Concrete Ageing Effect on the Dynamic Response of Machine Foundations Considering Soil-Structure Interaction

PurposeThe dynamic responses of a concrete machine foundation under impact load type were studied considering the deterioration of concrete due to chemo-mechanical actions over the ages. This investigation was furtherly implemented considering different soil types from soft to hard types.MethodsThe two-dimensional plain-strain finite element formulations of this coupled problem were written in FORTRAN 90 and MATLAB programming language. The coupled equation of motion for soil-machine foundation interaction problem has been analyzed by direct method. The soil medium was divided into near and far-field domains, where the far-field soil domain included the radiation of reflected dynamic waves discretizing with infinite solid elements.ResultsThe dynamic responses of machine foundation are significantly affected by the deterioration of concrete over the ages. The area of extreme stress responses at the foundation increases according to the increments of deterioration in concrete. According to 0 and 50 years age, the stress responses of machine foundation for medium soil type were seen to be decreased to 32.6%. Moreover, the displacement responses of machine foundations increase when the soil type properties vary from hard to soft type.ConclusionThe deterioration of concrete and the existence of different soil medium have significant effect on the dynamic responses of machine foundations that should be considered in analysis and design.