Pile Foundations in Liquefied and Laterally Spreading Ground During Earthquakes: Centrifuge Experiments & Analyses

Abstract

This report describes a research project which addressed key needs for advancing the design of pile foundations in soil profiles that are susceptible to liquefaction and lateral spreading during earthquakes. The project was motivated by the extensive costs that are incurred with the construction of new pile foundations and the remediation of existing foundations in areas where liquefaction and lateral spreading are of concern. The report describes and presents results from a series of large-scale dynamic centrifuge model tests designed to study the behavior of single piles and pile groups in a soil profile comprised of a nonliquefied crust spreading laterally over a loose saturated sand layer. It presents back-calculation of fundamental soil-pile interaction behavior in the centrifuge tests. The report also evaluates monotonic pushover design methods against the centrifuge models, and presents nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses.