Mitigation of Liquefaction-Induced Settlements Under Shallow Strip Footings Using Ground Densification

The objective of the present study is to establish the optimum influence zone of ground densification to be achieved under shallow strip footings resting on soil deposits susceptible to liquefaction. Finite element-based analysis has been conducted in PLAXIS 2D interface to model the seismic behaviour of liquefiable granular soil by adopting the UBCSAND constitutive law. The developed model has been validated by comparing the numerical results with published centrifuge test results. The effectiveness of ground densification in decreasing the seismic liquefaction-induced settlement of footings has been subsequently investigated over a range of depth and width of densified zone expressed as a function of the footing geometry, varying magnitude of loading on the footing. The numerically obtained results have been utilized for developing a power regression model to quantify the improved settlement response of strip footings resting on ground remediated by densification. The study indicates that the dimension of the improved zone and magnitude of surcharge are the most significant factors influencing liquefaction-induced settlements. The utility of this study is to aid in decision-making in the field regarding the implementation of ground densification as a liquefaction mitigation technique.