• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.563-576
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• 2021

The rocking foundation is effective for reducing structural seismic demand and avoiding overdesign of the foundation. It is crucial to evaluate the performance of rocking foundations because they cause plastic hinging in the soil. In this study, to derive optimized ground motion intensity measures (IMs) for rocking foundations, the efficiency of IMs correlated with engineering demand parameters (EDPs) was estimated through the coefficient determination using a physical modeling database for rocking shallow foundations. Foundation deformations, the structural horizontal drift ratio, and contribution in drift from foundation rotation and sliding were selected as crucial EDPs for the evaluation of rocking foundation systems. Among 15 different IMs, the peak ground velocity exhibited the most efficient parameters correlated with the EDPs, and it was discovered to be an efficient ground motion IM for predicting the seismic performance of rocking foundations. For vector regression, which uses two IMs to present the EDPs, the IMs indicating time features improved the efficiency of the regression curves, but the correlation was poor when these are used independently. Moreover, the ratio of the column-hinging base shear coefficient to the rocking base shear coefficient showed obvious trends for the accurate assessment of the seismic performance of rocking foundation-structure systems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

In the seismic design of bridges, formation of plastic hinges plays an important role in the dissipation of seismic energy. In the case of conventional fixed-base bridges, the plastic hinges are allowed to form in the superstructure alone. During seismic event, such bridges may be safe from collapse but the superstructure undergoes significant plastic deformations. As an alternative design approach, the plastic hinges are guided to form in the soil thereby utilizing the inevitable yielding of the soil. Rocking foundations work on this concept. The formation of plastic hinges in the soil reduces the load and displacement demands on the superstructure. This study aims at evaluating the seismic response of bridge pier supported on rocking shallow foundation. For this purpose, a BNWF model is implemented in OpenSees platform. The capability of the BNWF model to capture the SSI effects, nonlinear behavior and dynamic loading response are validated using the centrifuge and shake table test results. A comparative study is performed between the seismic response of the bridge pier supported on the rocking shallow foundation and conventional fixed-base foundation. Results of the study have established the beneficial effects of using the rocking shallow foundation for the seismic response analysis of the bridge piers.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.5-16
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• 2017

Rocking behavior of shallow foundation during the earthquake can reduce the seismic load of the superstructure. The dynamic centrifuge tests were performed to investigate the availability of using rocking behavior for the weathered soil condition. The centrifuge test model was composed of the weathered soil, shallow foundation and single degree of freedom structure. And the accelerations of soil, foundation and structure, and the foundation settlement were measured during the earthquake. From the test result, the seismic load of the structure for the strong earthquake input was reduced by the rocking behavior with foundation uplift and the maximum foundation settlement was less than 0.5% of the foundation width. This shows the potential that the rocking foundation concept can be used in the economical seismic design of foundation for the weathered soil in the future with additional research and verification.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.47-59
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• 2016

Rocking behavior of shallow foundation reduces the superstructure load during earthquake. However, because of deficiency of understanding of rocking mechanism and soil permanent deformation, it has not been applied to real construction. In this study, slow cyclic tests were conducted for embedded shallow foundations with various slenderness ratio via centrifuge tests. From the variation of earth pressure 'soil rounding surface' phenomenon which makes maximum overturning moment equal to ultimate moment capacity was observed. Rocking and sliding behavior mechanism was evaluated. Also, nonlinear behavior and energy dissipation increase as rotation angle increases. And ultimate moment capacity of embedded foundation is larger than that of surface foundation. Finally, adequate ultimate moment capacity can be suggested for seismic design through this study.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.125-135
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• 2017

Various seismic isolation methods are being applied to bridges and buildings to improve their seismic performance. Most seismic isolation systems are the structural seismic isolation systems. In this study, the seismic performance of geotechnical seismic isolation system capable of isolating the lower foundation of the bridge structure from ground was evaluated. The geotechnical seismic isolation system was built with teflon, and the model structure was made by adopting the similitude law. The response acceleration for sinusoidal waves of various amplitudes and frequencies and seismic waves were analyzed by performing 1-G shaking table experiments. Fixed foundation, Sliding foundation, and Rocking foundation were evaluated. The results of this study indicated that the Teflon-type seismic foundation isolation system is effective in reducing the acceleration transmitted to the superstructure subject to large input ground motion. Response spectrum of the Rocking and Sliding foundation structures moves to the long period, while that of Fixed foundation moves to short period.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1001-1024
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• 2014

