Considerable damage can occur to buildings sited on liquefiable soil (such as loose saturated sand) during strong earthquake shaking as a result of soil liquefaction. It is difficult and expensive to perform conventional in situ soil modification underneath a building without damaging the building and/or utilities and surrounding structures.
This action is to support an exploratory research program involving a proposed new solution - to immobilize the porewater. The objective is to verify the practicality of this approach.
The method uses custom microparticles to reduce pore pressure buildup. Two methods of installing the microparticles are investigated. This solution is untested, and is a blend of high technology chemistry, chemical engineering and civil engineering. Installing the hydrogel under a building will require special hydrogel microparticles that exhibit time-delayed activation, thus enabling all the hydrogels to be in place before activation occurs.
If successful, the method will have applications in civil engineering, chemical engineering, agricultural engineering, and medicine: The immobilization of porewater can be used to undertake projects in dam rehabilitation, in environmental groundwater problems, water supply, and landfill isolation. Learning about the construction of custom microparticles may impact medical delivery technologies, and coating technologies.
