Centrifuge tests to evaluate the effect of depth of water table on seismic response of shallow foundations on silty sands

¹ Senior Staff Engineer, Geo-Logic Associates, Inc., 3150 Bristol Street, Suite 210, Costa Mesa, California, the United States
² Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kingsbury Hall, W175, Academic Way, Durham, New Hampshire, the United States
³ Graduate Research Assistant, University of New Hampshire, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kingsbury Hall, W175, Academic Way, Durham, New Hampshire, the United States

^* Corresponding author: majid.ghayoomi@unh.edu

Abstract

A set of dynamic centrifuge experiments were performed to assess the effect of the depth of the groundwater table on the seismic site response of silty sand. Silty sand was prepared in a laminar container. The testing program consists of experiments on dry as well as saturated soils and a test, which the groundwater table was below the soil surface. The specimens were spun in a centrifuge, then they were excited with a suite of seismic motions. Results show that 1) while the for peak ground acceleration amplification factor of the saturated soil was smaller than those for the dry soil, the Arias intensity amplification factor of the saturated soil was larger than those for dry soil. 2) as the depth of the groundwater table increased, peak ground amplification factor and short-period amplification factors increased, the mid-period amplification factors decreased. 3) the depth of the groundwater table influences the frequency content of the free field motion. 4) the unsaturated soil behaved stiffer than dry and saturated soils.