Journal of Testing and Evaluation

doi:10.1520/JTE20160122 / Vol. 45 / No. 1 / January 2017 / available online at www.astm.org

F. Huang,1 H. Qian,2 Y. Zhuang,3 C. Fu4

Experimental Study on the Dynamic

Response of PHC Pipe-Piles in Liquefiable Soil

Reference
Huang, F., Qian, H., Zhuang, Y., Fu, C., “Experimental Study on the Dynamic Response of PHC Pipe-Piles in
Liquefiable Soil,” Journal of Testing and Evaluation, Vol. 45, No. 1, 2017, pp. 230–241, http://dx.doi.org/
10.1520/JTE20160122. ISSN 0090-3973

ABSTRACT

Manuscript received March 3, 2016; Shaking-table testing of seismic performance and dynamic interaction of prestressed high-
accepted for publication November 2, strength concrete (PHC) pipe-piles in saturated soils and unsaturated soils was conducted
2016; published online December 22,
2016.
using a series of sine waves, typical earthquake waves, as well as artificial ground motions
based on in situ measurements. The presented test results, involving the time history of
1
College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou
Univ., Xueyuan Road, Qishan New
water pore pressure ratio and the responding displacement related to soil liquefaction,
Campus, University Town, Fuzhou City, indicated that the natural frequency of soil-pile system decreased because of gradual
Fujian Province, 350105, China,
degradation of soil and pile shift. Moreover, the peak displacement responses of piles in
e-mail: Huangfuyun@fzu.edu.cn
saturated soil were larger than the peak displacements in unsaturated soil. In addition,
2
College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou
prestressing in pile was beneficial to the resistance of pile damage or degradation. These
Univ., Xueyuan Road, Qishan New
Campus, University Town, Fuzhou City, experimental results were able to calibrate FE models and to provide a database for seismic
Fujian Province, 350108, China, design of PHC pipe-piles.
e-mail: 350635311@qq.com

3
College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou
Keywords
Univ., Xueyuan Road, Qishan New
Campus, University Town, Fuzhou City, prestressed high-strength concrete (PHC) pipe-pile, liquefiable soil, seismic performance, shaking-table
Fujian Province, 350108, China testing, failure model, pore pressure ratio
(Corresponding author),
e-mail: 478372092@qq.com

4
College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou
Univ., Xueyuan Road, Qishan New
Campus, University Town, Fuzhou City,
Fujian Province, 350108, China, Introduction
e-mail: 834270478@qq.com
In the past three decades, many studies have been performed to extensively evaluate the effect of
liquefaction of saturated soil on the seismic behaviors of soil-pile-structure [1–4]. Nowadays, stud-
ies on soil-pile-structural interaction and dynamic response become very popular by means of
shake-tables [5–7]. Motamed et al. [8] conducted a large shaking-table test on a pile group and the
response to liquefaction of lateral spreading was observed. Tang and Ling [9] and Su et al. [10]

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 HUANG ET AL. ON PHC PIPE-PILES IN LIQUEFIABLE SOIL 231

carried out a shaking-table test on RC pile group considering TABLE 1 Similarity relationships of scaled models in shaking table
the soil liquefaction, and the liquefaction was observed when test.

