Nonlinear dynamic response of tall buildings considering structure–soil–structure effects

Numerous studies have shown that the interaction between adjacent buildings can result in changes in nonlinear dynamic response of structures, damage, and performance level, depending on the dynamic specifications of structures involved and the frequency content of the input motion. To study these effects, finite element method is used for the analytical investigations, and total soil–foundation–structure system is modeled all together. For modeling purposes and in order to realize the effects of the adjacent buildings on the dynamic response, two buildings, namely, 15‐story and 30‐story tall buildings, which were separated by distances of 1/4 and 1/8 of the width of the foundation and were located on hard and soft soil profiles, were considered. It was concluded that in the case where the soil and structure's periods were near to each other, the interaction of adjacent structures on increasing nonlinear responses (displacement and interstory drift) and structural damage indexes was noticeable and therefore was not negligible. Whereas in the case where periods are distant from each other, the interaction of adjacent buildings has a decreasing effect on damage indexes and nonlinear responses and therefore was negligible. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table test and theoretical analysis of the pile–soil–structure interaction at a liquefiable site

Pile foundations are widely used to support high‐rise buildings, in which piles transmit foundation loads to soil strata with higher bearing capacity and stiffness. This process alters the dynamic characteristics of the pile–soil–structure system in seismically active areas, especially at a liquefiable site. A series of shaking table tests on liquefiable soils in pile group foundations of tall buildings were performed to evaluate the liquefaction process and dynamic responses of the pile, soil, and structure. The soil was composed of two layers: the upper layer was a clay layer and the lower layer was saturated sand. These layers were placed in a flexible container that was excited by El Centro earthquake events and Shanghai Bedrock waves at different levels. The test results indicate that the pore pressure ratio is gradually enhanced as the amplitude of the input acceleration increases. The liquefied sand has a filtering effect on the vibration with a high frequency and an amplified effect on the vibration with a low frequency. With increased excitation, contact pressure and strain amplitudes of the pile increase, whereas the peak acceleration magnification coefficient decreases. The seismic responses of a structure with pile–soil–structure interaction are generally smaller than those on a rigid foundation.     

Coupled‐two‐beam discrete model for dynamic analysis of tall buildings with tuned mass dampers including soil–structure interaction

An equivalent coupled‐two‐beam discrete model is developed for time‐domain dynamic analysis of high‐rise buildings with flexible base and carrying any number of tuned mass dampers (TMDs). The equivalent model consists of a flexural cantilever beam and a shear cantilever beam connected in parallel by a finite number of axially rigid members that allows the consideration of intermediate modes of lateral deformation. The equivalent model is applied to a shear wall–frame building located in the Valley of Mexico, where the effects of soil–structure interaction (SSI) are important. The effects of SSI and TMDs on the dynamic properties of the shear wall–frame building are shown considering four types of soil (hard rock, dense soil, stiff soil, and soft soil) and two passive damping systems: a single TMD on its top (1‐TMD) and five uniformly distributed TMDs (5‐TMD). The results showed a great effectiveness of the TMDs to reduce the lateral seismic response and along‐wind response of the shear wall–frame building for all types of soils. Generally speaking, the dynamic response increases as the flexibility of the foundation increases.     

Alternative solution for kinematic interaction problem of soil–structure systems with embedded foundation

An effective procedure to incorporate kinematic interaction (KI) aspects in seismic analysis of soil–structures systems was presented. In this regard, first, the effect of KI on the structural response was investigated with special focus on the role of rocking component of foundation input motion (FIM). This was performed parametrically for a wide range of selected nondimensional parameters, which well define the introduced simplified soil–structure model. It was observed that ignoring the effect of rocking input motion may introduce errors, which can be on the unsafe side especially for slender structures with large embedment ratios. On the other hand, it was known that introducing the rocking input motion makes the problem too complicated to be addressed by simplified guidelines suitable for seismic codes or practicing engineers. As an alternative solution, a modified translational input motion was introduced, which can replace both translational and rotational components of FIM. This modified input motion, which was referred to as the net horizontal (NH) FIM in this article, was generated such that the roof displacement of the soil–structure system to this motion is identical to that of the same model subject to the multicomponent FIM resulted by KI. The applicability of the proposed procedure was then examined for a wide range of soil–structure systems subjected to a couple of real ground motions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic performance of reinforced concrete shear wall frames considering soil–foundation–structure interaction

