A study on Seismic Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction using Laminar Container

PI: Prof. Prishati Raychowdhury

The main objective of this research is to design and construct a medium-size laminar container with limited shear capacity for experimentally investigating the nonlinear behavior of rocking shallow foundation and its effect on the inelastic response of the structural members during an earthquake event. The laminar container will be placed and tested on the shaking table already available at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. This research expects to shed lights on complicated phenomenon such as nonlinear force-deformation behavior of the foundation, kinematic interaction between soil and foundation, frequency-dependent impedance function components of the soil-foundation system, geometric nonlinearity such as formation of gap and permanent deformation at the footing-soil interface during an extreme earthquake event. In a nutshell, the study is envisioned to enhance the understanding on soil-foundation-structural interaction behavior under seismic events.  The outcome of the study will be useful for utilizing the potential of inelastic foundations towards more economic seismic design of structures.