Soil-Structure Interaction - Case History Analysis Involving Structural Damage

This thesis presents a case history contemplating a soil x structure interaction analysis of a construction that revealed unsatisfactory foundation performance with time, showing cracks due to excessive distortional settlements. The analysis includes settlement predictions with and without due consideration of soil x structure interaction with the foundation soil. The analyses contain the prediction of settlement development with time, its uniformization tendency, the columns load redistribution and the relevant changes in the stresses of some structure sections. The predicted distortional settlements with and without due consideration of soil x structure interaction were compared and confronted in conformity with the documented structure damages in different periods of the construction life time. The structure has been analysed with aid of a three-dimensional linear elastic FEM model, without considering the rheological deformation of concrete. The Kelvin model has been employed in order to properly represent the soil behaviour with time. It has been found that, notwithstanding the simplifications adopted in the analysis and tentatively justified in various phases of the study, the results obtained in the numerical analysis were capable of duplicating the damages that occurred. The conclusions emphasized the importance of a more real design conception of the structure, including the foundation soil, possible to be implemented with the computational tools available at present.