Stochastic seismic response of multi-layered soil with random layer heights

This paper deals with the effect of layer height randomness on the seismic response of a layered soil. These parameters are assumed to be lognormal random variables. The analysis is carried out via Monte Carlo simulations coupled with the stiffness matrix method. A parametric study is conducted to derive the stochastic behavior of the peak ground acceleration and its response spectrum,the transfer function and the amplification factors. The input soil characteristics correspond to a site in Mexico City and the input seismic accelerations correspond to the Loma Prieta earthquake. It is found that the layer height heterogeneity causes a widening of the frequency content and a slight increase in the fundamental frequency of the soil profile,indicating that the resonance phenomenon is a concern for a large number of structures. Variation of the layer height randomness acts as a variation of the incident angle,i.e.,a decrease of the amplitude and a shift of the resonant frequencies.