Case Study: 1D Site

Response Analysis

© 2022 Seequent, The Bentley Subsurface Company

1
Project Presentation
• 2D seismic analysis of a quay wall

Backfill

Weathered
siltstone

Bedrock

• Preliminary 1D site response with seismic hazard analysis and calibration against SHAKE analysis
results is first necessary and will be dealt with in the present exercise
• Running this project requires using PLAXIS 2D Ultimate (can be changed from Help → Licence configuration)
Soil Conditions – Shear Wave Velocity Profile
Shear Velocity (m/s)

2.5 m 0 200 400 600 800 1000

5
0m
0

Backfill -5

-10

-18 m
-15

Depth (m)
Weathered -20

siltstone -25

-30

-35
-42 m
-40
Bedrock
(Vs > 750 m/s) -45
Objectives
• Definition of acceleration time histories from Seismic Hazard Analysis
• Briefly present the SHAKE analysis and target results
• Setting-up PLAXIS model for 1D site response analyses with special emphasis on material properties
definition (shear stiffness reduction and damping)
• Defining and understanding compliant base motion
Part I: Seismic Hazard
Analysis
Seismic Hazard Analysis
• Design spectra for site class B (from ASCE/SEI7-05)
‒ Long-period transition period TL = 2 s
‒ MCE spectral response acceleration SDS = 0.7 g and SD1 = 0.35 g

0.8

Pseudo Spectral Acceleration Sa (g)

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Period T (s)
Seismic Hazard Analysis
• Selection of acceleration time history done from http://ngawest2.berkeley.edu with the following settings
‒ Fault type = All types
‒ Magnitude = from 6.1 to 7.1
‒ Rjb = from 5.5 km to 28.5 km
‒ Rrup = from 5.3 km to 25.2 km
‒ Vs,30 = from 360 m/s to 1500 m/s
‒ Spectral Ordinate = H1
‒ Scaling method = Minimize SCE
Seismic Hazard Analysis
• Final selection of motions is done through trials of combinations by hand
• Selected motions are
‒ "Corinth_Greece", "Corinth" Station – Scale Fact. = 1.37
‒ "Morgan Hill", "Corinth" Station – Scale Fact. = 4.73
‒ "Chalfant Valley-02", "Benton" Station- Scale Fact. = 1.98
Seismic Hazard Analysis
‒ Scaled spectra versus design spectra
Part II: SHAKE Analysis
Results
Soil Profile Definition in SHAKE

Layer # Soil type Thickness (m) Unit weight (kN/m3) Shear Wave (m/s)
1 1 0.5 19 88
2 1 0.5 19 107
3 1 0.5 19 119
4 1 1.0 19 132
5 1 3.0 19 148
6 1 3.0 19 161
7 1 3.0 19 172
8 1 3.0 19 181
9 1 3.0 19 189
10 1 3.0 19 196
11 2 6.0 21 306
12 2 6.0 21 311
13 2 6.0 21 315
14 2 6.0 21 319
15 3 25 767
Soil Properties Selection in SHAKE
• Soil type 1: Backfill

1.2 30

1
Modulus reduction factor

25

Damping ratio (%)

0.8 20

0.6 15

0.4 10

0.2 5

0 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Strain (%) Strain (%)

G/Gmax – SAND, Lower Bound Damping – SAND, Upper Bound

(Seed & Idriss 1970) (Seed & Idriss 1970)
Soil Properties Selection in SHAKE
• Soil type 2: Weathered siltstone

1.2 30
Modulus reduction factor

1 25

Damping ratio (%)

0.8 20

0.6 15

0.4 10

0.2 5

0 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Strain (%) Strain (%)

G/Gmax – ROCK, Depth 51-125 ft Damping – Deep Cohesionless Soils,

(EPRI, 1993) Depth 51-120 ft (EPRI, 1993)
 Soil Properties Selection in SHAKE
• Soil type 3: Bedrock

