Chapter 5

5. Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction

1
 Preface:
 Dynamic soil-structure Interaction (SSI) was
started over a half-century passed and has been
attracting the researcher’s interest upto the present.
 Today, many researchers around the world are
making their efforts on research and development
concerning the SSI, and the effort will be continued
in the future to solve related problems in dynamic
SSI.
2
 5.1 Introduction

 The scales of socio–economic damages caused by an earthquake

depend to a great extent on the characteristics of the strong

ground motion which is under peak response of the system both

in SDOF and MDOF.

 It has been well known that earthquake ground motions results

primarily from the three factors, namely:

 Source characteristics(size, magnitude, depth, rupture etc)

 Propagation path and type of waves, and

 Local site conditions/foundation condition. 3

 5.1 Introduction….
 Also, the Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) problem has
become an important feature of Geotechnical and Structural
Engineering with the advent of massive constructions on soft
soils such as nuclear power plants, concrete and earth dams.
 Buildings, bridges, tunnels and underground structures may
also require particular attention to be given to the problems of
SSI.
 Soil interact with structure by different means; may be free or
fixed conditions.
4
5.2 Free Field Motion and Fixed Base Structures
 Ground motions that are not influenced by the presence of structure
are referred as free field motions(hinge/roller supports are
considered)
 Structures founded on rock are considered as fixed base structures
(fixed support condition is considered during the design).
 When a structure founded on solid rock is subjected to an
earthquake, the extremely high stiffness of the rock constrains the
rock motion to be very close to the free field motion; meaning soil
and structure are considered as fixed no variation of motion b/n
two.
5
5.3 Soil-Structure Interaction

 If the structure is supported on soft soil deposit,

 the inability of the foundation to conform to the deformations of the free field motion would

cause the motion of the base of the structure to deviate from the free field motion.

 Also the dynamic response of the structure itself would induce deformation of the supporting

soil.

 This process, in which the response of the soil influences the motion of the structure and the

response of the structure influences the motion of the soil, is referred as SSI .

 These effects are more significant for stiff and/ or heavy structures supported on relatively

soft soils. (no more problem in stiff structure on stiff soil/foundation)

 For soft and /or light structures founded on stiff soil these effects are generally small. It is also

significant for closely spaced structure that may subject to pounding, when the relative

displacement is large.

6
Figure. 5.1.

7
 BASIC OUTLINE OF SSI
Role of foundation

8
 5.4 Terminology of Local Site Effects

Dynamic soil-structure interaction is dependent on

the following local conditions which are used to
define their effect on dynamic SSI system under
earthquake loading.

a. Basin/soil effect on the ground motion

characteristics

b. Effect of Surface Topography

c. Strong Lateral Discontinuity Effect 9

 5.4 Terminology of Local Site Effects…
a. Basin /soil effect on the ground motion characteristics

i. Impedance contrast

 Seismic waves travels faster in hard rocks in compare to softer rocks and

sediments.

 As the waves passes from harder to softer rocks they become slow and must

get bigger in amplitude to carry the same amount of energy.

 Thus, shaking tends to be stronger at sites with softer surface layers, where

seismic waves move more slowly.

 Impedance contrast defined as the product of velocity and density of the

material. 10
b. Resonance/matching of frequencies
 When the signal frequency matches with the fundamental

frequency or higher harmonics of the soil layer, we say

that they are in resonance with one another.

 This results into tremendous increase in ground motion

amplification. Various spectral peaks characterize

resonance patterns. The frequencies of these peaks are

related to the surface layer’s thickness and velocities.

11
c. Damping in Soil
 Absorption of energy occurs due to imperfect elastic properties of
medium in which the particle of a medium do not react perfectly
elastically with their neighbor and a part of the energy in the waves
is lost instead of being transferred through medium, after each
cycle.
 This type of attenuation of the seismic wave is described by a
parameter called as quality factor (Q). It is defined as the
fractional loss of energy per cycle Where:
 ∆E- is the energy lost in
one cycle and
 E- is the total elastic energy
stored in the wave.
12
d. Basin Edge Effect
 The seismic waves incident near the basin edge, it enter the basin from its edge
and travel in the direction in which the basin is thickening.
 Interference of trapped waves generates surface waves, which propagate across
the basin. The generation of surface waves near the basin is known as basin-
edge effect.
 Waves that become trapped in deep sedimentary basins can produce stronger
amplitudes at intermediate and low frequencies and their durations can be
twice as long.
 Due to this; Significant increase in the duration of strong shaking.

e. Basement Topography
 Irregular basement topography when subjects to body wave incidence below,
results in focusing and defocusing effects (alteration of EQ focusing from
13
ground surface for estimation).
 b. Effect of Surface Topography
 Surface topography considerably affects the amplitude, the

frequency content and duration of ground motion.

i. Effect of Ridge

 The ridge causes strong generation of surface wave near

the top of the ridge and their propagation towards the base

of the ridge.

