A comparative study of soil-structure interaction in the case of frame structures with raft foundation

Design and modelling of raft foundations and selecting the value of coefficient of vertical subgrade reaction are still actively discussed topics in geotechnical and structural engineering. In everyday practice, soil–structure interaction is mostly taken into account by using the theory of ‘beam on elastic foundation’, in which the soil is substituted by a certain set of coefficients of subgrade reaction. In this study, finite element analysis of a building was performed using a geotechnical software (Plaxis 3D), which is capable of modelling the subsoil as a continuum, and a structural software (Axis VM), which uses the concept of ‘beam on elastic foundation’. The evaluation of the results and recommendations for everyday engineering practice are introduced in this paper.