Robustness of remediation measures against liquefaction induced manhole uplift under mainshock-aftershock sequence

Abstract

Earthquakes generally consist of one mainshock and subsequent aftershocks. Although effects of aftershocks following the mainshock on surface structures has been studied extensively, similar studies on underground structures are rarely reported in the literature. With the fast advances in underground space development, robustness of remediation measures against underground structures uplift induced by soil liquefaction shall be examined to ensure their functioning subject to not only the mainshock but also the subsequent aftershocks. This paper studies the uplift behaviour of a conventional manhole subjected to the mainshock-aftershock sequence. It was found that, in the ground that becomes liquefied during the mainshock, manholes become more vulnerable when faced with aftershocks. Due to this reason, some of the previously proposed remediation measures, such as increasing the manholes’ self-weight, roughening the sidewalls, were examined using centrifuge modeling in this study. It was found that such measures had little effect in the aftershocks despite their effectiveness in the precedent mainshock. In contrast, the methods that mitigates manhole uplift by enhancing the manhole’s base permeability, demonstrated better performance in the aftershock than in the mainshock, indicating its promising application potential in future mitigation design.