Evaluation of pile foundation response to lateral spreading

The effects of liquefaction on deep foundations are very damaging and costly, and they keep recurring in many earthquakes. The first part of the paper reviews the field experience of deep foundations affected by liquefaction during earthquakes in the last few decades, as well as the main lessons learned. The second part of the paper presents results of physical modeling of deep foundations in the presence of liquefaction conducted by the authors and others at the 100g-ton RPI centrifuge. In the last decade centrifuge modeling has been identified as a key tool to identify and quantify mechanisms, calibrate analyses and evaluate retrofitting strategies for pile foundations. Results are presented of centrifuge models of instrumented pile foundations subjected to lateral spreading, including single pile and pile groups, 2- and 3-layer soil profiles, mass and stiffening elements above ground to incorporate the effect of the superstructure, and evaluation of proposed retrofitting strategies. Interpretations of these centrifuge experiments and their relation to field observations and soil properties.