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A reinforced concrete pedestrian tunnel is constructed under a four-track surface railway. Heavy rainfall and soil exposure to drying lead to soil with different water content throughout the year. A railway is an open utility that is subject to rainfall without control on the quantity of the water on it and when there is a tunnel under a railway, the water content of the soil around the tunnel is very influential. This research shows the effects of change of water content in the soil around a pedestrian tunnel under a four-track surface railway. The pedestrian tunnel and the soil block around the tunnel are modeled in 3D by the FEM and are studied under the vibrations induced by the moving trains on the four-track surface railway for different soil water contents and the effects of the soil water content on the dynamic behavior of the tunnel and the surrounding soil are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A realistic FEM structural model is developed to predict the behavior, load transfer, force distribution and performance of a riverine platform under earthquake and environmental loads. The interaction between the transfer plate and the piles supporting the platform is investigated. Transfer plate structures have the ability to redistribute the loads from the superstructure above to piles group below, to provide safe transits of loads to piles group and thus to the soil, without failure of soil or structural elements. The distribution of piles affects the distribution of stress on both soil and platform. A materially nonlinear earthquake response spectrum analysis was performed on this riverine platform subjected to earthquake and environmental loads. A fixed connection between the piles and the platform is better in the design of the piles and the prospect of piles collapse is low while a hinged connection makes the prospect of damage high because of die larger displacements. A fixed connection between the piles and the platform is the most demanding case in the design of the platform slab (transfer plate) because of the high stress values developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various cases of two adjacent multi-story buildings with different numbers of floors and equal or unequal foundation levels under earthquake loading and considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) are investigated. A two-dimensional model for each case of the two adjacent unequal buildings without separation distance is used and a special arrangement of contact elements in the contact zone is employed to fulfil all possible deformation contact modes which take place under seismic loading. The soil is modelled by two-dimensional 4-node elements which are in contact with the foundations of the two adjacent buildings. This paper studies the earthquake-induced double pounding that takes place between the two adjacent unequal height buildings in some upper points at superstructure in the contact zone and also at foundation level, considering soil-structure interaction (SSI). The double pounding and the soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects should be taken into consideration in the seismic analysis of adjacent buildings especially those with different heights and different foundation levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An existing riverine platform in Egypt, together with its pile group foundation, is analyzed under environmental loads using 3D FEM structural analysis software incorporating soil-pile interaction. The interaction between the transfer plate and the piles supporting the platform is investigated. Two connection conditions were studied assuming fixed or hinged connection between the piles and the reinforced concrete platform for the purpose of comparison of the structural behavior. The analysis showed that the fixed or hinged connection condition between the piles and the platform altered the values and distribution of displacements, normal force, bending moments, and shear forces along the length of each pile. The distribution of piles in the pile group affects the stress distribution on both the soil and platform. The piles were found to suffer from displacement failure rather than force failure. Moreover, the resulting bending stresses on the reinforced concrete plate in the case of a fixed connection between the piles and the platform were almost doubled and much higher than the allowable reinforced concrete stress and even exceeded the ultimate design strength and thus the environmental loads acting on a pile-supported riverine offshore platform may cause collapse if they are not properly considered in the structural analysis and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) could affect the seismic response of structures. Since liquid storage tanks are vital structures and must continue their operation under severe earthquakes, their seismic behavior should be studied. Accordingly, the seismic response of two types of steel liquid storage tanks (namely, broad and slender, with aspect ratios of height to radius equal to 0.6 and 1.85) founded on half-space soil is scrutinized under different earthquake ground motions. For a better comparison, the six considered ground motions are classified, based on their pulse-like characteristics, into two groups, named far and near fault ground motions. To model the liquid storage tanks, the simplified mass-spring model is used and the liquid is modeled as two lumped masses known as sloshing and impulsive, and the interaction of fluid and structure is considered using two coupled springs and dashpots. The SSI effect, also, is considered using a coupled spring and dashpot. Additionally, four types of soils are used to consider a wide variety of soil properties. To this end, after deriving the equations of motion, MATLAB programming is employed to obtain the time history responses. Results show that although the SSI effect leads to a decrease in the impulsive displacement, overturning moment, and normalized base shear, the sloshing (or convective) displacement is not affected by such effects due to its long period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]