On the structural energy distribution and cumulative damage in soil-embedded foundation-structure interaction systems

Abstract

Repeated cyclic loading is well-known to have detrimental effects on inelastic response of structures. Distribution of structural energy and quantification of cumulative damage effects are very important components in performance-based seismic design approach. On the other hand, soil-foundation-structure interaction effects significantly influence inelastic response of structures through the soil contribution to modification of dynamic characteristics of the structure. Hence, this study focuses on structural energy distribution and cumulative damage effects in structures with embedded foundations considering collective effects of kinematic and inertial interactions. To achieve this goal, a soil-foundation-structure interaction system well suited for parametric study was considered: the soil surrounding the rigid foundation was modelled as a half-space, the embedded foundation was modelled using a stack of discrete disks and applying double cone model concept, and the structure was considered as a single-degree-of-freedom structure. The soil-foundation-structure interaction systems were defined according to key interaction dimensionless parameters and were then analysed subjected to 40 non-pulse far-fault ground motions. It is found that SFSI effects significantly alter total energy, viscous damping energy, and hysteretic damping energy of the structure. The results also show that considering only inertial interaction increases cumulative damage index of the structure while inclusion of kinematic interaction has a decreasing effect. Furthermore, practice-oriented correction factors to cumulative damage index of fixed-base structures are proposed to return cumulative damage index of soil-foundation-structure systems. This study can find use in damage evaluation of existing structures with embedded foundation on soft soils.