Ground Improvement Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jgrim.15.00035
Mitigating the seismic settlement of Paper 1500035
Received 14/08/2016 Accepted 06/01/2017
foundations on sand by ground
Keywords: field testing & monitoring/geotechnical engineering/
improvement techniques granular materials
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Mitigating the seismic settlement of

foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
&
1 Hadi Ahmadi PhD &
3 Mahyar Arabani PhD
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Guilan,
East of Guilan, University of Guilan, Roudsar, Iran Rasht, Iran
(corresponding author: hadiahmadi@guilan.ac.ir)
&
2 Abolfazl Eslami PhD
Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

1 2 3

Geotechnical design of shallow foundations on clean fine sands often requires provisions for earthquake-induced
settlements. In this regard, there have been many investigations on the volume-change behaviour of fine sands
during dynamic and cyclic loading, and different methods have been developed to estimate ground settlement.
However, less attention has been given to the role of ground improvement in reducing earthquake-induced
settlements. This paper focuses on Anzali sand, which is representative of most sands found in the northern Iran, a
region subject to high seismic activity. This sand was studied with the aid of physical modelling in the laboratory, and
three different soil stabilisation techniques were applied to improve its stiffness and strength against volume change.
Investigations revealed that among these methods, the cement treatment technique has an appreciable effect on the
mitigation of seismic settlement.

Notation in turn cause structural damage. Dry sand exhibits a faster

D50 mean size tendency to compaction in comparison with saturated sand,
Dr density index (relative density) which deforms less rapidly, continuing over time. Studies show
emax maximum void ratio that horizontal cyclic and dynamic loadings can lead to a con-
emin minimum void ratio siderable amount of volume compaction in sands, which is
hi soil layer thickness more remarkable in loose sands. Apart from earthquakes,
N standard penetration test blowcounts cyclic or dynamic loading can be induced by traffic loads,
n number of soil layers urban transportation, underground railways and machinery,
Sd dynamic settlement which all have more or less similar effects on adjacent soils
t time (Drabkin et al., 1996). For static loads, there are several
u cyclic displacement effects, such as the geometry and stiffness of the footing, soil
uo displacement amplitude stiffness, load intensity and pattern, among others, following a
εv,m volumetric strain general and simplified relationship of the settlement (i.e.
ω angular frequency S = KqB, where K is some measure of stiffness, q is some
measure of load intensity and B is some measure of the geome-
try), which are known to be of particular importance and have
1. Introduction been fairly well investigated. Under seismic conditions,
Earthquake records in recent years have indicated that many however, several other effects contribute to the intensity of the
buildings have endured excessive dynamic settlements (Bray, settlement. These effects are often related to inherent soil prop-
2000; Cubrinovski et al., 2011; Finn et al., 1996; Yegian et al., erties and loading conditions (Ahmadi et al., 2015a). Among
1995). Volume change is one of the main effects of an earth- these parameters, the soil particle distribution, particle shape,
quake on granular soils. Earthquake vibrations will cause loose density index (relative density), confining pressure, stress his-
and cohesionless granular soils to experience compaction, fol- tory, amplitude and frequency of the applied load can be
lowed by subsidence or settlement. This surface settlement will addressed. As the accumulated volumetric strain has an

