The Effect of Soil Properties on the Dynamic Response of Closely Adjacent Structures

Soil properties are considered as an essential factor influencing the response of structures under ground excitation. Although many studies on the role of soil conditions have been carried out, only very limited research has been done on the consequence of saturated soils for the seismic response of structures including the surrounding structures. This paper presents the results of shake table experiments on single degree of freedom structures on dry and saturated soils under four recorded ground motions. In order to better understand the simultaneous effect of soil conditions and surroundings on the structural response, two different configurations were considered, i.e., the case with one- and two-adjacent structures. The acceleration, lateral displacement and Fourier amplitude of the top mass of the structure of focus were compared. The results show that the structural response depends strongly on the soil properties due to change of the pore pressure in soil.