1.2 30
Modulus reduction factor

1 25

Damping ratio (%)

0.8 20

0.6 15

0.4 10

0.2 5

0 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Strain (%) Strain (%)

G/Gmax – ROCK, Depth 121-250 ft Damping – Deep Cohesionless Soils,

(EPRI, 1993) Depth 121-250 ft (EPRI, 1993)
Other SHAKE Analysis Parameters
• Input motions applied at layer # 15 as outcrop motion
• Number of iterations = 10
• Strain ratio = 0.65 (strain ratio = (M-1)/10)
SHAKE Main Analysis Results
• Peak acceleration
Part III: Building up 1D
Site Response Analysis
Model in PLAXIS 2D
Project Properties
xmin = 0 m, xmax = 1 m
• Definition of model dimensions ymin = -50 m, ymax = 2.5 m

6-noded element
(not mandatory though - Only
for speeding-up calculation)
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Both backfill and weathered siltstone materials will be modelled using the GHS model (Generalized
Hardening Soil model) with:
‒ Shear modulus reduction using Harding-Drnovich
‒ Associated hysteretic damping through Masing rule
‒ Stress-dependency of the shear modulus to initial stress only (and not being updated as a function of
the evolution of the principal stresses during dynamic calculation)
• Material model parameters for both backfill and weathered silstone have been calibrated to get best
possible estimate of material parameters used in SHAKE. Exactly matching shear modulus reduction and
damping ratio curves is however not possible!
• The calibration process has been performed using the Excel spreadsheet
Plaxis_GHS_model_vs_SHAKE_material_input.xlsx
 Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Calibration results for backfill
‒ γ0,7 = 8E-5
‒ G0/Gur = 15
1.2 30
Seed & Idriss (1970) Seed & Idriss (1970)
1 25
HSSmall
Modulus reduction factor

HSSmall

Damping ratio (%)

0.8 20

0.6 15

0.4 10

0.2 5

0 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Strain (%) Strain (%)
 Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Calibration results for weathered siltstone
‒ γ0,7 = 4E-4
‒ G0/Gur = 8
1.2 30
EPRI Rock 3 EPRI 51-120
Modulus reduction factor

1 25
HSSmall
HSSmall

Damping ratio (%)

0.8 20

0.6 15

0.4 10

0.2
5

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Strain (%)
Strain (%)
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Bedrock will be modelled by means of linear elastic material
‒ Acceptable due to the stiffness and depth of the material
‒ Numerically required for proper enforcement of compliant base motion at the bottom of the model
• Adopted material properties
‒ E = 3.75E6 kPa (so Vs = 767 m/s)
‒ v = 0.25
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Material damping for backfill at very low strain level will be clearly underestimated by hysteritical damping.
• Additional Rayleigh damping will be provided therefore for the backfill (about 2%)
• Rayleigh damping is frequency-dependent so relevant frequencies for the problem (frequency content of
the input motions and natural frequency of the layered soil) must be evaluated first.
• For the linear-elastic bedrock (no absorption mechanism at all ) small amount of stiffness-proportional
Rayleigh damping will be also introduced.

• The Rayleigh damping paramaters have been fine-tuned to obtain best possible fit with SHAKE
peak acceleration results
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• It is important to define Rayleigh damping using target frequencies that correspond to those the soil is
expected to experience during the seismic events (as Rayleigh damping is frequency-dependent).
• To do this, one must determine the system's eigenfrequencies and the frequency content of the input
accelerograms.
• Eigen frequency can be evaluated from a free vibration analysis of a 1D soil column (see Appendix A)
‒ fnat = 1.6 Hz (using simplified fomula Vs_average/4H would give 1.2 Hz)
• Frequency content for the three selected acceleration time histories is done by generation of their power
spectrum using Seismo-Signal (see Appendix B)
‒ 0.4 Hz < fCHALFANT < 2.3 Hz
‒ 0.6 Hz < fCORINTH < 2.6 Hz
‒ 0.7 Hz < fMORGAN < 2.2 Hz
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill

