Abstract
When evaluating the dynamic behavior of ground during earthquakes by using finite element (FE) method, the analyzed area of ground is divided into multiple regions (i.e. meshes for FE analysis), in which uniform physical properties are generally used. However, ground has spatial inhomogeneity inherently bacause it is composed of soil particles with various sizes and shapes from a microscopic point of view. In this research, we have developed a 2-dimensional dynamic FE analytical system for linear elastic problems by using homogeneization method in order to make it possible to easily evaluate the seismic behavior of inhomogeneous ground by appropriately modeling the microscopic heterogeneity at the macro level. A series of dynamic FE analyses of inhomogeneous ground by using the system has revealed that it is possible to easily evaluate the seismic behavior in the linear region by using homogeneization method. However, depending on the structure of microscopic heterogeneity the accuracy of homogeneization method may be reduced especially in the high frequency region.
