Numerical investigation of the effects of soil-structure and granular material-structure interaction on the seismic response of a flat-bottom reinforced concrete silo

In this work, a numerical study of the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) and granular material-structure interaction (GSI) on the nonlinear response and seismic capacity of flat-bottomed storage silos is conducted. A series of incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) are performed on a case of large reinforced concrete silo using 10 seismic recordings. The IDA results are given by two average IDA capacity curves, which are represented, as well as the seismic capacity of the studied structure, with and without a consideration of the SSI while accounting for the effect of GSI. These curves are used to quantify and evaluate the damage of the studied silo by utilizing two damage indices, one based on dissipated energy and the other on displacement and dissipated energy. The cumulative energy dissipation curves obtained by the average IDA capacity curves with and without SSI are presented as a function of the base shear, and these curves allow one to obtain the two critical points and the different limit states of the structure. It is observed that the SSI and GSI significantly influence the seismic response and capacity of the studied structure, particularly at higher levels of PGA. Moreover, the effect of the SSI reduces the damage index of the studied structure by 4%.