A practical application of ‘beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation’ approach has been utilized in this paper for a case study on seismic performance of concrete shear wall frames to assess the soil–foundation–structure interaction effects. A set of 3‐, 6‐, 10‐ and 15‐story concrete shear wall frames located on hypothetically soft, medium and hard soils were designed and modeled using the OpenSees platform. The numerical model of each frame was constructed employing the distributed and lumped plasticity elements as well as the flexure–shear interaction displacement‐based beam–column elements incorporating the soil–footing interface. Pushover analysis was performed, and the results were studied through two code‐based viewpoints: (a) force‐based design and (b) performance‐based design. A comparison was made afterwards between the frame behaviors in the fixed‐/flexible‐base conditions. The results indicate some degree of inaccuracy in the fixed‐base assumption, which is regularly applied in analysis and design practice. The study emphasizes on how the fixed‐base assumption overestimates the design of the wall element and underestimates the design of the connected moment frame. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimum placement of supplementary viscous dampers for seismic rehabilitation of steel frames considering soil–structure interaction

In this paper, the significance of soil–structure interaction (SSI) in optimal placement of viscous dampers in steel frames is studied. Optimal placement of dampers is determined with the purpose of achieving performance objectives at three hazard levels using genetic algorithm optimization. Endurance time method is used for seismic nonlinear response analysis of the fixed‐base and SSI included frames. The soil beneath the structures is considered as a homogeneous elastic half‐space, and the soil–structure systems are modeled by the substructure method. Results indicate that at low excitation intensities, consideration of SSI results in maximum drift ratio reduction at all stories of the frames. At higher intensity levels, more drift is observed in the upper stories of the soil–structure systems in comparison with the fixed‐base frames. Higher damping in the upper stories is required to optimally rehabilitate soil–structure systems as compared with the corresponding fixed‐base ones. In most of the frames, SSI leads to the reduction of total required damping. However, the optimal damper placement based on the analysis of fixed‐base frames can be unconservative due to changes in damping distribution patterns.     

Evaluation of ground motion scaling methods in soil–structure interaction analysis

Dynamic analysis of structures deals with scaling of ground motions, which is vital for estimation of seismic responses. A major source of variability in seismic responses of structures arises from scaling of ground motions. In this paper, the accuracy of six conventional scaling methods on estimation of engineering demand parameters of soil–structure interacting systems is investigated. Two‐dimensional structural models of 5, 10, and 20 stories shear buildings are studied by using stick models, whereas the underlying soil is modeled using the cone model concept. This research attempts to elucidate the accuracy of considered methods for the evaluation of responses. The results show that a suitable scaling method for a response may differ from one to another in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strength reduction factor for MDOF soil–structure systems

In most of the seismic design provision, the concept of strength reduction factor has been developed to account for inelastic behavior of structures under seismic excitations. Most recent studies considered soil–structure interaction (SSI) in inelastic response analysis are mainly based on idealized structural models of single degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) systems. However, an SDOF system might not be able to well capture the SSI and structural response characteristics of real multiple degrees‐of‐freedom (MDOF) systems. In this paper, through a comprehensive parametric study of 21600 MDOF and its equivalent SDOF (E‐SDOF) systems subjected to an ensemble of 30 earthquake ground motions recorded on alluvium and soft soils, effects of SSI on strength reduction factor of MDOF systems have been intensively investigated. It is concluded that generally, SSI reduces the strength reduction factor of both MDOF and more intensively SDOF systems. However, depending on the number of stories, soil flexibility, aspect ratio and inelastic range of vibration, the strength reduction factor of MDOF systems could be significantly different from that of E‐SDOF systems. A new simplified equation, which is a function of fixed‐base fundamental period, ductility ratio, the number of stories, structure slenderness ratio and dimensionless frequency, is proposed to estimate strength reduction factors for MDOF soil–structure systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical relationship to determine lateral seismic response of mid‐rise building frames under influence of soil–structure interaction

