of the periodic structure. This is
and transverse (SH-, SV-) waves, it is assumed that the interfaces
the periodic boundary conditions.
between different materials are banded perfectly. The materials
used in typical cells are considered as homogenous and linearly
elastic. In addition, damping is always neglected in the present 2.3. Finite element method and model
analysis. One reason is that low damping has a slight effect on the
dispersion curves [21] and AZs [22] (such as the scaled parameters The finite element method (FEM) has been widely used to
pscale ¼0 and qscale ¼0.5 in damping matrix in Ref. [21]; and investigate the periodic structures [16,20,24]. Compared with
λ ¼λe−0.1iλe and μ¼ μe−0.1iμe in Ref. [22], in which subscript e other traditional methods, such as the finite difference time
refers to the elastic lame constant). On the other hand, it can domain method, the multiple scattering theory method and the
validate that the reduction of waves is due to AZs rather than the plane wave expansion method, the FEM has some merits, such as
damping once the damping is not considered. compatibility, convergence, accuracy and efficiency, etc. In this
work, the FEM is adopted to calculate the dispersion curves of the
considered periodic foundations.
2.1. Governing equations Then, the discrete form of the eigenvalue equations in the typical
cell can be written as:
Without consideration of body force, the governing equation
of a homogeneous elastic medium can be written by the ðK−ω2 MÞu ¼ 0 ð6Þ
206 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212
where u is the displacement at all the nodes. K and M are the
stiffness and the mass matrices of the typical cell, respectively.
Comsol multiphysics 3.4a is utilized to solve the eigenvalue of
Eq. (6) under the complex boundary condition of Eq. (5). The 3D
solid mode is applied. The typical cell is meshed by the default
(and coarse) tetrahedron mesh as shown in Fig. 2(a). For the
adaptive FEM by Comsol software, 3D tetrahedron finite element
with 4-node is used and the subdomains are partitioned into
tetrahedrons, or mesh elements. Then we apply periodic boundary
conditions in the x, y and z directions for searching the solutions
with the following form uK i ðr þ aÞ ¼ ui ðrÞe , i ¼ x; y; z. Where K is
K iKa
the Bloch wave vector in reciprocal lattice RMΓM. The front and
K point group of the lattice (the thick line tetrahedron) as shown in
top boundary conditions uKi x ðrÞ, ui y ðrÞ and uKi z ðrÞ are connected to
K Fig. 2(b).
the back and bottom boundary conditions uKi x ðrÞeiK x a , ui y ðrÞeiK y a
and uKi z ðrÞeiK z a , respectively. By using the FEM, the unit cell is
meshed and divided into finite elements. Different elements are
connected by sharing the same nodes. Then, the eigenvalue-
solutions can be obtained.
Eigenfrequency analysis is chosen as the solver mode. Mean-
while, we require the Hermitian transpose of constraint matrix
and in symmetry detection in the advanced solver parameter
settings. Due to symmetry, it is sufficient to consider the tetra-
hedron zone, the irreducible Brillouin zone, and the K takes the
values on the edge of the irreducible Brillouin zone only, as shown
in the RMΓM in Fig. 2(b). The model in Comsol is saved as a
matlab-compatibly “.m” file, and the file is programmed to let the
wave vector K sweep at the edge of the irreducible Brillouin zone,
so we can obtain the whole dispersion curves by FEM.
2.4. Definition of Brillouin zone
The periodic function uk ðrÞ can be expanded as a series of plane
waves:
uK ðrÞ ¼ ∑ uKþG eiG⋅r
G
where G is the reciprocal base vector. Substituting Eq. (7) into
