The effect of sand-crumb rubber mixture treatment on the seismic response of a low-rise building located on liquefiable soil

Abstract One of the most effective measures to reduce earthquake risks in high-seismic areas is to reduce the input forces caused by earthquakes to the structure. The properties of rubber materials in geotechnical projects are energy absorption, dynamic deformation change as well as damping of latent energy in loads, high shear modulus and damping ratio, easy access and their economic nature. In this research, with finite difference modeling, the effect of using sand- crumb rubber layer on the seismic behavior of the model has been obtained. In the following, by changing the thickness and depth of the sand-crumb rubber layer, the seismic behavior such as floor displacement and internal forces have been investigated. This research numerically models liquefaction (UBCsand with FLAC) and predicts the effects of the sand-crumb rubber layer of different thicknesses (as % weight of the mixture) under the foundation and evaluates the structure's damage and settlement interacting with the soil by validating the numerical model with the laboratory model and calibrating it with different ratios. The results show that liquefaction, pore water pressure excess ratio and soil settlement will be significantly reduced with the presence of sand-crumb rubber layer, and also the base shear has shown an increase, but the structural damage is reduced. Graphical Abstract