Influence of soil–structure interaction on seismic collapse resistance of super-tall buildings

Numerous field tests indicate that the soil–structure interaction (SSI) has a significant impact on the dynamic characteristics of super-tall buildings, which may lead to unexpected structural seismic responses and/or failure. Taking the Shanghai Tower with a total height of 632 m as the research object, the substructure approach is used to simulate the SSI effect on the seismic responses of Shanghai Tower. The refined finite element (FE) model of the superstructure of Shanghai Tower and the simplified analytical model of the foundation and adjacent soil are established. Subsequently, the collapse process of Shanghai Tower taking into account the SSI is predicted, as well as its final collapse mechanism. The influences of the SSI on the collapse resistance capacity and failure sequences are discussed. The results indicate that, when considering the SSI, the fundamental period of Shanghai Tower has been extended significantly, and the collapse margin ratio has been improved, with a corresponding decrease of the seismic demand. In addition, the SSI has some impact on the failure sequences of Shanghai Tower subjected to extreme earthquakes, but a negligible impact on the final failure modes.