Seismic response analysis of embedded structure at Hualien, Taiwan Original Research Article

Predictive and correlative analyses of the forces vibration tests (‘FVT’ for short, hereafter:) and seismic response of the large-scale embedded structure were performed as one of the analytical phases of an international large-scale seismic test (LSST) program (Tang et al., 1991) at Hualien, Taiwan. Consequently, the following was clarified; (1) FVT analysis using unified ground model (UMFVT2) predicted the fundamental system frequency (ƒ0) about 20% higher than the test. (2) After careful investigation on several items cited as the presumed causes of (ƒ0) discrepancy between the test and the prediction, it was attributed to the Vs of the backfill, and best correlated ground model (BCFVT2) was formed, based on it. (3) Seismic response analysis using BCFVT2 brought a bit better agreement with the observation than using UMFVT2, but from another viewpoint, both analysis results agreed fairly well with the observation, indicating that backfill Vs does not affect seismic response so much as during FVT.