Seismic behaviour of pile in three-layered soil (case study: Babol City Center Project)

The significance of liquefaction-related damage to pile foundations has been clearly demonstrated by the major earthquakes occurring during past years. The current project investigates the seismic behaviour of a single pile in the three-layered soil of the Babol City centre site (located in Babol City, Mazandaran Province, Iran). The site soil consists of sandy and clayey soils modelled based on the data collected from drilled boreholes. Numerical analysis was performed using Flac2D finite difference program. Three different natural ground motion records are considered, and the influence of each earthquake on the bending moment and lateral displacement of the simulated pile is investigated. In addition, the effect of vertical surcharge on the settlement of the pile during the earthquakes is investigated. Results illustrate that the maximum bending moment has occurred on the interface of liquefiable and non-liquefiable soil layers.