Abstract
The object of this study is to develop an understanding of pile foundation response in a liquefiable soil deposit during strong earthquake. Dynamic centrifuge tests were performed under a centrifugal acceleration of 45g on a pile foundation model with a four-pile group embedded in saturated fine sand. Centrifuge test results indicate that pile responses including maximum pile bending moments are greatly affected by soil liquefaction. Pile bending moments induced by the inertial and kinematic interactions during earthquake are investigated. The proposed numerical model which consists of beam elements and nonlinear interaction springs, taking into account the changing effective stress are confirmed to predict effectively the pile foundation responses in liquefied soil. A practical analytical method to evaluate pile maximum bending moments are also verified by comparing with test results.
