Seismic Performance of Point-Bearing Piles in Liquefiable Soils: A Finite Element-Based Parametric Study

Abstract

Liquefaction is one of the most important and complex topics in geotechnical earthquake engineering. Large soil deformations can develop therefore damages can occur during and after soil liquefaction. Pile foundations are commonly used among the deep foundations and are projected as point bearing pile or friction pile. In this study; the behavior of point bearing piles in liquefied soil is investigated. For this aim, piles with a diameter of 80 and 120 cm and a length of 25 are selected. A soil profile that includes a liquefiable layer is created for the model study. Pile bearing capacities are calculated and added on pile caps as vertical load. These models are then investigated by using the commercial code, namely PLAXIS 2D. At the end of the study, deformations and bending moments obtained by using this code are compared.