Mitigating Lateral Spreading Forces on Large Foundations Using Ground Deflection Walls
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 11
Abstract
Deflection walls were considered for mitigating lateral spreading-induced bending moments on large-dimension foundations. The efficacy of the walls was tested using dynamic centrifuge testing of a large-dimension rectangular foundation (caisson) with and without an upslope ground deflection wall. The ground deflection walls were modeled as buttressed sheet pile walls and were intended to deflect the laterally spreading ground around the caisson and reduce the pressure transmitted to the caisson. Three wall shapes (chevron, arch, and truncated chevron) were tested in all-sand profiles and profiles with a clay cap underlain by sand. In contrast to the unprotected caisson tests, the deflection walls successfully redirected the laterally spreading sand-only profiles around the caisson and minimized passive wedge development upslope of the caisson. Maximum lateral pressures measured on the upslope face of protected caissons ranged from at-rest pressures to the total vertical stress and were about 30%–50% lower than those measured against unprotected caissons. Based on these results, the proposed buttressed sheet pile walls may be suitable to mitigate lateral spreading forces on existing foundations. These results also suggest that newly constructed large foundations or pile groups may be arranged in a diamond or circular pattern to better mitigate potential lateral spreading earth pressures.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository or online in accordance with funder data retention policies (see DesignSafe 2021; Rathje et al. 2017).
Acknowledgments
This project is being funded by NEES under Contract No. 1-490538-191100 (2008), National Science Foundation (NSF) Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) 07-2369. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Tim Prunkard and his staff at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign fabricated the caisson and deflection walls included in this testing. We appreciate their attention to detail with these tasks. The findings presented in this paper are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NEES or NSF. Lastly, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and recommendations that greatly improved the manuscript.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 11 • November 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 11, 2020
Accepted: Jun 17, 2021
Published online: Sep 15, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 15, 2022
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