• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2015

This paper presents a detailed procedure for a nonlinear soil-structure interaction of a seismically isolated NPP(Nuclear Power Plant) structure using the boundary reaction method (BRM). The BRM offers a two-step method as follows: (1) the calculation of boundary reaction forces in the frequency domain on an interface of linear and nonlinear regions, (2) solving the wave radiation problem subjected to the boundary reaction forces in the time domain. For the purpose of calculating the boundary reaction forces at the base of the isolator, the KIESSI-3D program is employed in this study to solve soil-foundation interaction problem subjected to vertically incident seismic waves. Wave radiation analysis is also employed, in which the nonlinear structure and the linear soil region are modeled by finite elements and energy absorbing elements on the outer model boundary using a general purpose nonlinear FE program. In this study, the MIDAS/Civil program is employed for modeling the wave radiation problem. In order to absorb the outgoing elastic waves to the unbounded soil region, spring and viscous-damper elements are used at the outer FE boundary. The BRM technique utilizing KIESSI-3D and MIDAS/Civil programs is verified using a linear soil-structure analysis problem. Finally the method is applied to nonlinear seismic analysis of a base-isolated NPP structure. The results show that BRM can effectively be applied to nonlinear soil-structure interaction problems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.553-566
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• 2023

A circular tank foundation resting on the ground and subjected to axisymmetric horizontal and vertical loads and moments is analyzed using the variational principles of mechanics. The circular foundation is assumed to behave as a Kirchhoff plate with in-plane and transverse displacements. The soil beneath the foundation is assumed to be a multi-layered continuum in which the horizontal and vertical displacements are expressed as products of separable functions. The differential equations of plate and soil displacements are obtained by minimizing the total potential energy of the plate-soil system and are solved using the finite element and finite difference methods following an iterative algorithm. Comparisons with the results of equivalent two-dimensional finite element analysis and other researchers establish the accuracy of the method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.939-963
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• 2016

According to the new directives about the rational and efficient use of energy, thermal bridges in buildings have to be avoided, and the thermal insulation (TI) layer should run without interruptions all around the building - even under its foundations. The paper deals with the seismic response of multi-storeyed reinforced concrete (RC) frame building structures founded on an extruded polystyrene (XPS) layer placed beneath the foundation slab. The purpose of the paper is to elucidate the problem of buildings founded on a TI layer from the seismic resistance point of view, to assess the seismic behaviour of such buildings, and to search for the critical parameters which can affect the structural and XPS layer response. Nonlinear dynamic and static analyses were performed, and the seismic response of fixed-base (FB) and thermally insulated (TI) variants of nonlinear RC building models were compared. Soil-structure interaction was also taken into account for different types of soil. The results showed that the use of a TI layer beneath the foundation slab of a superstructure generally induces a higher peak response compared to that of a corresponding system without TI beneath the foundation slab. In the case of stiff structures located on firm soil, amplification of the response might be substantial and could result in exceedance of the superstructure's moment-rotation plastic hinge capacities or allowable lateral roof and interstorey drift displacements. In the case of heavier, slenderer, and higher buildings subjected to stronger seismic excitations, the overall response is governed by the rocking mode of oscillation, and as a consequence the compressive strength of the XPS could be insufficient. On the other hand, in the case of low-rise and light-weight buildings, the friction capacity between the layers of the applied TI foundation set might be exceeded so that sliding could occur.

• Magazine of korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2019

Tunnelling in urban environments is very common nowadays as large cities are expanding and transportation demands require the use of the underground space for creating extra capacity. Inevitably, any such new construction may have significant effects on existing nearby infrastructure and therefore relevant assessment of structural integrity and soil-structure interaction is required. Foundation piles can be rather sensitive to nearby tunnel construction and therefore their response needs to be evaluated carefully. Although detailed three-dimensional continuum finite element analysis can provide a wealth of information about this behaviour of piles, such analyses are generally very computationally demanding and may require a number of material and other model parameters to be properly calibrated. Therefore, relevant simplified approaches are used to provide a practical way for such an assessment. This paper presents a simple method where the pile is modelled with beam finite elements, pile-soil interaction is modelled with soil springs and tunnelling-induced displacements are introduced as an input boundary condition at the end of the soil springs. The performance of this approach is assessed through some examples of applications.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2008

In this paper single degree of freedom macro-element model was presented to investigate the interaction between soil and the deep foundation under the lateral loads. It was made by modelling each component related to the soil-structure interaction and combining them into one piece. It enhanced the conventional method that was not able to break down the interaction components in piece due to the usage of simple spring element for interaction. A proposed macro-element classified the stress components in relation to the interaction into frictional and compressive resistance. Each component was modelled using the classical plasticity theory, and finally combined in parallel. An example study was carried out using the proposed macro-element for deep foundation embedded in three layered cohesive soil. It showed improved results compared to the conventional method by producing additional information of the interaction components as well as the overall behavior of foundation.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.469-475
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• 2016

