Significance of nonlinear soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic performance of micropiles-retrofitted pile foundations

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Various seismic retrofitting techniques and strategies have been developed and employed over the years to ensure the seismic performance of existing bridges built prior to the revision of seismic design codes. For retrofitting, however, focus is often given to the bridge piers while lesser attention is paid to the foundations. Out of the many reasons for such attention to the foundations, one can be attributed to the relatively lesser-known seismic performance of the retrofitted foundations. Damage seen in 2016 Kumamoto earthquake revealed the failure of a bridge foundation even though the pier of the bridge was seismically retrofitted, highlighting the necessity of seismic retrofitting of foundations. In practice, for foundation retrofitting, micropiles are often preferred over the traditional piles for its several merits. The behavior of micropiles-retrofitted foundations considering the effects of nonlinear soil-structure interaction (SSI) under dynamic loading, however, is still largely unknown.To this end, 1g model testing of micropiles-retrofitted pile foundations embedded in soil is considered under a range of static and dynamic loads. Results are quantified in terms of kinematic interaction factors and lateral pile-head impedance functions. A 1/20 model of retrofitted foundation based on the law of similitude is considered. For soil, dry Gifu sand is selected.