Probabilistic seismic demand analysis of a slender RC shear wall considering soil–structure interaction effects

Reinforced concrete shear walls are often used to resist the lateral loads imposed by earthquakes. Accurate evaluation of the seismic demands on shear walls requires adequate considerations of the nonlinear behavior of structural and foundation elements, the interaction between them, and the uncertainty and variability associated with earthquake ground motions. This paper presents a comprehensive probabilistic seismic demand analysis of a typical mid-rise slender shear wall in western US with a flexible foundation and evaluates the significance of soil–structure interaction (SSI) effects on their damage probability. Utilizing realistic numerical models for the shear wall and its foundation, the nonlinear time history analyses were conducted with a large number of recorded ground motions. Response quantities such as maximum inter-story drift ratio, base shear, foundation displacement and rotation are monitored and related to the intensity measure of ground motions (i.e. the inelastic spectral displacement S d i ) for the cases with and without considering the SSI effects. Subsequently, the fragility functions of the shear wall are derived and the impact of SSI effects is investigated. It is found that the SSI generally reduces the damage probability of the shear wall, especially when soil nonlinearity is taken into account. The sensitivity of various seismic demands to soil parameters is also discussed. Under strong ground shakings, SSI effects on the maximum inter-story drift are most sensitive to the friction angle of the soil. It is suggested that the damages in foundation and surrounding soil should also be considered in order to systematically evaluate the SSI effects on damage probability of shear wall buildings.