“User-defined” model

Undrained A

Unit weight specifed in

terms of dry and saturated
weight γ = 19 kN/m3
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill: Rayleigh damping

Set Target 1 with ξ1 = 2%

and f1 = 0.5 hz

Set Target 2 with ξ2 = 2%

and f2 = 2.5 hz
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill

DLL file = ghs64.dll

Model in DLL = HSSmall

Parameters given on
next slide
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill
Parameters Value Parameters Value
E50 4000 kPa vur 0.2
Eoed 4000 kPa pref 100 kPa
Eur 12000 kPa Rf 0.9
m 0.5 σt 0 kPa
φ 30 failure 0 (MC)
ψ 0 OCR 1
c 1 kPa POP 0 kPa
γ0.7 0.08E-3 K0 0.5
G0,ref 75000 kPa K0,NC 0.5
einit 0.5 vu 0.495
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill
‒ Stress Dependent Stiffness = 1 (stiffness stress-update at the beginning of the phase only)
‒ Strain Dependent Stiffness = 1 (original HSSmall model)
‒ Plasticity Model = 1 (MC only, no shear hardening, no cap hardening)
‒ Stress Dependency Formula = 0 (original HSSmall model)
 Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Backfill*

Eoedref = 180000 kPa

UD-power = 0.5
UD-Pref = 100 kPa
c‘ref = .7 kPa

φ‘ = 22

ψ‘ = 0

(* Interface properties required by GUI but

not relevant here)
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone

“User-defined” model

Undrained A

Unit weight specifed in

terms of dry and saturated
weight γ = 21 kN/m3
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone: Rayleigh damping

Set Target 1 with ξ1 = 0.5%

and f1 = 0.5 hz

Set Target 2 with ξ2 = 0.5%

and f2 = 2.5 hz
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone

DLL file = ghs64.dll

Model in DLL = HSSmall

Parameters on next slide

Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone
Parameters Value Parameters Value
E50 20000 kPa vur 0.2
Eoed 20000 kPa pref 100 kPa
Eur 60000 kPa Rf 0.9
m 0.5 σt 0 kPa
φ 35 failure 0 (MC)
ψ 0 OCR 1
c 250 kPa POP 0 kPa
γ0.7 0.4E-3 K0 0.5
G0,ref 200000 kPa K0,NC 0.5
einit 0.5 vu 0.495
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone
‒ Stress Dependent Stiffness = 1 (stiffness stress-update at the beginning of the phase only)
‒ Strain Dependent Stiffness = 1 (original HSSmall model)
‒ Plasticity Model = 1 (MC only, no shear hardening, no cap hardening)
‒ Stress Dependency Formula = 0 (original HSSmall model)
 Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Weathered Siltstone*

Eoedref = 480000 kPa

UD-power = 0.5

UD-Pref = 100 kPa

c‘ref = 175 kPa

φ‘ = 26

ψ‘ = 0

(* Interface properties required by GUI but

not relevant here)
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Bedrock

Linear elastic model

Non porous

Unit weight specifed

in terms of dry
weight γ = 25 kN/m3
Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Bedrock

Set Input method = Direct

Set βRayleigh = 3.5E-4

Soil Material Properties (Soil Mode)
• Bedrock

E = 3.75E6 kPa

v = 0.25
Soil Geometry Definition (Soil Mode)

1- Create borehole
3- Add 3 layers

4- ytop = 2.5 m

8- Set water level at 0 m 5- ybot = -18 m

6- ybot = -42 m
2- Add borehole at (0, 0) 7- ybot = -50 m

9- Assign previously defined

materials to each three layers
Loads and Boundary Conditions (Structures Mode)
1 – Create interface on the bottom line

3 – Set Displacementx to
Prescribed and Displacementy
to Fixed (dynamic multiplier
component to be set later)

2 – Create line displacement on the bottom line

 1- Set coarseness factor to 1 on bottom line
Meshing (Mesh Mode)

