  Application of performance-based design (PBD) in earthquake geotechnical
design codes has been gaining attention for the past decade. Strong vibrations
(e.g., earthquake loading) may generate an uplift or a partial separation of
shallow foundations from the underneath soil. To minimize the damage and keep
the superstructure safe from the vibrations, a controlled rocking can be
exploited. In this study, a finite element method is used to investigate the
effect of nonlinear behavior of foundation geomaterial on the rocking behavior
of soil-structure systems. To get a better insight about the rocking behavior
of the soil-structure system, nonlinear elastic-perfectly plastic behavior is
considered for the simulated geomaterial of the foundation. Next, a parametric
study, using a wide range of geomaterials with different stiffness values, is
conducted in accordance with high-rise structures with different
configurations. The results indicate that a significant proportion of the input
energy is dissipated by deploying rotational behavior of shallow foundations
especially for the structures on softer geomaterials.
