Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spreading Demands on Deep Foundations of Waterfront Structures

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@article{1722398,
      author = {Vijay Saini, Hemant Agrawal, Anshika Yadav, Ashutosh Luhania},
      title = {Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spreading Demands on Deep Foundations of Waterfront Structures},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {10},
      number = {2},
      pages = {1596-1628},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1722398.pdf},
      abstract = {Waterfront structures such as port terminals, quay walls, bridge piers, marine jetties, and container handling facilities are frequently constructed on loose saturated sandy deposits that are highly susceptible to liquefaction during strong earthquake events. Earthquake-induced liquefaction significantly reduces the effective stress within the soil, causing substantial degradation of stiffness and shear strength. This phenomenon often leads to lateral spreading, in which gently sloping or free-face ground experiences permanent horizontal displacement. Deep foundations embedded within these liquefied deposits are subjected to complex soil–pile interaction mechanisms involving kinematic loading, inertial loading, and nonlinear pile behavior. The present study investigates the response of reinforced concrete pile foundations subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading using a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element approach. A representative waterfront pile-supported platform is modeled using realistic soil stratification consisting of dense sand, loose liquefiable sand, and underlying stiff clay. Earthquake excitation is represented by a strong-motion record scaled to a peak ground acceleration of 0.35 g. The numerical model evaluates excess pore water pressure generation, lateral ground displacement, pile head deflection, bending moment distribution, shear force development, and structural demand under different liquefaction scenarios. Illustrative simulation results indicate that maximum lateral spreading reaches approximately 0.68 m near the waterfront free face, while peak pile head displacement approaches 145 mm for the critical loading case. Maximum bending moments develop near the interface between liquefied and non-liquefied soil layers, confirming observations reported in previous experimental and analytical studies. A comprehensive parametric investigation further demonstrates the influence of pile diameter, pile spacing, liquefiable layer thickness, and earthquake intensity on foundation performance. The findings provide practical recommendations for improving seismic resilience of waterfront deep foundation systems and contribute toward performance-based geotechnical earthquake engineering.},
      keywords = {liquefaction, lateral spreading, deep foundations, waterfront structures, soil–pile interaction, finite element analysis, earthquake engineering, excess pore water pressure, seismic response.},
      month = {August},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I2-1722398}
  }