A pneumatic shaking table and its application to a liquefaction test on saturated sand

The shaking tables that are used in earthquake engineering are normally driven by hydraulic actuators, which require high maintenance and operation costs. In some studies, when it is only desirable to conduct small-scaled model tests, a pneumatic shaking table can be considered as an alternative to a hydraulic shaking table. This paper describes the design, development, calibration, and performance of a pneumatic shaking table system. It was proved that the pneumatic shaking table can offer satisfactory performances. Using the pneumatic shaking table, a liquefaction test on saturated sand was conducted. During liquefaction, both the stiffness and acceleration response of the ground greatly decreased. In comparison to the sharp increase in excess pore water pressure (EPWP) when liquefaction started, the dissipation process lasted for a much longer time period.