Soil Liquefaction in Earthquakes

Its effects on Structures and How to Avoid it

Delong Zuo

Abstract
Cases of structure failure caused by soil liquefaction during earthquakes are
reviewed. The mechanism of soil liquefaction is summarized. Methods to
identify soil liquefaction are introduced and mathematical models to simulate
soil liquefaction are presented. Based on the historical facts and the nature of soil
liquefaction, ways by which to reduce soil liquefaction potential during
earthquakes are suggested, with the emphasis on the structural design aspect.
Key Words: Soil Liquefaction, Earthquake, Structural Failure

Introduction
During earthquakes, soil failures, especially soil liquefaction, can cause
devastating effects on structures, such as land-sliding, lateral spreading, large
ground settlement and so on. This phenomenon has been observed for many
years. In fact, many of the structural failures in ancient earthquakes can be
associated with soil liquefaction based on the knowledge we process today. But
this phenomenon was not brought to the attention of engineers until after the
Niigata earthquake and the Alaska earthquake, both of which occurred in 1964
and demonstrated lots of typical soil liquefaction effects. Since then, careful
observations and in-depth research on this phenomenon have been carried out
by engineers and scientists all over the world. The mechanism of this
phenomenon has been studied and principles drawn from these studies have
been applied to practical engineering designs and construction. However, due to
the complex nature of soil and liquefaction, this phenomenon is far from
thoroughly understood.


Soil Liquefaction in Some Major Earthquakes
All strong earthquakes are accompanied by the phenomena of soil liquefaction
of some kind. Liquefaction can cause the failure of structures of any form in
many modes. Some typical cases of structure failure caused by soil liquefaction
in some major earthquakes are summarized below.
1. The Niigata Earthquake
Fig. 1 shows overturned buildings in the
Niigata Earthquake, which occurred on June 20,
1964 in Japan with a Richter magnitude of 7.7.
The buildings in the picture remained relatively
intact but rotated as whole structures because of
the land-sliding under their foundations. The
land-sliding was determined to have been caused
by soil liquefaction.
2. The Alaska Earthquake
The Alaska Earthquake, which occurred on March 27, 1964 in the Gulf of
Alaska, had a Richter magnitude of 8.5. It was one
of the largest earthquakes in the 20
th
century and
caused many structural failures due to soil
liquefaction. It is earthquake, together with the
Niigata Earthquake that called the attention of
engineers to the phenomenon of soil liquefaction
in earthquakes. Fig. 2 shows the failure of a road
embankment caused by soil liquefaction. The
failure of the roadbed caused the embankment to
spread to the two sides of the road, thereby tore the embankment apart.
Fig 1.Tilted Buildings
1
Fig 2. Cracking of Road
Embankment
1


3. The Loma Prieta Earthquake
The October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
had a Richter magnitude of 7.1. It was also not
exempted from significant structure failures
caused by soil liquefaction. Fig. 3 shows a sand
boil at the Oakland International Airport caused
by soil liquefaction in the earthquake.
4. The Kobe Earthquake
Liquefaction caused by strong dynamic ground
motion during the Kobe earthquake (7.2, Richter)
also contributed greatly to the structure failure,
especially the failure of the bridges and viaducts
on the Hanshin Expressway. Fig. 4 shows the
Nishinomiya Bridge with one span of its deck
fallen to the ground. The supports of the bridge
were not damaged, but large ground deformation occurred. Soil liquefaction
played a key role in the failure of this bridge.
5. The Izmit Earthquake
The Izmit earthquake is a more recent large
earthquake, which hit Turkey on August 17,
1999, with a Richter magnitude of 7.4. This
earthquake caused many deaths because of
residential building failure. One common
failure type of buildings is caused by soil-
liquefaction-induced loss of bearing strength
beneath shallow mat foundations. Fig. 5 shows one typical example of these
phenomena.

Fig. 3 Sand boil at an airport
1

Fig. 4. Fallen bridge deck
Fig 5. Toppled Building
2


6. The Taiwan Earthquake
One other effect of soil liquefactionlarge
ground settlement, can be found in the
September 21, 1999 Taiwan Earthquake (7.6,
Richter). Fig. 6 shows the damage of the
Taichung Harbor caused by soil liquefaction.
Large ground settlement can be seen in the
picture as well as the water burst out from
the deeper soil layer can be easily discerned.

