Project Title/ID Number Foundation Loads Due to Spreading Ground—3F02
Start/End Dates 6/01/03 – 6/30/04
Project Leader Ahmed Elgamal (UCSD/F)
Team Members Liangcai He (UCSD/GS)

F=faculty; GS=graduate student; US=undergraduate student; PD=post-doc; I=industrial collaborator; O=other

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1. Project Goals/Objectives:

To participate in conducting large-scale shake-table experiments in NIED Japan on lateral-spreading liquefaction effects on piles and pile-groups.

2. Role of this project in supporting PEER’s mission (vision):

This project shed light on load and deformation mechanisms of deep foundation systems and will furnish valuable data for design purposes, and for numerical model calibration.

3. Methodology Employed:

Large 6 m high shake-table experiments are being conducted.

4. Brief Description of past year’s accomplishments (Year 6) & more detail on expected Year 7 accomplishments:

During 2003, two experiments were conducted with single pile and 2x2 pile group in the container. In one test, the liquefiable soil layer extended throughout the entire height. In the second test, the soil layer was overlain by a non-liquefiable layer that exerted additional loads on the pile and pile cap.

figure 1
NIED, Japan Layout of experiment and instrumentation (2003 series)

 

figure 2a     figure 2b
NIED, Japan Large-Scale (6m high, 12m long) lateral-spreading
Liquefaction Experiment (2003 test series)

 

Figure 3b     Figure 3b
NIED, Japan, Ground surface deformation around single
pile and 2x2 pile cap (2003 test series)

5. Other Similar Work Being Conducted Within and Outside PEER and How This Project Differs:

Similar work is being conducted on the RPI centrifuge and at a smaller scale on a UCSD 2m high model. This project allows for testing at near full-scale, so as to extract information, and allow comparison (calibration) of the centrifuge and small-scale shake-table modeling efforts.

6. Plans for Year 8 if project is expected to be continued:

During 2004, two more experiments will be conducted in Japan. We hope to conduct follow-up analysis efforts and national/international Workshops to disseminate the results, and engage involve researchers worldwide.

7. Describe any actual instances where you are aware your results have been used in industry:

 

8. Expected Milestones & Deliverables:

A report containing information on the 4 experiments and follow-up publications.

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