Viscous Fluid Characteristics of Liquefied Soils and Behavior of Piles Subjected to Flow of Liquefied Soils

The lateral movement of sloping ground due to flow liquefaction has caused many pile foundations to fail, especially those in ports and harbor structures. Several researchers have found and verified that the behavior of liquefied soils can be simulated well by modeling the liquefied soils as viscous fluid. In this study, the influence of the lateral movement of liquefied sloping ground on the behavior of piles - was analyzed on the assumption that the flow of liquefied soils can be treated as viscous fluid flow. Sinking ball tests and pulling bar tests were performed to measure the viscosity of a liquefied sand : Jumoonjin Sand. Then the behavior of a single pile installed in liquefiable infinite slopes consisting of the sand was investigated by carrying out numerical analyses. As a result, it was found that the liquefied sand behaved as non-Newtonian fluid whose viscosity decreased with an increase in shear strain rate and its viscosity was times grater than that of water of . Moreover it was found that the flow of liquefied soils critically affected the stability of piles installed in sloping ground.