1
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 Ground Improvement
increasing tendency as the confining pressure decreases, surface
soils should be paid more attention as they experience less con-
fining pressure. On the other hand, the densification potential
is proportional to the density index of the sand. This par-
ameter is not only important in the stiffness of the sand, but it
also causes a tendency to volume expansion (dilation) or com-
paction (contraction), which in turn affects the settlement of
the sand. Seismic or cyclic loads can also cause the soil struc-
ture to collapse, followed by a volume change. Such behaviour
is less well theoretically understood and is often described by
experimental observations and empirical relationships.
Silver and Seed (1971) proposed a method to estimate the
settlement in unsaturated sands under seismic loading. This
method requires the stress–strain relationship, the damping
ratio, simple shear test results on volume-change behaviour
and some estimate of the shear strain history at every point
within the depth of the soil stratum. These quantities are then
employed to use the developed design charts to estimate the
settlement. It is apparent that these parameters require a defi-
nite experimental study and accurate measurement. Seed and
Silver (1972) applied this technique to estimate the settlement
of sand with a density index of 45%. This sand sediment was
subjected to a base acceleration of 0·35g and a peak surface
acceleration of 0·45g during the 1971 San Fernando earth-
quake. In addition, Seed and Silver (1972) suggested that the
settlement in sand layers during earthquakes is often caused by
the horizontal components of seismic shakings, which are less
than about 0·5g in most earthquakes.
For saturated and dry sands, the method proposed by
Tokimatsu and Seed (1987) is often used to evaluate this volu-
metric strain. On this account, the volume strain under an
earthquake of some particular intensity is estimated based
on the stiffness of the soil obtained by (or in fact, correlated
to) standard penetration test (SPT) blowcounts. This method
was developed based on one-directional shear tests whereas,
under actual conditions, displacements are in two directions.
Therefore, it is suggested that the volume strains obtained by
this method be doubled (Pyke et al., 1975). Based on statistical
investigations, the settlement during an earthquake can be then
predicted by the following relationship
X
n even liquefaction. A complete description of the geotechnical
2εv;m
1: Sd ¼
hi
i¼1
100
where Sd is the dynamic settlement, εv,m is the volumetric
strain, hi is the soil layer thickness and n is the number of soil
layers.
In this research, knowing the importance of dynamic settle-
ments, some methods for the mitigation of such settlements
by soil improvement techniques were studied. Investigations are
mainly based on experimental dynamic load tests.
2
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Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani
2. Soil improvement
Most coastal zones of Iran have uniform sand strata. Among
many, Anzali Port is one of the populated cities in northern
Iran founded on layers of saturated uniform fine sands, often
locally called Anzali sand. Due to rapid urban development in
this area, modifying the behaviour of footings on such weak
soil layers by improving the supporting soil condition is of par-
ticular interest. A broad study of 32 stabilised sites located in
USA and Japan after the Northridge (1994) and Kobe (1995)
earthquakes revealed that settlements, lateral spreadings and
ground instabilities are present in untreated (natural) sites and
are highly different from those with improvements. In some
cases, the difference between the settlements in treated and
untreated sites exceeds 500 mm (Eslami, 2002; Hausler, 2002).
Yasuda et al. (1996) studied the effect of sand drains and
sand compaction piles on the behaviour of stabilised soils
during the Kobe (1996) earthquake. Their studies revealed that
such improvement methods had a significant effect on settle-
ment reduction during that earthquake. Elshazly et al. (2008)
showed that site improvement by the stone column installation
technique can reduce settlements by 60%. The effect of soil
improvement by techniques incorporating soil cementing has
been developed since 1970 and, up to now, has been widely
applied to many situations in practical geotechnics (Markou
and Droudakis, 2013; Moseley and Kirsch, 2004; Wang and
Leung, 2008). In this regard, the effect of lime, Portland
cement and other cements on the behaviour of cement-treated
soils has been quite well studied.
3. Anzali sand
The Anzali area is located in northern Iran on the south coast
of the Caspian Sea and extends along a relatively narrow band
along the coastal line consisting mainly of fine sand.
Therefore, the subsoil condition shares the same properties as
the coastal sands of the Caspian Sea. The main constituent of
the subsoil layers is uniformly graded fine sand. Geotechnical
studies in most areas down to very deep layers confirm this
fact. This sand is locally called Anzali sand and deserves
special attention as the Anzali area is subjected to frequent
earthquakes of the Alborz mountain range (as the boundary of
the Iran and Eurasia tectonic plates). Anzali sandy deposits
are often susceptible to instabilities like excessive settlement or
properties of Anzali sand is provided by Ahmadi et al.
(2015b). According to geotechnical surveys, the SPT blow-
counts of Anzali sand often range between 10 and 20 and
hardly exceed 25 to 30 and hence Anzali sand can be classified
as a loose to medium sand. The sand type is mainly silica sand
and, as shown in Figure 1, microscopy images show that in
spite of quite fine grains, the particles are very similar to small
angular stone fragments. The basic index properties of Anzali
sand show that it has a D50 of nearly 0·2–0·3 mm and is
poorly graded. In this regard, the shear strength properties of
Anzali sand can be reasonably described by its friction angle,
 Ground Improvement
Figure 1. Microscopic image of Anzali sand grains
which is around 30° (for a typical confining pressure of
150 kPa) in the clean condition; by increasing the amount of
fine content (silts) this friction angle can reduce to about 26°.
4. Experimental studies
Experimental studies were performed by physical modelling of
Anzali sand in two different boxes: one for static conditions and
the other for dynamic conditions. The first box was an ordinary
600
600
600 mm box with a rigid steel body and a trans-
parent window. The second box was a laminar shear box with a
plexiglass body and dimensions of 600
600 mm in plane and
580 mm height located on a dynamic shaking table. The trans-
parent walls of the box facilitated tracing of the sand behaviour
during cyclic loadings. Figure 2 shows a view of the testing
equipment. The laminar box comprised eight layers of 50 mm
height, which could freely slide over each other. Horizontal
(a)
Figure 2. Testing equipment: (a) transparent laminar box for dynamic tests; (b) rigid box for static tests
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Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani
displacement of the shaking table was provided by an electromo-
tor that can produce a lateral displacement of 15 mm from each
side and a range of frequencies between 0 and 4 Hz. The displa-
cement and frequency ranges fall within the common range of
real conditions during an earthquake. To model a surface
footing system and its associated settlements under seismic
loading, a relatively thick plate, 100 mm
100 mm in plane,
was provided on the top of the soil and a constant load was
applied over this model footing from a vertical hydraulic jack
that could keep the load and its location over the footing almost
constant during cyclic loadings. In fact, as settlements start to
happen, the hydraulic jack adjusts its length and hence the load
is kept constant and the settlement of the footing can be
measured by a displacement gauge attached to the top of the
model footing. Further details are provided by Ahmadi et al.
(2016). In this study, a harmonic cyclic loading, with 2 Hz fre-
quency, using horizontal displacement was applied to the
bottom of the box. This acceleration was controlled by both an
accelerometer connected to the body of the box and the hori-
zontal displacement sensor. The settlement of the sand under a
constant load transferred by the surface footing during the
cyclic loadings was investigated. Since the vertical load may
have changed its position as the sand specimen as well as the
footing moved away, the lateral displacements were limited to
15 mm from each side, which is common in the evaluation of
the cyclic behaviour of sand under cyclic loading.
The particle distribution and other properties of the soil
sample (i.e. Anzali sand) are shown in Figure 3 and Table 1.
Maximum density tests were performed using an electro-
magnetic vibrator producing vertical simple harmonic motion
(ASTM D-4254 (ASTM, 2006)) and minimum densities were
obtained by using the ASTM test for relative density of cohe-
sionless soils (ASTM D-4254 (ASTM, 2006)). In this regard,
(b)
3
 Ground Improvement Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

