Liquefaction mitigation using secant piles wall under a large water tank

• 2D and 3D FE models were developed to evaluate a liquefaction mitigation strategy.
• The seismic response was evaluated in terms of the differential settlements.
• The mitigation strategy tends to uniform the settlements under the tank.
• The results from the 3D analyses confirm the ones obtained with the 2D approach.

Two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical models were developed to evaluate the effectiveness of a foundation perimeter wall on the mitigation of the effects of liquefaction in a 64 m diameter, reinforced-concrete water tank. The seismic response of the tank was evaluated in terms of differential settlements induced by an actual earthquake recording by comparing the situations with and without a mitigation strategy consisting of 20 m-long, 1 m-diameter secant piles wall. Although the mitigation strategy did not significantly reduce the liquefaction-induced settlements, it enforced a relatively homogeneous distribution of these settlements, leading to less structural damage.