2- Generate Medium mesh

Meshing (Mesh Mode)
• Generated mesh
Meshing (Mesh Mode)
• Element Size Query

2- Measure element size

3- Value to be compared with the

1- Click on Distance Messurement expected lowest wavelength in the model
Meshing (Mesh Mode)
𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛
• Expected lowest wavelength 𝜆𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥

‒ Vmin ≈ 80 m/s (evaluated at top of soil column where the velocity the lowest)
‒ fmax ≈ 5 Hz (larger than any dominant frequencies from power spectrum of input motions)

𝜆𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 16 𝑚 > 10 × 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡_𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒

Staged Construction 1- Add new phase entitled “Chalfant Earthquake”

• Chalfant Earthquake

2- In Model conditions → Deformations, set BoundaryXmin and

BoundaryXMax to Free
 1- Set proper dynamics BC in Model conditions → Dynamics:
a- Tied degrees of freedom laterally
b- Compliant base at the bottom
Staged Construction c- All nodes fixities in y-direction
• Chalfant Earthquake
 6 - Set Time step determination to Manual
Staged Construction
• Chalfant Earthquake: Phase settings

1 - Set Calculation type to Dynamic

2 - Set Dynamic time interval to 39.96 s

3 - Set Max cores to use to 2

4 - Toggle off Use default iter parameters

5 - Set Max steps to 7992

7 - Set Number of substeps to 4

Staged Construction
• Chalfant Earthquake: Comments on the chosen number of substeps: m = 4
‒ The number of sub-steps has been set such that the fastest shear wave could not travel over more
than one element during one substep
‒ Vs,max = 767 m/s (in bedrock)
‒ Δtsub-step = 5 ms / 4 = 1.25 ms
‒ The distance travelled during a single time step is 0.959 m, which is less than the vertical length of
the element (1.5 m).
 2- Name it Chalfant
Staged Construction 5- Activate Drift correction

• Chalfant Earthquake: Displacement

multiplier

1- Create new displacement

multiplier

3- Set Signal to Table 4- Set Data Type to Accelerations

6- Open and copy data (unscaled) from

“Chalfant.txt” using the Paste button 8- Click Transform

7- Set scale factor to 19.75 (scale factor × g)

 Staged Construction 2- Set ux,start,ref to 0.5 (as incoming signal should only consider
upward propagating wave because of compliant base condition)
• Chalfant Earthquake: Seismic Loading

1- Activate prescribed displacement

at the bottom of the column

3- Activate dynamic components

4- Set Multiplierx to Chalfant
Staged Construction 1- Add new phase entitled “Corinth Earthquake”

• Corinth Earthquake

2- In Model conditions → Deformations, set BoundaryXmin

and BoundaryXMax to Free
 1- Set proper dynamics BC in Model conditions → Dynamics:
a- Tied degrees of freedom laterally
b- Compliant base at the bottom
Staged Construction c- All nodes fixities in y-direction
• Corinth Earthquake
 6 - Set Time step determination to Manual
Staged Construction
• Corinth Earthquake: Phase settings

1 - Set Calculation type to Dynamic

2 - Set Dynamic time interval to 41.28 s

3 - Set Max cores to use to 2

4 - Toggle off Use default iter parameters

5 - Set Max steps to 4128

7 - Set Number of substeps to 8

Staged Construction
• Corinth Earthquake: Comments on the chosen number of substeps: m = 8
‒ The numer of sub-steps has been set such that the fastest shear wave could not travel over more
than one element during one substep
‒ Vs,max = 767 m/s (in bedrock)
‒ Δtsub-step = 10 ms / 8 = 1.25 ms
‒ The distance travelled during a single time step is 0.959 m, which is less than the vertical length of
the element (1.5 m).
 2- Name it Corinth
Staged Construction 5- Activate Drift correction

