Development technology of rigidity-drain pile and numerical analysis of its anti-liquefaction characteristics

Pile foundation is widely used in the offshore engineering. The pile can be seriously destroyed by the soil liquefaction during strong earthquakes. The potentials of liquefaction and damages of pile foundation due to the liquefaction can be reduced by the implementation of the drainage in the liquefiable foundation. A patented pile technology, named rigidity-drain pile, was introduced. The partial section of the pile body was filled by materials with higher penetrability which forms some effective drainage channels in the pile. The principles and construction methods were presented. 3D models for both rigidity-drain pile and ordinary pile were built in FLAC(3D) code. The dynamic loadings were applied on the bottom of the model. According to the numerical results, in the case of the rigidity-drain pile, the water in the relevant distance range around the pile flows toward the pile drainage, the contour of the pore pressure shows a funnel form. Contrast to the ordinary pile, the rigidity-drain pile can dissipate the accumulated excess pore water, maintain effective stress and obviously reduce the possibility of surrounding soil liquefaction.