the ratio of water pore pressure was over 0.6. Hokmabadi et al. Physical Similarity Ratios of
[11,12] presented a method of physically modeling of seismic Quantities Parameters Similitude
soil-pile-structures for buildings, and assessed the influence of Physical Dimension l Sl 0.31
soil–pile–structure interaction on seismic response of mid-rise Elasticity Modulus E SE 1.00
buildings sitting on a floating pile foundation. Lombardi and Displacement u Su ¼ Sl 0.31
Bhattacharya [13] evaluated the seismic performance of four Initial density q0 Sp0 1.00
pile-supported models in liquefiable soils using shake table. Pseudo-density with inertial mass q Sq 3.23
Durante et al. [14] discussed the outcomes from an extensive Stress r Sr ¼ SE 1.00
1=2
Time t St ¼ Sl SE S1=2 0.31
experimental campaign by carrying out on scaled models using q
Acceleration a Sa ¼ SE S1 1
q Sl 1.00
shake table in University of Bristol, UK. 1=2
Frequency x Sw ¼ S1 1=2
l SE Sq 3.23
Prestressed high-strength concrete (PHC) pipe-pile is a
relatively economic type of pile foundation that has been widely
used in coastal soft-soil areas of China due to its high axial acceleration for design, site classification III, and 0.55 s charac-
bearing capacity, convenience of construction, and consistent teristic period of response spectra. The scaled PHC pipe-piles
quality [15]. However, it belongs to a class of thin-walled con- are based on PHC-A type with 500 mm diameter and C80 con-
crete members with weak flexural capacity and shear resistance crete. Due to space limitations, this paper contains only part of
[16]. The damage of PHC pipe-piles by construction and earth- the experimental results, while responses of acceleration, soil
quake limits the use of PHC pipe-piles in liquefiable soil per pressure, strains as well as numerical modeling will be presented
design code for building foundations in Fujian Province, China separately.
[17]. Nevertheless, there are still a number of PHC pipe-piles
that have been used in liquefiable soil areas, which should be
paid more attention. In particular, research is necessary to Experimental Model
understand its response in liquefiable soil during earthquakes.
Some studies on seismic performance of PHC pipe-piles DESIGN OF PHC MODEL PILE
have been conducted in recent years. Nagae and Hayashi [18] The diameter of prototype of PHC pipe-piles in practical engi-
conducted static tests on PHC pipe-piles, and the influence of neering is 500 mm. Three similarity relationships of geometric
residual stress on axial bearing capacity. Chung et al. [19] car- dimension, elastic modulus, and initial density were selected
ried out low-cycle reversed loading tests and studied the influ- as the basically similitude ratios. Meanwhile, considering the
ence of reinforcement on the energy-dissipating capacity of load-carrying capacity and the size limitation of shaking table,
PHC pipe-piles. Rong et al. [20] studied the influence of pile the diameter of three scaled PHC pipe-piles are 155 mm; thus
type, stirrup spacing and diameter on the seismic performance the geometric ratio of similitude Sl is 0.31(155 mm/500 mm).
and bearing capacity of PHC pipe-pile. Gao [21] examined the The materials are identical to prototype; thus the similitude
influence of pile diameters, including effective pre-stressed and ratios of elastic modulus SE and initial density Spo are 1.00.
non-prestressed rebar on seismic performance of PHC pipe- In order to fully satisfy the dynamic similarity relationships
piles. Sun and Liu [22] and Li et al. [23] tested scaled PHC and complement the lack of weight of scaled models, very heavy
pipe-piles made of organic glass under shaking-table conditions man-made masses (inertial mass, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5)
and researched the seismic response of PHC pipe-pile consider- were mounted to the pile head based on the weight of the proto-
ing the soil-pile interaction. However, low-cycle reversed-load- type structure. Finally, the new pseudo-density Sp with inertial
ing tests of scaled piles made of glass or any other material mass was 3.23. The ratios of similitude are shown in Table 1.
cannot reflect real response and damage accurately. It lacks All three scaled PHC pipe-piles were 2.75 m long with
response data on PHC pipe-piles in earthquake, thus more 155 mm pile diameter and 52.5 mm wall thickness (Table 1).
shaking-table test on PHC pipe-piles need to be done [24].
As part of a PHC pipe-pile foundation project for high-rise
FIG. 1 Reinforcement of scaled PHC pipe-pile.
buildings in Fuzhou city, China, 3 scaled PHC pipe-piles in sat-
urated soil with large counterweights were tested on shaking-
table, and the dynamic characteristics and responses of these
PHC pipe-piles are studied with a focus on soil-pile interaction
in this paper. In addition, the responses of displacement and
pore water pressure are presented. Fuzhou City is set in the
region of fortification intensity 7 with a 0.1 g earthquake

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232 Journal of Testing and Evaluation

TABLE 2 Parameters of scaled PHC pipe-piles.

