Analyzing the effect of large rotations on the seismic response of structures subjected to foundation local uplift

This work deals with seismic analysis of structures by taking into account soil-structure interaction where the structure is modeled by an equivalent flexible beam mounted on a rigid foundation that is supported by a Winkler like soil. The foundation is assumed to undergo local uplift and the rotations are considered to be large. The coupling of the system is represented by a series of springs and damping elements that are distributed over the entire width of the foundation. The non-linear equations of motion of the system were derived by taking into account the equilibrium of the coupled foundation-structure system where the structure was idealized as a single-degree-of-freedom. The seismic response of the structure was calculated under the occurrence of foundation uplift for both large and small rotations. The non-linear differential system of equations was integrated by using the Matlab command ode15s. The maximum response has been determined as function of the intensity of the earthquake, the slenderness of the structure and the damping ratio. It was found that considering local uplift with small rotations of foundation under seismic loading leads to unfavorable structural response in comparison with the case of large rotations.