ABSTRACT
Past earthquakes demonstrate that lateral spreading induced by liquefaction may cause excessive movement, and significant damage to structures and their underlying pile foundation. A 1-g shake-table series of experiments was conducted to investigate the mechanism of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading effects on pile foundations in mildly inclined ground. A single steel pipe pile of 25 cm diameter was tested under earthquake excitation in two different mildly inclined soil profiles of 2 and 4 degrees. The ground stratum was built of sand at about 1.8 m in height with a 1.1 m base saturated layer and an upper 0.7 m dry crust. For each inclination, data is employed to compare and assess peak pile response and soil behaviour pre- and post-liquefaction. Soil and pile lateral displacement as well as excess pore pressure are discussed. Such a pile-ground interaction mechanism is of consequence for analyses that correlate pile bending moments to the accumulated lateral soil deformation.
