Equivalent Static Analysis of Piled Bridge Abutments Affected by Earthquake-Induced Liquefaction
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 8
Abstract
Deformation of bridge approach embankments caused by earthquake-induced liquefaction in the underlying soils can impose large force and displacement demands on the piled abutments. An equivalent static analysis (ESA) procedure that accounts for the beneficial coupling of the embankment displacements with the mobilized bridge/pile restraining forces is evaluated against the results of three centrifuge tests involving three nonpiled embankments and three piled embankments. The centrifuge tests, which showed that the restraining forces from the different pile configurations reduced the embankment displacements by 20–80%, relative to those of the nonpiled embankments, are briefly summarized. The ESA procedure is described and applied to the centrifuge tests using different sets of input parameters to isolate the questions of how well liquefaction-induced displacements are estimated for embankments without piles, and how well the relative pile pinning effects are estimated. The results of nonlinear deformation analyses (NDAs) of the same centrifuge tests are compared with those from the ESAs and are used to illustrate important differences in their capabilities. The relative merits of the ESAs and NDAs for evaluating the performance of pile abutments affected by liquefaction are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center through the Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation (Contract No. 2312001) and the PEER Lifelines program (Contract No. 65A0058). The first author acknowledges a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada scholarship from the government of Canada. The contents of this paper do not necessarily represent a policy of either agency or an endorsement by the state or federal government.
References
American Petroleum Institute. (1993). “Recommended practice for planning, design, and constructing fixed offshore platforms.” API RP 2A-WSD, Washington, DC.
Armstrong, R. (2010). “Evaluation of the performance of piled bridge abutments affected by liquefaction-induced ground deformations through centrifuge tests and numerical analysis tools.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California–Davis, Davis, CA.
Armstrong, R. J., Boulanger, R. W., and Beaty, M. H. (2013). “Liquefaction effects on piled bridge abutments: Centrifuge tests and numerical analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 433–443.
Armstrong, R. J., Boulanger, R. W., Gulerce, U., Kutter, B. L., and Wilson, D. W. (2008). “Centrifuge modeling of pile pinning effects.” Proc., Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics IV, D. Zeng, M. T. Manzari, and D. R. Hiltunen, eds., ASCE, Reston, VA, 1–12.
Ashford, S., Boulanger, R., and Brandenberg, S. (2011). “Recommended design practice for pile foundations in laterally spreading ground.” PEER Rep. 2011/04, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, College of Engineering, Univ. of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
Boulanger, R., Chang, D., Brandenberg, S., Armstrong, R., and Kutter, B. (2007). “Seismic design of pile foundations for liquefaction effects.” Proc., Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, 4th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering—Invited Lectures, K. D. Pitilakis, ed., Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 277–302.
Boulanger, R. W., Chang, D., Gulerce, U., Brandenberg, S. J., and Kutter, B. L. (2006). “Evaluating pile pinning effects on abutments over liquefied ground.” Proc., Seismic Performance and Simulation of Pile Foundations in Liquefied and Laterally Spreading Ground, R. W. Boulanger and K. Tokimatsu, eds., ASCE, Reston, VA, 306–318.
Boulanger, R. W., Curras, C. J., Kutter, B. L., Wilson, D. W., and Abghari, A. (1999). “Seismic soil-pile-structure interaction experiments and analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 750–759.
Brandenberg, S. J., Boulanger, R. W., Kutter, B. L., and Chang, D. (2007a). “Liquefaction-induced softening of load transfer between pile groups and laterally spreading crusts.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 91–103.
Brandenberg, S. J., Boulanger, R. W., Kutter, B. L., and Chang, D. (2007b). “Static pushover analyses of pile groups in liquefied and laterally spreading ground in centrifuge tests.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1055–1066.
Brandenberg, S. J., Zhao, M., and Kashighandi, P. (2013). “Analysis of three bridges that exhibited various performance levels in liquefied and laterally spreading ground.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1035–1048.
Byrne, P. M., Park, S.-S., Beaty, M., Sharp, M., Gonzalez, L., and Abdoun, T. (2004). “Numerical modeling of liquefaction and comparison with centrifuge tests.” Can. Geotech. J., 41(2), 193–211.
Chang, D., et al. (2007). “Pile pinning effects on a bridge abutment in laterally spreading ground during earthquakes: Centrifuge data report for DDC03.” UCD-CGMDR-06-01, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California–Davis, Davis, CA.