In this study, to determine the elastic and inelastic structural responses of mid‐rise building frames under the influence of soil–structure interaction, three types of mid‐rise moment‐resisting building frames, including 5‐storey, 10‐storey and 15‐storey buildings are selected. In addition, three soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600 m/s, representing soil classes C_e, D_e and E_e according to AS 1170.4–2007 (Earthquake action in Australia, Australian Standards), having three bedrock depths of 10 m, 20 m and 30 m are adopted. The structural sections are designed after conducting nonlinear time history analysis, on the basis of both elastic method and inelastic procedure considering elastic‐perfectly plastic behaviour of structural elements. The frame sections are modelled and analysed, employing finite difference method adopting FLAC2D software under two different boundary conditions: (a) fixed base (no soil–structure interaction) and (b) considering soil–structure interaction. Fully nonlinear dynamic analyses under the influence of different earthquake records are conducted, and the results in terms of the maximum lateral displacements and base shears for the above mentioned boundary conditions for both elastic and inelastic behaviours of the structural models are obtained, compared and discussed. With the results, a comprehensive empirical relationship is proposed to determine the lateral displacements of the mid‐rise moment‐resisting building frames under earthquake and the influence of soil–structure interaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid actuator–damper–bracing control (HDABC) system with intelligent strategy and soil–structure interaction

The hybrid actuator–damper–bracing control (HDABC) system is composed of visco-elastic dampers and hydraulic actuators as the passive and active controllers, respectively, which are installed on the brace and connected to the building floor. The intelligent control strategy is designed to maximally utilize the passive damper and to minimally utilize the active energy. Thus, the passive controller of the hybrid system is designed for small and moderate earthquakes and the active controller works for large earthquakes, whenever the structural response exceeds the threshold values. The hybrid control system with this strategy is studied under existing earthquake records and the ground motions generated considering the tectonic movements of seismic plates; the influence of soil–structure interaction (SSI) on the control effectiveness is investigated. Based on analyses of single-story and six-story structures, it is concluded that the intelligent strategy is effective for the hybrid control, and SSI needs to be included in the design of the intelligent hybrid system as well as other types of control for buildings on soft soil.     

Dynamic characteristics and seismic response of frame–core tube structures,considering soil–structure interactions

In order to study the dynamic characteristics and seismic response of high‐rise buildings with a frame–core tube structure, while considering the effect of soil–structure interactions (SSIs), a series of shaking table tests were conducted on test models with two foundation types: fixed‐base (FB), in which the superstructure was directly affixed to the shaking table, and SSI, consisting of a superstructure, pile foundation, and soil. To increase the applicability of the model to the dynamic characteristics of real‐world tall buildings, the superstructure of test models was built at a scale of 1/50. This simulated a 41‐floor high‐rise building with a frame–core tube structure. The mode shape, natural frequency, damping ratio, acceleration and displacement response, story shear, and dynamic strain were determined in each of the test models under the excitation of simulated minor, moderate, and large earthquakes. The SSI effect on frame–core tubes was analyzed by comparing the results of the two test models. The results show that the dynamic characteristics and seismic response of the two systems were significantly different. Finally, these results were verified by performing a numerical analysis on the differences in the seismic responses of the FB and SSI numerical models under various simulated seismic conditions.     

Numerical analysis of a shaking table test on dynamic structure‐soil‐structure interaction under earthquake excitations

Structure‐soil‐structure interaction (SSSI) phenomena under earthquake excitations are investigated in this paper. Based on the results of the shaking table test, this work presents a 3‐dimensional finite element numerical simulation method using ANSYS software. In the simulation, an equivalent linear model is assumed for soil behavior, and contact elements are adopted to consider the nonlinearity state of the interface between foundation and surrounding soil. In addition, constrained equations are added to manage the uncoordinated degrees of freedom. By comparing the results of the finite element analysis with data obtained from the shaking table test, the dynamic response of the shaking table test can be simulated properly. Finally, the dynamic response of adjacent structures considering the SSSI effect is analyzed. The results show that with increased excitation, contact pressure, strain amplitude, and pile slip increase, whereas the peak acceleration magnification coefficient decreases. These results are significant for studying the effect of SSSI on seismic responses of structures.     

