Dr Juan Bernal-Sanchez J.Bernal-Sanchez@napier.ac.uk
Lecturer
An Innovative Approach to Geotechnical Seismic Isolation: Rubber-Soil Mixture Trenches
Bernal-Sanchez, Juan; Mcdougall, John; Barreto, Daniel; Dimitriadi, Vasiliki; Leak, James; Nseabasi, Moses
Authors
Dr John McDougall J.McDougall@napier.ac.uk
Reader
Daniel Barreto
Dr Vicky Dimitriadi V.Dimitriadi@napier.ac.uk
Lecturer
James Leak
Moses Nseabasi
Abstract
This study presents a Geotechnical Seismic Isolation (GSI) system proposed for utilising Rubber-Soil mixtures (RSm) to enhance the dynamic performance of a modified soil and foundation structure. The inclusion of RSm enables the system to exhibit lower stiffness and increased energy dissipation capacity, thereby facilitating the benefits of dynamic soil-foundation structure interaction. However, most of prior research on RSm has been predominantly limited to the elemental scale, restricting its application in practical scenarios. In this study, the dynamic response of a modified soil foundation was studied by incorporating soft zones in the form of trench fills comprising RSm. The design configuration was examined by altering the material composition added to the trenches with various rubber percentages: 0, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% by mass. Experimental tests were conducted via a 1-g shaking table, subjecting a modelled soil-structure system to a series of sinusoidal excitations in a set frequency range (i.e., 2-9Hz). Adding low (20%) or high (>60%) rubber contents led to an amplification of the input acceleration with respect to the initial scenario. However, findings from this study demonstrate that adding 40% rubber can reduce up to 35% the resultant amplification at frequencies near the resonance of the host soil's natural frequency (i.e., 7.5 Hz-8.5Hz). Consequently, this study highlights the potential of integrating RSm trench fills as an alternative design consideration to mitigate incoming disturbances and safeguard both new and existing constructions near the soil foundation.
Citation
Bernal-Sanchez, J., Mcdougall, J., Barreto, D., Dimitriadi, V., Leak, J., & Nseabasi, M. (2024, June). An Innovative Approach to Geotechnical Seismic Isolation: Rubber-Soil Mixture Trenches. Presented at 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy
Presentation Conference Type | Conference Paper (published) |
---|---|
Conference Name | 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering |
Start Date | Jun 30, 2024 |
End Date | Jul 5, 2024 |
Acceptance Date | May 1, 2024 |
Online Publication Date | Aug 1, 2024 |
Deposit Date | Jan 15, 2025 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Book Title | Proceedings of the 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering |
Publisher URL | https://proceedings-wcee.org/wcee18.html |
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