An ABAQUS toolbox for soil-structure interaction analysis

Abstract It is well established that the soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects can bear important consequences under strong earthquakes, and their accurate quantification can become a critical issue in designing earthquake-resistant structures. In general, SSI analyses are carried out by means of either direct or substructure methods. In either option, the numerical models feature truncated and/or reduced-order computational domains. For truncation, boundary representations that perfectly absorb the outgoing waves and enable the consistent prescription of input motions are crucial. At the present time, the aforementioned capabilities are not broadly available to researchers and practicing engineers. To this end, we implement the so-called Domain Reduction Method (DRM) and Perfectly-Matched-Layers (PMLs) in ABAQUS, by computing and prescribing the effective nodal forces, and through a user-defined element (UEL) subroutine, respectively. We then verify the accuracy and stability of these implementations for both homogeneous and heterogeneous soil domains, vertical and inclined incident SV waves, and two- and three-dimensional problems. Finally, we present two useful application examples of using the implemented features—namely, the extraction of impedance functions, the response analysis of buried structures subjected to inclined plane waves. The implemented codes for both DRM and PML will be disseminated for broader use.