Centrifuge modeling of mitigation-soil-foundation-structure interaction on liquefiable ground

Significant progress has been made in recent years toward a better understanding of the liquefaction phenomena. Yet, the combined effects of excess pore pressure generation, permanent soil deformation, and ground shaking, with and without mitigation, on the performance of the soil-foundation-structure system remain poorly understood. Moreover, there is a lack of physical model studies incorporating these important effects for a range of conditions to validate numerical models. This paper presents an experimental study of the performance of 3-story structures with shallow foundations on a saturated soil profile including a thin liquefiable layer. The influence of three different mitigation techniques was evaluated: 1) ground densification; 2) enhanced drainage with prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs); and 3) reinforcement with in-ground structural walls. Densification was observed to slightly reduce excess pore pressures and permanent foundation settlement and tilt, but amplified the demand transferred to the superstructure. Use of PVDs reduced permanent foundation settlement and rotation by reducing the duration of large excess pore pressures, but amplified roof accelerations and flexural drift. The performance of the stiff structural wall depended on the properties of the earthquake motion. During more intense, longer-duration motions, confining the soil and inhibiting flow inside the structural wall led to liquefaction, larger settlements, and larger translational and rotational accelerations on the foundation. In this case, the dissipation of seismic energy through additional foundation movements reduced the moment-rotation demand on the columns. These experimental results emphasize the importance of evaluating the potential tradeoffs of liquefaction mitigation, which may reduce settlement and sometimes tilt, but result in larger transient drifts and damage to the superstructure. •Centrifuge tests were designed and conducted on MDOF structures on liquefiable sand.•Effects of mitigation, site response, and structure properties were evaluated.•Soil densification reduced settlement slightly but amplified demand on columns.•Drainage reduced settlement and tilt but amplified accelerations and flexural drift.•Structural wall amplified transient rotation but reduced moment-rotation demand.