• Title/Summary/Keyword: sand liquefaction

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Energy-based evaluation of liquefaction potential of uniform sands

  • Sonmezer, Yetis Bulent
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.145-156
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    • 2019
  • Since behaviors of loose, dense, silty sands vary under seismic loading, understanding the liquefaction mechanism of sandy soils continues to be an important challenges of geotechnical earthquake engineering. In this study, 36 deformation controlled cyclic simple shear tests were performed and the liquefaction potential of the sands was investigated using three different relative densities (40, 55, 70%), four different effective stresses (25, 50, 100, 150 kPa) and three different shear strain amplitudes (2, 3.5, 5%) by using energy based approach. Experiments revealed the relationship between per unit volume dissipated energy with effective stress, relative density and shear strain. The dissipate energy per unit volume was much less affected by shear strain than effective stress and relative density. In other words, the dissipated energy is strongly dependent on relative density and effective stress. These results show that the dissipated energy per unit volume is very useful and may contain the non-uniform loading conditions of the earthquake spectrum. When multiple regression analysis is performed on experiment results, a relationship is proposed that gives liquefaction energy of sandy soils depending on relative density and effective stress parameters.

Effect of Non-Plastic Fines Content on the Pore Pressure Generation of Sand-Silt Mixture Under Strain-Controlled CDSS Test (변형률 제어 반복직접단순전단시험에서 세립분이 모래-실트 혼합토의 간극수압에 미치는 영향)

  • Tran, Dong-Kiem-Lam;Park, Sung-Sik;Nguyen, Tan-No;Park, Jae-Hyun;Sung, Hee-Young;Son, Jun-Hyeok;Hwang, Keum-Bee
    • Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.33-39
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    • 2024
  • Understanding the behavior of soil under cyclic loading conditions is essential for assessing its response to seismic events and potential liquefaction. This study investigates the effect of non-plastic fines content (FC) on excess pore pressure generation in medium-density sand-silt mixtures subjected to strain-controlled cyclic direct simple shear (CDSS) tests. The investigation is conducted by analyzing excess pore pressure (EPP) ratios and the number of cycles to liquefaction (Ncyc-liq) under varying shear strain levels and FC values. The study uses Jumunjin sand and silica silt with FC values ranging from 0% to 40% and shear strain levels of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.5%, and 1.0%. The findings indicate that the EPP ratio increases rapidly during loading cycles, with higher shear strain levels generating more EPP and requiring fewer cycles to reach liquefaction. At 1.0% and 0.5% shear strain levels, FC has a limited effect on Ncyc-liq. However, at a lower shear strain level of 0.2%, increasing FC from 0 to 10% reduces Ncyc-liq from 42 to 27, and as FC increases further, Ncyc-liq also increases. In summary, this study provides valuable insights into the behavior of soil under cyclic loading conditions. It highlights the significance of shear strain levels and FC values in excess pore pressure generation and liquefaction susceptibility.

Cyclic Shear Characteristics of Nakdong River Sand Containing Fines with Varying Plasticity (낙동강 모래에 포함된 세립분의 소성지수에 따른 반복전단 특성)

  • Park, Sung-Sik;Kim, Young-Su;Kim, Sung-Ho
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.31 no.3C
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    • pp.93-102
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    • 2011
  • Most experimental studies on soil liquefaction are related to clean sands. However, soils in the field or reclaimed grounds commonly contain some amounts of silt and clay rather than clean sand only. Many researchers investigated the effect of fine contents on liquefaction resistance and mainly used non-plastic fines such as silts. In this study, 10% of plastic fines with various plasticity index (PI) such as 8, 18, 50, and 377 were mixed with wet Nakdong River sand and then loose, medium, and dense specimens were prepared by undercompaction method. A series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests were carried out by applying three different cyclic stress ratios. As a result, the liquefaction resistance tended to decrease as a PI of fines in the specimens with equal fine content increased. On the other hand, the difference between loose specimens with low and high plasticity fines was not clearly observed in terms of liquefaction resistance. However, in the case of dense specimens, liquefaction resistance decreased up to 40% as a plasticity of fines increased.

