Influence of surface footing loading on soil arching above multiple buried structures in transparent sand

Constructing a new buried structure nearby an existing one or constructing multiple buried structures in close proximity may change overburden stresses, induce ground movement, and affect soil–structure interaction. Such issues become more complex when these nearby buried structures are subjected to surface cyclic footing loading. Cyclic loading is expected to have different influences on the buried structures from static loading. This paper presents two-dimensional trapdoor tests with transparent soil to investigate the influences of static versus cyclic surface loading, number of trapdoors, overburden soil height, and load frequency on soil arching above single or multiple adjacent buried structures. The particle image velocimetry technique was adopted to monitor soil movements during testing. The test results showed that soil arching degraded more under cyclic loading than under static loading. The interaction of buried structures, the thin overburden soil, and the high load frequency accelerated soil arching degradation and induced larger ground surface displacement.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author