Seismic response of pile–raft system embedded in spatially random clay

Abstract

This note examines the seismic response of a pile–raft system using the random field finite-element method. The numerical method is validated by recently published centrifuge test results. The randomness in the maximum shear modulus of soils in the system is considered by three-dimensional random fields in order to investigate the statistical characteristics of the maximum pile bending moment response. The computed pile bending moment results indicate that the deterministic results can be linked up with the random analysis results by an amplification factor. Therefore, a reliability-based geotechnical design can be applied.