Behavior of Sheet Pile Quay Wall Stabilized by Sea-Side Ground Improvement in Dynamic Centrifuge Tests

Sea-side ground improvement is one of the techniques used for increasing seismic stability of sheet pile quay wall. A series of centrifuge shaking table test is conducted to investigate the seismic behavior of sheet pile quay wall stabilized with sea-side cement deep mixing (CDM). At 50 g centrifugal acceleration, the clay ground is consolidated and four to five stages of shaking are applied to the quay wall. The recorded input-output accelerations, deflection of the quay wall, earth pressures along depth and pore pressures were used to evaluate the behavior of the stabilized sheet pile quay wall. The results indicated that an improved area provides significant resistance against seismic loading. The ground improvement can reduce 30% to 60% bending moment during the seismic loading. The horizontal deflection of the quay wall decreases rapidly with increase in area of the CDM until it reaches a certain limit. Prediction by the numerical model agrees fairly well with the results of centrifuge model tests.