Mechanism of Soil Liquefaction
Given the examples above, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of soil
liquefaction, where it occurs and why it occurs so often in earthquakes.
Liquefaction of soil is a process by which sediments below the water table
temporarily lose strength and behave more as a viscous liquid than as a solid
3
.
Liquefaction occurs in saturated soils, especially clay-free sand and silts. The
water in the soil exerts pressure upon the soil particles. If this pressure is low
enough, the soil stays stable. But once the
water pressure exceeds a certain level, it forces
the soil particles to move relative to each other,
thus causing the strength of the soil to decrease
and failure of the soil follows. During
earthquakes, when the shear wave passes
through saturated soil layers, it causes the
granular soil structure to deform and the weak
part of the soil begins to collapse. The
collapsed soil fills the lower layer and forces the pore water pressure in this layer
to increase. If the water pressure cannot be ready released, it will continue to
Fig 7. Shear Deformation
Caused by Earthquake4

Fig. 6 Large Ground Settlement
3

build up until it can sustain the total weight of the soil layer above, thus the
upper layer soil are ready to move and behave as a viscous liquid. It then is said
that soil liquefaction has occurred. Fig 7 shows the shear deformation of soil
caused by dynamic earthquake load.
Although soil liquefaction is usually followed by significant structural
failures, it does not happen everywhere. There are some places that are more
susceptible to soil liquefaction. Generally, the more loose the soil and the higher
the underground water level, the more likely liquefaction is to occur at this site
during earthquakes. The degree of ground deformation caused by soil
liquefaction is always depended on the age, density, and depth of the soil. The
slope of the ground, as well as the characteristic of the structure sitting upon the
ground, will also affect the soil deformation caused by liquefaction.
Soil liquefaction is a very complex
phenomenon, but it generally can be put into
two major categories, that is flow liquefaction
and cyclic mobility.
Flow liquefaction occurs in large soil areas
where the strength of the liquefied soil is
extremely low and the ground has a rather deep
slope. When the static equilibrium is destroyed
by dynamic earthquake load or sometimes even
a small load, the huge soil body can flow as a whole and in some instances
travel a very long distance (even of tens of miles) with very high velocity.
Because of this characteristic, this type of soil liquefaction is always the most
disastrous. Fig. 8 shows the mechanism of this type of soil liquefaction and the
damages to the buildings shown in fig. 1 and fig. 5 are typical damages caused
by flow liquefaction.
Cyclic mobility is triggered by cyclic loading at places where the shear stress of
the soil is lower than the soil strength and the ground slope is moderate. During
Fig. 8. Flow Liquefaction
3

earthquakes, cyclic mobility of the soil increases steadily with the dynamic load,
and finally triggers the soil to fail. One common result of cyclic mobility is lateral
spreading, which occurs when the subsiding soil cannot bear the surface layer
any longer. Thus the gravitational forces, together with the inertial forces built
up by the dynamic earthquake load cause the surface soil layer to fail. Fig. 2 and
3 show cases of soil liquefaction caused by cyclic mobility.

Identification of Soil Liquefaction
Most soil liquefaction has devastating effects, which can be very easily
identified. But there are cases where liquefaction has occurred in some
earthquakes without structure failure. It is necessary to identify these cases and
reinforce the soil below the structure to avoid possible future failure.
Several techniques have been developed to do this job. One is to place two
accelerometers at the site, with one at some depth in the soil and one in the
surface layer. If the ground acceleration recorded at the surface level is
significantly smaller than that recorded by the one underneath, and the upper
layer ground exhibits apparently longer period of motion, it can be determined
that soil liquefaction has occurred to some extent at this site. This vtechnology
has been used at the Higashi-Kobe Bridge which is near the epicenter of the 1995
Kobe earthquake. During the earthquake, the bridge site underwent very strong
ground motion. Fig. 9 shows the time histories of the earthquake recorded by
two accelerometers, one on the ground level (G2) and the other in a depth of
34m. Compare the two time histories, it can be seen very clearly that the ground
acceleration at the surface layer is much smaller than that of the depth of 34m.
And the period of the ground acceleration is apparently much longer at the
surface. This suggests strongly that soil liquefaction has occurred to a certain
extent at this site during the earthquake, although the earthquake produced no
severe damage to the bridge.




Simulation of Soil Liquefaction in Earthquake Design
Because of its devastating effects on structures, it is very important to include
liquefaction as a consideration in earthquake design for soil sites that are
susceptible to this phenomenon so that measures can be taken to reduce the
potential hazard.
Many mathematical models have been developed based on different soil
properties, different structure types and foundations to simulate soil liquefaction
induced by dynamic load. In finite element modeling, two kinds of models are
generally adopted. One uses soil springs to simulate the soil around the structure
foundation. Different stiffness of the springs is adopted during different stages of
the soil behavior during earthquakes. In this model the super-structure is
simplified as concentrated masses that are connected by stiff rod elements. The
other model uses large scale finite element simulation, in which the soil, the
Figure 3. Time History of Earthquake at Different Ground Level
4

foundation and the super-structure are all simulated using different types of
finite elements reflecting their relative properties. In particular, special soil
elements are used to simulate the soil-foundation boundary and parameters of
the soil elements and the boundary elements are adjusted according to different
stages of soil deformation. The second model has some advantages over the first
model in that it takes into consideration the effects of soil-structure interaction.
The soil no longer acts alone, which is closer to reality. Furthermore, it effectively
distinguishes the soil closer to the foundation from the soil farther away from it.
It has been discovered that the soil near the structure foundation has more
complex properties and is more likely to liquefy because of the dynamic
disturbance from the foundation and water pressure is more difficult to dissipate
in this region. The difficult part of the soil liquefaction modeling is soil parameter
identification. There has been considerable work done on this subject and more
actively underway.

