Experimental study on effects of geogrid reinforced zone on seismic performance of low-to-medium rise buildings

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness and reliability of geogrids as a soil reinforcing system. In order to prevent or minimize the earthquake impact on structures, this study focuses on reducing the effect of earthquake loads by creating the geogrid reinforced zones. This system is composed of various layers of geogrid configurations to be able to create a reinforced geogrid foundation under the structure. To present reliable results through observing the soil-structure interaction and structural behaviour and digital comparisons via data outputs; an experimental setup was established. With this purpose in mind, the seismic behavior of the two 1:10 scaled structure models without and with the different geogrid reinforcement configurations under different earthquake conditions were studied. A series of shaking table tests were performed to evaluate the seismic response of the building models depending on the selected performance criteria. The effects of geogrid reinforced zone which is dependent on the number of geogrid layers on the seismic behaviour of the low-rise and medium rise buildings were discussed with comparing test results of the unreinforced and reinforced cases. Comparison results of the tests revealed that the inclusion of the geogrid reinforcement to the sand can reduce earthquake impacts by decreasing the transmitted seismic energy from soil to structure via the interlocking mechanism between geogrid layers and soil. Significant improvements in reducing forces of strong ground motions are able to make geogrid reinforced soil systems an option to improve seismic performance of the structures.