The Mechanical Behavior of Subsurface Soil Layers Subjected to Faulting and the Interactions with Foundations Using Discrete Element Method

The damages due to the offset of active faults recently have caused numerous loss of lives and propertiesrecently. When the active fault offsets, the damage may be due to the high ground acceleration and shakingand the ground surface deformation. In this study, the stress and strain field and the microscopic structure ofthe soils are to be examined when the active fault offset event has occurred. For the related researches aboutthe fault offset related ground surface deformation, these researches can be classified into four majorcategories, by means of (1) site investigation and case analyses, (2) physical modeling, (3) numericalmodeling and (4) disaster mitigation strategies. In this study, Discrete Element Method (DEM) will beemployed as the major research tool, due to its capacity to simulate soils as individual particles and the largefault offset displacement. In addition, the models to be simulated in this study include the free field conditionand the conditions with shallow foundation and tunnels. The target is to understand the possible stress andstrain field variations with the existence of common foundations and free ground, hoping to provideguidelines to access the development mechanisms of the shear band in the ground and the ground surfacedeformation zone.