Response of soil–pile–superstructure–quay wall system to lateral displacement under horizontal and vertical earthquake excitations

Abstract

The excess pore water pressure (EPWP) generated under the combined vertical and horizontal earthquake excitations is generally greater than that under the unidirectional excitation, which may further affect the dynamic response of soil-pile-superstructure-quay wall (SPSQ) system. This study conducted a coupled effective-stress analysis for the response of SPSQ system to liquefaction-induced lateral displacement under horizontal and vertical earthquake excitations. To accurately describe the lateral displacement behind the quay wall, the liquefaction behavior of soils was described by a modified generalized plasticity model with parameters properly determined from laboratory tests. The numerical model of the SPSQ system was validated against the previously reported centrifuge model tests. The results show that the earthquake excitation with abundant low-frequency component causes greater residual lateral displacements of footing (ux,RF) and quay wall (ux,RQ ) than that with abundant high-frequency component. The ux,RF and ux,RQ tend to increase as the peak vertical acceleration increases for both vertical and inclined piles. Increasing the fixity of the quay wall significantly reduces the influence of vertical ground motion on the ux,RF and ux,RQ. The polarity reversal of the vertical ground motion also has a significant effect on the ux,RF and ux,RQ and should be considered in the analyses. In addition, the lateral displacement of liquefied ground causes an amount of rotation of the cap of the inclined pile, probably leading to the potential shear failure at the head of piles.

Effect of inclined pile on seismic response of bridge abutments undergoing liquefaction—Induced lateral displacement: Case study of Nishikawa bridge in the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake

“…A generalized plasticity model, named Pastor-Zienkiewicz Mark-Ⅲ (PZ) (Pastor et al, 1990), with some modifications by Cai et al (2002) was adopted for the soils (Xu et al, 2023). Normally, the parameters for the PZ model were calibrated from either laboratory tests (e.g., cyclic triaxial undrained test) or in-situ tests.…”

“…The safety of the soil-pile -bridge system is a primary concern in the engineering practice (Gerolymos et al, 2008;Cubrinovski et al, 2014;Qu et al, 2018a;Qu et al, 2018b;Qu et al, 2019). Liquefaction-induced lateral displacement has caused much damage to the piled abutment of bridges in the past earthquakes, such as the 1991 Costa Rica Earthquake, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake (Gerolymos et al, 2008;Cubrinovski et al, 2014; National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management of Japan, Public Works Research Institute of Japan, 2014; Tazohb et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2023). It is reported that the inclined piles are more effective than vertical piles in restricting lateral displacements of superstructures subjected to liquefaction induced lateral displacement.…”

Modification of the Reloading Plastic Modulus in Generalized Plasticity Models for Soil by Introducing a New Equation for the Memory Parameter in Cyclic Loadings

“…Accordingly, in recent decades, many researchers in the field of geotechnical engineering have tried to propose and develop suitable and relatively accurate constitutive models to appropriately show the behavior of soils (see, for example, [1][2][3][4]). On the other hand, one of the situations that may result in the failure of structures is related to dynamic and cyclic loading of soils and the related problems, such as liquefaction observed during earthquakes [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Therefore, in addition to precise simulation of the soil behavior under monotonic loadings, a suitable constitutive model for the soil behavior under cyclic loadings is essential.…”

Exploration of the slope effect on the uplift capacity of single straight and belled piles supporting transmission towers

“…Because of the variability in the direction of winds, the pile foundations of transmission towers could be subjected to uplift, compression, and horizontal loads. (Xu et al, 2023;Xu et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2017a;Qu et al, 2018b). In the engineering design, the uplift capacity is one of the significant factors to be considered for the pile of transmission towers.…”