Title: Towards developing an engineering procedure for evaluating building performance on softened ground (NEES-2006-0224)

Year Of Curation: 2009

Description: Soil-foundation-structure-interaction (SFSI) plays a significant role in soil response and structure performance when ground softening occurs. Detailed documentation of the sequence of liquefaction, ground failure, and the resulting impacts on the performance of the structures is generally not available at key sites that have been affected by ground softening. Therefore, the connections between ground response and building response are not well understood. This is a necessary yet missing step in the development of advanced soil response models and building performance analytical procedures. In small-scale centrifuge test series, the input motion, surface motion, ground conditions, ground response, and structural response can be carefully documented and analyzed, which will enhance our understanding of ground failure and its resulting impacts on structures.A series of four centrifuge tests will be performed with the goal of generating well documented case histories of building response on liquefied ground. The centrifuge tests are investigating the relative importance of the thickness of the liquefiable soil layer and its void ratio, and the effects of different buildings and foundation conditions on the response of the liquefiable soils and building performance. The goal of this research project is to move beyond the practice of predicting free-field liquefaction to predictiing structure movements by considering the timing, sequence, and location of soil strength loss near constructed facilities.

Award: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0530714

PIs & CoPIs: Jonathan Bray

Dates: January 02, 2006 - March 18, 2009

Organizations: University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States,  University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Facilities: NEES, inc.,    University of California, Berkeley, CA,   United States,University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Sponsor: NSF - 0530714

Keywords: Softened ground,Centrifuge testing,Sand

Publications: 
M.F. Riemer, "Project overview"
M.F. Riemer, "Centrifuge Test Plan for Test Series SHD04"
M.F. Riemer, "Centrifuge Test Plan for Test Series SHD01"

• Jonathan Bray (2017), "Towards developing an engineering procedure for evaluating building performance on softened ground (NEES-2006-0224)," https://datacenterhub.org/deedsdv/publications/view/326.