Hello,
there are obviously different soil types – from hard rock to loose clay. Why do the forces, an engineer has to consider for his buildings, depend on it?
I understood that there is a response spectrum and e.g tall buildings got a lower eigenfrequency than lower. But I saw, that there are different response spectra for each soil type.
Why does it make a difference?
In: 2
Different soil types will move different amounts when you apply the same energy to it. Solid rock will move very little even if you apply a lot of forces to it while soft sand will move a lot even if there is little forces. This means that the amount of movement in a building during an earthquake depends a lot on the soil type. Buildings in more solid soil moves less then those in soft soil. On the other hand there is a lot more forces involved in solid soil types, the bedrock might actually end up tearing the foundations apart if it moves.
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