A Preliminary Study of Soil-Structure Interaction in Liquefied Ground using 1-g Shaking Table Tests

Abstract

In bridge or large building projects, pile foundation design is commonly used to resist liquefaction. However, due to the complex mechanism of soil liquefaction, liquefiable soil layers are often addressed in practical design by reducing the modulus and strength of soil as seismic design parameters for pile foundations in the liquefied ground. Therefore, developing reasonable reduction factors becomes a major concern in geotechnical engineering. This study investigates the dynamic response of the single-pile-supported structures with different fundamental vibration periods (T=1.0 s and T=0.3 s) in liquefied soil layers during seismic motion. A series of 1g shaking table tests were performed to study the behavior of soil-pile-superstructure interaction during liquefaction, to clarify this complex mechanism, and to evaluate the seismic performance of pile foundations in liquefied soil layers. This paper provides a detailed description of the apparatus installation, model design, and input motion. Additionally, the preliminary test results are demonstrated and would be discussed.