Clay + silt Sand Gravel 5. Results

100
5.1 Densification
90
In order to assess the effect of densification on the settlement
80 control of Anzali sand, different samples were prepared, with
70 density indices of 30, 50 and 70% for static tests and 30, 50,
Percentage finer

60 65, 80 and 88% for dynamic tests. Based on Ishihara (1993),

50
40
30
20
10
0 reasonably uniform. Densification results in a new system of
0·01 0·1
Particle size: mm
Figure 3. Anzali sand particle size distribution curve (shaded
band) and the representative soils used in laboratory tests
(continuous line)
a density index of 30% was assumed to represent the loose
condition and the wet sedimentation method that was used
for specimen preparation in the lab. A series of displacement
controlled tests were also conducted on the model footing
under static conditions. In the dynamic tests, loading was
conducted under a 2 Hz frequency and the soil–footing inter-
face transmitted a 10 kPa pressure from the hydraulic jack.
In these tests, all settlements were measured relative to the
initial settlement of the footing under applied pressure and
hence all recorded data were solely due to dynamic loads and
not the initial static one. The loading was held over a course
of 30 s and the total time of data acquisition was 60 s.
The cyclic displacement, u, is defined by the following
equation
2: u ¼ uo sin ωt
where uo is the displacement amplitude, ω is the angular fre-
quency and t is time; for a frequency of 2 Hz in a laminar
shear box, the soil sample will experience a maximum accel-
eration of 0·24g.
Three different soil improvement techniques were used, con-
ventional densification, drainage and cement grouting, which
are common methods in sand treatment. The sand specimen
was prepared with a density index of 30%.
water sedimentation (WS) and dry-deposition (DR) methods
were used to prepare the saturated and dry specimens, respect-
ively. It was attempted to prepare the sand in uniform layers
of small thickness and, by measuring the thickness of each
layer, the required density of the sand being known, it was kept
1 10 particle arrangement in granular soils, which decreases the void
space and increases the interlocking strength as well as the stiff-
ness of the material.
Figure 4 presents the static load test results. Looking at the
linear branch of the graphs (around nearly 20 kPa pressure),
the settlement occurring in sand with a density index of 70%
is 35% and 90% less than that corresponding to samples with
density indices of 50% and 30%, respectively. The settlement
ratio – that is, the ratio of the settlement normalised to the
width of the footing – reduces from 3·8% (for a density index
of 30%) to 2·5% and 0·4% for density indices of 50 and 70%,
respectively. In addition, densification causes the strength of
the sample to increase very significantly (Ahmadi et al.,
2015b). In this regard, the ultimate stress at failure in the
dense sample (with a density index of 70%) was nearly 2·6
times that corresponding to the loose sample (with a density
index of 30%).
Figure 5 shows the same results under cyclic loads at different
density indices. In this figure, the numbers following the
letter D in each sample represents the density index of that
particular sample. The trend in the settlement, in particular
for loose samples, is almost linear. In loose samples, settlement
continues even after the cyclic loading is terminated. There are
also some sudden changes in the settlement observed during
the cyclic loading. In the densest sample with a density index
of nearly 88%, the density index increases to 98% after 22 s of
loading. Beyond that point, the sand starts to heave due, poss-
ibly, to the dilation of the dense sand under cyclic loading.
This heaving can be much better visualised in the soil sur-
rounding the footing. Figure 6 presents a comparison of the
volume changes in different specimens. The dynamic settle-
ment ratio changes from 3·8% for the loosest sample (with a

