Vibration tests on pile-group foundations using large-scale blast excitation

Extensive vibration tests have been performed on pile-supported structures at a large-scale mining site. Ground motions induced by large-scale blasting operations were used as excitation forces for vibration tests. The main objective of this research is to investigate the dynamic behavior of pile-supported structures, in particular, pile-group effects. Two test structures were constructed in an excavated 4 m deep pit. One structure had 25 steel tubular piles and the other had 4 piles. The super-structures were exactly the same. The test pit was backfilled with sand of appropriate grain size distributions in order to obtain good compaction, especially between the 25 piles. Accelerations were measured at the structures, in the test pit and in the adjacent free field, and pile strains were measured. The vibration tests were performed six times with different levels of input motions. The maximum horizontal acceleration recorded at the adjacent ground surface varied from 57 cm/s² to 1683 cm/s² according to the distances between the test site and the blast areas. Maximum strains were 13,400 micro-strains were recorded at the pile top of the 4-pile structure, which means that these piles were subjected to yielding.