1. College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China; 2. Jiaozhou Urban Planning Bureau, Jiaozhou 266300, Shandong, China

It is considered that the damage of the underground structures caused by earthquakes is minor for a long time. However, the catastrophic damages induced by several recent earthquakes ( e. g. Kobe earthquake in 1995) revealed that the study on the dynamic properties of the underground structures is indispensable. The dynamic behavior and damage mechanism of underground structure are analyzed by using shaking table tests ( both shallow- and deep-buried) and numerical simulation ( 3D FEM) including horizontal and vertical input motions, individually and simultaneously. From the results, the underground structure collapsed due to strong horizontal forces although vertical deformation is not negligible. The vertical excitation increases the response of structure, especially the stress and shear stress at the upper section; the soil influenced the property of soil-structure system. In the same excitation, the response in shallow-buried test is larger than deep case. Both overburden and vertical earthquake play important roles in the response of structure and those are two critical aspects in the design of the large-span underground structures, such as subway stations.