Centrifuge modelling of seismic soil structure interaction effects

Abstract

Proper understanding of the role of unbounded soil in the evaluation of dynamic soil structure interaction (SSI) problem is very important for structures used in the nuclear industry. In this paper, the results from a series of dynamic centrifuge tests are reported. These tests were performed on different types of soil stratifications supporting a rigid containment structure. Test results indicate that accelerations transmitted to the structure's base are dependent on the stiffness degradation in the supporting soil. Steady build up of excess pore pressure leads to softening of the soil, which decreases the shear modulus and shear strength and subsequently changes the dynamic responses. It is also shown that the presence of the structure reduces the translational component of the input base motion and induces rocking of the structure. The test results are compared with some standard formulae used for evaluating interaction in the various building codes. It was concluded that the dynamic shear modulus values used should be representative of the site conditions and can vary dramatically due to softening. Damping values used are still very uncertain and contain many factors, which cannot be accounted in the experiments. It is emphasized that simplified design processes are important to gain an insight into the behaviour of the physical mechanism but for a complete understanding of the SSI effects sophisticated methods are necessary to account for non-linear behaviour of the soil material.