• Corinth Earthquake: Displacement multiplier

1- Create new displacement

multiplier

3- Set Signal to Table 4- Set Data Type to Accelerations

6- Open and copy data (unscaled) from

“Corinth.txt” using the Paste button 8- Click Transform

7- Set scale factor to 13.664 (scale factor × g)

 Staged Construction 2- Set ux,start,ref to 0.5 (as incoming signal should only consider
upward propagating wave because of compliant base condition)
• Corinth Earthquake: Seismic Loading

1- Activate prescribed displacement

at the bottom of the column

3- Activate dynamic components

4- Set Multiplierx to Corinth
Staged Construction 1- Add new phase entitled “Morgan Earthquake”

• Morgan Earthquake

2- In Model conditions → Deformations, set BoundaryXmin

and BoundaryXMax to Free
 1- Set proper dynamics BC in Model conditions → Dynamics:
a- Tied degrees of freedom laterally
b- Compliant base at the bottom
Staged Construction c- All nodes fixities in y-direction
• Morgan Earthquake
 6 - Set Time step determination to Manual
Staged Construction
• Morgan Earthquake: Phase settings

1 - Set Calculation type to Dynamic

2 - Set Dynamic time interval to 28.36 s

3 - Set Max cores to use to 2

4 - Toggle off Use default iter parameters

5 - Set Max steps to 5672

7 - Set Number of substeps to 4

Staged Construction
• Morgan Earthquake: Comments on the chosen number of substeps: m = 4
‒ The numer of sub-steps has been set such that the fastest shear wave could not travel over more
than one element during one substep
‒ Vs,max = 767 m/s (in bedrock)
‒ Δtsub-step = 5 ms / 4 = 1.25 ms
‒ The distance travelled during a single time step is 0.959 m, which is less than the vertical length of
the element (1.5 m).
 2- Name it Morgan
Staged Construction 5- Activate Drift correction

• Morgan Earthquake: Displacement multiplier

1- Create new displacement

multiplier

3- Set Signal to Table 4- Set Data Type to Accelerations

6- Open and copy data (unscaled) from

“Morgan.txt” using the Paste button 8- Click Transform

7- Set scale factor to 47.32 (scale factor × g)

 Staged Construction 2- Set ux,start,ref to 0.5 (as incoming signal should only consider
upward propagating wave because of compliant base condition)
• Morgan Earthquake: Seismic Loading

1- Activate prescribed displacement

at the bottom of the column

3- Activate dynamic components

4- Set Multiplierx to Morgan
Staged Construction
• Select points for curves
Main Results
• Peak acceleration Chalfant (contour plot)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration profile Chalfant (cross-section)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration Corinth (contour plot)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration Corinth (cross-section)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration Morgan (contour plot)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration Morgan (cross-section)
Main Results
• Peak acceleration: PLAXIS vs SHAKE
Peak acceleration (g)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0.00

-10.00

-20.00

Depth (m)
-30.00

-40.00 MORGAN
CHALFANT
CORINTH

-50.00
Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Chalfant
Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Corinth
Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Morgan
Part IV: More Insight Into
Compliant Base Motion
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• The purpose of this part is to provide a better understanding of the compliant base motion in PLAXIS.
• In this context an equivalent boundary conditions consisting of a visous dashpot and distributed shear
stress at the bottom of the soil column will be considered.
‒ This is exactly what PLAXIS does automaitcally internally in case one is considering a compliant
base motion with an associated dispalcement corresponing to the upward propagating wave (1/2 the
outcrop motion)
‒ Obtained results are expected to be exactly similar
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Compliant base motion could be enforced by
‒ applying an equivalent shear wave to the upwards propaging wave from the
deep soil
‒ ensuring that the energy of any downward propagated wave in the model
(by the results of reflection) gets absorbed by means of viscous dashpots

𝝉=𝝉 𝒕
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Definition of the equivalent shear wave

𝜌 = 𝛾𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 Τ𝑔 𝑉𝑠 = 𝐺𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 Τ𝜌

