Effects of Sandy Soil-structure Interaction on the Natural Period of RC Building Frames

Building natural period, T, is a key character in building response for wind and seismic induced forces. In design practice, the period, T, is either estimated from empirical relations proposed by the design codes or determined from analytical or numerical models. The effect of the soil-structure interaction is usually neglected in the design practice and analysis models. This paper uses a sophisticated finite element simulation to investigate the effect of soil-structure modeling on the fundamental period of RC buildings subjected to wind and seismic induced forces. A typical interior building frame has been imitated using the frame element for beams and columns with constrains to model the almost-rigid diaphragm nature for floors and roof while a three-dimensional element has been adopted for the raft foundation and the soil mass. Different sandy soils have been considered. Standard Penetration Test, SPT value, has been taken as an identification index for soil nature. All other soil properties have been estimated based on well-accepted correlations. After applying the gravity dead and live loads, and eigenanalysis has been achieved to show how soil flexibility affects the effective stiffness of the structure and the corresponding natural period. Finally, the results are used to introduce a correction factor to modify the natural period estimated from a linear analysis with ideal supports to reflect the aforementioned effects.