Overview on Standards for Liquefaction Triggering Evaluation using the Simplified Method (간편법을 이용한 액상화 평가 기준에 대한 고찰)

  • Kim, Yeon-Jun;Ko, Kil-Wan;Manandhar, Satish;Kim, Byungmin;Kim, Dong-Soo
    • Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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    • v.24 no.5
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    • pp.197-209
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    • 2020
  • Evidence of liquefaction during the 2017 Pohang earthquake has highlighted the urgent need to evaluate the current seismic design standard for liquefaction in Korea, particularly the liquefaction triggering standard. With the simplified method, which is the most popular method for evaluating liquefaction triggering, the factor of safety for liquefaction triggering is calculated via the cyclic stress ratio (CSR) and the cyclic resistance ratio (CRR). The parameters in the CSR and CRR have undergone changes over time based on new research findings and lessons learned from liquefaction case-histories. Hence, the current design standard for liquefaction triggering evaluation in Korea should also reflect these changes to achieve seismic safety during future earthquakes. In this study, liquefaction susceptibility criteria were discussed initially and this was followed by a review of the current liquefaction triggering codes/guidelines in other countries and Korea. Next, the parameters associated with the CSR such as the maximum ground acceleration, stress reduction factor, magnitude scaling factor, and overburden correction factor were discussed in detail. Then, the evaluation of the CRR using the SPT N-value and CPT qc-value was elaborated along with overburden and clean-sand correction factors. Based on this review of liquefaction triggering evaluation standards, recommendations are made for improving the current seismic design standard related to liquefaction triggering in Korea.

An Experimental Study on the Liquefaction Behavior under Various Loading Conditions (다양한 입력하중에서의 액상화 발생 특성 비교 연구)

  • Kim, Soo-Il;Hwang, Seon-Ju;Park, Keun-Bo;Choi, Jae-Soon
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2005.03a
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    • pp.320-327
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    • 2005
  • Liquefaction characteristics of saturated sand under various dynamic loadings such as sinusoidal, wedge, increasing wedge and real earthquake loading are investigated focusing on the excess pore water pressure build up instead of liquefaction resistance strength in this paper. There are large differences between two types of earthquake loading - impact and vibration in liquefaction characteristics. The angle of phase change line of sinusoidal loading is very close to the vibration type, whereas the cumulative deviator stress and cumulative plastic strain are larger than two types of real earthquake loadings. On the other hand, the liquefaction characteristics of increasing wedge loadings are located in the range between vibration and impact earthquake loadings. It is concluded that the sinusoidal loading overestimates the resistance of soil under real earthquake loading. Based on results obtained, the increasing wedge loading can reflect the liquefaction behavior under real earthquake loadings more efficiently than sinusoidal loading based on equivalent uniform stress concept.

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Liquefaction susceptibility of silty tailings under monotonic triaxial tests in nearly saturated conditions

  • Gianluca Bella;Guido Musso
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.36 no.3
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    • pp.247-258
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    • 2024
  • Tailings are waste materials of mining operations, consisting of a mixture of clay, silt, sand with a high content of unrecoverable metals, process water, and chemical reagents. They are usually discharged as slurry into the storage area retained by dams or earth embankments. Poor knowledge of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of tailings has often resulted in a high rate of failures in which static liquefaction has been widely recognized as one of the major causes of dam collapse. Many studies have dealt with the static liquefaction of coarse soils in saturated conditions. This research provides an extension to the case of silty tailings in unsaturated conditions. The static liquefaction resistance was evaluated in terms of stress-strain behavior by means of monotonic triaxial tests. Its dependency on the preparation method, the volumetric water content, the void ratio, and the degree of saturation was studied and compared with literature data. The static liquefaction response was proved to be dependent mainly on the preparation technique and degree of saturation that, in turn, controls the excess of pore pressure whose leading role is investigated by means of the relationship between the -B Skempton parameter and the degree of saturation. A preliminary interpretation of the static liquefaction response of Stava tailings is also provided within the Critical State framework.

New Methods for Assessing Liquefaction Potential Based on the Characteristics of Material (재료의 역학적 거동특성에 기초한 액상화 평가방법)

  • Kim, Gyeong-Hwan;Park, In-Jun;Kim, Su-Il
    • Geotechnical Engineering
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.205-218
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    • 1998
  • The purpose of this study is to develop and utilize new assessment of liquefaction potential based on DSC(disturbed state concept) and dissipated energy concept. The term liquefaction has suddenly loses its shear strength and behaves like a fluid. Liquefaction has been a source of a major damage during severe earthquake. In this study, the cyclic undrained behavior of Joomoonjin strand is investigated by using an automates triaxial testing device(C. K. Chan type). In order to assess liquefaction potential of saturated strand, DSC method and energy method are applied for the experimental data. The use of DSC method and energy method to define the liquefaction potential is verified through laboratory testis of cyclic triaxial test on saturated sand specimens. Based on the analytical results of DSC method, the relationship between the factor affecting liquefaction characteristics(Dr) and physical properties of the saturated santa(fs and D.) is found. Based on the analytical results of energy method, it is found that the initial liquefaction of rand is related to the significant change in the dissipated energy. Finally, it is shown that the DSC method and energy method can capture the liquefaction mechanism.

