Mitigation of Liquefaction Triggering and Foundation Settlement by MICP Treatment
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 10
Abstract
Centrifuge modeling was used to study the performance of loose sand treated with microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) to improve liquefaction resistance to triggering and reduce the total and differential settlement of shallow foundations. The MICP-treated sand was surrounded by untreated loose and dense sand zones with initial relative densities of and 75%, respectively. A simple foundation system applied a contact stress of 270 kPa. The model was subjected to five uniform sinusoidal shaking events with a progressive increase in amplitude per event. Cone penetration resistance, shear-wave velocity, accelerations, excess pore pressures, and settlements were measured. The MICP treatment improved liquefaction resistance of the soil, and the presence of loose and dense sand layers near the MICP-treated sand affected the dynamic response and settlement of the soil and foundation systems. The total settlement and maximum angular distortion of the foundation systems were reduced by up to 57% and 75%, respectively, depending on soil layering and MICP improvement depth. Collectively, the results show that MICP improvement can be effective in reducing building damages induced by earthquake shaking.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under NSF CA No. EEC-1449501 and China Scholarship Council (File No. 201806050122). Operation of the centrifuge facility at the University of California, Davis was also supported by the NSF as part of the Natural Hazards and Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) network under Award CMMI-1520581. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NSF. The authors thank the staff at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling and UC Davis researchers Charles Graddy, Sumeet Sinha, Kate Darby, Maya El Kortbawi, Priscilla Araujo, Alex San Pablo, and Dr. Daniel Wilson.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 10 • October 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 14, 2020
Accepted: Apr 23, 2021
Published online: Aug 3, 2021
Published in print: Oct 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jan 3, 2022
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