Importance of Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis in

Design of Tall Buildings and Infrastructure Projects

by

Pradeep Kumar Ramancharla

in

International Symposium on Reducing Earthquake Losses and Advances in Earthquake Science, ISR, Gujarat

Report No: IIIT/TR/2015/-1

Centre for Earthquake Engineering

International Institute of Information Technology
Hyderabad - 500 032, INDIA
January 2015
 Importance of Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis in
Design of Tall Buildings and Infrastructure Projects

Ramancharla Pradeep Kumar

Professor of Civil Engineering & Head
Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
IIIT Hyderabad
ramancharla@iiit.ac.in

After 1964 Niigata earthquake (M 7.5), it was evident that damage to the
structure not only depends on the behaviour of super structure but also on the
sub-soil below it. It was also observed that large concentration of damage in
specific areas during an earthquake is due to site dependent factors related to
surface geological conditions and local soil. Since then, many researchers have
studied the behaviour of the soil subjected to the dynamic loading. Besides field
observations, investigations were done experimentally, analytically and
numerically. From these investigations, it was understood that the response of
soil to dynamic loads plays a major role in the damage of structures. The
behaviour of soil becomes much complex and several factors needs to be
considered.

Since past few decades, soil-structure interaction (SSI) has been recognized as an
important factor that may significantly affect the relative building response, the
motion of base and motion of surrounding soil. In general, building-soil
interaction consists of two parts; kinematic and dynamic (or inertial) interaction.
The former is a result of wave nature of excitation and is manifested through the
scattering of incident waves from building foundation and through filtering effect
of the foundation that may be stiffer than the soil and therefore may not follow
the higher frequency deformations of soil. This interaction depends on frequency,
angle of incidence and type of incident waves, as well as shape of foundation and
on the depth of embedment. It develops due to presence of stiff foundation
elements on or in soil cause foundation motion to deviate from free-field motions.
The later is due to inertia forces of building and of the foundation which act on
soil due to contact area. And it depends on the mass and height of the building
and the mass and depth of foundation, on the relative stiffness of soil compared
with the building and on the shape of foundation. It develops in structure due to
its own vibrations which gives rise to base shear and base moment, which in turn
cause displacements of the foundation relative to free field.

At low level of ground shaking, kinematic effect is more dominant causing

increase of period. Observations from recent earthquakes have shown that the
response of the foundation and soil can greatly influence the overall structural
response. There are several cases of severe damages in structures due to SSI in
the past earthquakes (1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, 1995 Kobe Earthquake and
2001 Bhuj).

SSI analysis procedures are important in various cases of structural and soil
conditions. Some of them are briefly outlined here. Type A structures like Rigid
Tower, in which the supporting soil media will go to nonlinearity and the structure
will remain in linear state only. Type B structures like pile supported Jetties, in
which the supporting pile and soil will go to nonlinearity and the structure will
remain in linear state only. Type C structures like Frame Buildings, in which the
pile, soil and structure will go to nonlinear state under strong seismic shaking.
Type D structures like Pipes, in which the supporting soil media will go to
nonlinear state under differential settlement and pipe, will also go to nonlinear
state, etc.,