The Comparison of Manufactured Mobile Home Foundation Types when Subjected to Seismic Stress Using a SpecFem3D Cartesian Model

In 2023, 36.8 million Americans were living below the poverty level, with 1 in 10 impoverished Americans residing in Manufactured Mobile Homes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025; Bennett, 2018). Manufacturers of these homes primarily install cheap and easily accessible concrete cinder blocks as foundations. Despite this foundation's popularity it comes with significant structural risks. Alternative foundation types exist, yet none have been deemed the most efficient in mitigating said risks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the most competent foundation type for providing safety to Manufactured Mobile Home (MMH) residents in geological emergencies. It was hypothesized that the pier & beam foundation would be most stable, as the concrete-wood combination would increase efficacy. To test this hypothesis, a SpecFem3D Cartesian Model with a GMSH integration was utilized to create models of single-wide MMHs with cinder blocks, full concrete, pier & beam, or runner foundations. Simulations of seismic activity, scaling from 1.0 to 10.0 magnitudes, were conducted three times on each foundation type. During each simulation, the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) was measured in meters per second squared. A One-Way ANOVA test with an alpha value of 0.05 was conducted and a p-value of