A new way to design and construct a laminar box for studying structure-foundation-soil interaction

This paper describes the construction of a laminar box for simulating the earthquake response of soil and structures. The confinement of soil in the transverse direction does not rely on the laminar frame but is instead achieved by two acrylic glass walls. These walls allow the behaviour of soil during an earthquake to be directly observed in future study. The laminar box was used to study the response of soil with structure-footing-soil interaction (SFSI). A single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structure and a rigid structure, both free standing on the soil, were utilised. The total mass and footing size of the SDOF and rigid structures were the same. The results show that SFSI considering the SDOF structure can affect the soil surface movements and acceleration of the soil at different depths. The acceleration developed at the footing of the SDOF structure is also different from the surface acceleration of free-field soil.