 Amplification of the ground motion depends on the slope

and the elevation of the ridge. 14

ii. Effect of Valley
 It has been predicted numerically that in the valley, due to
defocusing effect de-amplification of the amplitude of motion
takes place. The intensity in a valley may be 1-2 scales lesser as
compared with the surrounding, if it is free from the soil deposits.
iii. Slope Effect
 Hills with variable slope revels complicated damage patterns. The
houses situated on or near the bank of a steeply sloping hills
suffers much more damages as compare to the houses which were
at some distance away from the steep portion or are on the gentle
sloping part of the same hill. 15
 c. Strong Lateral Discontinuity Effect
 Lateral discontinuities are nothing but the areas

where a softer material lies besides a more rigid one.

 for instance:

 Ancient faults, Rock defects/

 Anomalous contacts/weak strong contacts,

 Debris zones/deposits, etc.

16
 5.5 Degree of Influence of SSI

 The degree of Influence of SSI on response of structure

depends on the following factors

 Stiffness of soil.

 Dynamic Characteristics of structure itself i.e. Natural

Period and damping factor.

 Stiffness and mass of structure.

 Types of foundation
17
Types of foundation

18
19
 5.5 Soil Improvement for dynamic system
 Most soil improvement techniques were developed to
increase the strength and stiffness of soil deposits which are
unsatisfactory to performance their intended use. Such as,
the build up of excess pore water pressure can lead to very
large deformations.
 At present, a wide variety of soil improvement techniques are
available for mitigation of seismic hazards. The most
common of these can be divided in to four major categories:
densification techniques, reinforcement techniques,
grouting/mixing techniques, and drainage techniques. 20
a) Densification Techniques
 The particles that comprise a particular soil can be
arranged in many different ways.
 However, the strength and stiffness of the soil is higher
when the particles are packed in a dense configuration
than when they are packed loosely.
 As a result, densification is one of the most effective
and commonly used means of improving soil
characteristics for mitigation of seismic hazards.
21
b) Reinforcement Techniques
 In some cases it is possible to improve the
strength and stiffness of an existing soil deposits
by installing discrete inclusions that reinforce the
soil by different materials.
 These inclusions may consist of structural
materials, such as steel, concrete, or timber, and
geomaterials such as densified gravel.
22
c) Grouting and Mixing Techniques
 The engineering characteristics of many soil deposits can be improved

by injecting or mixing cementitious materials in to the soil voids.

 These materials both strengthen the contacts between the soil grains

and fills the void space between the grains.

 Grouting techniques involve the injection of such materials in to the

voids of the soil or into fractures in the soil so that the particle

structure of the majority of the soil remains intact.

 This to have good engineering value from defected soil and soil

materials/rock.
23
d) Drainage Techniques
 Unacceptable movements of slopes, embankments, retaining

structures, and foundations can frequently be eliminated by lowering

the ground water table.

 A number of dewatering techniques have been developed and proven

to be useful in engineering practice.

 The build up of excess pore water pressure during earthquake shaking

can be suppressed using drainage techniques, although drainage alone

is rarely relied up on for the mitigation of liquefaction hazards.

End of chapter 5
24
 CHAPTER-6
6. Earthquake Dynamics of
Base-Isolated Buildings

 Base Isolation for Earthquake-Resistant design

By AKLILU TA. (MSc

25
 6.1 Introduction
 Earthquake is the nature of forces induced is reckless,
and lasts only for a short duration of time. But with in
this limited time it may have complete collapse of every
system on the ground surface including human beings.
 However, with the advances made in various areas of
sciences through the centuries, some degree of
predictability in terms of probabilistic measures has
been achieved. This is to try to minimize a such natural
gift by means of research findings. 26
 6.1 Introduction…
 Further, with these advances, forecasting the occurrence and
intensity of earthquake is to protect a structure: - is first to know
what’s coming! second is the seismic design of structures - to
withstand what’s coming at it!
 Over the last century, this part of the problem has taken various
forms, and improvements both in its design philosophy and methods
have continuously been researched, proposed and implemented.
 Now here; the modeling and analysis of SDOF and MDOF systems
supported on isolators is developed and demonstrated the
effectiveness of seismic isolation.
27
28
 Theoretical bases of base isolation

