Identification of the Soil–Structure Interaction System Using Earthquake Response Data

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how system identification techniques can be successfully applied to a soil–structure interaction system using the earthquake response data. The parameters identified are the shear moduli of several near-field soil regions and Young’s moduli of the shell sections of the structure. The soil–structure interaction system is modeled by the finite element method combined with the infinite element formulation for the unbounded layered soil medium. The simulated earthquake responses using the identified parameters are shown to be in excellent agreement with the observed response data. Prediction of the responses is also carried out for a larger earthquake event using the identified parameters as the initial properties in the equivalent linearization procedure. It has been found that the predicted responses are also compared very well with the measured responses.