𝜏 𝑡 = −2𝜌𝑉𝑠 𝑢ሶ 𝑠𝑢 𝑡

Factor 2 as during the application of the wave Upwards propaging wave velocity derived by
shear stress, half the energy will be aborbed time integration of (half) acceleration at outcrop
by the dashpots
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Time integration of acceleration time histories in Excel (“CHALFANT.xlsx”)

Chalfant Chalfant
0.25 0.15

0.2
0.1
0.15

0.1 0.05
Acceleration (g)

Velocity (m/s)
0.05
0
0 0 10 20 30 40
0 10 20 30 40
-0.05 -0.05

-0.1
-0.1
-0.15

-0.2 -0.15
Time (s) Time (s)
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Time integration of acceleration time histories in Excel (“MORGAN.xlsx”)

Morgan Morgan
0.08 0.08

0.06
0.06

0.04
0.04
0.02
Acceleration (g)

Velocity (m/s)
0.02
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-0.02 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-0.04
-0.02
-0.06
-0.04
-0.08

-0.1 -0.06
Time (s) Time (s)
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Time integration of acceleration time histories in Excel (“CORINTH.xlsx”)

Corinth Corinth
0.25
0.3

0.25 0.2

0.2 0.15
0.15
0.1

Velocity (m/s)
Acceleration (g)

0.1
0.05
0.05

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
-0.05 -0.05
-0.1
-0.1
-0.15
-0.15
-0.2
-0.2
-0.25
Time (s)
Time (s)
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Other relevant parameters for the bedrock
– ρ = 2548 kg.m-3
– Vs = 767.2 m.s-1
• The scaling factors used for the accceleration time histories should also be accounted for the definition
of the shear stresses
– Corinth scale factor = 1.37
– Morgan Scale Factor = 4.73
– Chalfant Scale Factor = 1.98
Loads and Boundary Conditions (Structures Mode)
1 – Delete prescribed displacement on the bottom line

2 – Create line load on the bottom line

Meshing (Mesh Mode) 1- Set coarseness factor to 1 for bottom line

2- Generate Medium mesh

 Staged Construction
• Load multipliers (from Attributes library in Model explorer)
3- Set Signal to Table

1- Create new Load multiplier

2- Name it ChalfantVelocity

4- Copy and paste data (velocity) from Chalfant.xlsx

 Staged Construction
• Load multipliers (from Attributes library in Model explorer) 3- Set Signal to Table

1- Create new Load multiplier

2- Name it CorinthVelocity

4- Copy and paste data (velocity) from Corinth.xlsx

 Staged Construction
• Load multipliers (from Attributes library in Model explorer)

3- Set Signal to Table

1- Create new Load multiplier

2- Name it MorganVelocity

4- Copy and paste data (velocity) from Morgan.xlsx

Staged Construction
• Chalfant Earthquake

1- Activate dynamic line load at the bottom of the column

2- Set qx,srat,ref to 3871 kPa (scaling factor × 2 × 0.5 × ρbedrock)

3- Set Multiplierx to ChalfantVelocity

Staged Construction
• Chalfant Earthquake

Set BoundaryYmin to Viscous

Staged Construction
• Corinth Earthquake

1- Activate dynamic line load at the bottom of the column

2- Set qx,srat,ref to 2679 kPa (scaling factor × 2 × 0.5 × ρbedrock)

3- Set Multiplierx to CorinthVelocity

Staged Construction
• Corinth Earthquake

Set BoundaryYmin to Viscous

Staged Construction
• Morgan Earthquake

1- Activate dynamic line load at the bottom of the column

2- Set qx,srat,ref to 9248 kPa (scaling factor × 2 × 0.5 × ρbedrock)

