Structure‐soil‐structure interaction of adjacent buildings subjected to seismic loading

Abstract

The effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic response of different types of structures has been thoroughly investigated in the past 4 decades. Yet, the phenomenon of structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) was often overlooked. The present study aims at the rigorous investigation of the interacting effects of adjacent buildings in a two dimensional setting. The soil medium was assumed as a viscoelastic half-space modeled using plane strain finite elements. The aforementioned unbounded half-space is simulated utilizing the state-of-the-art perfectly matched layers implemented in the finite element method (FEM). The problem of the SSSI is solved in frequency domain. In order to fully model the stories below the ground level for the case of high-rise buildings, special modifications were considered for the interaction of the structure and the soil medium due to presence of spatially varying ground motion on the boundary of excavated region. The effect of different parameters such as foundation moduli and distance between adjacent buildings were investigated and the results were compared with models built using the conventional rigid foundation assumption. The results of the study showed that the interacting effects of adjacent building are prominent and need to be considered in the seismic design of buildings.