Effects of Rocking Coefficient on Seismic Energy Dissipation, Permanent Settlement, and Self-Centering Characteristics of Rocking Shallow Foundations

Several researchers have conducted dynamic shaking experiments to examine the rocking behavior of shallow foundations during earthquake loading. This study analyses the results of 142 of such individual experiments from the U.S., Italy, and Greece conducted on centrifuge and shaking tables. The objectives of this research are (i) to summarize seismic energy dissipation in soil due to rocking, permanent settlement of the foundation, and the self-centering ability of the foundation; and (ii) to explore possible correlations between the above mentioned parameters and rocking coefficient of the soil-foundation-structure system, slenderness ratio of the structure, peak ground acceleration, and the Arias intensity of the earthquake. It is found that energy dissipation and permanent settlement correlate well with the Arias intensity of the earthquake rather than peak ground acceleration. A new parameter, defined as the tipping-over stability ratio, shows that rocking foundations possess excellent stability against tipping over failure.