NEHRP Clearinghouse

Title
Flexible Sleeved-Pile Foundations for Aseismic Design.
File
PB82215724.pdf
Author(s)
Biggs, J. M.
Source
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC., March 1982, 74 p.
Identifying Number(s)
R82-04
Abstract
The feasibility of constructing buildings on horizontally flexible foundations to mitigate the effects of earthquakes is investigated. The flexibility is achieved by inserting a soft spring between the building superstructure and the soil foundation. The use of slender piles enclosed in sleeves is found to permit flexural distortion. The piles are designed by a simple procedure using smoothed response spectra. The performance of building-foundation systems so designed are then studied using histories of actual ground motions. It is shown that the simple design procedure is adequate and that the concept achieves the desired result of greatly reducing seismic forces.
Keywords
Seismic design; Earthquake resistant structures; Structural design; Dynamic response; Ground motion; Earthquake engineering; Buildings; Pile foundations; Soil structure interactions; Dynamic structural analysis