Rocking bodies with arbitrary interface defects: Analytical development and experimental verification: Fid-Bau Portal

Rocking bodies with arbitrary interface defects: Analytical development and experimental verification

Wittich, C.E. / Hutchinson, T.C.

The rocking response of a rigid, freestanding block in two dimensions typically assumes perfect contact at the base of the block with instantaneous impacts at two distinct, symmetric rocking points. This paper extends the classical two‐dimensional rocking model to account for an arbitrary number of rocking points at the base representing geometric interface defects. The equations of motion of this modified rocking system are derived and presented in general terms. Energy dissipation is modeled assuming instantaneous point impacts, yielding a discrete angular velocity adjustment. Whereas this factor is always less than unity in the classical model, it is possible for this factor to exceed unity in the presented model, yielding a finite increase in the angular velocity at impact and a markedly different rotational response than the classical model predicts. The derived model and the classical model are numerically integrated and compared to the results of recent shake table tests. These comparisons show that the new model significantly enhances agreement in both peak angular displacement and motion decay. The equations of motion and the energy dissipation of the presented model are further investigated parametrically considering the size of the defect, the number of rocking points, and the aspect ratio and size of the block.