Seismic Soil Liquefaction Mitigation Using Stone Columns for Pile-supported Wharves

ABSTRACT

Stone columns (SCs) can reduce the seismic response of pile-supported wharves in liquefiable sites. A series of parametric studies were conducted to investigate the influence of SC diameter, SC space ratio, SC permeability, and typical earthquake characteristics on the seismic response of pile-support wharves and to assess the SC retrofit effect. The ratio of the SC space and diameter is found to play an important role in reducing the deck displacement. Based on the experimental results, the damage state of a pile support can be restricted to a potentially tolerable level using SCs in different liquefiable sites. Preliminary design suggestions are proposed for improving the seismic response of pile-supported wharves in earthquake-prone regions.

KEYWORDS:

• Retrofit effect
• stone column
• seismic performance
• pile-supported wharf
• liquefiable sites

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFE0205100), the National Major Scientific Instruments Development Project of China (Grant No. 41627801), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 51578195 and 41772315), and the Technology Research and Development Plan Program of Heilongjiang Province (Grant No. GA19A501).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).