Performance assessment of composite skirted ground reinforcement system in liquefiable ground under repeated dynamic loading conditions

Abstract

Occurrence of earthquake generates both horizontal and vertical ground motions. In saturated sands, combination of generated ground motions and pore water pressures induces soil liquefaction. In this study, a composite skirted ground reinforcement system was developed to mitigate generation of pore water pressure in liquefiable soils and also to attenuate incoming ground motions to the foundation. The composite system contains Poly Urethane foam as an isolation barrier for ground motion attenuation with stone columns for improving both soil densification and drainage. The performance of this composite reinforcement system was evaluated under repeated acceleration loading conditions to estimate its efficiency. For testing, saturated ground model having 40% and 60% relative density was prepared and investigated with and without the composite reinforcement system. Test results showed that, the developed skirted ground reinforcement system effectively mitigates the interaction of incoming ground motions with the foundation and also improves the re-liquefaction resistance of soil compared to that of unreinforced ground.

Numerical Analysis on the Behavior of Floating Geogrid-Encased Stone Column Improved Foundation

“…The stone column was widely used in geotechnics engineering to improve the weak foundation due to the good drainage [1], mitigating liquefaction [2], and increasing bearing capacity [3]. The geosynthetic-encased stone column (ESC) solved the insufficient lateral confinement of ordinary stone column (OSC) because of the excellent tensile-resistant of geosynthetic material [4][5][6].…”