Analysis of Influence Factors for Earthquake-Induced Differential Settlements of Buildings

Abstract eng:
The earthquake-induced differential settlement of building on weak subsoil is one of the typical damages caused by earthquake. Generally, the earthquake-induced differential settlement depends on the condition of subsoil, the distribution of building load and the inputted seismic waves. In static situation, either the unbalanced building or the non-uniform distribution of subsoil underlying can cause inclination of building. For the seismic loads, however, the situation is complicated. On one side, the differential settlement occurs even for balanced building load and even subsoil, and on the other side most of the existing methods can not simulate the earthquake-induced differential settlement even for obviously unbalanced building and significantly uneven subsoil. In this paper, the influence factors of earthquake-induced differential settlement of building are investigated by a numerical method which has been improved and proved by shaking table tests and earthquake investigation data. Considering various combinations of influence factors (i.e. building, subsoil and seismic wave), the quantitative evaluation on the influence factors of earthquake-induced differential settlement has been obtained. The results herein indicate: (1) The most important factor causing differential settlement of building is the asymmetry and irregularity of seismic wave; (2) Even for the obviously unbalanced building and the significantly uneven subsoil, the properties of asymmetry and irregularity of seismic waves are still dominant in the differential settlement; (3) Although the asymmetry and irregularity of seismic wave play a dominant role in differential settlement, the significant settlement of building depends on the soft extent of subsoil and the amplitude of ground acceleration; (4) For the specific building and subsoil, there is a threshold of peak ground acceleration beyond which the settlement and the differential settlement of subsoil and building increase significantly.

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