Analysis of Factors Affecting Railway Embankment Settlement due to Liquefaction Using 1-g Shaking Table Model Tests

Abstract

Herein, 1-g shaking table tests were performed under test by changing the embankment height and non-liquefiable layer thickness below the embankment for the same input seismic load. Accelerometers, pore water pressure transducers, and linear variable differential transformers were embedded inside the foundation ground or installed on the embankment surface to measure their responses to shaking. The testing procedure for analyzing the behavior of a two-dimensional embankment-ground system and well-documented experimental data are presented. The results show that the settlement of the railway embankment placed on the liquefiable sand ground due to ground liquefaction is greatly affected by the embankment height and non-liquefaction layer thickness, which determine the degree of liquefaction and lateral flow of the foundation ground. The embankment settlement increased with the embankment height due to the liquefaction of the ground and increased by twice the settlement of the ground without embankment when the embankment height was approximately 20% of the total liquefiable sand layer. Moreover, the settlement was reduced by over 20% compared to that without a layer when the layer thickness was 50% of the embankment height. Furthermore, the settlement decreased to a negligible level when it was approximately 1.4 times the height of the embankment.