Centrifuge modeling of batter pile foundations in laterally spreading soil

Abstract

Batter piles are widely used in geotechnical engineering construction. Observations regarding the performance of batter piles in seismic hazards are controversial, and few studies have evaluated batter piles in liquefiable and laterally spreading ground. Three centrifuge experiments were performed to gain a better understanding of the performance of batter piles in liquefiable ground and to reveal the influence of the overlying nonliquefiable layer on the batter pile foundation design. The results reveal that for symmetrically placed batter piles, the bending moment of the front pile is greater than that of the rear pile, as a result of the liquefaction-induced lateral deformation in all three cases, and the bending moment reaches its maximum value at the middle of the pile. The presence of the overlying nonliquefiable dense sand layer reduces the potential for liquefaction and lateral spreading of the underlying ground, the settlement and bending moments of the batter piles.