Effect of resonance in soil-structure interaction for finite soil layers

Abstract

In case of seismic design the deformability of the soil should be considered, which can be performed in several ways. Most of the methods do not take into account the finite dimensions of the soil, which results significantly different behavior than the spring-dashpot systems. For an infinite medium, which is used in many cases, there are no eigenmodes, however in practical applications the soft soil is always bounded by rocks. For these cases the soil has eigenmodes and the resonance may influence considerably the response of the system. This question was investigated numerically by FE calculations, and it was found that in certain cases the resonance, which is neglected in the common design process, may significantly enhance the earthquake loads. In this paper this phenomenon is investigated and the parameter range is defined when this effect must be taken into account.