SSI (soil-structure interactions) and structural benchmarks

This paper presents the latest results of the ongoing program entitled, ''Standard Problems for Structural Computer Codes'', currently being worked on at BNL for the USNRC, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. During FY 1986, efforts were focussed on three tasks, namely, (1) an investigation of ground water effects on the response of Category I structures, (2) the Soil-Structure Interaction Workshop and (3) studies on structural benchmarks associated with Category I structures. The objective of the studies on ground water effects is to verify the applicability and the limitations of the SSI methods currently used by the industry in performing seismic evaluations of nuclear plants which are located at sites with high water tables. In a previous study by BNL (NUREG/CR-4588), it has been concluded that the pore water can influence significantly the soil-structure interaction process. This result, however, is based on the assumption of fully saturated soil profiles. Consequently, the work was further extended to include cases associated with variable water table depths. In this paper, results related to ''cut-off'' depths beyond which the pore water effects can be ignored in seismic calculations, are addressed. Comprehensive numerical data are given for soil configurations typical to those encountered in nuclear plant sites. These data were generated by using a modified version of the SLAM code which is capable of handling problems related to the dynamic response of saturated soils.