Static Pushover Analyses of Pile Groups in Liquefied and Laterally Spreading Ground in Centrifuge Tests
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 9
Abstract
Monotonic, static beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation (BNWF) methods are used to analyze a suite of dynamic centrifuge model tests involving pile group foundations embedded in a mildly sloping soil profile that develops liquefaction-induced lateral spreading during earthquake shaking. A single set of recommended design guidelines was used for a baseline set of analyses. When lateral spreading demands were modeled by imposing free-field soil displacements to the free ends of the soil springs (BNWF_SD), bending moments were predicted within to (16th to 84th percentile values) and pile cap displacements were predicted within to , with the accuracy being similar for small, medium, and large motions. When lateral spreading demands were modeled by imposing limit pressures directly to the pile nodes (BNWF_LP), bending moments and cap displacements were greatly overpredicted for small and medium motions where the lateral spreading displacements were not large enough to mobilize limit pressures, and pile cap displacements were greatly underpredicted for large motions. The effects of various parameter relations and alternative design guidelines on the accuracy of the BNWF analyses were evaluated. Sources of bias and dispersion in the BNWF predictions and the issues of greatest importance to foundation performance are discussed. The results of these comparisons indicate that certain guidelines and assumptions that are common in engineering design can produce significantly conservative or unconservative BNWF predictions, whereas the guidelines recommended herein can produce reasonably accurate predictions.
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Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by Caltrans under Contract Nos. 59A0162 and 59A0392 and by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, through the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation, under Contract No. 2312001. The contents of this paper do not necessarily represent a policy of either agency or endorsement by the state or federal government. The centrifuge shaker was designed and constructed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Obayashi Corp., Caltrans, and the University of California. Recent upgrades have been funded by NSF Award No. CMS-0086588 through the George E. Brown, Jr., Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation. Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) facility manager, Dan Wilson, and CGM staff T. Kohnke, T. Coker, and C. Justice provided assistance with centrifuge modeling; P. Singh collected and processed some of the centrifuge test data. Dr. I. M. Idriss provided helpful insights for the first writer’s Ph.D. dissertation, many of which are reflected in this paper. The writers appreciate all of the above support and assistance.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 9 • September 2007
Pages: 1055 - 1066
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 3, 2006
Accepted: Jul 14, 2006
Published online: Sep 1, 2007
Published in print: Sep 2007
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