ICETRESM2017

International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering

Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

Experimental Investigation of Soil Structure Interaction -Effect

on Dynamic Properties of Building Frame
K. S. Patil *1, Dr. M. G. Kalyanshetti*2,
*1 (Asst. Professor Civil Engg Dept, Navsahyadri Education Society,Pune, India)
*2 (Professor Civil Engg Dept, Walchand Institute of Technology, Solapur, India)
kuldeepseti@gmail.com*1, mgkalyanshetti@gmail.com*2,

Abstract - Some recent earthquakes (Kobe 1995) 1. INTRODUCTION

highlighted that, seismic behavior of a structure is
highly influenced not only by the super structural
response but also by the response of the ground
upon which it is resting. Thus seismic response of a
structure is greatly influenced by soil structure
interaction (SSI). In present study, an attempt is
made to evaluate experimentally using shake table
the seismic performance in terms of changes in the
natural frequency and time period considering the
interaction between the foundation and the soil.
Experimental study is carried out on 1:5 scaled
down RC building frame model for fixed base
condition and flexible base condition. For fixed
base condition, building model is directly mounted
on shake table and for flexible base condition;
model is kept on well graded gravely, GW soil
(IS: 1498-1970). The experimental results obtained
by shake table are compared with analytical
results. The study shows that, effect of soil
structure interaction considerably increases the
time period which leads to P- effect causing the
increase in the member forces. The study
advocates to incorporate the SSI in the seismic
analysis for realistic determination of the forces in
the members. The embedment effect of footing on
SSI is also studied which shows that increase in
depth of embedment of footing decreases time
period and helps to control SSI effect.
Keywords: Soil Structure Interaction, Shake
In early 1930s researchers began to realize that
soil and structure should be considered as a whole
system in dynamic analysis. The Mexico City
earthquake (1985) and Kobe earthquake (1995)
clearly illustrate the importance of in situ soil
properties on the performance of structure. During
Kobe earthquake, some buildings experienced more
damage than what was predicted by structural
analysis with fixed base condition. Such
observations led researchers to incorporate SSI
effect. Generally in the seismic design of buildings,
soil structure interaction is neglected and the
dynamic response of the structure is evaluated
considering fixed base conditions in order to
reduce the complications in the analysis. However,
unfortunately, the assumption does not always hold
true. In fact, the SSI has detrimental effect on the
structural response; therefore neglecting SSI in the
analysis may lead to unsafe design for both the
superstructure and the foundation.
S.A. Halkude and M.G. Kalyanshetti (2014)
studied the effect of SSI on the building frame
resting on isolated footing considering two
modeling approaches namely Winkler Approach
and Elastic Continuum Approach. The study
revealed that Elastic Continuum Approach is more
effective. H. Matinmanesh et al (2011) presented
an idealized two dimensional plane strain finite
element seismic soil-structure interaction analysis.

Table, Similitude Laws, SAP 2000, Natural The analysis is carried out by considering three

