<b>Effect of Inertial and Kinematic Interaction on Seismic Behavior of Various Types of Structures</b>

Abstract

Both inertial force of structure and ground deformation can affect the dynamic behavior of a bridge pier. This study uses static and dynamic analyses to examine the effect of the response of upper structure and soil deformation on the overall behavior of a structure. A bridge pier, viaduct and isolated bridge, all assumed to be built with pile foundations in good soil, were analyzed. The soil deposit characteristics were selected so that their deformations could be regarded as negligible in the design standard, whereas their shear velocity and resulting strain would change drastically with the depth. The results indicate that the effect of kinematic interaction cannot be assumed to be negligible for the evaluation of the foundation response, especially if the superstructure’s inertial force is relatively small compared to the soil deformation. The response of a pile far from the ground surface can be strongly affected by soil deformation if the given soil property has a large discontinuity in shear velocity distribution. In order to avoid underestimation of the foundation response, the findings indicate the need to characterize free-field soil deformation and subsequent kinematic interaction for pile foundation structures.