As we are facing the shortage of oil energy, studies on renewable energy, wind energy research has been naturally getting attention. Among wind energies, ocean wind energy is relatively abundant compared to land wind energy and therefore, is getting much attention in terms of its efficiency. However, the problem is the cost. Generally, the cost ratio of the supporting structure is over 25% of the total installation cost of a offshore wind turbine system. Thus, it is very important to reduce the total installation cost of the offshore wind turbine and develop accurate analysis methodology for various offshore wind turbine foundations. In this study, nonlinear structure-soil interaction analyses have been proposed and conducted for the typical suction bucket model of an offshore wind turbine foundation, and the results were compared with experimental test data for numerical validations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.629-641
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• 2017

Foundation plays a significant role in safe and efficient turbo machinery operation. Turbo machineries generate harmonic load on the foundation due to their high speed rotating motion which causes vibration in the machinery, foundation and soil beneath the foundation. The problems caused by vibration get multiplied if the soil is poor. An improperly designed machine foundation increases the vibration and reduces machinery health leading to frequent maintenance. Hence it is very important to study the soil structure interaction and effect of machine vibration on the foundation during turbo machinery operation in the design stage itself. The present work studies the effect of harmonic load due to machine operation along with earthquake loading on the frame foundation for poor soil conditions. Various alternative foundations like rafts, barrette, batter pile and combinations of barrettes with batter pile are analyzed to study the improvements in the vibration patterns. Detailed computational analysis was carried out in SAP 2000 software; the numerical model was analyzed and compared with the shaking table experiment results. The numerical results are found to be closely matching with the experimental data which confirms the accuracy of the numerical model predictions. Both shake table and SAP 2000 results reveal that combination of barrette and batter piles with raft are best suitable for poor soil conditions because it reduces the displacement at top deck, bending moment and horizontal displacement of pile and thereby making the foundation more stable under seismic loading.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.293-310
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• 2024

This paper investigates the dynamic response of structures during earthquakes and provides a clear understanding of soil-structure interaction phenomena. It analyses various parameters, comprising ground shear wave velocity and structure properties. The effect of soil impedance function form on the structural response of the system through the use of springs and dashpots with two frequency cases: independent and dependent frequencies. The superstructure and the ground were modeled linearly. Using the substructure method, two different approaches are used in this study. The first is an analytical formulation based on the dynamic equilibrium of the soil-structure system modeled by an analog model with three degrees of freedom. The second is a numerical analysis generated with 2D finite element modeling using ABAQUS software. The superstructure is represented as a SDOF system in all the SSI models assessed. This analysis establishes the key parameters affecting the soil-structure interaction and their effects. The different results obtained from the analysis are compared for each studied case (frequency-independent and frequency-dependent impedance functions). The achieved results confirm the sensitivity of buildings to soil-structure interaction and highlight the various factors and effects, such as soil and structure properties, specifically the shear wave velocity, the height and mass of the structure. Excitation frequency, and the foundation anchoring height, also has a significant impact on the fundamental parameters and the response of the coupled system at the same time. On the other hand, it have been demonstrated that the impedance function forms play a critical role in the accurate evaluation of structural behavior during seismic excitation. As a result, the evaluation of SSI effects on structural response must take into account the dynamic properties of the structure and soil accordingly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.192-200
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• 2010

Korea is part of a region of low or moderate seismic zone in which few earthquakes have been monitored, so it is difficult to approve design ground motions and seismic responses on structures from response spectrum. In this study, a series of dynamic centrifuge model tests for demonstrating seismic amplification characteristics in soil-foundation-structure system were performed using electro-hydraulic shaking table mounted on the KOCED 5.0 m radius beam centrifuge at KAIST in Korea. The soil model were prepared by raining dry sand and $V_S$ profiles were determined by performing bender element tests before shaking. The foundation types used in this study are shallow embedded foundation and deep basement fixed on the bottom. Total 7 building structures were used and the response of building structures were compared with response spectrum from the acceleration records on surface.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2007

This paper proposes the real-time hybrid shaking table testing methods to simulate the dynamic behavior of a soil-structure interaction system with dynamic soil stiffness by using only a structure model as the physical specimen and verifies their effectiveness for experimental implementation. Experimental methodologies proposed in this paper adopt such a way that absolute accelerations measured from the superstructure and shaking table are feedback to the shaking table controller, and then the shaking table is driven by the calculated motion of the absolute acceleration (acceleration feedback method) or the absolute velocity (velocity feedback method) of foundation that is required to simulate the dynamic behavior of a whole soil-structure interaction system. The shaking table test is implemented by reflecting the dynamic soil stiffness, which are differently approximated from the theoretical one depending on the feedback methods, on the shaking table controller to calculate soil part. The effectiveness of the proposed experimental methods is verified by comparing the response measured from the test on a foundation-fixed structural model and that obtained from the experiment of a soil-interaction system under the consideration in this paper and by matching the dynamic soil stiffness reflected on the shaking table controller with that identified using the experimentally measured data.