EFFECT OF SOIL NONLINEARITY ON THE REDUCTION OF INPUT MOTIONS TO STRUCTURES WITH EMBEDMENT : Study based on 2-dimensional FEM nonlinear analysis

When the soil-structure system is subjected to the strong ground motions, the soil tends to show severe nonlinearity. In such case, the behavior of the soil-structure systems cannot be predicted by the linear theory. At present, it is necessary to elucidate the nonlinear Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) effects in seismic design of strucures. In this study, the nonlinear SSI effects between the structures with embedment and the ground with nonlinear characteristics were studied based on the 2-dimensional FEM analyses. The emphases were placed on the following points. 1. To elucidate the dynamic nonlinear SSI effects on the structures with embedment. 2. To propose the simple evaluation method of nonlinear SSI effects. 3. To validate the SSI evaluation method proposed in The Calculation Method of Response and Limit Strength.