SEISMIC RESPONSE OF PILES: SOME RECENT DESIGN STUDIES

Three recent design studies are described, which examine the response of piles in soft soils to the soil deformations caused by severe earthquakes. The structures involved were a massive warehouse, a major new bridge and a large coal unloading jetty. Different analytical methods of varying complexity were used for the three studies. Although none of the analytical methods was completely rigorous, they were considered to capture the fundamental aspects of the problems investigated, and yielded results which were useful for design. (A) (This paper was presented at the Colloquium held in December 1995 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, entitled 'Permanent soil deformations after earthquakes - implications for design', IRRD 895793).