Abstract
Soil liquefaction following large earthquakes is a major contributor to damage to infrastructure and economic loss, as borne out by the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand in 2011. While extensive research has been conducted on soil liquefaction and our understanding of liquefaction has been advancing, several uncertainties remain. In this paper the basic premise that liquefaction is an ‘undrained’ event will be challenged. Evidence will be offered based on dynamic centrifuge tests to show that rapid settlements occur both in level ground and for shallow foundations. It will also be shown that the definition of liquefaction based on excess pore pressure generation and the subsequent classification of sites as liquefiable and non-liquefiable is not satisfactory, as centrifuge test data shows that both loose and dense sand sites produce significant excess pore pressure. Experimental evidence will be presented that shows that the permeability of sands increases rapidly at very low effective stresses to allow for rapid drainage to take place from liquefied soil. Based on these observations a micro-mechanical view of soil liquefaction that brings together the Critical State view of soil liquefaction and the importance of dynamic loading will be presented.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrus RD, Stokoe KH (2000) Liquefaction resistance of soils from shear wave velocity. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng, ASCE 126(11):1015–1025
Arulmoli K, Muraleetharan KK, Hossain MM, Fruth LS (1992) VELACS laboratory testing program, soil data report, The Earth Technology Corporation Project No: 90–0562. Irvine, California
Beaty MH, Byrne P (2007) Liquefaction and deformation analysis using a total stress approach. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 134(8):1059–1072
Brennan AJ, Madabhushi SPG (2011) Measurement of coefficient of consolidation during reconsolidation of liquefied sand. ASTM Geotech Test J 34(2):64–72
Casagrande A (1936) Characteristics of cohesionless soils affecting the stability of slopes and earth fills. J Boston Soc Civ Eng 1:257–294
Casagrande A (1971) On liquefaction phenomena, reprinted in Geotechnique 21(3):1–21
Castro G (1969) Liquefaction of sands. PhD Thesis, Harvard University; reprinted as Hazard Soil Mechanics Series, No. 8, p l–112
Coelho PALF, Haigh SK, Madabhushi SPG, O’Brien AS (2007) Post-earthquake behaviour of footings when using densification as a liquefaction resistance measure. Ground Improv J 11(1):45–53
Dixon SJ, Burke JW (1973) Liquefaction case history. J Soil Mech Found Eng, ASCE 99:921–937
Finn WDL, Yogendrakumar M, Yoshida N, Yoshida H (1986) TARA-3: a program to compute the response of 2-D embankments and soil-structure interaction systems to seismic loading. University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Ghosh B, Madabhushi SPG (2007) Centrifuge modelling of seismic soil-structure interaction effects. J Nucl Eng Des 237:887–896
Haigh SK, Eadington J, Madabhushi SPG (2012) Permeability and stiffness of sands at very low effective stresses. Geotechnique 62(1):69–75
Idriss IM, Boulanger RW (2006) Semi-empirical procedures for evaluating liquefaction potential during earthquakes. J Soil Dynam Earthquake Eng 26:115–130
Ishihara K, Tatsuoka F, Yasuda S (1974) Undrained deformation and liquefaction of sand under cyclic stresses. Soil Found 15(1):29–44
Ishihara K, Li S (1972) Liquefaction of saturated sand in triaxial torsional shear test. Soil Found 12(2):19–39
Ishihara K (1985) Stability of natural deposits during earthquake. In: Proceedings of XI international conference on soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, San Francisco, vol. 1
Ishihara K (1993) Liquefaction and flow failure during earthquakes. Geotechnique 43(3):351–415
Kramer SL (1996) Geotechnical earthquake engineering. Prentice Hall Inc., New Jersey. ISBN 013374943-6
Luong MP (1980) Stress–strain aspects of cohesionless soils under cyclic and transient loading. In: Proceedings of international symposium on soil under cyclic and transient loading, Swansea, p 315–324
Luong MP, Sidaner JF (1981) Undrained behaviour of cohesionless soils under cyclic and transient loading. In: Proceedings of international conference on recent advances in geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil dynamics. St Louis, USA
Mitrani H, Madabhushi SPG (2010) Cementation liquefaction remediation for existing building. Ground Improv J 163(G12):81–94
Madabhushi SPG, Haigh SK (2009) Effect of superstructure stiffness on liquefaction-induced failure mechanisms. Int J Geotech Earthquake Eng 1(1):72–88
Madabhushi SPG (2008) Future trends in geotechnical earthquake engineering. In: Sitharam TG, Babu GLS (eds) Proceedings of Indian geotechnical conference. Key Note Lecture, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, pp 379–389
Madabhushi SPG, Thusyanthan I, Lubkowski Z, Pecker A (2008) In: Elghazouli A (ed) Shallow Foundations, Seismic design of buildings to Eurocode 8. Spon Press, London. ISBN 978041544762-1
Muhunthan B, Schofield AN (2000) Liquefaction and dam failures. Proc GeoDenver, Denver
Robertson PK, Wride CE (1998) Evaluating cyclic liquefaction potential using the cone penetration test. Can Geotech J 35(3):442–459
Roscoe KH, Schofield AN, Wroth CP (1958) On the yielding of soils. Geotechnique 8:22–53
Schofield AN (1980) Cambridge geotechnical centrifuge operations. Geotechnique 25(4):743–761
Schofield AN (1981) Dynamic and earthquake geotechnical centrifuge modelling. In Proceedings of international conference on recent advances in geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil dynamics, St Louis, vol. III, pp 1081–1100
Schofield AN, Wroth CP (1968) Critical state soil mechanics. McGraw-Hill, London
Seed HB, Lee KL (1966) Liquefaction of saturated sands during cyclic loading. ASCE J Soil Mech Found Eng 92:105–134
Seed HB, Lee KL, Idriss IM (1969) Analysis of Sheffield dam failure. ASCE J Soil Mech Found Eng 95:1453–1490
Seed HB, Idriss IM (1971) Simplified procedure for evaluating soil liquefaction potential. J Soil Mech Found, ASCE 97(SM9):1249–1273
Seed HB (1979) Soil liquefaction and cyclic mobility evaluation for level ground during earthquakes. ASCE J Geotech Eng 105(2):201–255
Tokimatsu K, Seed HB (1987) Evaluation of settlements in sand due to earthquake shaking. J Geotech Eng ASCE 113(8):861–878
Zienkiewicz OC, Chan AHC, Pastor M, Schrefler BA, Shiomi T (1999) Computational geomechanics. Wiley, USA. ISBN 9780471982852
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Madabhushi, G.S.P., Haigh, S.K. How Well Do We Understand Earthquake Induced Liquefaction?. Indian Geotech J 42, 150–160 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-012-0018-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-012-0018-2