ELASTOPLASTIC FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSES OF A SOIL-STRUCTURE SYSTEM UNDER EARTHQUAKE EXCITATIONS

A series of centrifuge model experiments were carried out with the obj ective of studying the response of a pile-supported, two-storey struct ure under earthquake base shaking. In addition to the soil-structure i nteraction studies, model experiments were also carried out on the fou ndation soil with no superstructure, and on the superstructure fixed a t the level of the pile cap. The observed responses are used in this p aper to verify a two-dimensional, elasto-plastic finite element proced ure. The numerical results are found to compare reasonably well with t he experimental data.