Remediation of embankment liquefiable foundation by densification

Abstract

In a series of four centrifuge model tests, the seismic response of a cohesive earth embankment overlying a layer of loose saturated clean sand is studied, with and without a liquefaction countermeasure. As a countermeasure, the foundation zones below the embankment toes are densified. Currently, such testing results offer a valuable alternative to actual full-scale dynamic response, which is virtually nonexistent for retrofitted embankments. In this paper, the conducted experiments are presented, and effectiveness of the countermeasure is discussed based on the recorded dynamic response. The implemented densification technique is found to reduce the embankment vertical deformations by about 50%. In addition, lateral spreading of the embankment is reduced by about 70%.