Pile Response to Lateral Spreads: Centrifuge Modeling

Abstract

The paper presents results of eight centrifuge models of vertical single piles and pile groups subjected to earthquake-induced liquefaction and lateral spreading. The centrifuge experiments, conducted in a slightly inclined laminar box subjected to strong in-flight base shaking, simulate a mild, submerged, infinite ground slope containing a 6-m-thick prototype layer of liquefiable Nevada sand having a relative density of 40%. Two- and three-layer soil profiles were used in the models, with a 2-m-thick nonliquefiable stratum placed below, and in some cases also above the liquefiable Nevada sand. The model piles had an effective prototype diameter,