Large-scale laminar shear box for lateral pile loading tests with ground displacements

Through a number of studies about the damage of pile foundations in the 1995 Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake, it is shown that damage to piles might be caused not only by horizontal inertial forces at the pile head but also kinematic forces acting on the piles due to shear deformation of soil deposits. To investigate the effect of lateral ground displacements on piles, the authors have developed a large-scale laminar shear box complete with loading system. In order to approximate the actual soil-pile interactive behaviour during big earthquakes, large-diameter model piles can be installed in the laminar shear box. The loading system is able to apply passive lateral pressures on a pile or pile groups embedded in the model ground by generating lateral displacements in the laminar shear box. In this paper, a general description of the large-scale laminar shear box and its loading system are presented. Lateral load tests were conducted on a model steel-pipe pile in this laminar shear box. The results of the loading tests indicated that the strain distribution on the pile is clearly affected by the profile of lateral ground displacements.