A centrifuge study of the seismic response of pile–raft systems embedded in soft clay Available to Purchase

A series of centrifuge tests were performed on a 4 × 3 pile–raft system embedded in soft kaolin clay to investigate the pile bending moment and raft acceleration response under seismic excitation. Two types of far-field ground motions were employed, these being representative of the short- and long-duration ground motions arising from the Great Sumatran Fault and the Sunda Subduction Trench, respectively. The influences of the peak base acceleration, pile type and raft mass on raft acceleration and pile bending moment responses were studied in the centrifuge tests. Furthermore, based on the present and previous relevant centrifuge test results, correlations were derived to respectively estimate the peak raft acceleration and the maximum bending moment generated near the pile head during the shaking events. Despite some scatter in these correlations, they can be useful in engineering design practice for obtaining quick first-order estimates of the seismic response of pile–raft systems embedded in soft soils.