 Base isolation is a concept of protecting a building

from the damaging effects of an earthquake by
introducing some type of support that isolates it
from the shaking ground.
 It was introduced 100 years ago, but it is only in
recent years that base isolation has become a
practical strategy for earthquake resistance
design.
29
Base – Isolated one-story Buildings

30
Natural frequency, natural vibration period and damping ratio for the two cases

a. fixed – base structure b. isolated structure

equation of motion in modal coordinates are given by

( a)
Where C can be non diagonal matrix
31
 Base-isolated multistory buildings

 this N-story building on base isolation system is an(N+1) DOF

system
32
 For the isolation system, this N-story building is

mounted on abase slab of mass mb, supported

in turn on a base isolation system with lateral
stiffness Kb and linear viscous damping Cb.

33
 From above isolation has ff purposes
 Base isolation lengthens the fundamental vibration period of a

structure thus reduces the pseudo-acceleration and hence the

earthquake induced force in the structure.

 The first vibration mode of a base isolated structure involves

deformation only in the isolation system, the structure above

being essentially rigid.

 The first mode component say “S1” is essentially the same as total

modal shape “S”, and the other mode components are very small,

causing very small modal static response in the other modes.

34
Or Base isolation, as a strategy to protect structure from earthquake, revolves around a few basic
elements of understanding:

1. Period-shifting of structure: Base isolator is a more flexible device compared to the flexibility of

the structure. Thus, coupling both an isolator and the superstructure together increases the

flexibility of the total isolated structural system. In this way, this technique lengthens the structures

natural time period away from the predominant frequency of the ground motions, thus evading

disastrous responses caused due to resonance.

2. Mode of vibration: The fundamental mode of vibration (first mode shape) is altered from

continuous cantilever type structure to an almost rigid superstructure with deformations

concentrated at the isolation level.

3. Damping and cutting of load transmission path: A damper or energy dissipater is used to absorb

the energy of the force to reduce the relative deflection of the structure with respect to the ground.

4. Minimum rigidity: It provides minimum rigidity to low level service loads such as wind or minor

earthquake loads.
35
 By what means Base Isolations are provided?

i. Providing vertical stiff isolators: - the

isolation system introduces a layer of low
lateral stiffness between the structure and the
foundation

ii. Providing sliding isolators:- uses sliding

elements between the foundation & the base of
the structure
36
 i. Providing vertical stiff isolators
 The isolation system introduces a layer of low lateral stiffness between the
structure and the foundation; with this isolation layer the structure has a natural
period that is much longer than its fixed-base natural period.

a. Elastomeric Base Isolation Systems

 Is rubber technology for isolation system which consist of big rubber block,

which can be natural or synthetic (in case of neoprene) that are generally

characterized by high vertical stiffness compared to its the horizontal

stiffness and damping capacity.

 Why vertical stiff?

 The vertical stiffness is kept close to rigid, as the structural members are

designed to take care of the vertical force component of the seismic

37
 1 Laminated Rubber Bearing
• The laminated rubber bearings (LRB) represent the most commonly used elastomeric isolation system. The

basic components of LRB are steel and rubber plates, built through vulcanization process in alternate layers

(Simo and Kelly, 1984), as shown in Figure 8.2(a).

• The dominant feature of LRB is parallel action of linear spring and damping.

• Generally, the LRB is characterized with high damping capacity, horizontal flexibility and high vertical

stiffness. The relatively low shear stiffness in the horizontal plane is provided by the rubber, and the high

vertical stiffness is provided by steel shims to control the bouncing effect on the structure due to vertical

vibration caused by the earthquake.

• The steel shims also help to confine the rubber from bulging out. The damping constant of the system varies

considerably with the strain level of the bearing. The system operates by decoupling the structure from the

horizontal components of the earthquake ground motion by interposing a layer of low horizontal stiffness

between the structure, and its foundation.

• The isolation effects in this type of system are produced not by absorbing the earthquake energy, however

by deflecting through the dynamics of the system. Usually, there is a large difference in the damping of the
38
structure, and the isolation device, which makes the system non-classically damped.
• The high-damping rubber bearings (HDRB) also exhibit similar

properties, and falls in the same category of elastomeric

systems (Kikuchi and Aiken, 1997; Koo et al., 1999; Tsopelas

et al., 1991).

