Mitigation of liquefaction-induced uplift of underground structures by soil replacement methods

One of the leading causes for the damage of various underground structures during an earthquake is soil liquefaction, and among this liquefaction-induced uplift of these structures is a major concern. In this study, finite-difference modelling is carried out to study the liquefaction-induced uplift of an underground structure of 5 m diameter (D) with and without the replacement of the in-situ fine sand around the structure with the coarse sand. Soil replacements are carried out by three methods: replacement of soil above the structure, around the structure, and below the structure. The soil behaviour is represented using the elastic-perfectly plastic Mohr-Coulomb model, where the pore pressures were computed using Finn-Byrne formulation. The predicted pore pressure and uplift of the structure due to sinusoidal input motion were validated with the centrifuge tests reported in the literature. Based on numerical studies, an empirical equation is developed for the determination of liquefaction-induced maximum uplift of the underground structure without replacement of the in-situ sand. It is found that the replacement of soil around the structure with 2D width and spacing of D can reduce the maximum uplift by 50%.