Displacement-Based Design of Axially Loaded Piles for Seismic Loading and Liquefaction-Induced Downdrag
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 9
Abstract
Axially loaded piles in liquefiable soils can undergo severe settlements due to a shaking event. During shaking, the settlement is caused by the reduction of its shaft and tip capacity from the excess pore pressures generated around the pile. Post shaking, additional pile settlement is caused by the surrounding soil settling due to reconsolidation and the associated development of drag load. A new displacement-based method is developed using a TzQzLiq analysis for designing axially loaded piles subject to seismic loading and liquefaction-induced downdrag. The new displacement-based design method offers several advancements to the state of practice forced-based design procedure by AASHTO’s force-based design procedure by reasonably accounting for the mechanisms that occur on axially loaded piles during and post shaking. It accounts for the initial drag load on the pile, redistribution effects resulting in large excess pore pressures in the non-liquefied layers, and reduction in the pile’s shaft and tip capacity from excess pore pressures around the pile. The new design procedure estimates the pile settlement and axial load distribution during the entire shaking event, i.e., during shaking and reconsolidation. Design steps are provided describing the procedure for obtaining design curves on the settlement and drag load on piles with varying pile lengths. The length of the piles is then selected based on serviceability criteria and the pile’s structural strength. Finally, the new design procedure is applied on piles used in centrifuge model tests, and results are compared, followed by an example design problem that illustrates the applicability of the new method in practice.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository online under funder data retention policies. The centrifuge test data used in this study are made available through DesignSafe (Sinha et al. 2021a, b).
Acknowledgments
The California Department of Transportation funded this research under Agreement 65A0688. The authors would like to acknowledge the Caltrans engineers (especially Abbas Abghari, Qiang Huang, and Mohammed Islam) involved in this project for their suggestions and assistance. The centrifuge tests were made possible by the Center for Geotechnical Modeling facilities and staff at UC Davis. The centrifuge facility at UC Davis is part of the NSF Natural Hazards Research Infrastructure (NHERI) program under Award CMMI 2037883.
References
AASHTO. 2011. AASHTO guide specifications for LRFD seismic bridge design. AASHTO LRFDSEIS-2. Washington, DC: AASHTO.
AASHTO. 2020. AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications. AASHTO LRFDUS-9. Washington, DC: AASHTO.
Allmond, J. D. 2012. “Shallow rocking foundations in liquefiable and saturated soil conditions.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Davis.
Baldi, G., R. Bellotti, V. N. Ghionna, M. Jamiolkowski, and D. C. F. Lo Presti. 1989. “Modulus of sands from CPT’s and DMT’s.” In Proc., 12th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 165–170. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Bhattacharya, S., and S. P. G. Madabhushi. 2008. “A critical review of methods for pile design in seismically liquefiable soils.” Bull. Earthquake Eng. 6 (3): 407–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-008-9068-3.
Bhattacharya, S., S. P. G. Madabhushi, and M. D. Bolton. 2004. “An alternative mechanism of pile failure in liquefiable deposits during earthquakes.” Géotechnique 54 (3): 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2004.54.3.203.
Bolton, M. D., M. W. Gui, J. Garnier, J. F. Corte, G. Bagge, J. Laue, and R. Renzi. 1999. “Centrifuge cone penetration tests in sand.” Géotechnique 49 (4): 543–552. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1999.49.4.543.
Boulanger, R. W. 2003. “High overburden stress effects in liquefaction analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 129 (12): 1071–1082. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2003)129:12(1071).
Boulanger, R. W., and S. J. Brandenberg. 2004. “Neutral plane solution for liquefaction-induced downdrag on vertical piles.” In GeoTrans: Geotechnical Engineering for Transportation Projects, Geotechnical Special Publication 126, edited by M. K. Yegian and E. Kavazanjian, 470–478. Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/40744(154)32.
