Detail design and construction procedure of laminar soil containers for experimental shaking table tests

Abstract

In this study, a comprehensive procedure for detail design and construction of laminar soil containers has been developed and presented for practical applications in shaking table tests. A laminar soil container is a flexible container that can be placed on a shaking table to simulate vertical shear-wave propagation during earthquakes through a soil layer of finite thickness and can realistically simulate the free field conditions in comparison with other types of soil containers. The presented laminar soil container consists of aluminum frames and rubber layers in alternating pattern as the container main construction materials. The aluminum frames provide lateral confinement of the soil, while the rubber layers allow the container to deform in a shear beam manner. The designed and constructed container satisfies the conditions required to authentically capture free field ground motion. The lateral movements of the container in shaking table tests expected to be almost identical to the free field movements in reality. In addition, natural frequency of the constructed soil container, measured from Sine Sweep tests, matches the targeted natural frequency with acceptable accuracy.