Experimental and numerical study on seismic behavior of pile foundations utilizing sheet pile reinforcement in liquefied ground

摘要

Because of sudden reduction of the stiffness and the strength of the ground due to liquefaction during the earthquake, severe damages of foundation structures may be caused. A new seismic retrofit method for foundations, utilizing sheet piles as reinforce members, had been proposed as a method having excellent workability and economy. The reinforcement effect against liquefaction of this construction method was examined by model tests; however the structural reinforcing mechanism has not been explained. In this study, model vibration experiments are performed firstly, to confirm the improvement performance mechanism. Then, applicability of the prediction analysis method, using the 2D beam-spring system generally used for the practical design, is confirmed. Because of sufficient reproducibility of the experiment phenomena calculated by proposed method, it is verified that the reinforcement effects can be evaluated by the current design technique.