Session: MSNDC-03-01 Contact and Interface Dynamics

Paper Number: 74548

Start Time: August 17, 01:00 PM

74548 - Energetic Contact Modeling for Rocking Block Structures Under Seismic Loading 

Slender free-standing monolithic structures have the interesting property of very high stability when subjected to seismic loading, such that they are less likely to overturn during earthquakes. This fact has since long motivated the study of rocking block dynamics in the earthquake engineering community, where rigid blocks (representing free-standing monolithic structures) are subjected to various types of base motions, to understand the conditions when overturning takes place. However, one major challenge related to these studies lies with the accurate modeling of contact and impact that take place between the rigid block and the base. Since, these studies require analysis of a very large number of collisions, non-smooth contact dynamics models are usually more appropriate for simulating the rock block structures. In general, non-smooth contact models, present certain issues with multi-point impact analysis, which include 1) indeterminate impacts and 2) energy inconsistencies in the presence of friction. Nevertheless, a recent work has addressed these limitations by proposing a rigidity-based energy distribution law and a Global Energetic Coefficient of Restitution (ECOR) based characterization of impacts. This work investigates the applicability of such rigidity and energetic constraints-based impact model to the problem of rocking block dynamics. Simulation results are compared with experimental results of rocking block specimens subjected to several types of base motions, including random motion to mimic seismic loading. The obtained results demonstrate that this rigidity and energy-based collision approach produce better matches to the experimental results compared to some of the other methods in the literature. Additionally, the results seem to indicate that the Global Coefficient of Restitution (ECOR) parameter is able to capture the effects of some unmodeled dynamics related to changes in experimental conditions. 

References

[1] Chatterjee, A., Rodriguez, A., and Bowling, A., 2018. “Analytic solution for planar indeterminate impact problems using an energy constraint”. Multibody System Dynamics, 42(3), pp. 347-379.

[2] Peña, F., Prieto, F., Lourenço, P.B., Campos Costa, A., and Lemos, J.V., 2007. “On the dynamics of rocking motion of single rigid-block structures”. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 36(15), 2383-2399.

[3] Peña, F., Lourenço, P.B., and Campos Costa, A., 2008. “Experimental dynamic behavior of free-standing multi-block structures under seismic loadings”. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 12(6), 953-979. 

[4] Housner, G.W., 1963. “The behavior of inverted pendulum structures during earthquakes”. Bulletin of Seismological Society, 53(2), 403-417. 

[5] Zhang, H., Brogliato, B., and Liu, C., 2014. “Dynamics of planar rocking-blocks with Coulomb friction and unilateral constraints: comparisons between experimental and numerical data”. Multibody System Dynamics, 32(1), 1-25. 

Presenting Author: Abhishek Chatterjee INRIA

Authors:

Abhishek Chatterjee INRIA
Rashi Jain Purdue University
Alan Bowling University of Texas at Arlington