Two-dimensional longitudinal dynamic response of two-units box culvert on a liquefiable ground

Abstract

During previous earthquakes in Japan, underground structures, particularly reinforced box culverts (RBCs), have frequently suffered from loss of serviceability, due to joint openings among multiple units of box culverts. This issue has been mainly reported on liquefiable grounds and soft grounds, suggesting that little attention has been paid to the seismic performance of the entire road embankment system. From the current study, joint openings were found to be higher in undrained conditions. This was influenced by high liquefaction levels at the middle joint of the culvert hence generating high stresses. Also, longer cyclic stress paths were noted for the undrained conditions generating very high strains beneath the culvert as compared to the drained conditions. Ground outside the culvert region behaved the same; in terms of liquefaction, accelerations, stress paths and stress-strain relationships; irrespective of the drainage condition.