Determination of Multidirectional p-y Curves for Soft Clays
Mayoral, JM
URS Corporation, Oakland, CA

Pestana, JM
University of California, Berkeley, CA

Seed, RB
University of California, Berkeley, CA

(Received 23 September 2002; accepted 2 September 2004)

Abstract
The evaluation of performance of soil-pile-structure systems under seismic loading is one of the most complex problems in earthquake engineering. In the most common methodology, force-displacement curves are used to describe the nonlinear response of discrete soil springs connecting the piles to the “free-field” soil column using the concept of beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation. Although there is a great interest and on-going research to characterize the multi-directional “free-field” soil response, there is a lack of information and experimental data to formulate p-y curves in multi-directional loading conditions. A new testing device was designed and constructed to obtain high quality data to calibrate numerical tools used to evaluate the seismic performance of structures supported on deep foundations in soft clay. A suite of different ground displacement path scenarios observed during recent earthquakes was simulated to assess the effect of displacement history on measured p-y response.

Keywords:
Clay, lateral loading, piles, p-y springs, soft clay behavior, soil-structure interaction

Paper ID: GTJ11697
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ11697

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Author Mayoral, JM Affiliation URS Corporation, Oakland, CA Author Pestana, JM Affiliation University of California, Berkeley, CA Author Seed, RB Affiliation University of California, Berkeley, CA Author Mayoral JM, Pestana JM, Seed RB Title Determination of Multidirectional p-y Curves for Soft Clays Symposium , Committee on