Stretching Effective Inertial Mass at Diameter Thickness Stirrup

Number Force (T) Pre-stress (MPa) Pile Head (Tons) (mm) (mm) Spacing (mm)
PHC-1 0.00 0.0 3.0 155 52.5 60
PHC-2 0.25 3.6 3.0 155 52.5 60
PHC-3 0.50 7.2 3.0 155 52.5 60

TABLE 3 Parameters of testing soil. According to the cumulative curve of grain composition of
mud and sand, it is known that d60 and d10 are equal to 0.57
Moisture Density Void Cohesion Internal Friction
and 0.18 mm, respectively (as shown in Fig. 2), which means the
Content x (%) (g/cm3) Ratio (kPa) Angle U ( )
middle grain size accounts for a larger proportion. In addition,
26.2 1.8 0.7 53.4 14.2
the non-uniform coefficient Cu of 3.17 (<5), which means a
good uniformity for the soil.
Each model pile was made of C80 concrete, with six 7-wire
(U11.1 mm) pre-stressed strands and U6 mm spiral hoops just
as shown in Fig. 1. The shaking-table test was conducted at
Fuzhou University. The parameters of scaled PHC pile-piles FIG. 3 Sensors arrangement, (a) Strain gauges and displacement meters, (b)
Accelerometers and pressure cells.
are listed in Table 2, and their details of design are presented in
Ref. [24].

CONTAINER AND SOIL

The container (steel soil box) in the experiment was cylindrical
in shape, with a diameter of 1.5 m, 2.5 m high, and with 10 mm
wall thickness. During the test, the soil box was held rigidly to
the shaking-table by high-strength bolts. In addition, in order to
reduce the wave reflection from the rigid boundary, the inner
wall was covered with 5 cm thick PE foam.
In order to achieve liquefaction of soil, the surface of soil
was covered a layer of clay above sand to get confining pressure
(as shown in Fig. 3). The thickness of the clay was 0.35 m, while
that of sand was 2.1 m. Water content of the soil was tested
by drying method, and other soil parameters were shown in
Table 3.

FIG. 2 Cumulative curve of grain composition.

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 HUANG ET AL. ON PHC PIPE-PILES IN LIQUEFIABLE SOIL 233

FIG. 4 Input ground motions and corresponding spectrums for (a) Chi-chi wave, (b) El Centro wave and (c) artificial wave with 0.0414 g.

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234 Journal of Testing and Evaluation

TABLE 4 Cases for shaking table test.

Conditions Cases Seismic Waves Soil Types PGAs

Condition 1 1–4 Sine wave(1/2/4/6 Hz) Unsaturated soil 0.0414 g
5–8 Chi-Chi wave 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g
9–12 El wave 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g
13–16 Artificial wave 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g

Condition 2 1–4 Sine wave(1/2/4/6/8 Hz) Saturated soil 0.0414 g

5–8 Chi-chi 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g
9–17 El wave 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g, 0.2070 g, 0.2484 g, 0.2898 g, 0.3312 g, 0.3726 g
18–26 Artificial wave 0.0414 g, 0.0828 g, 0.1242 g, 0.1656 g, 0.2070 g, 0.2484 g, 0.2898 g, 0.3312 g, 0.3726 g

Sensors and Loading

SENSORS
Strain Gauges
FIG. 5 Shaking-table test of PHC pipe-pile. The locations and arrangements for all transducers were shown
in Fig. 3. Strain gauges were marked with symbol of black box
“n,” and were installed at eight key sections for each pile with
sign of “S.” The first layer was placed with two sections (the top
layer of S8 and S9, and the bottom layer of S7 and S10, respec-
tively) separated by 350mm. In the second layer (sand), six sec-
tions were evenly placed at 350 mm intervals (S1-S6 and S11-
S16), and each section strain gauge was symmetrically placed
along the direction of length.

Accelerometers
For the study of acceleration response characteristics of the
entire superstructure-pile-soil system, 13 acceleration sensors
were employed in this experiment. One sensor (A1) was
installed on the shaking-table for comparison with input excita-
tion; the pile was arranged with five acceleration sensors
(A2–A6) along depth direction; the superstructure was
equipped with two sensors (A7, A8) along the vibration direc-
tion; and the five other acceleration sensors (A9–A13) were

FIG. 6 Fundamental frequency and damping ratio under El Centro wave.

