UC Berkeley

Experimental and numerical studies of the seismic response of a deep, stiff basement structure were motivated by the fact that the current seismic design methodologies based on previous works predict very large dynamic forces in areas of high seismicity. The experimental program consisted of a geotechnical centrifuge model with a basement structure embedded in cohesionless backfill. The numerical analyses sought to replicate the results of the centrifuge experiment and to validate the use of numerical analyses for the prediction of expected behavior. Overall, the results of this study show that the Mononobe-Okabe method of analysis provides a reasonable estimate of the expected response of stiff basement structures provided depth-Averaged design accelerations are considered.