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Pile foundation in alternate layered liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil deposits subjected to earthquake loading

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Abstract

Pile foundations are still the preferred foundation system for high-rise structures in earthquake-prone regions. Pile foundations have experienced failures in past earthquakes due to liquefaction. Research on pile foundations in liquefiable soils has primarily focused on the pile foundation behavior in two or three-layered soil profiles. However, in natural occurrence, it may occur in alternative layers of liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil. However, the experimental and/or numerical studies on the layered effect on pile foundations have not been widely addressed in the literature. Most of the design codes across the world do not explicitly mention the effect of sandwiched non-liquefiable soil layers on the pile response. In the present study, the behavior of an end-bearing pile in layered liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil deposit is studied numerically. This study found that the kinematic bending moment is higher and governs the design when the effect of the sandwiched non-liquefied layer is considered in the analysis as opposed to when its effect is ignored. Therefore, ignoring the effect of the sandwiched non-liquefied layer in a liquefiable soil deposit might be a nonconservative design approach.

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Abbreviations

a rock :

Accelerations at the bedrock level

a s :

Accelerations at the soil surface

d :

Pile diameter

E p :

Young’s moduli of the pile

E 2 :

Young’s moduli of the topsoil layer

G 1 :

Shear moduli of topsoil layer

h 1 :

Thicknesses of the topsoil layer

I p :

Moment of inertia of pile (cross-sectional)

L :

Length of the pile embedded in soil

M k :

Kinematic pile bending moment

M max :

Steady-state maximum kinematic pile bending moment

M R :

Harmonic steady-state pile bending moment under resonance conditions

V 1 :

Shear wave velocities of the top soil layers

V 2 :

Shear wave velocities of the bottom soil layers

z :

Depth from the ground surface

r d :

Depth factor

γ 1 :

Shear strain in the top layer of the soil

ε p :

Pile bending strain

η 1 and η 2 :

Reduction factors

ρ 1 :

Mass density of the topsoil layer

τ c :

Characteristic shear stress in the topsoil layer

χ :

Regression coefficient

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Acknowledgment

The first author would like to thank The Ministry of Education, Government of India, for the financial assistance provided during the research work.

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  1. LEA Associates South East Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 110044, India

    Praveen M. Huded

  2. Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Aragul, Jatni, Khurda, 752050, India

    Suresh R. Dash

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  1. Praveen M. Huded
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Correspondence to Suresh R. Dash.

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Huded, P.M., Dash, S.R. Pile foundation in alternate layered liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil deposits subjected to earthquake loading. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 23, 359–376 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-024-2241-0

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