Effect of preloading on the amplification characteristics of soil profiles

Preloading is a temporary loading, usually an embankment, applied to improve subsurface soils by densification. This paper studies the effect of preloading on the amplification characteristics of soft sites with an elaborate parametric analysis. The soil type, the depth of the bedrock, the water table depth, the level of preloading, the applied earthquake, the shear wave velocity of the bedrock and the shear modulus and damping versus shear strain relations were varied in a systematic manner. The analysis was performed by the commonly used one-dimensional equivalent-linear dynamic method. The shear wave velocity versus depth and the effect of preloading on shear velocity are computed with well-established soil mechanics equations. The results illustrated that the seismic response at the top of the profile generally decreases as a result of preloading. A more detailed analysis of results shows that the effect of preloading on the seismic response depends on the soil type and the depth of the bedrock. Based on these results, a method is proposed by which a practicing engineer involved with improvement of soft ground can simulate the effect of preloading on the seismic motion.