Case Histories of Foundations on Top of a Rupturing Normal Fault During the Kocaeli 1999 Earthquake

Although the Kocaeli (Turkey) earthquake was triggered by reactivation of the North Anatolian strike-slip Fault, normal faulting also occurred within the pull-apart basin of Gölcük. Its effect on overlying structures is summarized in this paper. The normal rupture caused maximum vertical displacements of up to 2.5m. Several structures were crossed by the rupture. As expected, many of them either collapsed or were severely damaged. Surprisingly, several structures survived the dislocation with no damage, while in some cases the rupture deviated, “avoiding” the structures. The foundations of the involved structures comprised a variety of types, ranging from simple separate footings to box foundation and to piled foundation. The paper provides a comprehensive description of the observed fault-foundation interaction patterns, accompanied by the results of soil exploration and geological trenching. Each structure is analyzed through the use of finite element modelling to reveal the main aspects of Fault Rupture––Soil–Foundation–Structure Interaction (FR–SFSI)