• The ideal force-deformation behavior of these isolation systems

is generally represented by non-linear characteristics, as shown

in Figure 8.2(c). The HDRB may exhibit hardening at higher

strains values. However, the code specifies an equivalent linear

viscous model (to be used for response spectrum analysis),

39
which represents the linear stiffness with viscous damping.
• Permanent residual displacement is very less in
LRB after an event of earthquake as the rubber
mobilizes sufficient restoring force required to re-
position the building to its initial state.
• The restoring force Fb, can be mathematically
modeled from the force-deformation plot as,

Where:
 Cb and Kb are damping and stiffness of
the LRB, respectively.
40
 The two parameters that characterize the LRB system are namely:

i. the isolation time period Tb, and

ii. damping ratio,ζb.
 Their specific values are obtained from the stiffness and damping
for which the LRB is designed. These two parameters are defined
as,

Kb- stiffness of rubber

41
Figure 6.2 Laminated rubber bearing: (a) LRB; (b) Schematic diagram of
LRB; (c) dynamic Force-deformation behavior of LRB.
42
where S is the shape factor (i.e. ratio of the loaded area to
the force-free area of the rubber layer); and G is the shear
modulus of the bearing typically dependent on the rubber
hardness.
For a bearing circular in plan the instantaneous
compression modulus is given by

43
Example

Figure 6.4 Cross-section of the bearing (all dimension in mm). 44

45
46
47
48
 b. Providing sliding isolators

 Uses sliding elements between the foundation & the

base of the structure.
 The shear force transmitted to the structure across the
isolation interface is limited by keeping the
coefficient of friction as low as practical.
 However, the friction must be sufficiently high to
resist strong winds and small earthquakes without
sliding. 49
 In this type of isolation system, sliding displacements are
controlled by laminated rubber bearings, or by making the
sliding surface curved ; these mechanisms provide a restoring
force that return the structure to its equilibrium position.
 The friction pendulum system (FPS) is a sliding isolation
system where the weight of the structure is supported on
spherical sliding surfaces that slide relative to each other
when the ground motion exceeds the threshold level.
 The restoring action is caused by raising the building slightly
where sliding occurs on the spherical surface.
50
51
• Most systems used today incorporate either elastomeric
bearing, with the elastomer being either natural rubber
or neoprene, if sliding bearings, with the sliding surface
being Teflon and stainless steel (although other sliding
surfaces have been used.) Systems that combine
elastomeric bearings and sliding bearings have also
been proposed and implemented.

52
• The laminated rubber bearings generally exhibit linear
force-deformation behavior (with some hardening effects
at large strains i.e. 200 percent) and are characterized by
their lateral stiffness and viscous damping ratio.
• The vertical stiffness of the laminated rubber bearing is
expressed by

Where:
 A- is the area of the bearing;
 tr -is the total thickness of rubber in the bearing; and
 Ec- is the instantaneous compression modulus of the rubber-
steel composites. 53
 b. Sliding Base Isolation Systems
 Sliding systems with restoring force offers advantages over

elastomeric isolation systems.

 The sliding system is effective in the sense that it is capable of

taking care of wide range of frequency input from the seismic

excitation.

 The frictional force is proportional to the mass of the structure and

hence the center of mass and the center of resistance of the sliding

support coincide, thus diminishing the torsional effects produced

by asymmetric building. 54
Pure Friction System

Figure 6.5 Pure friction system: (a) P-F; (b) Schematic diagram of P-F; (c)
Force-deformation behavior of P-F. 55
 Pure Friction System
• The simplest sliding isolation system, used popularly for bridges in particular,

is the pure friction (P-F) system based on the mechanism of sliding friction

(Westermo and Udwadia, 1983) as shown in Figure 6.5(a). The use of layer of

sand or roller in the foundation of the building is the example of P-F base

isolator.