Eq. (2), we can get the following expression:
uðr; tÞ ¼ e−iωt ∑ uKþG eiðKþGÞ⋅r
G
The reciprocal base vector G should satisfy the following form:
G⋅R ¼ G⋅ðn1 R1 þ n2 R 2 þ n3 R3 Þ ¼ 2πh
where, n1 ; n2 ; n3 and h are integers. The notes 1, 2 and 3 means
the directions x, y and z, respectively. The complete set of reciprocal
base vectors in the typical cell is written as G ¼ N 1 b1 þ N 2 b2 þ
N 3 b3 . Where, N 1 , N 2 and N 3 are integers, too. Based on Eq. (9), the
corresponding reciprocal base vectors b1 , b2 and b3 are introduced:
R2  R3
b1 ¼ 2π
R1 ⋅ðR2  R 3 Þ
Fig. 2. The finite element model and the first Brillouin zone of a simple cubic
periodic structure. (a) Finite element model, and (b) the first Brillouin zone (Γ:π/a
(0,0,0), X:π/a(1,0,0), M:π/a(1,1,0), R:π/a(1,1,1)).
R3  R1
b2 ¼ 2π
R 1 ⋅ðR 2  R3 Þ
R1  R2
b3 ¼ 2π ð10Þ
R 1 ⋅ðR 2  R3 Þ
In this paper, R1 ¼ ða; 0; 0Þ, R 2 ¼ ð0; a; 0Þ and R 3 ¼ ð0; 0; aÞ. Then
we obtain the corresponding reciprocal base vectors b1 ¼ ð2π=aÞ
ð1; 0; 0Þ, b2 ¼ ð2π=aÞð0; 1; 0Þ and b3 ¼ ð2π=aÞð0; 0; 1Þ. Taking surfaces
at the same distance from one element of the lattice and its
neighbors, the volume included is the first Brillouin zone (the thin
line cube as shown in Fig. 2(b)). The irreducible Brillouin zone is
the first Brillouin zone reduced by all of the symmetries in the
2.5. Numerical verification
In order to verify the proposed method for calculating the AZs,
the core and the coating material are chosen as the same material
for an example. Then, the 3D–3C periodic structure is reduced to a
3D–2C periodic structure with a cubic core in a simple cubic
typical cell (as the insert in Fig. 3). For comparison, a 3D–2C model
consisting of a steel cubic core in an epoxy cube is studied once
more according to Hsieh et al. [25]. The density and the elastic
constants C11 and C44 of epoxy are assumed to be 1180 kg/m3,
7.61 GPa, and 1.59 GPa, respectively, and those for steel are
7780 kg/m3, 264 GPa and 81 GPa, respectively. C 11 ¼ λ þ 2μ and
C 44 ¼ μ. C11 and C44 is the elastic constants in physical equation.
The results are plotted in Fig. 3 and with an agreement. Further-
more, Liu et al. [15] experimentally measured the amplitude
transmission coefficient of a 3D–3C periodic structure (the insert
in Fig. 4(a)). They considered the case of a typical cell with an
epoxy matrix, which is composed with a sphere core coated by a
thin silicone rubber coating. So, the model in this paper is similar
ð7Þ to their model, and the difference of the configuration is the shape
of the core. Herein, we rebuild their model and calculate the
dispersion structures by the finite element method. The material
and periodic constant are assumed to be the same as those in Liu's
investigation [15]. The results are shown in Fig. 4. Compared with
ð8Þ
Fig. 4(a) and (b), it shows that the AZs calculated by the present
analysis are consistent with Liu's experimental and theoretical
results. A complete AZ ranging from 382.16 Hz to 624.03 Hz is
ð9Þ found. The results show that the method used in the present paper
for calculating the AZs is correct. It is possible to obtain a
no-directional AZ due to the 3D–3C periodic structure. The waves
with frequencies in the no-directional AZ, they cannot propagate
8.0
6.0
Frequency (ω a/ct )
AZ
4.0
2.0
Present
Hsieh et al. (2006)
0.0
R M Γ X M
Fig. 3. The dispersion structure of the 3D–2C periodic structure. Gray zone is the
AZ. ω is circular frequency of waves and a is the periodic constant, and ct is the
translate wave speed in matrix.
 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212 207

