Analysis of liquefaction behavior during the 2011 off the Pacific coast of

Tohoku earthquake
S. Kamagata
Nuclear Power Department, Kajima Corporation, Tokyo 107-8348, Japan
I. Takewaki
Dept. of Architecture and Architectural Eng., Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan

ABSTRACT: The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) caused many kinds of seismic
hazard. In this paper, the liquefaction at Chiba bay area is investigated using the seismic records of K-NET.
The K-NET seismic records of CHB008, CHB009 and CHB024 are analyzed by the non-stationary Fourier
spectra and the response envelope spectra. The dominant frequency component is evaluated by the non-
stationary Fourier spectra. The pulse wave which occurred after the main shock is composed of dual frequen-
cy components, which may result from the so-called cyclic mobility phenomenon. An artificial earthquake
wave based on the seismic design code is compared with the measured seismic record using the velocity re-
sponse envelope spectra. The necessity of revision of the seismic design code is discussed.

The national research institute for earth and

1 INTRODUCTION disaster prevention (NIED) established the strong-
motion seismography networks after the Hy-
The technologies of Japanese seismic resistant ogoken-Nanbu earthquake in 1995 (Mw 6.9), the
construction have been upgraded through the ex- epicenter of which was the underneath of Kobe
periences of several seismic hazards. The 2011 off area. The measured seismic records have been
the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake caused opened at the web site of NIED since 1996. In this
various damages, which were related to the seis- paper the seismic records of K-NET, CHB008
mic magnitude (Mw 9.0) and the long duration by (Urayasu), CHB009 (Chiba) and CHB024 (Inage)
the consolidated type of the fault as well as the are analyzed by the non-stationary Fourier spectra
tsunami. The authors focused on the liquefaction and the liquefaction behavior is investigated.
at Ciba bay area which is 350km far from the epi-
center (MLITT 2011). A similar liquefaction haz-
ard was observed during the Mexico earthquake
(Mw 8.0) in 1985. The liquefaction at Mexico
City was occurred at the reclaimed land on the
Mexico basin and the seismic records were char-
acterized by the low dominant frequency and the
long duration time of around 3 minutes.
Chiba Prefectural Environmental Research
Center investigated the seismic hazard in Chiba Epicenter and three measurement points
prefecture and reported the liquefaction hazard at
Chiba Bay area (see Figure 1), which was induced
cyclically in the 1987 off east Chiba prefecture
earthquake (MJMA6.7) and the earthquake in 2011
(CPERC 2010). The reclaimed land by the hy-
draulic fill method resulted in an irregular distri-
bution of sand and silt in the horizontal direction.
In the construction method the sand with heavy
mass settled at the near point of the ejection vent
of sand pomp and the silt with light mass settled at
the far point of the vent. The irregularity of soil Figure 1 Measurement points in Tokyo bay area and hazard
caused the local hazard in Chiba bay area. map after 2011 Tohoku earthquake
2 SEISMIC RECORDS OF K-NET

The seismic hazard due to the 2011 off the Pacific

coast of Tohoku earthquake spread in the wide ar-
ea of Japan. In Urayasu city at Chiba Bay area the
number of completely destroyed houses was only
10 and that of partially destroyed houses was 3649
almost of which were related to the liquefaction.

2.1 Seismic records of K-NET at Chiba bay area
The seismic records of CHB008, CHB009 and
CHB024 were selected from K-NET database.
The profiles of seismic records are illustrated in
Figure 2. The long duration more than 3 minutes
is similar to the seismic records of the Mexico
earthquake in 1985. The maximum values of
seismic records are listed in Table 1. The maxi-
mum acceleration value of CHB024 caused as the
pulse wave at the later of the main-shock (shaded
in Figure).
3 isfy the necessary accuracy of the discrimination
Acceleration (m/s2)
Figure 3 Soil data of measurement points (NIED, K-NET)
2.2 Analysis by non-stationary Fourier spectrum
The phenomenon of liquefaction is a transient
process of the seismic behavior. The authors
adopted the non-stationary Fourier spectrum to
evaluate the transient process. The data window
width is determined so as to include more than
one cycle of targeted frequency. The data window
is swept in the axis of time with the interval to sat-

CHB008
2 NS in the time domain. The analytical time of FFT is
1 EW
UD set to satisfy the necessary accuracy of the dis-
0
crimination in the frequency domain. The non-
stationary Fourier spectrum (T j ; j = 1,2, M ) may
-1
-2
-3 be defined by
( ) ( )
F i ; T j = g ,T j exp[ ii t ]d
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (s)
(1)
CHB008 Urayasu
3
CHB009
( )
g , T j = y ( ) ; T j Ta 2 T j + Ta 2
Acceleration (m/s 2)

g ( , T j ) = 0
2 NS
1 EW ; < T j Ta 2 , T j + Ta 2 <
UD
0
-1
Ta ; Width of data window (second)
-2
y ( ) ; Seismic record
-3
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (s)
The analytical results are illustrated as contours
CHB009 Chiba
3
with ten levels which are normalized by the max-
CHB024 imum value in the plane of time (X-axis) and fre-
Acceleration (m/s2)

