Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis of Tall Reinforced Concrete Chimney with Piled Raft and Annular Raft under Along-Wind Load

A three-dimensional (3D) soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis of 300 m high reinforced concrete chimneys having piled annular raft and annular raft foundations subjected to along-wind load is carried out in the present study. To understand the significance of SSI, four types of soils were considered based on their flexibility. The effect of stiffness of the raft was evaluated using three different ratios of external diameter to thickness of the annular raft. The along-wind load was computed according to IS:4998 (Part 1)-1992. The integrated chimney-foundation-soil system was analysed by commercial finite element (FE) software ANSYS, based on direct method of SSI assuming linear elastic behaviour. FE analyses were carried out for two cases of SSI (I) chimney with annular raft foundation and (II) chimney with piled raft foundation. The responses in chimney such as tip deflection, bending moments, and base moment and responses in raft such as bending moments and settlements were evaluated for both cases and compared to that obtained from the conventional method of analysis. It is found that the responses in chimney and raft depend on the flexibility of the underlying soil and thickness of the raft.