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Numerical Modeling of Sloping Ground under Earthquake Loading Using UBCSAND Model (UBCSAND모델을 이용한 사면의 동적거동해석)

  • Park Sung-Sik;Kim Young-Su;Kim Hee-Joong
    • Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.61-71
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    • 2006
  • A numerical procedure is presented fur evaluating seismic liquefaction on sloping ground sites. The procedure uses a fully coupled dynamic effective stress analysis with a plastic constitutive model called UBCSAND. The model was first calibrated against laboratory element behavior. This involved cyclic simple shear tests performed on loose sand with and without initial static shear stress. The numerical procedure is then verified by predicting a centrifuge test with a slope performed on loose Fraser River sand. The predicted excess pore pressures, accelerations and displacements are compared with the measurements. The results are shown to be in good agreement. The shear stress reversal patterns depend on static and cyclic shear stress levels and are shown to play a key role in evaluating liquefaction response in sloping ground sites. The sand near the slope has low effective confining stress and dilates more. When no stress reversals occur, the sand behaves in a stiffer manner that curtails the accumulated downslope displacements. The numerical procedure using UBCSAND can serve as a guide for design of new soil structures or retrofit of existing ones.

Site response analysis using true coupled constitutive models for liquefaction triggering

  • Cristhian C. Mendoza-Bolanos;Andres Salas-Montoya;Oscar H. Moreno-Torres;Arturo I. Villegas-Andrade
    • Earthquakes and Structures
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.27-41
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    • 2023
  • This study focused on nonlinear effective stress site response analysis using two coupled constitutive models, that is, the DM model (Dafalias and Manzari 2004), which incorporated a simple plasticity sand model accounting for fabric change effects, and the PMDY03 model (Khosravifar et al. 2018), that is, a 3D model for earthquake-induced liquefaction triggering and postliquefaction response. A detailed parametric study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of nonlinear site response analysis and porewater pressure (PWP) generation through a true coupled formulation for assessing the initiation of liquefaction at ground level. The coupled models demonstrated accurate prediction of liquefaction triggering, which was in line with established empirical liquefaction triggering relations in published databases. Several limitations were identified in the evaluation of liquefaction using the cyclic stress method, despite its widespread implementation for calculating liquefaction triggering. Variations in shear stiffness, represented by changes in shear wave velocity (Vs1), exerted the most significant influence on site response. The study further indicated that substantial differences in response spectra between nonlinear total stress and nonlinear effective stress analyses primarily occurred when liquefaction was triggered or on the verge of being triggered, as shown by excess PWP ratios approaching unity. These differences diminished when liquefaction occurred towards the later stages of intense shaking. The soil response was predominantly influenced by the higher stiffness values present prior to liquefaction. A key contribution of this study was to validate the criteria used to assess the triggering of level-ground liquefaction using true coupled effective-stress constitutive models, while also confirming the reliability of numerical approximations including the PDMY03 and DM models. These models effectively captured the principal characteristics of liquefaction observed in field tests and laboratory experiments.

A Study on the Liquefaction Behavior of Bottom Ash (Bottom Ash의 액상화 저항특성 연구)

  • Yoon, Won-Sub;Chae, Young-Su
    • Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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    • v.27 no.6
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    • pp.63-79
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    • 2011
  • In this study relative density tests of bottom ash and standard sand were carried out. And cyclic triaxial tests for samples with the relative density of 40%, 55%, and 70% were carried out on the basis of the test results. Cyclic triaxial tests were also conducted for fines content with 55% relative density. Residual samples were divided into No.40, No.60, No.60, and No.100, and No.200. In order to avoid crashing that can happen when compaction of the sample is initiated, bottom ash was crushed using the a compact mold. In consideration of the crushing characteristics of each residual samples, the fragmentation rate increased up to 30%, which led to the adjustment of fine-grained amount to 10%, 20%, and 30%. Through the repative triaxial test in accordance with the relative density, resistant characteristics of the liquefaction of bottom ash was analyzed. Test results show that, crushing strength of bottom ash was smaller than that of standard sand, resulting in different liquefaction behavior characteristics. And we could find fines content with maximum resistant characteristics of the liquefaction.