Sheet Pile with Drainage Ability to Reduce Liquefaction-Induced Embankment Settlement
摘要
In urban areas, sheet piling is preferably employed in the remediation program for river levees against liquefaction-induced failure. It is often the case that sheet piling is not sufficient to maintain levees on liquefied foundation soil high enough to avoid overflooding. Sheet piles with additional members with drainage ability have been developed and used in practice, which is expected to have the combined effects of providing the lateral confinement by the sheet pile and facilitating dissipation of excess pore pressure from liquefiable soils below the levee. This paper describes a series of centrifuge tests to assess seismic settlement of levee and excess pore pressure in foundation soil enclosed with sheet piles with and without drainage ability. Effects of drainage ability were studied for wide range of permeability of liquefiable foundation soil. Experimental data were used to verify the validity of the pore pressure prediction procedure for soil below levees. It was confirmed that excess pore pressure in the sand bed (Δu) is quite sensitive in a small range of soil permeability above which Δu is high and practically constant irrespective of the sand permeability. The drainage ability of the sheet pile has a significant effect to decrease the permeability of the range, especially for smaller levees.