Frequency. ground motion records with low, intermediate and

high frequency content. The study concludes that

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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India
soil amplification is affected by many factors
including the soil type & its properties, earthquake
frequency content and the properties of the
overlying building. Hamid Reza Tabatabaiefar et al
(2010) studied ten storey moment resisting
buildings frame with shallow foundation resting on
soft clay. Nonlinear dynamic analysis under
influence of different earthquake records is carried
out with fixed & flexible base condition. The
results indicate that the lateral deflection of
structure for both cases changes the performance
level of the structures from life safe, to near
collapse or total collapse. It is also inferred from
the study that fixed-base structures are no longer
adequate to guarantee the structural safety. SSI
shall be essentially considered in the seismic
analysis of building frames resting on soft soil
deposit. N. Hosseinzadeh et al (2009) studied
dynamic soil-structure interaction effects on the
seismic response of building structures with surface
and embedded mat foundations using shake table
tests on scaled down models. The results of finite
element analysis of soil-structure system are
compared with experimental results on shake table.
B. R. Jayalekshmi et al (2008) carried out the
experimental investigations on 1:10 scaled down
single bay three dimensional multi storey building
models made of aluminum with its foundation
resting on shedi soil and sand in the saturated and
dry condition. The combined system of soil-
foundation-structure model is subjected to dynamic
loading. The structural response is compared with
that of a fixed base model to isolate the effect of
soil structure interaction.
In the present study an attempt is made to identify
the SSI effect on natural frequency and time period
by experimental and analytical studies under fixed
and flexible base conditions. An attempt is also
made to evaluate the embedment effect of
foundation in sub soil by performing the
experiment considering different depths of
embedment.
2.MODEL PREPARATION FOR
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
A prototype building frame of bay width 3.25m and
story height of 3m is considered for the study. The
difficult task was to develop an experimental model
able to represent the prototype structure with less
degree of distortion. The experimental work is
carried out using shake table of size 2m X 2m.The
test model shall have dimensions just sufficient for
providing space for soil mass on the shake table
for SSI case. To fix the model on shake table the
spacing of the column has to match the holes on the
shake table. This all has made to keep the center to
center distance between two columns as 0.64
meters leading to a linear scale factor, SL = 5.
Hence for experimental study, 1:5 scaled down
RCC model is prepared following the similitude
laws (Harris and Sabnis 1983). The dimensions of
prototype structure and the model is given in Table
1.
One fundamental issue to be considered at this
stage is the fact that the construction of a true
replica model that satisfies all the similitude
requirements needed by dimensional analysis is
almost an impossible task due to material
limitations (Morcarz et al. 1981). However in the
present work the model is prepared to the best
possible extent in order to have less degree of
distortion. The details of RCC scaled down model
is shown in Figure 1
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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

Table 1:- Dimensions of Prototype and 3.1 Fixed Base Condition-

Scale-down Model
The fixed-base response of the scale down model is
investigated by securing the foundation directly to
Element Prototype (mm) Model (mm) the platform of the shake table. Four
Scale factor
(1:5) accelerometers are used to acquire the data. One
Beam 300 X 325 60 X 65 accelerometer is fitted to actuator and remaining
Column 300 X 300 60 X 60 three on the model as shown in Figure 2.
Slab 150 30
Thickness
Footing 1250 X 1250 X 250 X 250 X 60
300
Plinth height 1000 200
Plinth to roof 3000 600
level height

Fig. 2:- Scale-down Model Mounted on

Shake Table with Fixed Base

3.2 Flexible Base Condition-

The finite soil mass is considered based on

Fig.1:- 1/5th Scale-down RCC Building Frame
Model
3. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP USING
SHAKE TABLE-
The shake table is servo hydraulic uniaxially driven
having table size 2m X 2m and of 30 kN capacity.
The table has an operating frequency range of 0.01
Hz-50Hz.
The present study aims to evaluate the change in
the natural frequency and time period of structure
for fixed base and flexible base condition
(SSI).Therefore experimental set ups are developed
in the laboratory to produce fixed and flexible base
condition.
convergence study, with boundary far beyond a
region where structural loading has no influence.
This is assumed to be at a lateral offset of width of
the building on all four sides and depth equal to 1.5
times the width of building. However, considering
limitation of size and capacity of shake table a steel
box of size 1.5x1.5x0.7 m is used as a container to
simulate the soil domain. The experimental set up
for flexible base condition is shown in Figure 3.
The properties of soil used for the study are given
in Table 2.

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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

Soil structure interaction study is carried out for

three cases to know the embedment effect of
foundation. The depth of foundation ( Df ) for
different cases are given below:
Case 1:- Df = 60 mm (Footing at ground level)
Case 2:- Df = 130 mm (Minimum depth of
foundation by Rankins approach)
Case 3:- Df = 260 mm (Footing depth up to plinth
Fig. 3:- Experimental Set Up For Flexible Base level)
Condition
Table 2:- Test Soil Properties The details of placement of model with embedment
Sr. are shown in Figure 4.
No. Properties Value
1 Specific Gravity 2.74
Compaction
Properties
Maximum Dry
2 Density (kN/m3 ) 19.11
Optimum Moisture
Content (%) 16.50
Strength Parameters
3 Soil Internal Frictional
Angle () in degrees 28
Cohesion C (kN/m2 ) 20.30
Atterberg's Fig. 4:- Embedment of footing (Df ) for SSI
Consistency Limits
4
Liquid Limit (%) 41.70 3.3 Results and Discussion: - Fixed Case
Plastic Limit (%) 26.87 The sine sweep test is conducted to know the
Shrinkage Limit (%) 15.91 natural frequency of the test model. The Frequency
Particle Size Response Function (FRF) and Fast Fourier
Distribution Analysis
Transformation (FFT) plots obtained for all the
% of Gravel 87
accelerometers are shown in Figure 5 and 6. The
5 % of Sand 13
peak of FRF and FFT is considered as natural
% of Silt 0
Coefficient of frequency. These values are obtained for all the
Uniformity (Cu) 5.75 three accelerometers placed at different locations.
Coefficient of Average of all is considered as natural frequency of
Curvature (Cc) 1.565
test model.
Classification of Soil(
6 IS:1498-1970) GW
Modulus of Elasticity
7 E (kN/m2 ) 57330
8 Poissons Ratio 0.30

