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32

13.32 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

FIGURE 13.31 The excavation for the grade beams is complete, and the
tops of the prestressed piles are trimmed so that they are relatively flush.

fissuring and sand boils, then this layer may provide passive resistance for the piles, caps,
and grade beams.
4. Liquefaction of sloping ground: For liquefaction of sloping ground, there will
often be lateral spreading of the ground, which could shear off the piles. One mitigation
measure consists of the installation of compaction piles (see Sec. 12.3.3), in order to create
a zone of nonliquefiable soil around and beneath the foundation.

13.4 FOUNDATIONS FOR SINGLE-FAMILY

HOUSES

In southern California, the type of foundation for single-family houses often consists of
either a raised wood floor foundation or a concrete slab-on-grade.
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FOUNDATION ALTERNATIVES TO MITIGATE EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS 13.33

FIGURE 13.32 Close-up view of one of the prestressed piles showing a trimmed top surface with the
strands extending out the top of the pile.

FIGURE 13.33 Close-up view of the top of a prestressed pile with the steel reinforcement from the grade
beam positioned on top of the pile. The strands from the pile are attached to the steel reinforcement in the
grade beam.
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13.34 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

FIGURE 13.34 Overview of the steel reinforcement positioned

within the grade beam excavation.

13.4.1 Raised Wood Floor Foundation

The typical raised wood floor foundation consists of continuous concrete perimeter foot-
ings and interior (isolated) concrete pads. The floor beams span between the continuous
perimeter footings and the isolated interior pads. The continuous concrete perimeter foot-
ings are typically constructed so that they protrude about 0.3 to 0.6 m (1 to 2 ft) above the
adjacent pad grade. The interior concrete pad footings are not as high as the perimeter foot-
ings, and short wood posts are used to support the floor beams. The perimeter footings and
interior posts elevate the wood floor and provide for a crawl space below the floor.
In southern California, the raised wood floor foundation having isolated interior pads is
common for houses 30 years or older. Most newer houses are not constructed with this
foundation type. In general, damages caused by southern California earthquakes have been
more severe to houses having this type of raised wood floor foundation. There may be sev-
eral different reasons for this behavior:

1. Lack of shear resistance of wood posts: As previously mentioned, in the interior, the
raised wood floor beams are supported by short wood posts bearing on interior concrete
pads. During the earthquake, these short posts are vulnerable to collapse or tilting.
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FOUNDATION ALTERNATIVES TO MITIGATE EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS 13.35

FIGURE 13.35 The top of the steel pile separated from the con-
crete pile cap during the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995.
(Photograph from the Kobe Geotechnical Collection, EERC,
University of California, Berkeley.)

2. No bolts or inadequate bolted condition: Because in many cases the house is not ade-
quately bolted to the foundation, it can slide or even fall off the foundation during the
earthquake. In other cases the bolts are spaced too far apart, and the wood sill plate
splits, allowing the house to slide off the foundation.
3. Age of residence: The houses having this type of raised wood floor foundation are
older. The wood is more brittle and in some cases weakened due to rot or termite dam-
age. In some cases, the concrete perimeter footings are nonreinforced or have been
weakened due to prior soil movement, making them more susceptible to cracking dur-
ing the earthquake.
4. Crawl-space vents: To provide ventilation to the crawl space, long vents are often
constructed just above the concrete foundation, such as shown in Fig. 13.37. These
vents provide areas of weakness just above the foundation.
All these factors can contribute to the detachment of the house from the foundation. For
example, Fig. 13.37 shows the sliding of the house off the foundation caused by the San
Fernando earthquake.
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13.36 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

FIGURE 13.36 The top of the concrete pile separated from the concrete pile cap during the Kobe earth-
quake on January 17, 1995. (Photograph from the Kobe Geotechnical Collection, EERC, University of
California, Berkeley.)

Besides determining the type of foundation to resist earthquake-related effects, the geo-
technical engineer could also be involved with the retrofitting of existing structures. As previ-
ously mentioned, the raised wood floor with isolated posts is rarely used for new construction.
But there are numerous older houses that have this foundation type, and in many cases, the
wood sill plate is inadequately bolted to the foundation. Bolts or tie-down anchors could
be installed to securely attach the wood framing to the concrete foundation. Wood bracing
or plywood could be added to the open areas between posts to give the foundation greater
shear resistance and prevent the house from sliding off the foundations, such as shown in
Fig. 13.37.

13.4.2 Slab-on-Grade

In southern California, the concrete slab-on-grade is the most common type of foundation
for houses constructed within the past 20 years. It consists of perimeter and interior con-
tinuous footings, interconnected by a slab-on-grade. Construction of the slab-on-grade
begins with the excavation of the interior and perimeter continuous footings. Steel rein-
forcing bars are commonly centered in the footing excavations, and wire mesh or steel bars
are used as reinforcement for the slab. The concrete for both the footings and the slab is
usually placed at the same time, to create a monolithic foundation. Unlike the raised wood
floor foundation, the slab-on-grade does not have a crawl space.
In general, for those houses with a slab-on-grade, the wood sill plate is securely bolted
to the concrete foundation. In many cases, an earthquake can cause the development of an
exterior crack in the stucco at the location where the sill plate meets the concrete founda-
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FOUNDATION ALTERNATIVES TO MITIGATE EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS 13.37

FIGURE 13.37 Sliding of house off the foundation caused by the

San Fernando earthquake in California on February 9, 1971. The
house is located in the city of San Fernando, near Knox and Grove
Streets. (Photograph from the Steinbrugge Collection, EERC,
University of California, Berkeley.)

