Numerical study on settlement-induced damage to RC frames: the effect of foundation and ground stiffness

This paper discusses the effect of foundation modelling and soil characteristics on the structural response of existing RC frames subjected to differential settlements. Numerical analyses are first carried out by adopting a traditional push-down approach, which consists in the application of an increasing displacement at the base of one or more columns by neglecting the modelling of column connections at the foundation level. The effect of foundations on the structural response is then investigated, by including the foundation beam within the FE model, and modelling the soil-structure interaction. The effect of ground stiffness on damage evolution in the superstructure is finally taken into account through parametric analyses.