3- Set Multiplierx to MorganVelocity

Staged Construction
• Morgan Earthquake

Set BoundaryYmin to Viscous

Staged Construction

• Select points for curves

Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Chalfant

Compliant base BC Viscous BC + shear stress

Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Corinth

Compliant base BC Viscous BC + shear stress

Main Results
• Top acceleration time history: Morgan

Compliant base BC Viscous BC + shear stress

Appendix A: Eigen
Frequency Assessment
with PLAXIS 2D
Objectives and Modeling Strategy
• Evaluate eigenfrequencies of 1D soil column
‒ Give insight of the natural frequency of a layered soil continuum
‒ Can be used for optimum definition of Rayleigh damping
• Geometry definition is identical as done in 1D site response analysis
• No consideration of compliant base motion at the bottom of the soil column
• Eigenfrequency will simply be evaluated by releasing a vertical force applied at top of soil and considering
free vibration movement in the framework of a dynamic analysis
• Eventually, the PLAXIS 2D model can be entirely generated by executing the commands listed in
“1DNaturalFrequencies.log” via the command runner (accessible through: Expert → Run commands…).
Soil Geometry Definition (Soil Mode)
• Soil geometry is identical as 1D site response model
Soil Geometry Definition (Soil Mode)
• The material properties differ slightly from those used in the 1D site response model
‒ Raleigh damping is not considered for the backfill and bedrock
‒ Strain-dependent stiffness is set to zero for both the backfill and weathered siltstone, so that the
shear modulus remains at its maximum value throughout the entire (small amplitude) free vibration
analysis.
‒ Unloading-reloading stiffness Eur should be set to E0 so 180000 kPa for the backfill and 480000 kPa
for the weathered siltstone
• Update the material properties of each soil unit according to the three considerations above.
Pertubation Load (Structure Mode)
1- Create line load at top of soil column

2- Set qx,start,ref = 1 kPa and qy,start,ref = 0 kPa

 1- Set coarseness factor to 1 for the top line
Meshing (Mesh Mode)

2- Generate Medium mesh

 1- Add new phase entitled “Perturbation load” (static analysis)
Staged Construction
• Pertubation analysis

2- Set proper BC:

a- BoundaryXMin and BoundaryXMax set to Free
b- Tied degrees of freedom laterally active
 3 - Activate top load
Staged Construction
• Pertubation analysis
Staged Construction 1- Add new phase entitled “Free vibration” (dynamic analysis)

• Free vibration

2- Deactivate top load

 Staged Construction
5 - Set Time step determination to Manual
• Free vibration

1 - Set Calculation type to Dynamic

2 - Set Dynamic time interval to 10 s

3 - Toggle off Use default iter parameters

4 - Set Max steps to 500

Staged Construction
• Select some points for curves
Main Results
• Horizontal displacement versus dynamic time at top of soil column
Main Results
• Power spectrum of horizontal displacement at top of soil column

fnatural = 1.6 Hz
Appendix B: Frequency
Content of the Input Motions
by Means of Power Spectra
Chalfant Input Motion

0.120

0.100

0.0800
Power (a)

0.0600

0.0400

0.0200

0.00 3.00 6.00 9.00 12.0 15.0 18.0 21.0 24.0

Frequency [Hz]
fmin = 0.5 Hz fmax = 2.3 Hz
b
c
d
e
f
g Multiplier g
b
c
d
e
f Transformed multiplier
Corinth Input Motion

0.200

Power (a)

0.100

0.00
0.00 3.00 6.00 9.00 12.0 15.0 18.0 21.0 24.0
Frequency [Hz]
fmin = 0.6 Hz fmax = 2.6 Hz Multiplier g Transformed multiplier
b
c
d
e
f
g b
c
d
e
f
Morgan Input Motion

0.150

0.120
Power (a)

0.0900

0.0600

0.0300

0.00
0.00 3.00 6.00 9.00 12.0 15.0 18.0 21.0 24.0
Frequency [Hz]
fmin = 0.7 Hz fmax = 2.4 Hz
b
c
d
e
f
g Multiplier g
b
c
d
e
f Transformed multiplier
 © 2022 Seequent, The Bentley Subsurface Company
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