Boulanger, R. W., C. J. Curras, B. L. Kutter, D. W. Wilson, and A. Abghari. 1999. “Seismic soil-pile-structure interaction experiments and analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 125 (9): 750–759. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1999)125:9(750).
Caltrans. 2020. “Liquefaction-induced downdrag.” Accessed February 1, 2020. https://dot.ca.gov/programs/engineering-services/manuals/geotechnical-manual.
Cetin, K. O., R. B. Seed, R. E. Kayen, R. E. S. Moss, H. T. Bilge, M. Ilgac, and K. Chowdhury. 2018. “SPT-based probabilistic and deterministic assessment of seismic soil liquefaction triggering hazard.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 115 (Dec): 698–709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2018.09.012.
Clariá, J. J., and V. A. Rinaldi. 2007. “Shear wave velocity of a compacted clayey silt.” Geotech. Test. J. 30 (5): 399–408. https://doi.org/10.1520/GTJ100655.
Darby, K. M. 2018. “The use of centrifuge model studies in the development of CPT-based liquefaction triggering correlations.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Davis.
Darby, K. M., R. W. Boulanger, J. T. DeJong, and J. D. Bronner. 2019. “Progressive changes in liquefaction and cone penetration resistance across multiple shaking events in centrifuge tests.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 145 (3): 04018112. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001995.
Fellenius, B. H. 1984. “Negative skin friction and settlement of piles.” In Proc., 2nd Int. Seminar, Pile Foundations, 1–12. Singapore: Nanyang Technological Institute.
Garnier, J., C. Gaudin, S. M. Springman, P. J. Culligan, D. Goodings, D. Konig, B. Kutter, R. Phillips, M. F. Randolph, and L. Thorel. 2007. “Catalogue of scaling laws and similitude questions in geotechnical centrifuge modelling.” Int. J. Phys. Modell. Geotech. 7 (3): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1680/ijpmg.2007.070301.
Hashash, Y. M. A., M. I. Musgrove, J. A. Harmon, I. Okan, G. Xing, O. Numanoglu, D. R. Groholski, C. A. Phillips, and D. Park. 2020. DEEPSOIL 7.0 user manual. Urbana, IL: Board of Trustees of Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Hegazy, Y. A., and P. W. Mayne. 1995. “Statistical correlations between Vs and cone penetration data for different soil types.” In Vol. 95 of Proc., of Int. Symp. on Cone Penetration Testing, 173–178. Linkoping, Sweden: Swedish Geotechnical Society.
Hutabarat, D., and J. D. Bray. 2021. “Effective stress analysis of liquefiable sites to estimate the severity of sediment ejecta.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 147 (5): 04021024. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002503.
Idriss, I. M., and R. W. Boulanger. 2008. Soil liquefaction during earthquakes. Oakland, CA: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
Ishihara, K. 1985. “Stability of natural deposits during earthquakes.” In Proc., 11th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 321–376. San Francisco: International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Janbu, N. 1985. “Soil models in offshore engineering.” Géotechnique 35 (3): 241–281. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1985.35.3.241.
Kaynia, A. M. 2022. Analysis of pile foundations subject to static and dynamic loading. London: CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429354281.
Kim, H.-J., and J. L. C. Mission. 2011. “Development of negative skin friction on single piles: Uncoupled analysis based on non-linear consolidation theory with finite strain and the load-transfer method.” Can. Geotech. J. 48 (6): 905–914. https://doi.org/10.1139/t11-004.
Knappett, J. A., and S. P. G. Madabhushi. 2009. “Seismic bearing capacity of piles in liquefiable soils.” Soils Found. 49 (4): 525–535. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.49.525.
Kutter, B. L., M. T. Manzari, and M. Zeghal. 2020. Model tests and numerical simulations of liquefaction and lateral spreading: LEAP-UCD-2017. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22818-7.
