Seismic response of superstructure on soft soil considering soil-pile-structure interaction

This paper presents results of shaking table tests and three dimensional numerical simulations to investigate the influence of Soil-Pile-Structure Interaction (SPSI) on the seismic response of mid-rise moment resiting buildings supported by endbearing pile foundations. Three different cases have been considered, namely: (i) fixed-base structure representing the situation excluding the soil-structure interaction; (ii) structure supported by shallow foundation on soft soil; and (iii) structure supported by end-bearing pile foundation in soft soil. Comparison of the numerical predictions and the experimental data shows a good agreement confirming the reliability of the numerical model. Both experimental and numerical results indicate that soil-structure interaction induces significant increase in the lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts of the structures on both shallow and end-bearing pile foundations in comparison to the fixed base structures. This increase in the lateral deformations and in turn inter-storey drifts can change the performance level of the structure during earthquakes which may be safety threatening.