2.0 Table 1
Material parameters (density ρ, Elastic modulus E, and Poisson's ratio υ).

Material ρ(kg/m3) E(GPa) υ

1.5
soil 1900 3  10−1 0.35
Frequency (kHz)

concrete 2500 30 0.2

rubber 1300 1.37  10−4 0.463
steel 7890 210 0.275
1.0 Pb 11600 40.8 0.37
Al 2716 70 0.3
Cu 8900 108 0.34

0.5 AZ

Liu's theory
Liu's experiment
0.0 30
1E-5 1E-4 1E-3 0.01 0.1 R M M/10 Γ X/5 X R
Amplitude Transimission
Coefficient

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 4. Vibration characteristic of the periodic structure with a simple cubic
20
arrangement of coated spheres (shown in as an insert). (a) The amplitude transmis-
sion coefficient, and (b) the dispersion curves.

in any direction of the three-dimensional infinite periodic struc- AZ

10
tures because there is no corresponding wave vector K to the
waves and there are no corresponding vibration modes [16].

3. Parameter investigation 0
R M M/10 Γ X/5 X R
In order to introduce the 3D–3C periodic structures into the Fig. 5. The dispersion curves of the 3D–3C periodic structure.
seismic isolation, some important parameters must be considered.
First, due to the dominant frequencies of a seismic wave are
usually within the range between 0.1 Hz to 20 Hz, it is hoped that
20
the first no-directional AZ is located below 20 Hz. Second, the Al
periodic constant would be very large once the lower bound LBF
frequency (LBF) of the first AZ is designed extremely low [20], UBF
concrete
WAZ
which results in some difficulties on the construction of a periodic 15
foundation. Third, the thickness of the concrete matrix should not
Frequency (Hz)

steel Cu
be too small in order to make the vertical and horizontal bearing Pb
capacity for the periodic foundation sufficient enough. In the
10
following analysis, the thickness of the concrete matrix in a typical
cell is chosen as (a−2R)/2¼0.1 m.
In the following analysis, the periodic constant (a) and the
length of the cubic steel core (2r) as well as the thickness of the 5
rubber coating (d ¼R−r) is taken as 1.2 m, 0.8 m and 0.1 m,
respectively. The typical cell configuration is shown in Fig. 1(b).
The elastic parameters of the components are listed in Table 1. The
0
dispersion curves of the periodic structure is shown in Fig. 5. The 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
segments RM, MΓ, ΓX, XM on the abscissa represent waves
ρ (kg/m3)
propagating along the z direction, 451 in x-y plane, x direction,
and y direction, respectively. The vertical coordinate represents Fig. 6. Influence of core density on the first no-directional AZ.
the frequency of the waves. Fig. 5 shows that the first no-
directional AZ starting from 8.09 Hz to 14.14 Hz is obtained, which and a wider WAZ. According to the study by Xiao et al. [26], the
indicates that waves with frequencies in this range no matter vibration modes corresponding to LBF and UBF are similar to those
which direction they come from, have not corresponding modes of mass-spring oscillatory, in which the soft rubber can be
and therefore cannot propagate in the periodic foundation. considered as springs and cores can be treated as a mass. The
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Furthermore, due to the LBF, upper bound frequency (UBF) and decrease of LBF can be understood from the formula ω ¼ k=m.
the width of attenuation zone (WAZ, WAZ ¼UBF-LBF) control the The increase of core density is equivalent to the increase of m,
isolation capacity of the periodic foundations, the factors influen- which results in a decrease of circular frequency ω.
cing the no-directional AZ need to be comprehensively studied. Taking steel as the core and keeping R ¼0.5 m and r ¼0.4 m as
Taking periodic constant a as 1.2 m, Fig. 6 shows the influence of constants, Fig. 7 shows that all the three parameters of the first
core density on the first no-directional AZ. It is found that both LBF no-direction AZ increase with the increase of the elastic modulus
and UBF decrease rapidly with the increase of core density. It is of coating
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi layer, which can also be explained by the formula
also clear that a wider WAZ can be achieved once the core density ω ¼ k=m. The increase of the elastic modulus of coating layer is
is heavy enough. This characteristic is important and useful for equivalent to the increase of k, and results in an increase of circular
designing a periodic foundation with a lower bound of frequency frequency ω.
208 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212

60 Defining the filling fraction as f f ¼ ðð2RÞ3 =a3 Þ, which means the

LBF volume ratio of both the core and coating material in a typical cell.
UBF It is easily found from Fig. 8 that a lower LBF and wider AZ can be
50 WAZ obtained by simply increasing the filling fraction. This is also
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
understood from the formula ω ¼ k=m. As mass increases, LBF
decreases. However, the filling fraction should not be too large in
Frequency (Hz)