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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

Fig. 9:- Combined FRF for Case 2

Fig. 5:- Combined FRF for Fixed Case

Fig. 6:- Combined FFT fixed case

Fig.10:- Combined FFT for Case 2
From FRF and FFT plots (Fig 5 and 6), it is
observed that the natural frequency are 12.1 and
11.9 respectively. Thus the average value of 12 Hz
is taken as natural frequency for fixed base
condition.

3.4 Results and Discussion: - Flexible Case

The FRF and FFT plots for flexible base (GW soil)
and for three embedment cases are presented below Fig. 11:- Combined FRF for Case 3
from Figure 7 to 12.

Fig. 12:- Combined FFT for Case 3

It is observed that due to support flexibility (GW

Fig. 7:- Combined FRF for Case 1
Fig. 8:- Combined FFT for Case 1
soil) the natural frequency is decreases by almost
30 % as compared to fixed base condition, clearly
demonstrating the effect of SSI on natural
frequency. However, this decrease in natural
frequency is possible to compensate by increasing
embedment depth of footing. From Figure 7 to 12,
it is observed that natural frequency for different
embedment cases are 8.4 Hz for Case1, 9.15 Hz for

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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

Case 2 and 10.2 Hz for Case 3. The percentage and 4 respectively. The combined results are
decrease in natural frequency w.r.t. fixed base presented in Figure 14
condition is 30 % for case 1, 23 % for case 2 and Table 3:- Results of Fixed Base Condition
15 % for case 3. This indicated that difference in
natural frequency with respect to fixed base
From Table 3 it is observed that, natural frequency
condition goes on decreasing with increase in the
Dynamic Shake SAP 2000 Percentage
embedment; leading towards fixity at the base and
Property Table (Analytical) Difference
hence counteracting SSI effect. Thus increasing the (Experim (%)
depth of embedment of footing is beneficial to ental)
minimize SSI effect.
Natural
Frequency 12.0000 11.693 2.56
4. Analytical Study- (Hz)

Analytical study is carried out by Finite Element

Time
Method using structural software SAP 2000. The Period 0.0833 0.0855 2.56
beams and columns are modelled as frame element. (sec)
The soil is assumed to be linear, elastic and
obtained in the analytical study is 2.56 % less as
isotropic material. The foundation and soil is
compared with experimental study. This reveals
discretized as eight-nodded brick element. Models
that, the model is truly replicating the anticipated
are generated for fixed as well as flexible base
behavior as per the theoretical analysis. Thus, it can
condition for different embedment cases typical
be inferred that boundary conditions in the
case is shown in Figure 13
experimental work (Base fixity of model on shake
table) is well reproduced as that of theoretical
case and also model has got less degree of
distortion.

Table 4:- Results of Flexible Base

Conditions

Cases Experimental Analytical (SAP Percenta

(Shake table) 2000) ge
Natural Time Natural Time differen
frequenc perio frequen period ce
y (Hz) d cy (Hz) (sec) (%)
(sec)
Case 1 8.4 0.119 9.5197 0.1051 13.33
Fig. 13:- Typical Model in SAP 2000 0
Case 2 9.15 0.109 9.5537 0.1047 4.41
3
5. COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL Case 3 10.2 0.098 10.4641 0.0956 2.59
0
AND ANALYTICAL RESULTS:-
The experimental and analytical results of fixed
It is observed from Table 4 that, the increase in the
and flexible base conditions are presented in table 3
depth of embedment increases the natural
frequency. The same trend is observed in both

