Study on the Seismic Effect of the Interbedded Soil Layer in the Yinchuan Alluvial Plain

This paper presents a numerical analysis of two types of representative site profiles in the Yinchuan Plain under earthquake loading. The analyzed soil profiles, based on borehole investigations performed over the years, are used to explore the seismic response of the sites in this area. In total, eleven stratified soil models are used in this study, which can be grouped into two categories: a single interbedded soil model and multiple interbedded soil model. A one-dimensional equivalent linearization method is applied to evaluate the seismic response of different soil models under four exceeding probabilities in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), peak ground displacement (PGD), and spectral acceleration (Sa). The results show that the significant amplification effect of PGA occurs in rare and extremely rare earthquakes, with an amplification ratio of 1.4∼1.7 when the single silty clay layer is located at the model ground. In this scenario, the spectral acceleration is amplified at a period of approximately 1.0 s. For the multilayered soil cases, the amplification effect tends to decrease, whereas the characteristic periods increase with increasing numbers of soil layers and the ground acceleration is deamplified under a high motion intensity when the number of soil layers is ≥ 5. This study, to a certain degree, has reference value for seismic microzonation in this area.