Dimensional analysis of structures with translating and rocking foundations under near-fault ground motions

This paper evaluates the inertial soil–structure interaction (SSI) effects on linear and bilinear structures supported on foundation that is able to translate and rock when subject to near-fault ground motions. Through rigorous dimensional analysis, the peak structural responses (e.g. structural drift and total acceleration) of the soil–foundation–structure interacting (SFSI) systems are characterized by a set of dimensionless Π-parameters, which can decisively describe the interactive behavior of SFSI systems. By comparing the normalized structural responses of various structure–foundation systems with their fixed-base counterparts, the study reveals that SSI effects highly depend on the structure-to-pulse frequency ratio, Πω, the foundation-to-structure stiffness ratio, Πk, damping coefficient of foundation impedance, Πc, the foundation rocking, and the development of nonlinearity in structures. For linear structures, the SSI effects are insignificant when the structure-to-pulse frequency ratio (Πω) is smaller than 1.5 and can amplify the structural responses when Πω is higher than 1.5. Foundation rocking can shift and enlarge the response amplification zone of SSI. For nonlinear structures, SSI tends to reduce the structural responses for Πω<3 while can increase the ductility demands for Πω≥3. The bilinear structures may experience more significant SSI effects than linear structures in certain frequency ranges. The numerical simulations on ten real building cases exhibiting significant rocking and a detailed case study on a nine-story frame structure demonstrate the applicability of dimensional analysis results to predict the SSI effects on realistic building structures. The study demonstrates that the dimensional analysis provides a concise and systematic way of evaluating SSI effects.