Cubrinovski, M., et al. (2013). “Spreading-induced damage to short-span bridges in Christchurch, New Zealand.” Earthquake Spectra, 30(1), 57–83.
Gulerce, U., et al. (2007a). “Pile pinning effects on a bridge abutment in laterally spreading ground during earthquakes: Centrifuge data report for UGU02.” UCD-CGMDR-06-03, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California–Davis, Davis, CA.
Gulerce, U., Armstrong, R., Khosravifar, A., Boulanger, R., and Kutter, B. (2007b). “Pile pinning effects on a bridge abutment in laterally spreading ground during earthquakes: Centrifuge data report for UGU01.” UCD-CGMDR-06-02, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California–Davis, Davis, CA.
Idriss, I., and Boulanger, R. (2007). “SPT- and CPT-based relationships for the residual shear strength of liquefied soils.” Proc., Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, 4th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering—Invited Lectures, K. D. Pitilakis, ed., Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1–22.
Idriss, I., and Boulanger, R. (2008). “Soil liquefaction during earthquakes.” Monograph MNO-12, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA.
Itasca Consulting Group. (2009). FLAC, Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, user’s guide, version 6.0, Itasca Consulting Group, Minneapolis.
Law, H. (2000). “Lateral spreading on a pile at the Oakland mole SFOBB east span seismic safety project.” Memorandum 09-12-2000, Earth Mechanics, Fountain Valley, CA.
Ledezma, C., et al. (2012). “Effects of ground failure on bridges, roads, and railroads.” Earthquake Spectra, 28(S1), S119–S143.
Martin, G., March, M., Anderson, D., Mayes, R., and Power, M. (2002). “Recommended design approach for liquefaction induced lateral spreads.” Proc., 3rd National Seismic Conf. and Workshop on Bridges and Highways, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), State Univ. of New York–Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 437–450.
Mazzoni, S., McKenna, F., Scott, M., and Fenves, G. (2007). OpenSees command language manual, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
McGann, C. R., Arduino, P., and Mackenzie-Helnwein, P. (2012). “Simplified procedure to account for a weaker soil layer in lateral load analysis of single piles.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1129–1137.
Meyerhof, G. G. (1976). “Bearing capacity and settlement of pile foundations.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 102(3), 195–228.
Mosher, R. (1984). Load transfer criteria for numerical analysis of axial loaded piles in sand, U.S. Army Engineering Waterways Experimental Station, Automatic Data Processing Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Newmark, N. M. (1965). “Effects of earthquakes on dams and embankments.” Géotechnique, 15(2), 139–160.
Ovesen, N. (1964). “Anchor slabs, calculation methods and model tests.” Bulletin No. 16, Danish Geotechnical Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Perez-Cobo, A., and Abghari, A. (1996). “Lateral spreading and settlement potential for Salinas River Bridge (Bridge No. 44-0002).” Memorandum 02-22-1996, Office of Structural Pile Groups, CALTRANS, Sacramento, CA.
Rollins, K. M., Gerber, T. M., Lane, J. D., and Ashford, S. A. (2005). “Lateral resistance of a full-scale pile group in liquefied sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 115–125.
Salgado, R. (2008). The engineering of foundations, McGraw Hill, New York.
Spencer, E. (1967). “A method of analysis of the stability of embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.” Géotechnique, 17(1), 11–26.
Transportation Research Board. (2002). “Comprehensive specification for the seismic design of bridges.” National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Rep. No. 472, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Wright, S. (1991). UTEXAS 3: A computer program for slope stability calculations, Shinoak Software, Austin, TX.
Yang, Z., and Jeremic, B. (2002). “Numerical analysis of pile behaviour under lateral loads in layered elastic–plastic soils.” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech., 26(14), 1385–1406.
Zha, J. (2004). “Lateral spreading forces on bridge abutment walls/piles.” Proc., Geotechnical Engineering for Transportation Projects, M. K. Yegian and E. Kavazanjian, eds., Vol. 2, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1711–1720.
Zhang, G., Robertson, P. K., and Brachman, R. W. I. (2004). “Estimating liquefaction-induced lateral displacements using the standard penetration test or cone penetration test.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 861–871.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 8 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2013
Accepted: May 12, 2014
Published online: Jun 12, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Nov 12, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.