Effects and dynamic behaviour of soil - framed structure interaction

Abstract

The effect and behaviour of soil - framed-structure interaction (SSI) under dynamic load conditions are presented in the paper. All civil engineering structures involve various types of structural elements that are in direct contact with soil. Hence, a new thin-layer interface element, based on the concept of the finite element method, is formulated. The formulation is elaborated using a combination of degrees of freedom of the top and bottom sides of the interface elements. The compatibility conditions of displacements between beam elements and quadrilateral soil elements are applied. Thus, a numerical program integrating the thin-layer interface element is developed for this purpose. The obtained results show that interaction between the soil and a framed structure has a considerable influence on the structural dynamic response of system components. Additionally, a parametric study has been elaborated to quantify the significance of interface behaviour on the soil and on the framed structure under dynamic load.