Table 1. Properties of the sand under study

Classification
(USCS) Gs emin emax Coefficient of uniformity, Cu Mean size, D50

SP 2 66 0·57 0·83 2·28 0·24 mm

Gs, specific gravity of soil solids; USCS, unified soil classification system

4
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 Ground Improvement Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

Stress: kPa density index of 30%) to 1·5% for the densest sample (with a
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 density index of 88%), which corresponds to a decrease of
0 about 58% in the settlement.

2 5.2 Drainage
The effect of drainage on settlement was studied by comparing
4
Settlement: mm

the vertical displacement under the model footing (i.e. the

settlement) under two different conditions: (a) in a dry sample
6 and (b) in a saturated sample. Full saturation of the sample
was achieved by allowing the soil to be saturated for a period
8
Dr = 70%

of 24 h. This was checked with the pore pressures recorded

Dr = 30%

by pressure transducers as they reached a constant value very

Dr = 50%

10 close to the hydrostatic pressure that was expected for the

pressure transducer at the depth it was installed. Figure 7
12 depicts the pressure–displacement behaviour of model footings
Figure 4. Static load–displacement curves at different under static loads. Based on the observed results the dry
density indices samples show a higher stiffness than the saturated samples and
hence, under some specific pressure, there is a smaller change
in the vertical displacement in the dry samples. Under dry con-
Time: s ditions, at least within the linear branch of the curves – that is,
up to 20 kPa for loose and 50 kPa for dense samples – the
0 15 30 45 60 75 90
0 settlement of loose and dense samples decreases by up to
42·1% and 25% in comparison with similar but saturated
samples, respectively. Despite the insignificant change in the
5 amount of final settlement for dense samples, the stiffness
Settlement: mm

increases remarkably. This corresponds to a higher modulus of

D88f2·0WS elasticity in the linear part of the stress–strain curves, although
10 the final settlement may be attributed to plastic deformation.
D80f2·0WS
Therefore, it can be concluded that water in the soil increases
D65f2·0WS
in its ability to plastically deform – that is, decreases its shear
15 strength against applied loads.
D50f2·0WS
Figure 8(a) presents settlement against time for dry samples
D30f2·0WS
20 with different density indices. Cyclic loading was applied over
Figure 5. Settlement against time in saturated sand at different a course of 30 s. Settlements in dense samples occur at a
density indices higher rate than in loose samples – that is, the dense samples
reach their final settlement in a shorter time after the start of
cyclic loading. The settlement in the dense sample (density
20 index of 80%) ceased at 15 s and, after that time, dilative behav-
Saturated
18 iour in terms of heaving is observed. In the sample with a
16 medium density index (50%), the displacement reaches a con-
Dry
14 stant value after 25 s. No dilative or contractive behaviour is
Settlement: mm

observed after this point. In the loose sample, with a 30%

12
density index, vertical displacement continues over the entire
10 course of loading but its rate decreases as time goes by.
8
6 Figure 8(b) shows a comparison between the settlement
4 under cyclic loading for dry and saturated specimens. In this
figure, DR stands for dry samples and WS stands for saturated
2
samples. Dry samples were found to reach their final settle-
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
ments sooner than saturated samples, and this was more
remarkable in the dense samples. As loading ceases in the
Relative density: %
dry samples, settlement discontinues while, in the saturated
Figure 6. Final dynamic settlements of Anzali sand under dry and
saturated conditions samples, vertical displacement does not cease as loading is
terminated. The change in settlement over time, after the end

