A Study of Radiation Damping and Soil-Structure Interaction Effects in the Centrifuge

Keywords: Soil Structures, Radiation Damping, Centrifuge Tests, Soil Structure Interactions, Embedded Foundations, Surface Footings, and Embedded Footings.

Abstract: This report describes the experimental phase of an ongoing research project on dynamic soil-structure interaction effects. The details of an in-depth experimental study of radiation damping and dynamic soil-structure interaction performed in the Princeton University Geotechnical Centrifuge are reported. The experiments were designed to create a data pool which demonstrates the influence of the frequencies of the structure, the foundation embedment and the foundation shape on radiation damping and soil-structure interaction effects for a structure on a finite layer of soil during an earthquake. A total of 37 test cases are examined which include structures with surface and embedded circular, square, rectangular and strip footings and a variety of natural frequencies. The results are presented in the form of plots and qualitative observations. At this stage, the emphasis is on the experiments themselves and the wealth of data they provide. The data is meant for use in the validation of existing and newly developed analytical models. This work is currently in progress at Princeton University and will be reported subsequently.