40
order to keep the support capacity enough.
30

4. Numerical simulation
20
Theoretically speaking, perfect filtering properties exist in an
10 infinite periodic structure. It is clear from above analysis that we can
obtain the AZs in an infinite, undamped periodic foundation. To
verify the effectiveness of the AZs for a finite periodic foundation
0
0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 located on a site, three different cases are considered. First, a
E (MPa) periodic foundation (PF) embedded in soil as shown in Fig. 9(a) is
considered. To have a comparison, the case for a concrete founda-
Fig. 7. Influence of coating elastic modulus on the first no-directional AZ. tion (CF) embedded in soil as shown in Fig. 9(b) and the case for the
free field (without any foundation) as shown in Fig. 9(c) are also
studied. The P-wave comes from the bedrock with an angle α
corresponding to the x axis and an angle θ1 corresponding to the
18 ground surface. The angle of the reflected SV-wave is defined as θ2,
and the angle of reflected P-wave is also θ1, as shown in Fig. 9(c).
Changing the angles of incident waves θ1 and α, we can simulate the
seismic wave from any direction. The size of the whole field is
LBF assumed to be L  L  H. In the following simulation, L and H are
12
Frequency (Hz)

UBF valued as L¼14.4 m and H¼ 7.2 m. The size of the periodic founda-
WAZ tion is 7.2 m  7.2 m  4.8 m, which means that there are six typical
cells in both the x and y directions and four typical cells in the z
direction. The finite element model is shown in Fig. 9(d). This finite
element model mentioned above is very easy to mesh because we
6
choose the mesh size as 0.6 m in the present analysis. The size of
the concrete foundation is the same as the periodic foundation.
The damping of soil is not considered in this paper. One basic
assumption in this section is that the soil is considered to be linearly
0 elastic. One reason is that we do not want to take much attention on
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 the behavior of soil in the present paper, so a simple elastic model is
ff used to describe the soil. Linear elastic model has been proved to be
a good approximation to real field behavior in some ideal conditions
Fig. 8. Influence of filling fraction on the first no-directional AZ. [27]. This is why we use this model in the present paper. Another

Fig. 9. Different cases of foundations and finite element model. (a) A periodic foundation in soil, (b) A concrete foundation in soil, (c) P wave incident on a free surface,
(d) foundation and soil finite element model, and (e) viscous-spring boundary element.
 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212 209

reason is that the damping can reduce the seismic waves, too. The effect of the far field soil on the solution, viscous-spring boundary
soil damping is not considered in order to show that the reduction of elements [28] are added to the bottom and side boundaries of the
the waves is due to AZs rather than the damping. To consider the present three models as shown in Fig. 9(d) and (e). In addition, the

2 2

1 1
Ux (mm)

Uz (mm)
0 0

-1 -1

-2 -2
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 10. The displacement response of point O to a harmonic incident wave with 4 Hz. (a) In x direction and (b) in z direction.

3 3

2 2

1 1
Ux (mm)

Uz (mm)

0 0

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 11. The displacement response of point O to a harmonic incident wave with 10 Hz. (a) In x direction and (b) in z direction.

100 200
80 150
60
Acceleration (cm/s2)

100
40
Acceleration (cm/s2)

20 50
0 0
-20 -50
-40
-100
-60
-80 -150
-100 -200
0 8 16 24 0 10 20 30 40 50
t (s) t (s)
0.6

0.3
Acceleration (g)

0.0

-0.3

-0.6
0 10 20 30 40
t (s)

Fig. 12. Three different seismic waves. (a) Qianan wave, (b) San Fernando wave, and (c) Northridge wave.
210 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212

