A centrifuge-based experimental verification of Soil-Structure Interaction effects

A series of prototype dynamic centrifuge experiments is carried out to investigate the influence of soil properties and structural parameters on the Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) effect. Established analytical models are herein experimentally verified, and are proven accurate in estimating the system's natural frequency characteristics. It is observed that period elongation is strongly correlated to the relative superstructure-foundation stiffness. Although the present study deals exclusively with the small-strain near-linear range, the experimental response indicates occurrence of nonlinearity. The identified damping results remarkably larger than its analytical estimate and proves highly strain-dependent, raising questions on the reliability of existing analytical methods in capturing the actual dissipation mechanisms. An extended experimental dataset is formed under realistic stress and strain soil conditions, and is implemented, for the first time, for verification of existing analytical models offering valuable insight into the theory and serving as a benchmark for engineering practice.