Analysis of the interaction between the foundation slab and the soil in a multi-storey reinforced concrete building

Abstract

Analysis of the interaction between the foundation soil and the structure is a very important aspect of aseismic design. During the action of an earthquake, seismic waves deform the underlying soil, transferring stresses to the structure. Soil-structure interaction is a concept that refers to the building structure, the foundation structure, and the geological environment in which the foundation structure is located. Understanding the interaction process can, in some cases, reduce the intensity of the forces acting on the structure, mostly by damping and extending the period of vibration of the structure. This paper presents an analysis of the interaction between the foundation slab and the soil using a model of a reinforced concrete building with Bsmt+GF+4 floors. The construction of the building is skeletal - it consists of reinforced concrete frames with a distance of 5 m in two orthogonal directions. The reinforced concrete elements have the same cross-section on all floors. The soil under the foundation slab is modeled as a half space, which implies representing the soil volumetrically, using volumetric finite elements with appropriate properties. In this type of modeling, the soil is described by two parameters: the type of soil is determined by the deformation modulus and Poisson's ratio. The analysis shows the dependence of the static influences on the thickness of the foundation slab and the size of the finite elements for three different values of the soil deformation modulus. The software package TOWER 8 was used for modeling, design and calculation of the effect of all structural reinforced concrete elements, applying the European standards - Eurocodes.