Lam, S. Y., C. W. W. Ng, C. F. Leung, and S. H. Chan. 2009. “Centrifuge and numerical modeling of axial load effects on piles in consolidating ground.” Can. Geotech. J. 46 (1): 10–24. https://doi.org/10.1139/T08-095.
Law, H., and P. Wilson. 2017. “Displacement based downdrag analysis for pile design.” In Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on Performance Based Design (PBD-III). Vancouver, BC, Canada: International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Madabhushi, G., J. Knappett, and S. Haigh. 2010. Design of pile foundations in liquefiable soils. London: Imperial College Press. https://doi.org/10.1142/p628.
Malvick, E. J., R. Kulasingam, R. W. Boulanger, and B. L. Kutter. 2002. Effects of void redistribution on liquefaction flow of layered soil—Centrifuge data report for EJM01. Davis, CA: Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Univ. of California Davis.
Mayne, P. W., and G. J. Rix. 1995. “Correlations between shear wave velocity and cone tip resistance in natural clays.” Soils Found. 35 (2): 107–110. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.35.2_107.
McKenna, F., M. H. Scott, and G. L. Fenves. 2010. “Nonlinear finite-element analysis software architecture using object composition.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng. 24 (1): 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000002.
Mele, L., A. Chiaradonna, S. Lirer, and A. Flora. 2021. “A robust empirical model to estimate earthquake-induced excess pore water pressure in saturated and non-saturated soils.” Bull. Earthquake Eng. 19 (Aug): 3865–3893. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-020-00970-5.
Mosher, R. L. 1984. Load-transfer criteria for numerical analysis of axially loaded piles in sand. Vicksburg, MS: US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station.
Olson, S. M., X. Mei, and Y. M. A. Hashash. 2020. “Nonlinear site response analysis with pore-water pressure generation for liquefaction triggering evaluation.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 146 (2): 04019128. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002191.
Petek, K., R. Mitchell, and H. Ellis. 2016. FHWA deep foundation load test database version 2.0 user manual. McLean, VA: Federal Highway Administration.
Reese, L. C., and M. W. O’Neil. 1987. Drilled shafts: Construction procedures and design methods. McLean, VA: Federal Highway Administration.
Robertson, P. K. 2015. “Comparing CPT and liquefaction triggering methods.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 141 (9): 04015037. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001338.
Seed, H. B., and I. M. Idriss. 1970. Soil moduli and damping factors for dynamic response analyses. Berkeley, CA: Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California, Berkeley.
Seed, H. B., P. P. Martin, and J. Lysmer. 1976. “Pore-water pressure changes during soil liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div. 102 (4): 323–346. https://doi.org/10.1061/AJGEB6.0000258.
Shamoto, Y., J. Zhang, and K. Tokimatsu. 1998. “Methods for evaluating residual post-liquefaction ground settlement and horizontal displacement.” Soils Found. 38 (Sep): 69–83. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.38.Special_69.
Sinha, S. K. 2022. “Liquefaction-induced downdrag on piles: Centrifuge and numerical modeling, and design procedures.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Davis.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2019. “Parametric study of liquefaction induced downdrag on axially loaded piles.” In Proc., 7th lnt. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. London: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2021a. “SKS02: Centrifuge test of liquefaction-induced downdrag in uniform liquefiable deposit.” In Centrifuge testing of liquefaction-induced downdrag on axially loaded piles. Seattle: DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-d25m-gg48.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2021b. “SKS03: Centrifuge test of liquefaction-induced downdrag in interbedded soil deposits.” In Centrifuge testing of liquefaction-induced downdrag on axially loaded piles. Seattle: DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-wjgx-tb78.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2022a. “Centrifuge model tests of liquefaction-induced downdrag on piles.” In Proc., 20th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. London: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2022b. “Centrifuge model tests of liquefaction-induced downdrag on piles in uniform liquefiable deposits.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 148 (7): 04022048. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002817.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2022c. “Numerical modeling of liquefaction-induced downdrag: Validation against centrifuge model tests.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 148 (12): 04022111. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002930.
