Application of Soil Structure Interaction on Building with Basement using Nonlinear Soil Springs

Abstract

In a typical building design, the interaction between building and surrounding soils is often ignored. Since soil is deformable and has limited capacity to resist loads, this interaction, called soil-structure interaction (SSI), could alter building responses, especially during earthquake loadings for buildings with significant basement depths. In this study, a 10-story reinforced concrete building with 3-level basement was used to evaluate the effects of SSI on building during earthquakes. Dynamic time response analyses were performed using earthquake time histories scaled to a design response spectrum for a Surabaya, Indonesia, location. Soil responses during earthquakes were modeled using nonlinear hysteresis normal and elastic-perfectly plastic frictional soil springs, developed using the hardening soil with small strain stiffness model. Depthvarying ground motions were also applied along the basement depth. The results show inconclusive SSI effects, where some of the time histories produce greater base shears and interstory drifts when SSI is considered, while others show the opposite results.