The size of spread footings was found to be unnecessarily large from some actual engineering practices constructed in Taiwan, due to the strict design provisions related to footing uplift. According to the earlier design code in Taiwan, the footing uplift involving separation of footing from subsoil was permitted to be only up to one-half of the foundation base area, as the applied moment reaches the value of plastic moment capacity of the column. The reason for this provision was that rocking of spread footings was not a favorable mechanism. However, recent research has indicated that rocking itself may not be detrimental to seismic performance and, in fact, may act as a form of seismic isolation mechanism. In order to clarify the effects of the relative strength between column and foundation on the rocking behavior of a column, six circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns were designed and constructed and a series of rocking experiments were performed. During the tests, columns rested on a rubber pad to allow rocking to take place. Experimental variables included the dimensions of the footings, the strength and ductility capacity of the columns and the intensity of the applied earthquake. Experimental data for the six circular RC columns subjected to quasi-static and pseudo-dynamic loading are presented. Results of each cyclic loading test are compared against the benchmark test with fixed-base conditions. By comparing the experimental responses of the specimens with different design details, a key parameter of rocking behavior related to footing size and column strength is identified. For a properly designed column with the parameter higher than 1, the beneficial effects of rocking in reducing ductility and the strength demand of columns is verified.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 1998

A dynamic fluid-structure-soil interaction analysis method is developed to investigate the effects of translational and/or rocking motions on the seismic response of flexible rectangular liquid storage tanks founded on the deformable ground. The governing equation for the dynamics of 3-D rectangular tanks subjected to the translational and/or rocking motion is abtained by applying Rayleigh-Ritz method. The dynamic stiffness matrices of a rigid rectangular foundation resting on the surface of a stratum overlaid bedrock are calculated by hyperelement method. The seismic responses of 3-D flexible tank model founded on the deformable ground is calculated by combining the governing equation for the fluid-tank system with the dynamic stiffness matrix of th rigid surface foundation.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.107-114
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• 1997

A dynamic fluid-structure-soil interaction analysis method is developed to investigate the effects of rocking motion on the seismic response of the 3-D flexible rectangular liquid storage tanks founded on the deformable ground. The governing equation of 3-D rectangular tanks subjected to the translational and rocking motions is obtained by Rayleigh-Ritz method. The dynamic stiffness matrix of the rigid surface foundation resting on the surface of a stratum are calculated by hyperelement method. The seismic responses of a 3-D flexible tank model founded on the deformable ground is calculated by combining the governing equation of the structural motion with the dynamic stiffness matrix of the rigid surface foundation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.597-608
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• 2022

One of the most important parameters affecting nonlinearsoil-structure interaction, especially rocking foundation, is the vertical factor of safety (F.S_v). In this research, the effect of F.S_v on the behavior of rocking foundations was experimentally investigated. A set of slow, cyclic, horizontal loading tests was conducted on elastic SDOF structures with different shallow foundations. Vertical bearing capacity tests also were conducted to determine the F.S_v more precisely. Furthermore, 10% silt was mixed with the dry sand at a 5% moisture content to reach the minimum apparent cohesion. The results of the vertical bearing capacity tests showed that the bearing capacity coefficients (N_c and N_γ) were influenced by the scaling effect. The results of horizontal cyclic loading tests showed that the trend of increase in capacity was substantially related to the source of nonlinearity and it varied by changing F.S_v. Stiffness degradation was found to occur in the final cycles of loading. The results indicated that the moment capacity and damping ratio of the system in models with lower F.S_v values depended on soil specifications such cohesiveness or non-cohesiveness and were not just a function of F.S_v.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.691-704
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• 2019

This study simulates the responses of large-scale bridge piers under pseudo-dynamic tests to investigate the performance of four types of numerical models that consider the nonlinear behavior of the pier and the rocking behavior of the footing. In the models, beam-column elements with plastic hinges are used for the pier, two types of foundation models (rotational spring and distributed spring models) are adopted for the footing behavior, and two types of viscous damping models (Rayleigh and dashpot models) are applied for energy dissipation. Results show that the nonlinear pier model combined with the distributed spring-dashpot foundation model can reasonably capture the behavior of the piers in the tests. Although the commonly used rotational spring foundation model adopts a nonlinear moment-rotation property that reflects the effect of footing uplift, it cannot suitably simulate the hysteretic moment-rotation response of the footing in the dynamic analysis once the footing uplifts. In addition, the piers are susceptible to cracking damage under strong seismic loading and the induced plastic response can provide contribution to earthquake energy dissipation.