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Original scientific article

GEOTECHNICAL APPROACHES FOR BUILDING EARTHQUAKE-RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

By
Jainish Roy Orcid logo ,
Jainish Roy

Assistant Professor, Kalinga University , Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India

Rajesh Sehgal Orcid logo
Rajesh Sehgal

Assistant Professor, Kalinga University , Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India

Abstract

The seismic nature of the soil in urban spheres is very susceptible to seismic ground failures caused by intricate soil conditions, extensive development, and outdated construction methods. However, structural solutions have always played the most important role in seismic design; growing evidence points to the importance of geotechnical engineering in the development of earthquake-resilient urban infrastructure. In this paper, a synthesis of geotechnical methods of earthquake resilience is given based on the seismic hazard evaluation, mitigation of liquefaction, ground improvement, foundation, and soil structure interaction. The analyzed literature shows that seismic demand in urban regions may differ by 24 times depending on the specific conditions of the soils in various micro zones. Sites that contain Vs30 less than 180 m/s are always highly amplified on the ground and prone to liquefaction. The techniques of liquefaction mitigation are proven to be very effective. Densification methods reduce the settlement by 30-50 %, drainage systems achieve 40-70 % reduction of excess pore water pressure, and soil stabilization methods yield up to 60-80 % settlement reduction. Ground improvement techniques increase the soil stiffness in the range of 1.5-3.0 times, whereas pile-raft foundation systems minimize seismic settlement, 20-40 % as compared to a shallow foundation. The fact that soil structure interaction is considered changes the structural natural periods by 10-30% by an important factor in seismic response. The results point out that the site-specific geotechnical interventions will be necessary to minimize the seismic damage and enhance the post-earthquake performance. The research offers a technical foundation of how to incorporate geotechnical solutions in the urban seismic resilience planning and aids the wise choice of safer and more sustainable cities.

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Citation

This is an open access article distributed under the  Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC) License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

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