CENTRIFUGE TESTS ON PILE FOUNDATION-STRUCTURE SYSTEMS AFFECTED BY LIQUEFACTION-INDUCED SOIL FLOW AFTER QUAY WALL FAILURE

Abstract

  The paper investigates experimentally the behavior of a structure-footing-four piles system under the action of seismic shaking causing liquefaction of a critical soil layer and subsequent soil flow towards a laterally displacing quay-wall. A series of innovative centrifuge tests explore in parametric fashion the role of this pile foundation in the response of the system. The response is recorded in 38 channels providing time histories of acceleration, displacement, excess pore water pressure, pile axial and bending strains, and earth pressure. The results provide significant quantitative information and qualitative insight on the behavior of this realistically complex soil-foundation-structure system.