A Study of the Effect of Soil Improvement Based on the Numerical Site Response Analysis of Natural Ground in Babol City

Asskar  Janalizadechoobbasti; Mehran  Naghizadeh rokni; Aida  Talebi

doi:10.4236/ojce.2016.62015

Asskar Janalizadechoobbasti, Mehran Naghizadeh rokni^*, Aida Talebi

Abstract: A series of numerical calculations have been performed to investigate the effect of soil improvement on seismic site response. Seismic site response analyses were also performed using data collected from a study area in Babol city. The improved site is a composite ground and has more or less different mechanical properties than the natural ground. In this research, the influence of the elastic modulus of the pile, the pile distance ratio, ground motion input, distance to fault rupture, and PGA of the earthquakes on seismic response characteristics are especially investigated. The results reveal that the values of the PGA and amplification factor on the surface of the natural and improved grounds depend strongly on the fundamental period of the site, the predominant period, and the intensity of the ground motion input. The acceleration response spectra also are affected by the characteristics of ground motion input and soil layers. Changing the pile distance ratio doesn’t have a significant effect on the seismic response of the site.

Keywords: Seismic Site Response, Amplification Factor, Acceleration Response Spectra, Soil Improvement, Pile, Numerical Analysis, Babol

Cite this paper: Janalizadechoobbasti, A. , Naghizadeh rokni, M. and Talebi, A. (2016) A Study of the Effect of Soil Improvement Based on the Numerical Site Response Analysis of Natural Ground in Babol City. Open Journal of Civil Engineering, 6, 163-178. doi: 10.4236/ojce.2016.62015.

References

[1] Rodriguez-Marek, A. (2000) Near-Fault Seismic Site Response. University of California, Berkeley.

[2] Aki, K. (1993) Local Site Effects on Weak and Strong Ground Motion. Tectonophysics, 218, 93-111.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(93)90262-I

[3] Safak, E. (2001) Local Site Effects and Dynamic Soil Behavior. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 21, 453-458.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0267-7261(01)00021-5

[4] Seed, H.B., Wong, R.T., Idriss, I.M. and Tokimatsu, K. (1986) Moduli and Damping Factors for Dynamic Analyses of Cohesionless Soils. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 112, 1016-1032.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1986)112:11(1016)

[5] Frankel, A. (1995) Mapping Seismic Hazard in the Central and Eastern United States. Seismological Research Letters, 66, 8-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.66.4.8

[6] Bouckovalas, G., Papadimitriou, A., Kondis, A. and Bakas, G. (2006) Equivalent-Uniform Soil Model for the Seismic Response Analysis of Sites Improved with Inclusions. Proceedings of 6th European Conference on Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering, Graz, 6-8 September 2006, 801-807.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781439833766.ch116

[7] Ge, G. and Liu, J.M. (2011) Effects of Ground Treatment on Site Seismic Response. 2011 International Conference on Consumer Electronics, Communications and Networks (CECNet), Xianning, 16-18 April 2011, 1198-1202.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/cecnet.2011.5769380

[8] Vucetic, M. and Dobry, R. (1991) Effect of Soil Plasticity on Cyclic Response. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 117, 89-107.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1991)117:1(89)

[9] Brinkgreve, R. and Vermeer, P. (1999) Plaxis: Finite Element Code for Soil and Rock Analyses: Version 7: [User’s Guide]. Balkema.

[10]
http://peer.berkeley.edu/smcat/search.html

[11] Papadimitriou, A., Bouckovalas, G., Vytiniotis, A. and Bakas, G. (2006) Equivalence between 2D and 3D Numerical Simulations of the Seismic Response of Improved Sites. 6th European Conference on Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering, Graz, 6-8 September 2006, 809-815.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781439833766.ch117

[12] Omine, K., Ochiai, H. and Bolton, M. (1999) Homogenization Method for NUMERICAL Analysis of Improved Ground with Cement-Treated Soil Columns. Proceedings of the International Conference on Dry Mix Methods for Deep Soil Stabilization, 161-168.

[13] Misra, A., Chen, C.H., Oberoi, R. and Kleiber, A. (2004) Simplified Analysis Method for Micropile Pullout Behavior. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 130, 1024-1033.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2004)130:10(1024)

[14] Tan, S.A., Tjahyono, S. and Oo, K. (2008) Simplified Plane-Strain Modeling of Stone-Column Reinforced Ground. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 134, 185-194.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2008)134:2(185)

[15] Zahmatkesh, A. and Choobbasti, A. (2010) Settlement Evaluation of Soft Clay Reinforced by Stone Columns, Considering the Effect of Soil Compaction. International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applied Sciences, 3, 159-166.

[16] Choobbasti, A.J., Saadati, M. and Tavakoli, H.R. (2012) Seismic Response of Pile Foundations in Liquefiable Soil: Parametric Study. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 5, 1307-1315.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12517-011-0291-x

[17] Zheng, J., Chen, B., Lu, Y., Abusharar, S. and Yin, J. (2009) The Performance of an Embankment on Soft Ground Reinforced with Geosynthetics and Pile Walls. Geosynthetics International, 16, 173-182.

[18] Guetif, Z., Bouassida, M. and Debats, J. (2007) Improved Soft Clay Characteristics Due to Stone Column Installation. Computers and Geotechnics, 34, 104-111.

[19] Towhata, I. (2008) Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin.

[20] Farrokhzad, F., Barari, A., Ibsen, L. and Choobbasti, A. (2011) Predicting Subsurface Soil Layering and Landslide Risk with Artificial Neural Networks: A Case Study from Iran. Geologica Carpathica, 62, 477-485.