Soil-Structure interaction - Stabilization

of ground for geotechnical structures.

Ahmad Safuan A Rashid

Contents
• Introduction
• Soil Structure Interaction (SSI)
• Wave propagation in soil
• Stabilization of Ground for Geotechnical Structures
Geotechnical Engineering

*All Civil Engineering begins with Geotechnical Engineering

Typical Geotechnical Project
Design Office
Laboratory ~ for testing soil properties ~ for design & analysis

construction site
4
Introduction
• Traditional soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering
design was predominantly concerned with soil strength and
stiffness so that the design engineer could define the failure
state of the soil and/or control excessive deformation of the
soil/structure.
• In these circumstances, the loading is considered static and
the strain imposed within the soil may vary from about 10–3
(in service) to a few percent (at failure).
• Many circumstances where cyclic (dynamic) loads are
applied to the soil either by natural forces such as
earthquakes (seismic), wind and water waves, or from
manmade sources such as bomb blasts, traffic loads and
machine foundations.
Introduction
• Serviceability – settlement, tilted
• Failure - collapse
Introduction
• The magnitudes of these dynamic loads are generally much
smaller than most static loads and generate strains within
the soil as low as 10–6.
• Although the magnitudes of these dynamic loads are often
much smaller than static loads, inertial forces may become
important and must be considered in geotechnical design.
 Introduction
• Inertia:
• The tendency of an object to resist
being moved or , if the object is
moving, to resist a change in speed
or direction.
• Newton’s first law says that objects
do not accelerate spontaneously.
• This property of matter, which
causes objects to resist acceleration
, has been named “inertia”.
• Newton’s First Law is often called
the Law of Inertia.
Introduction
• Most of the civil engineering structures involve some type
of structural element with direct contact with ground.
• When the external forces, such as earthquakes, act on these
systems, either the structural displacements or the ground
displacements, are dependent of each other.
• Even though the foundation structure and the supporting
soil are two different physical entities, they form a system,
and in terms of the mechanics of behaviour of such systems,
one component influences the behaviour of the other, the
end product being the result of this mutual action, or
interaction, between the two.
• This is the essence of soil-structure interaction.
Introduction
• The process in which the response of the soil influences the
motion of the structure and the motion of the structure
influences the response of the soil is termed as soil-
structure interaction (SSI).
• Conventional structural design methods neglect the SSI
effects. Neglecting SSI is reasonable for light structures in
relatively stiff soil such as low rise buildings and simple rigid
retaining walls.
• The effect of SSI, however, becomes prominent for heavy
structures resting on relatively soft soils for example nuclear
power plants, high-rise buildings and elevated-highways on
soft soil.
Introduction
• Damage sustained in recent earthquakes, such as the
1995 Kobe earthquake, have also highlighted that the
seismic behavior of a structure is highly influenced not only
by the response of the superstructure, but also by the
response of the foundation and the ground as well.
• Hence, the modern seismic design codes, such as Standard
Specifications for Concrete Structures: Seismic Performance
Verification JSCE 2005 stipulate that the response analysis
should be conducted by taking into consideration a whole
structural system including superstructure, foundation and
ground.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• The process in which the response of the soil influences the
motion of the structure and the motion of the structure
influences the response of the soil is termed as soil-
structure interaction (SSI).
• Stiffness relates increments of stress and increments of
strain. A knowledge of soil stiffness is required to calculate
ground movements and to obtain solutions to problems of
soil–structure interaction, such as loads on retaining walls.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• When an earthquake occurs,
the building and the ground
vibrate with influencing each
other.
• This phenomenon is called
“Dynamic Soil Structure
Interaction” and is recognized
as being very important for
seismic design of structure.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• Role of Foundation
• Under normal condition
• Supporting the dead weight and the live load of the building.
• Transmitting these loads to the ground.
• During an earthquake
• Transmitting the ground motion to the building
• Bearing the building vibrations and transmitting them to the ground.

• The ground and the building influence each other through

the foundation and this is called the Dynamic Soil Structure
Interaction.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• Degree of influence of SSI on Response of Building depends
on:
• Stiffness of Ground
• Dynamic characteristic of building itself, that is natural period,
damping factor.
• Foundation types.