Inverse stiffness design of shear-flexural building models including soil–structure interaction

A new efficient seismic stiffness design procedure is developed for a shear-flexural building–pile–soil system. A set of design earthquakes is defined at the bedrock (beneath surface soil layers) to take into account the effects of surface soil layers on the design of building super-structures. It is shown that a closed-form solution to a hybrid inverse eigenmode problem can be utilized in developing the efficient seismic stiffness design procedure by regarding the fundamental natural period of the total system and the lowest-mode deformation quantities as the principal parameters for adjustment of the story deformations. Physical interpretation of the governing equations enables one to transform a set of formally nonlinear equations into a set of simultaneous linear equations. A model twenty-story building supported by a pile–soil system with ten sublayers is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of this design procedure.     

Effect of soil properties on the seismic damage assessment of historical masonry minaret–soil interaction systems

The interaction between soil and structure plays a crucial role on accurate determination of structures' seismic behavior. The assumption of fixed base structure has been commonly used in traditional design works, and the interaction between soil and structure is thus often neglected. In addition, historical masonry structures particularly built on elastic soil media may be significantly affected seismic behavior of the structure under earthquakes. In this research, the damage distribution on a historical masonry minaret is numerically investigated under horizontal earthquake ground motion. Alaca Mosque minaret was built in 1271 in Bolvadin district of Afyon province. The historical masonry minaret was chosen as the subject of the study. Nonlinear seismic time history analyses were conducted for fixed‐based and different soil properties under horizontal earthquake ground motion. The horizontal (East–West) component acceleration records of Dinar earthquake (Mw = 6.1) that took place on October 10, 1995, were used during the analyses. Maximum displacement, maximum/minimum principal stresses, and damage ratios were determined by nonlinear analyses performed considering fixed base and soil–structure interaction. The analysis results showed that soil–structure interaction had significant effect on the structural behavior of the minaret, such that, the minaret that was expected to get damage in the case of fixed base did not get any damage when soil–structure interaction was considered.     

Substructure shake table test for equipment‐adjacent structure–soil interaction based on the branch mode method

A substructure shake table test (SSTT) based on the branch mode method was performed to reveal the mechanism and rules of equipment‐adjacent structure–soil interaction (EASSI) under a seismic effect. EASSI system was divided into three substructures, namely, equipment‐single structure, foundation soil, and adjacent structure. The coupling terms of interaction among the substructures were proposed. The branch mode method was effectively applied to the SSTT by decomposing and transforming the dynamic equation of the entire system and utilizing the coupling terms of interaction for data exchange among substructures. The degree of freedom was reduced for the linear substructures. Experiments indicated that in EASSI, the presence of soil magnified the flexibility and equivalent damping of the entire system. The overall effect was presented as a reduction in the dynamic response of the system. The dynamic feedback of the equipment inhibited the dynamic response of the main structure, which intensified the rate of vibration attenuation of the system. The seismic response analysis was also performed for the system when the mass ratio and frequency ratio between the equipment and the main structure and the position of the equipment in the main structure varied.     

Numerical modeling of fluid–structure interaction between sewage water flow and bar screen to improve the screening process

A self‐cleaning bar screen is often used in the first filtration level of a wastewater treatment plant to screen out solid debris from sewage water. The screening process of the bar screen was numerically investigated using the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method to model the fluid–structure interaction between the sewage water and bar screen. The bar screen design is improved by installing a rotating subscreen under the bar screen to prevent solid waste from passing through. The effects of bar screen on the water flow were examined using hydrodynamic properties. The structural properties were estimated to observe the effects of water flow on the parts of the bar screen. Various inlet flow rates and positions of subscreen and rake were used to examine their effects on velocity, pressure coefficient, structural deformation and von Mises stress. The screening process decreased with the increase in sewage flow rates. The water flow significantly affected the bar screen when the subscreen and rake are not in contact.     

