IDENTIFICATION OF FOUNDATION IMPEDANCE FUNCTIONS AND SOIL PROPERTIES FROM VIBRATION TESTS OF THE HUALIEN CONTAINMENT MODEL

Foundation impedance functions for the foundation of the one-quarter-scale reinforced concrete Hualien (Taiwan) containment model are derived from the response data obtained during forced vibration tests. The resulting impedance functions are significantly different in two orthogonal directions and suggest a significant lateral variation of soil properties, a marked anisotropy or differences in contact conditions along the perimeter of the foundation. Estimates of the shear-wave velocities in the first two or three layers of soil are obtained by minimizing the differences between the experimentally-based impedance functions and the corresponding theoretical results. Theoretical results for the response of the containment model based on the identified soil properties and on structural properties also determined on the basis of forced vibration tests closely match the observed response.