a) Spread Foundation b) Pile Foundation c) Basement without d) Basement with

without basement pile piles
Soil-Structure Interaction
• The position where the SSI takes place.
• a) through the bottom surface of the foundation.
• b) through the pile foundation.
• c) through the bottom surface and side wall surface.
• d) through the basement surface and the piles.
• The influence of the SSI becomes remarkable and more
complicated as the amount of contact between the ground
and the foundation increases sequentially in the order from
(a) to (d)
Soil-Structure Interaction
• Interaction between ground and
building during earthquake event.
• When the seismic wave, E0
generated by the earthquake fault
reaches the bottom of the
foundation, they divided into two
types:
• The wave E1 entering into the
building and the waves F0 being reflected back into the
ground.
• The wave E1 is called the transmission wave while the wave
F0 is called the reflection wave.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• The transmission wave , E1 entering
into the building travel towards the
top of the building with subjecting
the building to vibration.
• And then, they reflected at the top
and travel back down to the
foundation. Here, a crucial
phenomenon occurs for consideration
of the SSI.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• When the waves that are reflected
at the top of the building and
travelling downwards, F1 reach the
foundation, a part of them is
transmitted into the ground, while
the rest is reflected back again and
once starts to move upwards
through the building.
• The former waves, escaping into the ground are called
“Radiation waves”, R1.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• When the amount of these
radiation waves are small, the
seismic waves once transmitted
into the building, and the building
continues to vibrate for a long
time.
• The apparent vibration condition
becomes the same of the small
damping of the building.
• The damping caused by escape of the seismic waves, which
have been transmitted into the building back into the ground
is called “Radiation damping”
Soil-Structure Interaction
• When the building foundation is forced to vibrate vertically,
a stress called “Contact Earth Pressure” is caused at the
boundary between the bottom surface of the foundation
and the ground.
• The distribution of this contact earth pressure over the
bottom surface of the foundation is
called the contact earth pressure
distribution.
Three type of distribution (Rigid –
foundation rigidity, Uniform – soil
classification and Parabolic
distribution – soil nonlinearity) are
observed.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• For foundation and substructure solutions with an increased
complexity more involved methods of calculating the forces
within, and displacements of, structural elements are
required.
• The use of the more basic approaches that rely heavily on
hand calculation or ‘rules of thumb’ may not be appropriate
in such situations as there may be too many degrees of
indeterminacy within the problem or they may simply be
too time consuming to use.
• The use of finite element models allows the user to create a
soil–structure model of the whole or part of a problem with
relative ease.
Soil-Structure Interaction
• This model can generally then be modified to respond to
changes in a design or undertake parametric studies that
might otherwise take a great deal of time.
• Soil–structure models can also provide us with a means of
predicting the impact of one structure on another.
Displacements and stress changes can be calculated for
different construction phases.
Wave propagation in soil
• For soils, three types of waves are readily encountered and
are of importance. The first two are termed body waves,
which are propagated within the soil and comprise the
compressional wave (P-wave) and shear wave (S-wave).
• In relatively soft saturated near surface sediments (which is
likely to be the case for a large number of geotechnical
problems) the P-wave (Vp) is dominated by the bulk
modulus of the pore fluid (the water is ‘hard’ compared to
the soil) and the resultant Vp may be close to that of the
pore fluid. If the soil is unsaturated, Vp can range from that
of the soil matrix (with no pore fluid) to that for the
saturated case. Therefore the use of Vp to determine the
properties of soils is problematic.
Wave propagation in soil
• However, pore fluids do not carry shear stresses, so the
velocity of S-waves (Vs) is only influenced by the soil and not
by the pore fluid. It can also be shown that during most
dynamic loading events, it is cyclic changes in shear stresses
that influence the behaviour of the soil. From the theory of
propagating waves it can be shown that the wave velocity
through the soil is related to the stiffness of the soil by
G = ρVs2 (1)
• where G is the shear modulus of the soil, and ρ is the soil
density. Therefore changes in Vs within a soil can be used to
determine the small strain stiffness, and measurement of S-
waves is commonly employed to determine the dynamic
behaviour of soils at small strains.
Wave propagation in soil
Wave propagation in soil
• Shear Wave: A wave in which the disturbance is an elastic
deformation perpendicular to the direction of motion of the
wave. (Shear waves are also called 'transverse waves.')
Compression Wave: A wave in which the disturbance is a
compression of the medium. (Compression waves are also
called 'longitudinal waves.')
Wave propagation in soil
• The third wave that is frequently encountered in soils is the
Rayleigh wave, which travels along the ground surface.
• Rayleigh wave measurements have gained in importance in
recent years since ground surface measurements can be
readily and easily undertaken without the need for any
intrusive investigations, such as those required for
measuring P-waves or S-waves. There is no direct link
between the velocity of Rayleigh waves (VR) and soil
stiffness (Young's modulus, E or G), however, it has been
shown that for nearly all values of Poisson’s ratio, Vs ≈
1.09VR (Richart et al., 1970). Therefore measurements of
Rayleigh waves can give a good determination of shear wave
velocities (Hiltunen and Woods, 1988) from which G can be
derived.
Wave propagation in soil
Stabilization of Ground for
Geotechnical Structure
• In both seismically active and inactive areas, soil
improvement techniques are commonly used a sites where
the existing soil conditions are expected to lead to
unsatisfactory performance.
• Unsatisfactory performance can take many forms, but
usually involve unacceptably large soil movements.
• The movements may include horizontal or vertical (or both)
components and may take place during and/or after
earthquake shaking.
• In the absence of the earthquake shaking, unacceptable
movement usually result from insufficient soil strength
and/or stiffness.
Stabilization of Ground for
Geotechnical Structure
• Consequently, most soil improvement were developed to
the increase the strength and stiffness of soil deposits.
• During the earthquake, the build-up of excess pore water
pressure can lead to very large deformation.
• The most common soil improvement technique can be
divided into 4 majors categories:
• Densification Techniques
• Reinforcement Techniques
• Grouting and Mixing Techniques
• Drainage Techniques
Densification Techniques
• The particles that comprise a particular soil can be arranged
in many different ways.
• The strength and stiffness of the soil is higher hen the
particles are packed in a dense configuration that when they
packed loosely.
• Also the tendency to generate positive excess porewater
pressure due to cyclic loading is lower when the soil is dense
that when it is loose.
• As a result, densification is one of the most effective and
commonly used means of improving soil characteristic for
mitigation of seismic hazard.
Densification Technieques
• The most common approaches to densification
include vibro techniques, dynamic compaction,
blasting and compaction grouting.
Vibro techniques
• Vibro techniques use probes that are vibrated through a soil
deposit in a grid pattern to densify the soil over the entire
thickness of the deposit.
• Vibro techniques can be divided into those based on
horizontal vibration (vibroflotation) and those based on
vertical vibration (vibro rod systems).
• Vibro techniques are among the most commonly used
techniques for mitigation of seismic hazards.
Vibro techniques

