Effect of pore pressure on seismic soil response: 1D-3 Component numerical modelling

Description

During strong quakes, the propagation of seismic waves in soil layers involves nonlinearities changing with the excitation level. A nonlinear hysteretic law is necessary to describe the variations of the stiffness and the energy dissipation during the seismic shaking. Furthermore, the influence of the pore pressure (cyclic mobility and liquefaction) cannot be neglected for saturated soils under strong quakes. Starting from a FEM formulation describing 1D propagation and three-dimensional loading ("1D-3 components approach"), the influence of the water is accounted for through a relation between the pore pressure and the work of the shear stress initially proposed by Iai. This model describes the variations of the pore pressure from the three-dimensional stress state of the soil. It has been validated through comparisons to laboratory tests (cyclic triaxial tests on saturated sands) and an analysis under three-dimensional excitations (seismic loading polarized along the 3 directions of space). The results involving 3 simultaneous excitation components and a single component in 3 separated analyses show the influence of the loading path on the seismic response and the pore pressure build-up.

Abstract

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