5
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 Ground Improvement Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

Stress: kPa Stress: kPa

0 10 20 30 40 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
Settlement: mm

Settlement: mm
4 4
5 5
Dr = 30% Dr = 70%
6 6
Saturated

7 Dry 7
8 8

Saturated

Dry
9 9
10 10
11 11
Figure 7. Load–displacement curves of dry and saturated samples under static conditions

Time: s Time: s
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 0 15 30 45 60 75 90
0 0

50 50
Settlement: mm
Settlement: mm

D80f2·0DR D80f2·0DR

10 10
D80f2·0WS
D50f2·0DR
15 D30f2·0DR 15 D30f2·0DR

20 D30f2·OWS
20
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Settlement against time: (a) dry sand; (b) comparison of dry and saturated samples

of cyclic loading, is more pronounced in loose samples. In induced stress and strain, following the same procedure as
loose and dense dry samples, the settlements are smaller than reported by Tokimatsu and Seed (1987).
those corresponding to saturated samples by 18·5% and
26·8%, respectively. It can be observed that, in the presence of Excess pore water pressure will cause the effective stress to
pore water pressure, soil particles can move more easily and reduce and may also lead to the liquefaction phenomenon. A
thus can undergo higher volume change. With reference to reduction in effective stress will also cause changes in the shear
Figure 6, the dry samples show a rather uniform trend in their strength and the stiffness of the sand layer, leading to more
response to the applied loads. However, there is an erratic and more settlement. Seismic-induced settlements in saturated
trend for saturated samples. This uneven change in saturated sands occur once shaking is terminated and the excess pore
samples can be attributed to very complex variations of the water pressures are allowed to drain and disappear (Ghayoomi
pore water pressure during cyclic loading. et al., 2010).

The settlement of a sand layer in dry conditions and under 5.3 Cement grouting
seismic loading was found to be due to the collapse of the soil This technique is a common method in granular soil im-
pore spaces. Application of earthquake loads to a layer of sand provement. Two different methods were used in this study
induces shear strain, which leads to voids and to further col- to prepare cement-treated samples. Under static conditions,
lapse and hence densification and settlement. The level of den- grouting was performed by injecting cement slurry into the
sification depends on the strength of the earthquake (cyclic box whereas, under dynamic conditions, the soil in a site
shear strain and maximum ground acceleration), soil density located in Anzali was grouted. For static tests, four grouting
and soil shear modulus. As an approximate method, it is con- pipes of diameter 3/4 inch (19 mm) and length 500 mm
venient to utilise the equivalent linear method to calculate the with 24 holes of 4 mm diameter at 50 mm intervals were

6
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 Ground Improvement Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

installed around the model footing. The distance between
the centre of each pipe to the edge of the model footing was
around 100 mm. The water/cement ratio was 1 and the slurry
was mixed in a mixing apparatus for 30 s. The grouted
samples were loaded after 28 d of curing. Figure 9 shows
the static loading tests for samples with density indices of
30% and 70%. For the loose sample, upon application of
20 kPa pressure, the settlement was decreased by 68·4%. The
load–displacement diagram also reveals increases in the
strength and stiffness of the cement-treated samples. The soil
modulus of reaction (the slope of the diagrams) is increased
by 210%, which shows a significant increase in soil stiffness.
For samples of 70% density index, the static settlement
corresponding to 50 kPa pressure was reduced by 61% and the
soil modulus of reaction was increased by 150%. Cementation
of the granular soil is the main source of strength and stiffness
increase.
A series of in situ tests was also performed in the Anzali area.
The site, 17·8 m
34·3 m, was located in western Anzali. The
subsoil layers were grouted under a pressure of 0·5–1·0 MPa,
which was extended down to 10 m below the ground surface.
Figure 10 shows the grouting pipes and the site. Geotechnical
surveys were performed down to a depth of 12 m. Figure 11(a)
shows the soil particle distribution in the subsoil layers. Based
on this figure, fine sand exists with a D50 of 0·25 mm. The