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 HUANG ET AL. ON PHC PIPE-PILES IN LIQUEFIABLE SOIL 235

FIG. 7
Displacement of pile-head under sine wave, in
unsaturated soil (a), in saturated soil (b).

arranged along the embedded depth direction to obtain the far- each had nine levels of excitation, from 0.0414 to 0.3726 g
field acceleration of the soil. (1A–9A) with step of 0.0414 g. The acceleration 0.0414 g is sim-
ply named “1A,” and thus “2A” means 0.0828 g, etc. At each
Pressure Cells and Displacement Meters step of PGA, white noise scanning was adopted to measure
The liquefaction of sand was judged by pore water pressure dynamic characteristics of the pile-soil system and to identify
ratio and its macroscopic phenomena in this experiment. the damage degree. The detail cases for shaking table test were
Therefore, pressure cells of pore water were employed. Six earth listed in Table 4.
pressure gauges (T1–T6) were selected and arranged along the Based on the Chinese Seismic Code [25], the PGA 0.0414 g
pile. As the number of devices is limited, only three pore water is corresponding to VII intensity of frequent earthquake, 0.0828
pressure gauges (K1–K3) and two displacement meters (D1 and g is corresponding to VIII intensity of frequent earthquake,
D2) were arranged vertically at pile head and bottom, respec- whereas the PGAs 0.1242, 0.2484, and 0.3726 g are correspond-
tively. The arrangement of sensors is shown in Fig. 3 with vari- ing to VI intensity, VII intensity, and VIII intensity of rare
ous symbols for better understanding and clarity, such as solid earthquakes, respectively. In addition, in order to be integral
circles, solid triangle, et al. and also cover these intensities, a sequence of testing cases from
1A to 9A with an increment of “1A” is conducted in the shaking
LOADING table just as listed in Table 4. The in situ testing photo was
Loading Excitations shown in Fig. 5.
Sine wave input was used to identify the general dynamic per-
formance. Typical earthquake waves Chi-chi and El-Centro, as
well as an artificial wave, were selected as the input excitations Experimental Results
compressed by the time scale factor, just as shown in Fig. 4. The
artificial wave was generated from the seismic response DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
spectrum based on in situ data and Chinese code [25]. The Through white noise excitation, the acceleration response of the
PHC-2 and PHC-3 piles were covered with overlying clay, while PHC soil-pile-superstructure system was measured in each
the PHC-1 piles without overlying clay [24]. loading case, and the fundamental frequency was then obtained
by the fast Fourier transform (FFT). It was found that the fun-
Loading Cases damental frequencies of PHC-1 in Condition 1 and Condition 2
The loading system for the piles PHC-1, PHC-2, and PHC-3 were 3.14 and 2.28 Hz, respectively, while those of PHC-2 in
were identical. In order to study the effect of liquefaction, each Condition 1 and Condition 2 were, respectively, 3.27 and
case involved unsaturated soil first (Condition 1) and then satu- 2.65 Hz, and of PHC-3, 3.57 and 3.13 Hz, respectively.
rated soil (Condition 2). Condition 1 had 16 cases and Condi- By comparison among the three piles, it can be seen that
tion 2 had 26 cases, respectively, for each pile. Cases 1–4 were the different soil conditions (Condition 1 and Condition 2)
excited with the sine waves of peak ground acceleration (PGA) have obviously different natural frequencies for the soil-pile sys-
of 0.0414g (1A) and with various frequencies of 1, 2, 4, and tem, which is much less in saturated soil than in unsaturated
6 Hz to identify the basic dynamic behavior. Cases 5–8 were soil (e.g., 2.28 < 3.14 Hz, 2.65 < 3.27 Hz, and 3.13 < 3.57 Hz).
excited with the Chi-Chi wave with the peak acceleration from The soil condition has a great influence on dynamic behavior
0.0414 to 0.1656 g (1A–4A), which mainly identified the elastic of the PHC pipe-pile model. Furthermore, the larger prestress
responses. For the peak acceleration of El Centro wave and arti- in PHC pipe-piles results in the larger natural frequency of the
ficial wave, they had the remaining 18 cases (Cases 9–26), and soil-pile system (e.g., 3.14 < 3.27 < 3.57 Hz and 2.28 < 2.65

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236 Journal of Testing and Evaluation

FIG. 8 Displacement versus PGA in saturated soil and unsaturated soil, of FIG. 9 Curves of PHC-1 pore pressure ratio under sine wave, K1(a), K2(b),
PHC-1(a), PHC-2 (b), of PHC-3 (c). K3(c).

