Investigating surface fault Rupture Hazard Mitigation for shallow foundations by EPS wall using Numerical studies

Observing destroyed engineered structures and induced fatality due to faulting motivated engineers to consider possible solution for reducing damage to structures. Mitigations countermeasures should be applied when elusion is not possible. Finite element analyses verified through centrifuge model experiments is implemented in this study. Considering different fault dip Angel, critical position of surface foundation in which it has the most rotation is specified. Then effectiveness of trenching a wall filled with extended polystyrene sheets (EPS) near foundation, at sufficient depth to intercept the propagating fault rupture is investigated. The results indicated that such wall thanks to its high deformability and very low shear resistance relative to the soil can absorb the compressive thrust of fault and forces the rupture to deviate along its length. So the foundation will experience less rotation and displacement .The effectiveness of EPS wall is depend on exact location of foundation relative to the surface fault outcrop s/b , magnitude of fault offset h/H and of course amount of fault dip slip Angel α.