Scale Modelling of Soil Structure Interaction during Earthquakes Using a Programmed Series of Explosions during Centrifugation

Scale models of Nuclear Power plants were constructed to study soil structure interaction during Earthquakes. The centrifuge of the C.E.S.T.A. Center near Bordeaux, France, was used to simulate gravity at 100 g (length scale 1: 100) on a 1000 kg net weight of soil and structure. The Earthquake was simulated by a surface wave created by a programmed series of small explosions suitably modified so that the free field signals of horizontal and vertical accelerometers had spectra resembling those of real Earthquakes according to similitude laws. The problem of echoes and suitability of a confined structure was studied without models of structures. In tests including models of structures movements and stresses in the soil and in the structure were measured using transducers of acceleration displacement pressure and deformation. The overall stability was studied