Liquefaction and reliquefaction mitigation of sand specimen treated with prefabricated vertical drains: An experimental investigation

Abstract

This study examines the performance of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) against liquefaction and reliquefaction. A series of 102 shakings were performed using 1g shaking table apparatus on untreated and treated sand specimens prepared with 25% relative density. Sinusoidal waveform experimented with three different repeated shaking patterns and independent events for two different frequencies (2 Hz and 3.5 Hz) with 1-min duration. Two different installation methods; drainage alone method (PVD-D) and drainage along with densification (PVD-DD) were experimented. Durability of PVD were examined from geotextile tensile testing apparatus and digital image correlation. These experiments demonstrated excellent durability characteristics of PVD filter even after exposed to repeated shakings. Treated specimens improved the resistance to reliquefaction due to radial drainage offered by PVD which has retarded the excess pore pressure (EPP) generation. In addition, densification induced during the installation of PVD also contributed for restricting EPP, however, the induced sand densification achieved during repeated shaking events were not responsible for increased resistance against liquefaction/reliquefaction. Results indicate that the maximum pore pressure ratio in treated specimens were restricted within threshold design limit (≤0.60) for most of the events, even when the untreated specimens completely liquefied or generated a maximum value near unity.