MODELLING A SEISMIC BARRIER USING SOIL ENERGY-DISSIPATION

This paper aims to analyse the dissipative behaviour of soils in connection with ground vibration isolation. The effectiveness of a new type of stress-wave barrier, for reduction of vibrating ground motions that are induced by earthquake hazards, shocks, automotive traffic or other vibrations, has been evidenced by experimental results obtained on a centrifuge scale model. A drop-ball arrangement mounted in centrifuge readily generates Rayleigh waves. Series of experiments on stress-wave propagation carried out at ۱۰۰ g level has demonstrated that friction between soil particles - mobilised by soil prestressing using high capacity anchoring systems - is able to mitigate significantly the intensity of stress waves.