vibro rod systems vibroflotation

Dynamic compaction
• Dynamic compaction is performed
by repeatedly dropping a heavy
weight in a grid pattern on the
ground surface.
• The weight usually constructed of
steel plates generally range from 6
to 30 tons.
• Drop height usually range from
about 10 to 30 m.
Blasting
• Loose granular soils have also been compacted by blasting.
• Blasting densification involves the detonation of multiple
explosive charges vertically spaced (3 to 6 m) apart in drilled
boreholes. The boreholes are usually space between 5 to 15
m) apart and backfilled prior detonation.
Compaction Grouting
• Soft or weak soils can be densified by injecting a
very low slump (2.5 cm) grout into the soil under
high pressure.
• Because the grout is highly viscous, it forms an
intact bulb or column that densifies the
surrounding soil by displacement.
• Compaction grouting may be performed at a
series of points in a grid or along a line.
• Ground point spacing ranging from 1 to 4.6 m
have been used.
• Compaction grouting may be used to remedy
foundation settlement problem as well.
Reinforcement Techniques
• In some cases it is possible to improve the strength and
stiffness of an existing soil deposit by installing discrete
inclusions that reinforce the soil.
• These inclusion may consist of structural materials such as
steel, concrete, or timber and geomaterials such as
densified gravel.
Stone Column
• Soils deposits can be improved by the
installation of dense columns of gravel known
as stone columns.
• Stone columns may be used in both fine and
coarse grained soils.
• In fine grained soil, stone columns are usually
used to increase shear strength beneath
structures and embankment by accelerating
consolidation and introducing column of
stronger material.
• For mitigation of seismic hazards, they are
commonly used for improvement of
liquefiable soil deposits.
Compaction Pile
• Granular soils can be improved by the installation
of compaction piles.
• Compaction piles are displacement piles, usually
prestressed concreted or timber, that are riven into
a loose sand or gravel deposit in a grid pattern and
left there.
• Compaction piles improve the seismic performance
of a soil deposit by three different mechanism.
• The flexural strength of the piles themselves provides
resistance to soil movement.
• The vibrations and displacement produced by their
installation cause densification.
• The installation process increases the lateral stresses in
the soil surrounding the piles.
Grouting and Mixing Techniques
• The engineering characteristics of many soil deposits can be
improved by injecting or mixing cementitious materials into
the soil.
• These materials both strengthen the contacts between soil
grains and fill the void space between the grains.
• Grouting techniques involve the injection of such materials
into the voids of the soil or into fractures in the soil so that
the particle structure of the majority of the soil remains
intact.
• Mixing techniques introduce cementitious materials by
physically mixing them with soil, completely disturbing the
particle structure of the soil.
Grouting and Mixing Techniques
• The mixing can be accomplished mechanically or
hydraulically.
• Both techniques tend to be expensive but can often be can
often be accomplished with minimal settlement or
vibration.
• As a result, both techniques can be often be used in
situations where other soil improvement techniques cannot
work.
Grouting
• The term grouting is used to describe a
variety of processed by which cementitious
material is introduced into the ground.
• Grouting techniques are often classified
according to the method by which the grout is
placed in the ground.
• A special pump with a high pressure is used
to inject the particulate grout aqueous
suspension of cement based into a desired
depth.
Mixing
• Localized improvement of soil columns
can be achieved by in situ mixing of
the soil with cementitious materials.
• Deep mixing is carried out in situ using
a machine equipped withmixing
blades mounted at the end of a tube
that has a nozzle at the lower end.
• The stabilizer agent is injected (dry or
wet) into the soil via the nozzle using a
pumping system so that it mixes with
the soil as the blades are rotated.
Drainage Technique
• Unacceptable movement of slopes, embankment, retaining
structures and foundations can frequently be eliminated by
lowering the groundwater table prior to earthquake
shaking.
• A number of dewatering techniques have been developed
and proven useful in engineering practice.
• These standard techniques may be used to increase the
stiffness and strength of a soil deposit for mitigation of
seismic as well as nonseismic hazards.
• The installation of stone column introduce a column of
freely draining gravel into a liquefiable soil deposit.
Drainage Technique
• The installation of Prefabricated Vertical Drain also could
accelerate the consolidation process of soft soil area.