Site-dependent strength reduction factors for soil-structure systems

The effect of soil conditions on strength reduction factors (SRFs) is investigated. Both site effect and soil-structure interaction (SSI) effect are considered in the study with special emphasis on the latter effect. The structure is modeled as an elasto-plastic single degree of freedom (SDOF) system, whereas the underlying soil is considered as a homogeneous half-space. The half-space is also replaced by a simplified 3DOF system, based on the concept of Cone Models. The whole 4DOF model is then analyzed under a total of 54 strong motions recorded on different soil types. A parametric study is done for a wide range of non-dimensional parameters, which completely define the problem. It is concluded that SSI reduces the SRF values, especially for the case of buildings located on soft soil. Consequently, using the fixed-base SRFs for soil-structure systems lead to non-conservative design forces. Simplified expressions are proposed to estimate SRF for soil-structure systems.