tion. In some cases, the crack can be found on all four sides of the house. The crack devel-
ops when the house framing bends back and forth during the seismic shaking.
For raised wood floor foundations and the slab-on-grade foundations subjected to sim-
ilar earthquake intensity and duration, those houses having a slab-on-grade generally have
the best performance. This is because the slab-on-grade is typically stronger due to steel
reinforcement and monolithic construction, the houses are newer (less wood rot and con-
crete deterioration), there is greater frame resistance because of the construction of shear
walls, and the wood sill plate is in continuous contact with the concrete foundation.
Note that although the slab-on-grade generally has the best performance, these houses
can be severely damaged. In many cases, these houses do not have adequate shear walls,
there are numerous wall openings, or there is poor construction. The construction of a slab-
on-grade by itself is not enough to protect a structure from collapse if the structural frame
above the slab does not have adequate shear resistance.
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13.38 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

13.4.3 California Northridge Earthquake

The Northridge earthquake, which occurred in California on January 17, 1994, struck an
urban area that primarily contained single-family dwellings. The type of foundation for the
single-family houses was a major factor in the damage caused by the Northridge earthquake.
Particulars concerning the Northridge earthquake are as follows (Day 1999, USGS 1994):
The Northridge earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7 and occurred beneath the San
Fernando Valley on a deeply buried blind thrust fault that may be an eastern extension of
the Oak Ridge fault system. The fault plane ruptured from a depth of about 11 mi (17.5 km)
upward to about 3 mi (5 km) beneath the surface. For 8 s following the initial break,
the rupture propagated upward and northwestward along the fault plane at a rate of about
2 mi/s (3 km/s). Fortuitously, the strongest seismic energy was directed along the fault
plane toward sparsely populated areas north of the San Fernando Valley.
The earthquake deformed the earths crust over an area of 1500 mi2 (4000 km2), forcing
the land surface upward in the shape of an asymmetric dome. The dome manifests fea-
tures and consequences of blind thrust faulting that might lead scientists to the discovery
of similar faults elsewhere. The lack of clear surface rupture in 1994 may be explained
by fault movement terminating at depth against another fault that moved in the 1971 San
Fernando event.
Studies of more than 250 ground-motion records showed that peak accelerations during
the earthquake generally exceeded those predicted. At several locations, horizontal peaks
were close to or exceeded 1g, and at one station, vertical acceleration exceeded 1g.
Ground motions both near and far from the fault contained consistent, high-energy pulses
of relatively long duration. Midrise to high-rise steel structures designed for lesser
motions were particularly vulnerable to these pulses. In general, the ratio of horizontal to
vertical shaking was similar to that of past earthquakes, and the motions, although strong,
were not unusual.
There was collapse of specially designed structures such as multistory buildings, parking
garages, and freeways. In some areas, the most severe damage would indicate a modified
Mercalli intensity of IX, although VII to VIII was more widespread. Because the
Northridge earthquake occurred in a suburban community, damage to single-family
houses was common.
Numerous structural failures throughout the region were evidence of significant deficien-
cies in design or construction methods. Steel frames of buildings intended for seismic resis-
tance were cracked, and reinforced concrete columns were crushed. Most highway
structures performed well, but freeways collapsed at seven sites, and 170 bridges sustained
varying degrees of damage.
Damage estimates varied considerably. For both public and private facilities, the total
cost of the Northridge earthquake was on the order of $20 to $25 billion. This makes the
Northridge earthquake Californias most expensive natural disaster. Given the significant
damage caused by this earthquake, the number of deaths was relatively low. This was
partly because most people were asleep at home at the time of the earthquake (4:31 a.m.).

The observed foundation damage caused by the California Northridge earthquake indi-
cated the importance of tying together the various foundation elements. To resist damage
during the earthquake, the foundation should be monolithic with no gaps in the footings or
planes of weakness due to free-floating slabs. For new construction in southern California,
many single-family houses are being constructed with post-tensioned slab-on-grade (see
Fig. 13.38). This type of foundation has an induced compressive stress due to the tension-
ing of the steel tendons embedded in the foundation concrete. Because of the compression
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FOUNDATION ALTERNATIVES TO MITIGATE EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS 13.39

stress and lack of free-floating slab elements, this type of foundation will probably perform
even better during an earthquake than the conventional slab-on-grade.

13.5 PROBLEMS

13.1 Use the data from Prob. 9.13 and Fig. 9.39 and assume a level-ground site. A pro-
posed building will have a deep foundation system consisting of piles that are driven into the
Flysh claystone. Assuming that the piles are widely spaced and do not increase the liquefaction
resistance of the soil, calculate the differential movement between the building and adjacent
ground. Answer: Using Fig. 7.1, differential movement  20 cm. Using Fig. 7.2, differential
movement  14 cm.
13.2 Use the data from Prob. 13.1 and an effective friction angle between the pile sur-
face and the surface soil layer and sand layer of 28. Assume that k0  0.5 and that the last
location for the earthquake-induced pore water pressures to dissipate will be just above the
clayey fine sand layer. Further assume that the clayey fine sand layer and the silty fine sand
layer are not anticipated to settle during the earthquake. If the piles are 0.3 m in diameter, cal-
culate the down-drag load on each pile due to liquefaction at the site. Answer: Down-drag
load  61 kN.
13.3 Use the data from Prob. 6.12 and Fig. 6.13. To prevent liquefaction-induced set-
tlement of the building, what is the minimum length of piles that should be installed at the
site? Answer: 20-m-long piles.

FIGURE 13.38 Construction of a post-tensioned foundation for a single-family residence.