Methodologies to Reduce Soil Liquefaction Potential
Soil liquefaction does occur and it is rather hard to predict it. Yet it is the
engineers responsibility to reduce the potential for soil liquefaction and the
catastrophic results it brings to structures and. Although there is still a lot to
learn about soil liquefaction, some general rules should be followed to reduce the
potential of soil-liquefaction-induced structure failures. Some suggestions are
summarized below.
First, avoid building structures in areas that are susceptible to soil liquefaction,
which is the best policy. These areas incluide
*
:
1. areas known to have experienced soil liquefaction during historic
earthquakes;
2. all areas of uncompacted fills containing liquefaction susceptible material
which are saturated, nearly saturated, or can be expected to become

* Based on Earthquake Basics, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute

saturated;

3. areas where sufficient existing geotechnical data and analyses indicate that
the soils are potentially liquefiable;
4. areas underlain with saturated geologically young sediments (younger
than 10,000 to 15,000 years old); and
5. areas that has a relatively steep ground slope.
Second, improve the soil if it is absolutely necessary to build structures in
liquefaction-susceptible areas. Such approaches include soil exchanging,
dynamic soil compaction, concrete grouting and installing stone or concrete
column and
1
.
Third, structures can be built to be liquefaction resistant. Some areas may not
seem liquefaction-susceptible, but the structure may be very important, examples
include densely populated residential buildings, long bridges and large dams on
major rivers. It is especially important to put soil liquefaction validation into the
design process for these structures.
Based on the mechanism and forms of soil liquefaction and the lessons learned
from past earthquakes, some suggestions can be provided as follows for
structural design:
1. Provide sufficient drainage at the foundation so that water pressure in the
soil will not easily build up under dynamic load.
2. Design strong foundation mats so that the structures do not fail even
though liquefaction occurs under part of their foundations. The building in
Fig. 5 experienced failure because it did not have a strong enough mat.
3. Include angled piles if pile foundations are adopted. Because, if soil faction
occurs in earthquakes, the piles will sustain not only vertical load, but also
lateral load .
4. Reinforce weakened soil around structures after earthquakes or some other
dynamic load; repair damaged foundations.

Conclusions:
Soil liquefaction is a common phenomenon during earthquakes. Its effects on
structures are devastating and it occurs in many forms. The mechanism of soil
liquefaction is very complicated due to the nature of soil, which renders it
difficult to fully understand. Because of the consequences it can bring to
structures, soil liquefaction should be an important factor considered in
earthquake design, especially for important structures. Research has been
performaed to identify and model the phenomenon of soil liquefaction so as to
provide references for earthquake design. To reduce the potential for structure
failures caused by soil liquefaction, some general rules have to be followed.

Recommendations
Soil is a material that has the one of the most diverse forms and most complex
properties. Much research has been performed to study this material, both
computational and experimental. But there seems little work done to understand
the properties of the part of soil at the soil-structure interface, which has different
properties as compared to the ordinary soil and could play a decisive role in the
behavior of both the soil and the structure during such severe loads as
earthquake, including soil liquefaction. This may be a future focus of study.
One other possible field of study concerning soil liquefaction is to combine this
phenomenon with the other commonly observed phenomena during
earthquakes, such as soil-structure separation and soil softening. There has been
some work done in this field. A critical part of this area of research is soil
parameter identification, which has always been a difficulty.




References:

1. Soil Liquefaction Web site, University of Washington,
www.ce.washington.edu/~liquefaction/html/main.html
2. The Izmit (Kocaeli), Turkey Earthquake of August 17, 1999, EERI Special
Earthquake Report, Oct 1999, www.eeri.org/Reconn/Turkey0899/Turkey0899.html
3. The Chi-Chi, Taiwan Earthquake of September 21, 1999, EERI Special
Earthquake Report, Oct 1999, www.eeri.org/Reconn/Turkey0899/Turkey0899.html

4.Earthquake BasicsLiquefaction, What it is and what to do about it, Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute, www.eeri.org/eq_Basics/liq/LIQUEFAC.html
5. Response Analysis of the Higashid-kobe Bridge and Surrounding Soil in the 1995
Hyogokendnanbu Earthquake, Todor Ganevi, Fumio Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishizak and
Masahiko Kitazawa, Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Dynamics, 557-
576,1998