NONLINEAR MODEL FOR BUILDING-SOIL SYSTEMS

A finite-clement based, numerical analysis methodology has been develo ped for the nonlinear analysis of building-soil systems. The methodolo gy utilizes a reduced-order, nonlinear continuum model to represent th e building, and the soil is represented with a simple nonlinear two-di mensional plane strain finite element. The foundation of the building is idealized as a rigid block and the interface between the soil and t he foundation is modeled with an interface contact element. The object ives of the current paper are to provide the theoretical development o f the system model, with particular emphasis on the modeling of the fo undation-soil contact, and to demonstrate the special-purpose finite-e lement program that has been developed for nonlinear analysis of the b uilding-soil system. Examples are included that compare the results ob tained with the special-purpose program with the results of a general- purpose nonlinear finite-clement program.