Influence of Stone Columns on Seismic Response of Buildings Considering the Effects of Liquefaction

Abstract

In this paper, the behaviour of a soil-foundation system supported on a stone column-reinforced liquefiable soil strata is investigated through finite element analysis. The numerical analyses are performed on a five story reinforced concrete moment resisting building supported on a raft foundation. The influence of stone column slenderness ratio on liquefaction mitigation is studied by varying the length of stone columns at a constant area replacement ratio. The results are obtained based on the excess pore pressure, free-field soil settlement, foundation settlement, acceleration response, superstructure's inter-story drift, and lateral story displacement for each ground motion. The results showed that the liquefaction of free-field soil had a major impact on the foundation settlement and building lateral deformation. With the inclusion of stone columns, excess pore pressure ratio in the free-field region reduced considerably, which had immediate effects on the building's lateral deformation.