Analysis of pore pressure generation and dissipation in cohesionless materials during seismic loading

The earthquake loading of a shallow foundation resting on top of a cohesion less layer creates cyclic variations in the shear force and overturning mom ent acting on the supporting soil. These loads induce a tendency for volume change which, in turn, depending on the drainage conditions and material p ermeability, may cause in addition to a cyclic pore pressure variation a pr ogressive pore pressure buildup. The paper develops an efficient and elegan t way, based on a multiple time scale analysis, of solving this fully coupl ed problem. The theoretical solution is implemented in a finite element cod e and is applied to predict the pore pressure development and dissipation u nder a bridge pier foundation for which it was essential to limit the pore pressure increase.