A synthesis of predictions and correlation studies of the Lotung soil- structure interaction experiment

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5077692

Hadjian, A H ^[1]

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1. Bechtel Power Corp., Norwalk, CA (United States)

Unnecessary conservatism is seismic design and licensing acceptance criteria is largely due to the lack of field data to validate the analytical methods used. EPRI and the Taiwan Power Company (TPC) constructed the Lotung large-scale seismic test (LSST) facility in Taiwan to collect forced-vibration and seismic response data for soil-structure interaction (SSI) methods evaluation. To date, more than 30 earthquakes have been recorded. EPRI, TPC, and NRC cosponsored a round-robin evaluation program to test the response prediction capability of the existing SSI models and analysis practices. The results were reported at a workshop in December 1987. Since then, EPRI has conducted additional post-earthquake studies to further evaluate, understand, and correlate SSI responses. The LSST results synthesis has yielded significant insights and findings with respect to the validity of SSI analysis methodologies for earthquake responses. The differences in response predictions among the commonly used SSI methodologies are due more to the modeling of the soil-structure systems than the calculation techniques. The more advanced methodologies, such as SASSI and CLASSI, generally yield better correlation results. The simple soil-spring approach and the two-dimensional FLUSH method should be used with care, considering their limitations. The synthesis of results also confirms the adequacy of the vertical wave-propagation assumption and the significance of strain-dependent soil property variations for the SSI analysis. 19 refs., 26 figs., 12 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Bechtel Power Corp., Norwalk, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5077692
• Report Number(s): EPRI-NP-7307-M
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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