Foundation Stiffness Estimates and Earthquake Resistant Structural Design

Abstract eng:
The significance of the stiffness and strength of soil beneath a shallow foundation with respect to the earthquake performance of shallow foundations is illustrated. Within the context of performance based design it is proposed that instances of failure during the course of an earthquake are of little significance provided the residual displacements are acceptable. These conclusions are obtained from two entirely different methods of modeling of the foundation response – each is shown to give similar results. One method is to use a macro-element model to develop a simple four degree of freedom model and the other uses structural analysis software which represents the shallow foundation as a bed of springs. The paper emphasizes that sophisticated numerical modeling of earthquake response is of little value without comparable site investigation effort.

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