loading method introduced by Liu et al. [29] and Xu et al. [30] is
adopted. The forces added at the boundary nodes can be expressed
as:
F i ðtÞ ¼ τ0 ðx; y; z; tÞ þ C u_ 0i ðx; y; z; tÞ þ Ku0i ðx; y; z; tÞ; i ¼ x; y; z
where, u0i ðx; y; z; tÞ
is the displacement responses of the free field,
which is defined by the incident waves and the distance between
vibration source and the boundary nodes. τ0 ðx; y; z; tÞ and u_ 0i ðx; y; z; tÞ
is the stress and velocity at the boundary nodes, respectively, which
can be calculated by u0i ðx; y; z; tÞ. C and K are the parameters of the
artificial boundary conditions and can be expressed as follows.
For the viscous-spring elements perpendicular to the boundary:
μ dimensional problem.
C N ¼ ρs cp ; K N ¼ αN s ð12Þ
D
For the viscous-spring elements parallel to the boundary:
μ
C T ¼ ρs ct ; K T ¼ αT s ð13Þ
D
in which, c p and ct is the longitudinal and transverse speed of the
wave in soil, respectively. D is the distance between the vibration
source and boundary nodes and is approximately taken as 7.2 m in
the simulation. ρs and μs are the density and shear modulus of soil,
respectively. αN and αT are advised to be chosen in the range (1.0,
2.0) and (0.5,1.0), respectively [31]. In the following simulation, we
take αN ¼ 1:5 and αT ¼ 0:75.
4.1. Responses to a harmonic incident wave
of the periodic foundation (8.79 Hz to 15.72 Hz, a ¼1.2 m,
R¼0.5 m, r ¼ 0.415 m), it can be understood from Figs. 10 and 11
that the displacement response has no reduction for the former
incident wave and has significant reduction for the later incident
ð11Þ
wave. It is noticed that the theoretical solution of a 3D free field
subjected to a P-wave load can be easily obtained, which is used to
prove the accuracy of the model and the loading method. The
purpose of plotting the response of point O of the free field in
Figs. 10 and 11 is to verify that both the loading method and the
finite element model with artificial boundary elements are correct.
Figs. 10 and 11 show that an enough accuracy can be obtained by
using the median value αN ¼1.5 and αT ¼0.75 for the three-
4.2. Seismic responses of the different foundations
The seismic responses of different foundations to three differ-
ent earthquakes are considered. The acceleration history of the
Qianan wave [32] (August 31, 1976, M¼5.8, Component East–west
recorded by Station no.M0303, Qianan Lanhe Bridge, Hebei,
20
freefield freefield
with PF with CF
15
Frequency (Hz)

AZ
Responses of different foundations as shown in Fig. 9 are
simulated by using the finite element method. First of all, the 10
dynamic responses of the three different cases without super-
structure are considered. A harmonic incident wave in the direc-
tion θ1 ¼α¼451 is considered. The function is expressed as:
5
u ¼ sinð2π f tÞ ðmmÞ ð14Þ
where, f is the frequency of the incident wave. Figs. 10 and 11 show
the responses of the point O on the ground when f ¼4 Hz and
f ¼10 Hz, respectively. In Figs. 10 and 11, vacant circulars represent 0
the theoretical results of the free field; fine lines represent the 0 1 2 0 1 2 R R/20 Γ
numerical results of the free field. Meanwhile, thick lines stand for Fourier spectrum (cm/s2/Hz) Fourier spectrum (cm/s2/Hz)
the numerical results with the periodic foundation. Due to the Fig. 14. The Fourier spectrum of the acceleration in the x direction under the San
frequency f ¼4 Hz is out of and f¼10 Hz is in the no-directional AZ Fernando wave. (a) the field with a periodic foundation, (b) the field with a
concrete foundation and (c) the corresponding first no-directional AZ.

40 25
freefield freefield freefield freefield
with PF with CF with PF with CF

20
30
Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

15
20 AZ
10
AZ
10
5

0 0
0 1 2 30 1 2 3 R R/20 Γ 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02R R/20 Γ
2
Fourier spectrum (cm/s2/Hz) Fourier spectrum (cm/s /Hz) Fourier spectrum (g/Hz) Fouier spectrum (g/Hz)