Stress: kPa Stress: kPa

0 10 20 30 40 50 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
0 0
1 Dr = 30% 1 Dr = 70%
2 2
3 3
Settlement: mm

Settlement: mm

4 4

Grouted
5 5
Ungrouted

6 6
Ungrouted

7 7
Grouted

8 8
9 9
10 10
11 11
Figure 9. Load–displacement curves for footings on cement-grouted sand with 30% and 70% density indices
17·8

3·5

3·5

34·3

Figure 10. Grouting pipe pattern in the study site (dimensions in m)

7
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 Ground Improvement Mitigating the seismic settlement of
foundations on sand by ground
improvement techniques
Ahmadi, Eslami and Arabani

N
Clay + silt Sand Gravel
0 10 20 30 40
100 0

90
0·50–1·00 m
80 2·00–2·50 m 3
5·00–5·50 m
Percentage finer

70 7·00–7·50 m
10·00–10·50 m

Depth: m
60 6

50

40 9
30

20 12

Before

After
10

0 15
0·001 0·01 0·1 1 10 100
Particle size: mm
(a) (b)
Figure 11. (a) Particle size distribution curve at different depths and (b) variation of SPT blowcounts with depth before and after cement
grouting in the study site

groundwater level was located 1·5 m below the ground surface.
Figure 10 shows the grouting pipe pattern, consisting of 56
pipes 90 mm in diameter placed 3·5 m apart. SPT blowcounts
prior to soil improvement and after grouting are presented
in Figure 11(b). Based on the Tokimatsu and Seed (1987)
method, the settlements of different layers of the site under
a seismic loading corresponding to an earthquake with a
magnitude scale of Ms = 7·5 were estimated and are presented
in Figure 12. For this particular earthquake, the total earth-
quake-induced settlement is predicted to be 110 mm. However,
the cement-treated soil is expected to experience a total
Settlement: mm
0 50
0
3 settlement of sand under seismic loading have been described
settlement of <5 mm, which indicates the effectiveness of
cement treatment. It is also worth noting that, for grouting per-
formed by steel pipe driving, these pipes contribute to further
densification and increase the stiffness of the subsoil layers.
This latter effect enhances the cementation effect and increases
the potential to mitigate earthquake-induced settlements.
6. Conclusions
Earthquake-induced settlement in clean fine sands with a
uniform particle size distribution is of particular importance.
In this regard, a specific class of sand, abundant in northern
Iran, known as Anzali sand, was studied in this research as it
has properties coinciding with those corresponding to a
uniform clean fine sand. Anzali sand extends along a narrow
100 150 coastal line along the southern Caspian Sea. The high seismic
activity of northern Iran makes this sand an interesting case
study to work on due to its potential against ground settlement
during an earthquake. Many problematic situations due to the
g

by Haeri and Zolfaghary (1992) and Yegian et al. (1995),

tin
After grouting

ou
Depth: m

among many others.

gr
re

6
fo
Be

In order to investigate the volume-change behaviour of this

sand when acting as a subsoil when a typical footing is placed,
9 an experimental study was conducted. The study included
cyclic loading of sand specimens of different density indices in
a laminar box (for dynamic tests) as well as a conventional
rigid box (for static tests). In addition, the influence of differ-
12
ent soil improvement techniques – densification, drainage and
Figure 12. Settlement estimation under seismic condition prior to
and after soil improvement by cement grouting cement grouting – was studied. The findings indicate that the
final settlement is proportional to the density index of Anzali

8
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 Ground Improvement
sand, as expected, but samples of dry and saturated sand
exhibit different behaviour during dynamic loading. In particu-
lar, earthquake-induced deformations (in terms of surface
settlement) do not stop after the end of cyclic excitation in
saturated sands, but there is no continual settlement increase in
dry sand after the end of cyclic excitation. In addition, dilative
behaviour in terms of ground surface heaving was observed
in very dense samples of Anzali sand. More to the point, all
the soil improvement techniques showed a significant effect
on the amount of settlement in both dry and saturated sands.
Among the techniques studied, the cement grouting technique
was found to have the most appreciable effect, causing the soil
to reach a quite stable condition with the least volume change
during an earthquake.
REFERENCES
Ahmadi H, Eslami A and Arabani M (2015a) Dynamic settlement
considerations in design of footings resting on uniform fine sand.
2nd International Conference on Geotechnical and Urban
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