Numerical investigation for liquefaction mitigation of saturated sand stratum reinforced by fiber

Abstract

Fiber reinforcement effectively mitigates the liquefaction of saturated sand, which is confirmed by experiments. However, it is still unclear that the liquefaction mitigation effect of the reinforced saturated sand stratum. This study investigates the liquefaction mitigation of saturated sand stratum reinforced by fiber through finite element (FE) numerical simulation. Firstly, a series of strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests are conducted, and the triaxial test is modeled using open-source computational platform OpenSees. The constitutive model parameters of reinforced sand are calibrated based on the results of finished cyclic triaxial test. Then, a two-dimensional FE model of saturated sand stratum is created using the calibrated constitutive model parameters for different reinforced sands. Finally, the dynamic analysis is performed based on the created FE model, and the liquefaction mitigation of different reinforced sand strata is explored under earthquake excitation. The results show that fiber reinforcement plays an important role in mitigating pore water pressure and liquefaction-induced displacement in the sand stratum, and liquefaction mitigation effect increases with increasing fiber content. The investigation results will provide a valuable reference for the numerical simulation and engineering application of the liquefaction mitigation of reinforced saturated sand stratum.