Fig. 13. The Fourier spectrum of the acceleration in the x direction under the Fig. 15. The Fourier spectrum of the acceleration in the x direction under the
Qianan wave. (a) the field with a periodic foundation, (b) the field with a concrete Northridge wave. (a) the field with a periodic foundation, (b) the field with a
foundation and (c) the corresponding first no-directional AZ. concrete foundation and (c) the corresponding first no-directional AZ.
 Z.F. Shi, J.K. Huang / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (2013) 204–212
Table 2
Response of the reference point O on the surface of different foundations.
Location Maximum acceleration No foundation
Point O Qianan wave 62.59
San Fernando wave 105.93
Northridge wave 333.14
Unit: Acceleration ¼ cm/s2, acceleration of gravity g ¼9.8 m/s2.
China), San Fernando wave [32] (February 9, 1971, Station no.0284
34.461N, 118.751W, Chan 2:262 Deg, Santa Felicia Dam, Cal.) and
Northridge wave [33] (January 17, 1994, Component 360 recorded
by CDMG Station 24,278, Castaic Old Ridge Rt, USA) is given in
Fig. 12. The former two waves are often used to simulate the case I
subsoil and the last one is often used to simulate the case II
subsoil. The time step is chosen as 0.01 s for the Qianan wave and
0.02 s for the San Fernando wave and the Northridge waves,
respectively. All waves are considered as a P-wave and incident
the half space obliquely (i.e. θ1 ¼ α ¼ 450 ) in these simulations.
Fig. 13 is the Fourier spectrum of the acceleration at point O in
the x direction under the Qianan wave. The main components of
frequency of the Qianan wave are located within the range of
0–20 Hz. The first no-directional AZ is from 8.79 Hz to 15.72 Hz. It
can be seen that the frequency components in the range of 8.79 Hz
to 15.72 Hz reduce significantly, which indicates that the effect of
the periodic foundation is obvious.
Fig. 14 is the Fourier spectrum of the acceleration at point O in
the x direction subjected to the San Fernando wave. The main
components of frequency of the San Fernando wave are in the range
of 0–12.5 Hz. It can be seen that the frequency components in the
range of AZ reduce significantly if the periodic foundation is used.
While the dynamic responses at the point O on the concrete
foundation almost have not been reduced in both Figs. 13 and 14(b)
Fig. 15 is the Fourier spectrum of the acceleration at point O in
the x direction under the Northridge wave. The main components
of frequency of the Northridge wave mainly range from 0 Hz to
7 Hz, which are outside the first no-directional AZ. No matter the
periodic foundation or the concrete foundation, the dynamic
response almost has no reduction. This indicates that the effec-
tiveness of the periodic foundations will be lost once the main
frequency contents of incident waves are outside of the no-
directional AZs.
Table 2 lists the corresponding reduction ratio of acceleration
on the surface of different foundations due to different seismic
waves. When Qianan wave or San Fernando wave is inputted, it is
found that the maximum acceleration responses of the point O on
the periodic foundation are reduced 17.37% or 31.47% compared
with that on the free ground, respectively. If the periodic founda-
tion is replaced by the concrete foundation, it is found that the
maximum accelerations only reduce about 10%. In the case of
Northridge wave, the maximum acceleration is only reduced a
little because the main frequency constants are out of AZ. It is
concluded that compared with the cases of the superstructure
with no foundation or with a concrete foundation, the seismic
response of the superstructure can be significantly reduced by a
periodic foundation if the frequency constants are located in the
range of the AZ.
5. Conclusion
A new periodic structure, which is named as the periodic
foundation, is proposed and its feasibility for reducing three-
dimensional wave energy is investigated. This foundation is of
211
Concrete foundation Reduction (%) Periodic foundation Reduction (%)
56.72 9.38 51.72 17.37
95.22 10.11 72.59 31.47
330.90 0.67 328.25 1.47
three-dimensional and three-component and enjoys rather wider
AZs. The influence of some factors such as physical and geome-
trical parameters on the AZs is investigated. Numerical simulation
shows that seismic waves with frequencies falling in the AZs
cannot propagate across the foundation. Thus, the seismic
responses on the surface of periodic foundations can be reduced
significantly, which implies that the periodic foundation has a
great potential application on seismic isolation. Moreover, the
following conclusions can be drawn from the present investiga-
tions: 1. High density of the core, soft rubber and increasing filling
fraction can result in a rapid decrease in the LBF. 2. High density of
the core, increasing filling fraction and size of the core can increase
the width of AZ. 3. The seismic responses of periodic foundations
can be greatly reduced in both the vertical and horizontal direc-
tions, if the incident wave's frequencies fall into the AZ.
Acknowledgment
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant no. 51178036) and the Research Fund of
Beijing Jiaotong University (2011YJS042).
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