A simplified approach for evaluation of seismic displacements of pile group located in soil slope

Abstract

Seismically induced slope movements have imposed severe damage on the pile-supported structures located on soil slopes during past earthquakes. Consequently, evaluation of the lateral seismic response of pile-slope systems is an important measure towards safe design of pile groups. However, since the codes and techniques used in seismic design of pile groups for engineering purposes are neither practical nor easily accessible, it is difficult to employ them consistently in design procedures. Therefore, simplified approaches are required for pile design application. This paper presents a novel approach that practitioners can use to quickly evaluate the seismic displacements of pile-groups in soil slope. Such an approach is based on the reasonable and practical relationship found between the pseudo-static safety factor of pile-slope system and seismic displacements of pile groups. In order to explore this relationship, a parametric study was performed and a dimensional analysis was carried out to study the results of the relationship and achieve the dimensionless chart. Thus, the conclusions of this study are intended to provide practitioners with some practical guidelines such as low calculation efforts, and to incorporate the relationship between slope safety factor and pile group displacements into the design process.

Keywords

• pile group
• soil slope
• pseudo-static approach
• pile-slope system
• safety factor