ELASTOPLASTIC FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSES OF A SOIL-STRUCTURE SYSTEM UNDER EARTHQUAKE EXCITATIONS

A series of centrifuge model experiments were carried out with the objective of studying the response of a pile-supported, two-storey structure under earthquake base shaking. In addition to the soil-structure interaction studies, model experiments were also carried out on the foundation soil with no superstructure, and on the superstructure fixed at the level of the pile cap. The observed responses are used in this paper to verify a two-dimensional, elasto-plastic finite element procedure. The numerical results are found to compare reasonably well with the experimental data.