Mitigation of seismic settlement of light surface structures by installation of sheet-pile walls around the foundation

Settlement of surface structures, which is particularly a private house, due to subsoil liquefaction is not a new issue in geotechnical engineering. It has been happening during earthquakes in liquefaction-prone areas since many years ago. However, to date no reliable measure against this problem with reasonable cost has been proposed to people. In this paper, results of a series of 1-g shaking table tests which have been conducted to evaluate performance of a possible mitigation against this problem are presented. The proposed mitigation herein is installation of sheet-pile walls around the foundation. In order to reduce the cost of mitigation, sheet-piling with gap and half-length sheet-piling were examined. The experiments were conducted in different ground water levels. It is found out that installing sheet-pile walls in relatively low ground water level can stop settlement of structures completely. Sheet-piling with gaps delays initiation of settlement but it may increase the ultimate settlement of structure. In addition, it is found that formation of a water film under the building׳s foundation is the governing mechanism of post-shaking settlement of structures.