< 3.13 Hz). The existence of prestress can increase the basic fre-
quency of the soil-pile system and mitigate the damage.
The relationship between natural frequencies and damping
ratios of PHC-1, PHC-2, and PHC-3 pipe-piles versus peak
ground accelerations (PGA) of excitation (from 0.0404 to
0.3726 g or 1A to 9A) are shown in Fig. 6. Only the results in
saturated soil (Condition 2) under the El Centro earthquake are
presented here. From Fig. 6, we can see that with the increase of
PGA, the fundamental frequency of the model was gradually
reduced by up to nearly 50 %, which means the piles had been
damaged greatly, especially for PHC-1. In addition, the damp-
ing ratio gradually increased for PHC-1, PHC-2, and PHC-3.
The reason is that the increasing vibration raised pore water

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 HUANG ET AL. ON PHC PIPE-PILES IN LIQUEFIABLE SOIL 237

FIG. 10 Curves of PHC-2 pore pressure ratio under sine wave, K1(a), K2(b), FIG. 11 Curves of PHC-1 pore pressure ratio under artificial wave, K1(a),
K3(c). K2(b), K3(c).

are a little different. Their peak displacements are significantly

larger than those in unsaturated soil, especially for PHC-1.
Their lateral displacement are 2.50, 1.75, and 1.71 mm in unsat-
pressure, which decreased and softened the dynamic shear urated soil condition, respectively, while they are 10.20, 3.40,
strength and dynamic shear modulus of soil. and 2.75 mm in saturated soil condition. Comparing them with
each other, it can be found that the prestress and soil condition
DISPLACEMENT RESPONSE OF PILE HEAD (unsaturated or saturated) have much influence on the displace-
The lateral displacement response of the pile head was mea- ment response of the soil-pile system. The liquefaction can
sured by two displacement meters at the top and bottom of the increase the displacement response of piles, while prestressing
PHC pipe-pile. Thus, the difference between these two displace- can significantly decrease them.
ments can be deemed as the relative displacement of the pile. Fig. 8 shows the relationship between PGAs and peak lateral
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between lateral peak displace- displacements in saturated soil and unsaturated soil under three
ment of pile-head and frequency of sinusoidal excitation in seismic motions of Chi-chi wave (Cases 5–8), El Centro wave
unsaturated or saturated soil (loading cases 1  4). From Fig. 7a, (Cases 9–17), and artificial wave (Cases 18–26).
it can be seen that, when the frequency of the sine wave From Fig. 8, it can be seen that the lateral peak displace-
approaches the natural frequency of pile-superstructure system, ments (dotted line) are basically linear with the increment of
the lateral displacement responses are most obvious in unsatu- PGA of input seismic waves when PGAs are below 0.1656 g
rated soil. Nevertheless, the responses of piles in saturated soil (4A) in unsaturated soil, which means that the PHC piles

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238 Journal of Testing and Evaluation

FIG. 12 Curves of PHC-1 pore pressure ratio under El Centro wave, K1(a), FIG. 13 Curve of PHC-2 pore pressure ratio under artificial wave, K1(a),
K2(b), K3(c). K2(b), K3(c).

performed a favorable seismic performance and strong resis-

tance even under the impact VII rare earthquake. The peak dis-
placement responses are less than 10 mm in unsaturated soil finally occurred after continuously increasing the PGA. A large
when PGA is 4A, and it is clearly found that the larger pre- crack was observed in the pile after it was removed from soil
stressing ratio the PHC has, the less the lateral displacement [24]. Nevertheless, prestressing PHC-2 and PHC-3 can perform
that will be induced. a favorable seismic behavior and can decrease the response dis-
By comparing the responses of lateral displacement (solid placement greatly.
line and dot line) in saturated soil and unsaturated soil in Fig. 8
(below 4A), it can be found that the former respond nearly two RESPONSE OF PORE PRESSURE RATIO
times of the latter. After continuing to excite ground motions Figs. 9 and 10 are pore pressure ratio time-history curves of
with larger PGA (over 4A), the peak displacement increased PHC-1 and PHC-2 under different frequencies of sine waves at
quickly and began to behave nonlinearly because of soil soften- different depths of soil, where K1 was located at a depth of
ing in the condition of saturated soil. Therefore, it indicates that 0.5 m, K2 at 0.9 m, and K3 at 1.3 m. From Fig. 9, it can be seen
the lateral displacement of saturated sand can be significantly that the distribution of pore pressure ratios was basically similar
affected when soil is liquefied (pore pressure ratio is over 0.5). under sine waves of 0.0414 g with different frequencies. The
Furthermore, the responding displacements under the artificial pore pressure ratio increased to a maximum very quickly as
wave are more obvious than those under the El Centro wave. excitation was applied, and then was sustained for a period of
The PHC-1 without prestressing damaged at 6A (0.2484g) time until decreasing to zero. Its duration was far larger than
when the lateral peak displacement was over 50mm and failure that of the input excitation.