On the efficiency of semi‐active smart structures: self‐regulating MR dampers control system for tall buildings

Many severe dynamical loadings such as earthquakes and strong winds may subject to structural systems during their lifetime and lead to changes in structural characteristics. Hence, employing an adaptive control strategy that can deal with these alterations compound with design of the structural elements would undoubtedly be the most effective alternative design for the old‐fashioned design methods, which are relatively inefficient in response to these unforeseen conditions. In the current study, benefits of employing the modern control systems for design of tall buildings in comparison with the uncontrolled traditionally designed structures are thoroughly investigated. To contract the vibrational responses due to seismic excitations, the innovative direct‐modulating semi‐active controller is designed for magneto‐rheological dampers, which are installed in an 11‐storey sample building converting it to a smart structure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear interactive analysis of cooling tower–foundation–soil interaction under unsymmetrical wind load

This paper deals with physical and material modelling of a cooling tower–foundation–soil system. The physical modelling has been carried out using solid 20-noded isoparametric element to model the cooling tower, annular raft foundation and soil media. The cooling tower–foundation–soil system was analysed under vertical and lateral load generated due to self-weight and wind loads. The soil nonlinearity has been taken into consideration using hyperbolic nonlinear elastic constitutive law. The response of the structure has been investigated with respect to displacement and stresses. Moreover, an attempt has been made to study the effect of the linear and nonlinear interactive analyses compared with conventional analysis. It was seen that the interactive analysis of the cooling tower–foundation–soil media plays a major role in releasing the stresses in the cooling tower, particularly at the bottom ring beam.     

Iterative step‐by‐step procedure for optimal placement and design of viscoelastic dampers to improve damping ratio

In this study, an iterative step‐by‐step procedure is proposed for optimal placement and design of viscoelastic dampers in order to achieve a target damping ratio based on simple equations and quick estimation. Through the procedure, the dampers are placed one by one in stories with maximum interstory drift at each sequence. Effect of lateral stiffness of added dampers and consequent changes in frequency of the structure as well as changes in damping characteristic of the structure after adding each damper are also considered at each sequence. In order to achieve an economical design, dampers are designed according to the lateral stiffness at each story of the main structure instead of using identical dampers in all stories. During the whole procedure, a time‐history analysis is performed at each sequence. Two numerical examples, including an 8‐story and a 15‐story building, are presented. The results indicate that optimal arrangement of dampers has a considerable influence on reduction of roof displacement up to 25% compared to uniformly distributed arrangement of dampers. In addition, with optimal arrangement, the number of dampers needed to achieve a specific interstory drift is significantly reduced, and the structural damping ratio is improved to a target value, reflecting global optimality of the proposed method.     

An analytical approach to free vibration analysis of multi‐outrigger–belt truss‐reinforced tall buildings

This paper deals with a new and simple mathematical model that may be used to determine natural frequencies and mode shapes of a multistory building that consists of a framed tube, a shear core and multi‐outrigger–belt trusses. The effect of outrigger–belt truss and shear core on a framed tube was modeled as a concentrated moment placed at outrigger–belt truss location, which acted in opposite direction of the rotation created by lateral loads. The analysis is based on a continuum approach, in which a tall building structure may be replaced by an idealized cantilevered beam to model the building's structural characteristics. Energy method and Hamilton's principle have been used to develop the governing equations. After applying separation of variables method to time and space variables, the resulting eigensystem was solved to obtain the building's natural modes and frequencies of vibration. A computer program has been developed in MATLAB (Mathworks Inc., CA, USA) environment, and a numerical example has been solved to demonstrate the accuracy of this method. Results obtained from the proposed mathematical model give a good understanding of a structure's dynamic characteristics. The method is simple to use yet reasonably accurate and hence suitable for quick evaluations during preliminary design stages. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.