Structure-soil-structure interaction in a group of buildings using 3D nonlinear analyses

Abstract

The current study compares the effect of structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) on the dynamic responses of adjacent buildings and isolated structures including soil-structure interaction (SSI) with the responses of fixed-base structures. Structural responses such as the relative acceleration, displacement, drift and shear force were considered under earthquake ground motion excitation. For this purpose, 5-, 10- and 15-story structures with 2-bay moment resisting frames resting on shallow foundations were modeled as a group of buildings in soft soil media. Viscous lateral boundaries and interface elements were applied to the soil model to simulate semi-infinite soil media, frictional contact and probable slip under seismic excitation. The direct method was employed for fully nonlinear time-history dynamic analysis in OpenSees using 3D finite element soil-structure models with different building positions. The results showed that the responses of the grouped structures were strongly influenced by the adjacent structures. The responses were as much as 4 times greater for drift and 2.3 times greater for shear force than the responses of fixed-base models.