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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

analytical and experimental study. However the 40

Percentage Difference
natural frequency obtained by analytical study is Experimental
30
observed to be 13.33% higher for case 1, 4.41 %
20 Analytical
for case 2 and 2.59 % for case 3 in comparison with
experimental study. Thus, it is inferred that the 10

flexible base conditions are realistically simulated 0

in the laboratory giving the results with the Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

reduction of @ 2 to 13 % in comparison with

analytical results.
Fig. 15: Percentage variation of Natural
Frequency w. r. t. Fixed Base Condition
14
12
Natural Frequency (Hz)

6. COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL
10
RESULTS WITH PROTOTYPE
8
6 STRUCTURE-
4 Results obtained experimentally are of scaled-down
2 model of RC building frame (scale factor = 5). The
0 experimental results are converted to prototype
Fixe
Case Case Case
d structure by using similitude law (Harris and
1 2 3
Case
Sabnis 1983) as below:
Experimental 12 8.4 9.35 10.5
Natural frequency of Prototype Structure = Natural
Analytical 11.69 9.51 9.55 10.46
1/2
frequency of model X SL
Fig. 14:- Variation of Natural Where, SL = Linear Scale Factor (5 in present
Frequency for Fixed and Flexible Base study)
Conditions
The prototype structure is analysed using SAP
The natural frequencies of fixed and flexible base 2000 also. The results obtained are compared with
conditions for all cases are presented in Fig 14. The the results of model after converting as per
flexible base results are compared with fixed base similitude laws. The natural frequency of prototype
to identify SSI effect. The percentage difference of structure and the converted natural frequency of
flexible base w.r.t fixed base is shown in Figure 15. model are shown in Table 5 and Figure 16.
Study shows that percentage reduction in natural
Table 5:- Natural Frequency (Hz) of Prototype
frequency goes on reducing as the embedment
Structure
depth is increased. It is quite obvious because Cases Prototype Converted Percentage
increase in the depth of embedment leads to (Using from Difference
SAP Experimental (%)
increase in the base stiffness approaching towards 2000) Study
Fixed 6.7615 5.3252 21.24
fix condition. The same trend is observed in both
Case
analytical and experimental studies.
Case 1 5.4825 3.7276 32.01
Case 2 5.5027 4.0605 26.21
Case 3 6.1410 4.5264 26.29

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 ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

the base. Thus, increase in the embedment of

8 Prototype foundations in subsoil reduces the SSI effect.
Natural Frequency (Hz)

7 Result (Using
3. The difference in the experimental and analytical
6 SAP 2000)
5 results in the present study is marginal. However,
4 these cannot be eliminated completely due to many
3 Converted
2 from factors such as (a) The material properties in the
1 Experimenta analytical study are idealistic which may not match
0
l Results
Fixed Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 with the material of model ( b) The idealistic
Case stiffness of joints difficult to reproduce in the
Base Condition
model. (c) The theoretical boundary condition may
Fig. 16:- Natural Frequency of Prototype
not possible to reproduce in the experimental study.
Structure
4. Performance of the prototype structure is very
The study indicates that, difference in the natural
difficult to evaluate directly in the laboratory due to
frequency of prototype and the model is in the
size and capacity issues of experimental set up.
range of 21 to 27 %. Realistic performance of the
However, the present study demonstrates that one
prototype is very difficult to evaluate as we cannot
can estimate the results of the prototype structure
test it directly in the laboratory due to size and
by performing the test on scaled down models and
capacity issues of experimental setup. However,
mapping the results to prototype structure using
the present study demonstrates that one can
similitude laws.
evaluate the results of the prototype structure by
5. It is concluded that, to evaluate the behavior of
performing the test on scaled down models and
the structure accurately and to estimate the most
mapping the results to prototype structure using
realistic forces in the member one need to
similitude laws.
incorporate the SSI effect in the seismic analysis
and design of the structure.
7. CONCLUSION-
Following are some broad conclusion from the
present study:- REFERENCES
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ICETRESM2017
International Conference On Emerging Trends And Research In Engineering
Navsahyadri Group of Institutes Faculty of Engineering ,Naigaon Pune,India

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