Nonlinear seismic response of the soil-structure system : experimental analyses

The concentration of population in urban areas in seismic-prone regions can generate more and more damages and losses. Seismic response in urban areas depends on site effects (direct amplification and nonlinearity of the soil) and the coupling between the soil and structures (soil-structure and site-city interaction). Therefore, the understanding of urban seismology, that is the ground motion incorporating the urban environment, is critical to reduce the damage. This requires the prediction of ground motion in urban areas, a fundamental element in the evaluation of the seismic hazard. Taking into account the amplification caused by the presence of sediment has been widely studied. However, the non-linearity of the soil and the coupling between the ground and the structure is seldom integrated to the prediction of the ground motion. Because of their complexity, these problems have been addressed separately. In this context, this dissertation analyzes the non-linear response of the soil-structure by integrating the non-linearity of the soil and the soil-structure interaction. Two experimental studies were performed, with the aim of providing a proxy that reflects the non-linearity of the soil. The first is the centrifuge test that reproduces the response of soil and structures at reduced scale. The state of stress and strain is conserved by applying an artificial acceleration model. This test was performed at IFSTTAR Nantes in the framework of the ANR ARVISE. Different configurations were tested with and without buildings, under different stress levels, to analyze the response of the soil and structures. The second uses the vertical accelerometric networks of two sites in California: Garner Valley Downhole (GVDA) and the Wildlife Liquefaction Array (WLA), both managed by the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), USA. In-situ response is important since it describes the actual behavior of the site. Information describing the conditions of sites is widely available and the earthquakes recorded were used to test several levels of shaking to reconstruct the overall response of each site. In addition, the GVDA site is equipped with a Soil-Foundation-Structure-Interaction structure (SFSI) which aims to study the problems of soil-structure interaction. In both experiments, thanks to the vertical accelerometer network in the ground and the structure we are able to apply the 1D wave propagation method to extract the response of these systems. The waves are considered as an SH wave which propagates in a 1D horizontal layer. Seismic interferometry by deconvolution method is applied to extract the Impulse Response Function (IRF) of the 1D system. Thus the analysis of the variation in function of elastic properties of the soil and the structure is done under several magnitude of shaking, including variation in depth and the elements of the total response of the structure including the soil-structure interaction. At the end, a deformation proxy to evaluate and also to predict the nonlinear response of the soil, the structure and the soil-structure interaction is proposed.