A case study on the effects of earthquake characteristics on landslide stabilization piles

In this study, effect of earthquake characteristics on landslide stabilization piles in the meaning of the pile axial loads, shear forces and bending moments are investigated through finite element analyses. A real landslide area located very close to the North Anatolian fault in the western part of the Black Sea region of Turkey was selected to be analyzed. A detailed site investigation program was executed including boreholes, inclinometer readings, site and laboratory tests the results of which were utilized throughout the study. Three different earthquake records, all scaled to the same maximum acceleration but having different predominant frequencies were applied to the models in time domain and the results were compared with each other. The results have revealed that the pile axial loads were not affected significantly for utilized earthquake records, but the change in the shear forces and bending moments were tremendous which may change the pile design significantly. The most critical results were obtained for the earthquake record with lowest predominant frequency which is attributed to the higher magnitudes of dynamic displacements as compared to others due to its low frequency content.