Sinha, S. K., K. Ziotopoulou, and B. L. Kutter. 2023. “Effects of excess pore pressure redistribution on liquefiable and non-liquefiable layers.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.
Stringer, M. E., and S. P. G. Madabhushi. 2013a. “Axial load transfer in liquefiable soils for free-standing piles.” Géotechnique 63 (5): 400–409. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.11.P.078.
Stringer, M. E., and S. P. G. Madabhushi. 2013b. “Re-mobilization of pile shaft friction after an earthquake.” Can. Geotech. J. 50 (9): 979–988. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2012-0261.
Sun, T. K., and W. M. Yan. 2010. “Development of neutral plane on a pile in a consolidating ground.” AIP Conf. Proc. 1233 (1): 1594–1599. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3452147.
Tokimatsu, K., and H. B. Seed. 1984. Simplified procedures for the evaluation of settlements in clean sands. Berkeley, CA: Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California Berkeley.
Vijivergiya, V. N. 1977. “Load-movement characteristics of piles.” In Vol. 2 of Proc., 4th Symp. of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Division, 269–284. New York: ASCE.
Vucetic, M., and R. Dobry. 1991. “Effect of soil plasticity on cyclic response.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 117 (1): 89–107. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1991)117:1(89).
Wang, R., and S. J. Brandenberg. 2013. “Beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation and modified neutral plane solution for calculating downdrag settlement.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 139 (9): 1433–1442. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000888.
Wang, R., S. J. Brandenberg, and J. Zhang. 2015. “Calculation method of axial force and settlement of pile foundation during foundation consolidation and reconsolidation.” Chin. J. Geotech. Eng. 37 (3): 512–518. https://doi.org/10.11779/CJGE201503015.
Wang, S., X. Lei, Q. Meng, J. Xu, M. Wang, and W. Guo. 2021. “Model tests of single pile vertical cyclic loading in calcareous sand.” Mar. Georesour. Geotechnol. 39 (6): 670–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/1064119X.2020.1744048.
Wu, J. 2002. “Liquefaction Triggering and post-Liquefaction deformation of Monterey 0/30 sand under unidirectional cyclic simple shear loading.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Berkeley.
Yoshimi, Y., and F. Kuwabara. 1973. “Effect of subsurface liquefaction on the strength of surface soil.” Soils Found. 13 (2): 67–81. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.13.2_67.
Youd, T. L., et al. 2001. “Liquefaction resistance of soils: Summary report from the 1996 NCEER and 1998 NCEER/NSF workshops on evaluation of liquefaction resistance of soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 127 (10): 817–833. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2001)127:10(817).
Ziotopoulou, K., S. K. Sinha, and B. L. Kutter. 2022. “Liquefaction-induced downdrag on piles: Insights from a centrifuge and numerical modeling program.” In Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Performance Based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. London: International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
Khosravi, M., J. T. DeJong, R. W. Boulanger, A. Khosravi, M. Hajialilue-Bonab, S. K. Sinha, and D. Wilson. 2022. “Centrifuge tests of cone-penetration test of layered soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 148 (4): 04022002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002716.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 9 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 12, 2022
Accepted: Apr 26, 2023
Published online: Jul 7, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 7, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Axial loads
- Continuum mechanics
- Design (by type)
- Dynamic loads
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Earthquake engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Foundations
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Load distribution
- Pile foundations
- Pile settlement
- Piles
- Seismic design
- Seismic loads
- Soil dynamics
- Soil liquefaction
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil settlement
- Solid mechanics
- Static loads
- Statics (mechanics)
- Structural design
- Structural dynamics
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.
Cited by
- Sumeet K. Sinha, Katerina Ziotopoulou, Bruce L. Kutter, Effects of Excess Pore Pressure Redistribution in Liquefiable Layers, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-11857, 150, 4, (2024).