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 HUANG ET AL. ON PHC PIPE-PILES IN LIQUEFIABLE SOIL 239

FIG. 14 Curve of PHC-2 pore pressure ratio under El Centro wave, K1(a), FIG. 15 Pore pressure ratio with the increment of PGA, K1(a), K2(b), K3(c).
K2(b), K3(c).

The pore pressure ratios at different depths increased grad-

ually from pile top to pile bottom. The main reason is that the
pore water pressure at the upper layer was more easily dis-
charged than that in deeper soil. With increasing of frequency
of the sine waves, the pore pressure ratio was decreased because
the faster frequency causes quicker dissipation. Comparing
Figs. 9 to 10, it can be found that the pore pressure ratio for
PHC-2 is slightly larger than that of PHC-1. The reason is that
PHC-2 was covered by a clay layer to keep the pore pressure
decreasing slowly.
Figs. 11 and 12 are the pore pressure ratio time-history
curves of PHC-1 pile under artificial and El Centro seismic
waves, while Figs. 13 and 14 are the curves of PHC-2. From
Figs. 11 and 12, it can be found that the loading pore pressure of
the artificial wave was larger than that of the El Centro wave for

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240 Journal of Testing and Evaluation

the same peak acceleration. In addition, the larger the peak damping ratios increased. The soil condition can influ-
acceleration was, the greater the pore pressure ratio observed. ence the dynamic behavior greatly, and prestressing of the
The pore pressure ratio increased gradually from pile top to pile PHC piles was beneficial in that it increased the resistance
bottom. However, for PHC-1, the pore pressure ratio was not to damage.
large enough for the soil to be liquefied, mainly because pore 2. The qualitative responses of displacement of soil-pile-
water pressure was more likely to be discharged without the superstructure in saturated soil or unsaturated soil had a
existence of the upper clay layer. little difference, and the peak displacements in saturated
From Figs. 13 and 14, it can be found that, when there was a soil were significantly larger than that in unsaturated
soil. Nevertheless, prestressing pipe-pile can perform a
layer of overlying clay, the pore pressure at K1 location reached
favorable seismic behavior and can decrease the response
its peak later than K2 and K3. With continued shaking, the lower
displacement greatly.
level water moved upward, increasing the pore pressure at K1. It 3. The test results indicate that, with increasing frequency of
is very obvious that the pore pressure at K1 peaked and dissi- sine wave excitation, the pore pressure ratio gradually
pated more slowly than the pore pressure at K2 and K3. decreased. The larger the peak acceleration, the greater
Although the water pressure at shallow depth was more likely to the pore pressure ratio. The pore pressure ratio increased
dissipate, the deep level water added to the shallow soil to slow to a maximum value very quickly as the excitation began,
down the dissipation. In addition, with the increase of PGA, the and then remained around this maximum for a period
ratio of water pore pressure also increased so that the ratio was until it decreased to zero; its duration was much larger
close to 0.5, and the soil begins to liquefy when the PGA reaches than that of the excitation. An overlying layer of clay
0.1656 g. Comparing Figs. 11 and 12 to Figs. 13 and 14, the ratio could help slow the pore pressure decrease, and also help
and duration of water pore pressure in the later are significantly to increase the value of the ratio and so lessen liquefac-
tion. In addition, the value of 0.6 can be seen as the criti-
larger than those in the former. The reason for this is also due to
cal pore pressure ratio and varied with soil depth.
the existence of the clay layer. Moreover, the duration is also dra-
matically larger than that of the seismic excitation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fig. 15 presents the pore pressure ratio of PHC-1 pile and
The writers appreciate the support of the Natural Science
PHC-2 pile with the increment of PGA under the excitations of
Foundation of China through Grant Nos. 51578161 and
artificial wave, El Centro wave and Chi-chi wave. From Fig. 15, it
51278126.
can be seen that the pore pressure ratio is not too large to be liq-
uefied for PHC-1; this is because the pore water pressure is more
likely to be discharged without the existence of upper clay layer.
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