Effectiveness of Pile Reinforcement in Liquefied Ground

ABSTRACT

Installing reinforcement piles is an effective method to mitigate ground movement in liquefied soils. In this study, the effectiveness of the pile-reinforcement method is evaluated using an advanced finite element program OpenSeesPL. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate key parameters in the mitigation model, including pile area replacement ratio, pile diameters and pile-embedment length. The effectiveness of pile reinforcement to reduce large flow deformation in the liquefied ground is significantly influenced by the pile-embedment condition. It is recommended the embedment length is at least 1 m or 2 m if the underlying soil is a dense or a medium sand.

KEYWORDS:

• Liquefaction
• Pile Reinforcement
• Numerical Simulation
• Embedment Length
• Soil–Pile Interaction

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council [Grant Nos. 16213615, T22-603/15N] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 51639006], which are greatfully acknowledged.