Abstract

In the growing concern of sustainable infrastructure, rocking wall systems have emerged as an economically viable solution to provide seismic resilience, particularly for the rehabilitation of existing structures. Rocking walls are stiff elements that can rotate freely, or rock, at their base, and constrain a structure to its first node of vibration under lateral loading. This prevents undesirable mechanisms such as soft story failure and activates plastic hinges in other parts of the structure, which ensures maximum energy dissipation and mitigates seismic structural damage. Although the performance of rocking wall systems has been studied in research and practice there are issues regarding their rocking motion, particularly in the presence of dissipation in the soil, otherwise referred to as radiation damping. Current practice for estimating radiation damping uses an equivalent damping ratio, originally developed for a rigid rocking block on rigid soil. In this study, we discuss some of the available approaches for modelling radiation damping and highlight the importance of modelling the effect of soil dissipation on wall behavior.

Keywords: Rocking wall; Radial damping; Effective damping