Effects of Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction on Inelastic Behaviour of Mid-Rise Moment Resisting Buildings on Soft Soils

In this study, a ten storey moment resisting building frame, representing the conventional type of regular mid-rise building frames, resting on shallow foundation, is selected in conjunction with a clayey soil, representing subsoil class Ee, as classified in the AS 1170.4. The structural sections are designed after applying dynamic nonlinear time history analysis, based on both elastic method, and inelastic procedure using elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour of structural elements. The frame sections are modelled and analysed, employing Finite Difference Method using FLAC 2D software under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed-base (no Soil-Structure Interaction), and (ii) considering Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI). Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis under influence of different earthquake records is conducted and the results of the two different cases for elastic and inelastic behaviour of the structural model are extracted and compared respectively. The results indicate that the lateral deflection increments for both cases are substantially dominating and can change the performance level of the structures from life safe to near collapse or total collapse. Therefore, conventional elastic and inelastic structural analysis methods assuming fixed-base structure may no longer be adequate to guarantee the structural safety. Therefore, considering SSI effects in seismic design of concrete moment resisting building frames resting on soft soil deposit is essential