Seismic performance analysis of underground structures based on random field model of soil mechanical parameters

Abstract

Soils with spatial variability are the product of natural history. The mechanical properties tested by soil samples from boreholes in the same soil layer may be different. Underground structure service in surrounding soils, their seismic response is controlled by the deformation of the surrounding soils. The variability of soil mechanical parameters was not considered in the current research on the seismic response of underground structures. Therefore, a random field model was established to describe the spatial variability of surrounding soils based on the random field theory. Then the seismic response of underground structures in the random field was simulated based on the time-domain explicit global FEM analysis, and the soil mechanical parameters and earthquake intensity influencing the seismic response of surrounding soils and underground structures were studied. Numerical results presented that, the randomness of soil parameters does not change the plastic deformation mode of surrounding soils significantly. The variation coefficients of inter-story deformation of structures and lateral deformation of columns are much smaller than that of mechanical parameters, and the randomness of soil parameters has no obvious effect on the structural deformation response.