Vertical and Lateral Displacement Response of Foundation to Earthquake Loading

Abstract

Risks are confronting the foundations of buildings and structures when exposed to earthquakes which leads to high displacements that may cause the failure of the structures. This research elaborates numerically the effect of the earthquake on the vertical and lateral displacement of footing resting on the soil. The thickness of the footing and depth of soil layer below the footing was taken as (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m) and (10, 20 and 40m), respectively. The stiffness ratio of soil to footing was also elaborated at 0.68, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.7. The results showed an increase in the verticle displacement of footing as the duration of the earthquake increases. The increase of soil layer thickness below the footing leads to a reduction in the vertical and lateral displacement. While an increase in the thickness of the footing leads to a decrease in the lateral displacement of the footing meanwhile no effect was noticed in the vertical displacement. It was noticed that the time lag between the maximum vertical displacement and the highest value of the earthquake loading is about 0.27 s. It was found that as the distance between the footing and the source of earthquake load increases, the effect of damping on the earthquake load increases while the lateral displacement decreases. The results revealed that an increase in the stiffness ratio leads to a decrease in the vertical displacement and a reduction in the response of the lateral displacement till reaching the value of stiffness ration of unity.