As traditionally viewed, soil-structure interaction involves the coupled behavior of unimproved soils and structures such as building and bridge foundations, retaining walls, ground anchors, buried conduits, tunnels, and subgrade soils that underlie roadways.

Shown in the following series of slides (click on each picture to start a particular video) is the dynamic loading of a roadway, the transfer of such loads to the underlying soil, and the behavioral response of the soil.  This characteristic of subgrade soil is referred to as resilient modulus.

New research at UAH is focusing on the soil-structure interaction of modified soils.  Because the engineering properties of soil can vary significantly due to the application of soil improvement techniques, the response of modified soils will be characteristically different.