• Under normal conditions of ambient vibrations, and small magnitude

earthquakes, the system acts like a fixed base system due to the static frictional

force. For large earthquake, the static value of frictional force is overcome, and

sliding occurs with reduced dynamic resistance thereby reducing the

accelerations. The horizontal frictional force at the bearing interface offers

resistance to the motion, and dissipates energy. 56

 Coulomb’s frictional resistance is used to model the limiting
frictional force. It is to be noted that the frictional coefficient μ is
independent of the sliding velocity.
 The limiting frictional force in the bearing is given by,

 Depending upon the magnitude of the frictional force(EQ Loading), Fx

the system will be in stick or slip conditions. If Fx < Fs, then it will be in
non-sliding (stick) phase, and the bearing force, Fb is,

 If Fx > Fs, then it will be in sliding (slip) phase with bearing

force,Fb as, Eq/n (6.15)
57
 c. Friction Pendulum System
 One of the most popular and effective techniques for seismic isolation is through the use of

sliding isolation devices.

 The sliding systems exhibit excellent performance under a variety of severe earthquake

loading and are very effective in reducing the large levels of the superstructure acceleration.

 These isolators are characterized by their insensitivity to the frequency content of

earthquake excitation, because of the tendency of sliding system to reduce and spread the

earthquake energy over a wide range of frequencies.

 There is another advantage of sliding isolation systems over conventional rubber bearings.

Due to development of the frictional force at the base, it is proportional to the mass of the

structure, and the center of mass and center of resistance of the sliding support coincides.

 Consequently, the torsional effects produced by the asymmetric building are diminished.

58
Figure 6.6 Friction pendulum system: (a) FPS; (b) Pendulum action; (c)
Schematic diagram of FPS; (d) Force-deformation behavior of FPS. 59
 (8.15) and (8.16)

Where:
 kb is the bearing stiffness provided by virtue of inward gravity action at the
concave surface, and
 Fx is the frictional force.

 The system is characterized by two parameters: (a) bearing isolation period Tb

that depends upon radius of curvature of concave surface, and (b) friction
coefficient μ.
 The isolation stiffness kb is adjusted such that the specified value of the isolation
period evaluated by given equation.
60
 1. Modeling and Analysis of Base-Isolated
Buildings
 Buildings are places of dwelling and work. Buildings occupy people and for a good
duration of time. The destruction of buildings in an earthquake can result in both heavy
causalities and economic damage, which is evident from previous such catastrophic
events.
 So these must be many of the structures that require earthquake protection. In this
section, we analyze simple building in 2D plane as shear type building model subjected
to understand its dynamic responses when subjected to earthquake excitation.
 It should be emphasized that the accuracy of a solution of any problem depends upon
how closely the model simulates the exact behavior of a real-life structure.
 However, any assumption to simplify the complex models to decrease the computational
cost and time to obtain sufficiently accurate results is welcome.

61
Assumptions

1. The superstructure is considered to remain within the elastic state

during the period of seismic excitation. This assumption is

considered appropriate because the base isolation attempts to

reduce the earthquake response keeping it within the elastic state.

2. The floors are assumed to be rigid in its plane, and the mass is

assumed to be lumped at each floor level.

3. The columns are inextensible and weightless, providing lateral

stiffness, which governs superstructure time period of the

structure. 62
Figure 6.9 Building model: (a) Assumed deformed
shape; (b) Lumped mass model.
63
2 Governing Equations of Motion

 For a multi-storied building, an assumed deformation profile is shown in Figure

8.9(a).

 The columns in the model is assumed to undergo shear deformation and floor

diaphragm, being relatively more rigid than the columns, do not bend or undergo

axial deformation under earthquake excitation.

 Therefore degrees of freedom xi corresponds to floor level lumped with mass mi

in the horizontal plane. The displacement across the isolation (isolator

displacement) is denoted by xb.

 Generally, the displacements of floors are expressed relative to the base mass /

slab, whereas the displacement of the base mass is expressed relative to the
64
ground.
 Figure 6.10 Dynamic degrees
of freedom of base mass or
slab.

 The equation of motion for the superstructure

placed over the base slab under seismic excitation
takes the form as follows,

65
 where, mb is the base slab mass; x1 and x1 are the first floor
displacement and velocity respectively; K1 and C1 is the damping
and stiffness of the first floor of the superstructure, respectively,
66
and Fb is the restoring force of the base isolator.
 Equations (8.15) and (8.16) can be coupled, and
written as,

where, [D] is the location matrix of the isolator.

• The response of the base-isolated building can be
obtained by solving the equation (8.19) using the
step-by-step Newmark’s Beta method given in the
67
Section 7.5.
68
69
 Applicability of base isolation systems

Most effective
 Structure on stiff soils

 Structures with low fundamental period(low-rise

buildings

Last effective
 Structure on soft soils

 Structures with high fundamental period(high-rise

buildings 70
Thank you!

71