Seismic response of pile-supported structures considering the coupling of inertial and kinematic interactions in different soil sites

Dynamic soil–pile–superstructure interaction is crucial for understanding pile behavior in earthquake-prone ground. Evaluating the safety of piles requires determining the seismic bending moment caused by combined inertial and kinematic interactions, which is challenging. This paper addresses this problem through numerical simulations of piles in different soil sites, considering soil nonlinearity. Results reveal that the period of the soil site significantly affects the interaction among soil, piles, and structures. Bending moments in soft and hard soil sites exceed those in medium soil sites by more than twice. Deformation modes of piles exhibit distinct characteristics between hard and soft soil sites. Soft soil sites exhibit a singular inflection point, while hard soil sites show two inflection points. In soft soil sites, pile-soil kinematic interaction gradually increases bending moment from tip to head, with minor influence from superstructure’s inertial interaction. In hard soil sites, significant inertial effects from soil, even surpassing pile-soil kinematic effects near the tip, lead to reversed superposition bending moment. Superstructure’s inertial interaction notably impacts pile head in hard soil sites. A simplified coupling method is proposed using correlation coefficient to represent inertial and kinematic interactions. These findings provide insights into complex seismic interactions among soil, piles, and structures.