Seismic behavior of piles-supported pier-superstructure to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading considering variability of soil permeability

This study characterizes the effect on different engineering demand parameters owing to lateral spreading caused by liquefaction. 1 g large-scale shaking table experiments were conducted along with efficient numerical simulations of the piles-supported pier-superstructure system response to strong earthquakes. An integrated nonlinear numerical method was established and evaluated with the results of the shake table experiments, and the seismic response characteristics of the system was discussed by combining the experimental and numerical results. The influence of the initial soil hydraulic conductivity on soil liquefaction was evaluated and the inertia and kinematic effects were evaluated employing cross-correlation analyses. The results indicated that soil softening diminished as the permeability coefficient increased, and consequently the lateral displacements of soil and superstructure decreased, and the superstructure acceleration demand increased. Increased permeability coefficient shifted the fragile location of the piles-supported pier-superstructure from the liquefiable soil bottom to the pier bottom. Finally, the inertial effect increased on pile curvature near pile head while the kinematic effect decreased as the permeability coefficient increased.