2 NS
1 EW quency (Y-axis). The analytical results of
UD
0 CHB009 (NS) and CHB024 (NS) are illustrated in
-1 Figure 4. The dominant component of CHB009
-2
was observed around 105 second with the fre-
-3
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 quency of 1.7Hz (2.0 m/s2) and that of CHB024
Time (s)
was observed around 110 second with the fre-
CHB024 Inage quency of 0.8Hz (1.5m/s2).
Figure 2 Acceleration profiles The maximum amplitude spectrum was calcu-
lated from the results of non-stationary Fourier
Table 1 Maximum acceleration (m/s2) spectrum.
Measurement point NS EW UD
CHB008 Urayasu 1.25 1.57 0.75
Acc
FMAX ( i ) : Maximum amplitude of F ( i ; T j )
CHB009 Chiba 1.79 1.40 0.77 in frequency (i ; i = 1,2, N 2) and duration
CHB024 Inage 2.32 2.03 0.86
(T j ; j = 1,2, M )
The data of soil column are shown in Figure 3. M = T T T ; Duration of seismic record
The underground below GL-2.7m at CHB008 and T ; Time interval of FFT analysis
CHB009 is silt. The underground below GL-1.5m N ; Number of steps in FFT analysis
at CHB024 is sand. As shown in Figure 5 the maximum acceleration
amplitude of CHB009 was larger than that of
CHB024, but the maximum acceleration value of : Maximum pseudo-displacement amplitude
CHB009 was smaller than that of CHB024. It
seems that the transverse relation was caused by In Figure 6 the horizontal axis was changed from
the superimposed additional mode around the fre- the frequency to the period. The maximum accel-
quency of 2.0Hz. eration amplitude spectra of three seismic records
are different in the frequency lower than 1.0Hz
3
but are almost the same with the amplitude of
Acceleration (m/s2)

CHB009NS
2
1 1.0m/s2 in the frequency higher than 1.0Hz.
0
-1
3

Acceleration (m/s2)
-2
-3
CHB008NS
50 70 90 110 130 150 CHB009NS
Time (s) 2 CHB024NS
10
CHB009(NS)
Data-window width=2.0s 100 1
8 FFT analytical time=10.24s 90
80
Frequency (Hz)

70 0
6 60 0 1 2 3 4 5
50 Period (s)
4 40
30 Acceleration amplitude
20
2 10 1
0 CHB008NS

Velocity (m/s)
CHB009NS
0 CHB024NS
50 70 90 110 130 150 0.5
Time (s)

CHB009 Chiba
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Period (s)
Pseudo-velocity amplitude
Displacement (m) 0.6
CHB008NS
CHB009NS
CHB024NS
10 0.3
CHB024inage(NS)
Data-window width=2.0s 100
8 FFT analytical time=10.24s 90
80 0
Frequency (Hz)

70 0 1 2 3 4 5
6
60 Period (s)
50
4 40 Pseudo-displacement amplitude
30
20 Figure 6 Maximum amplitude spectra
2 10
0
0
50 70 90 110 130 150 3 CYCLIC MOBILITY PHENOMENON
Time (s)

CHB024 Inage The authors focused on the pulse wave in the

Figure 4 Non-stationary Fourier spectra seismic records of CHB024, which occurred
around 120 second at the later of the main shock.
3 First the seismic behavior was evaluated by the
Maximum amplitude (m/s )
2

CHB009(NS)
CHB024(NS) displacement profiles. Secondly the distribution
2
property of the dominant component in the low
frequency range was evaluated by the non-
1
stationary Fourier spectrum.
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) 3.1 Analysis of displacement profile
Figure 5 Comparison of maximum amplitude spectra The displacement profiles were calculated through
the numerical integration of the acceleration rec-
The pseudo-velocity amplitude and the pseudo- ords. The displacement profiles of CHB024NS
displacement amplitude were calculated from the and CHB024EW are illustrated in Figure 7. The
acceleration amplitude spectrum. pulse wave occurred from 115 second to 130 sec-
ond and the dual peaks were observed in the NS
Vel
FMAX ( i ) = FMAX
Acc
( i ) i component. The maximum peak-to-peak dis-
: Maximum pseudo-velocity amplitude placement of NS component was 0.17m.
Dis
FMAX ( i ) = FMAX
Acc
( i ) i 2
Using both displacement profiles the movement in 3.2 Cyclic mobility phenomenon
the horizontal plane was evaluated by four orbits The shaded part of CHB024 in Figure 4 was ana-
with the interval of 5 second from 115 second to lyzed with the sampling frequency of 0.049Hz and
135 second as shown in Figure 8. The principal the interval time of 0.2 second as shown in Figure
direction of movement was about 45 degrees 10. The frequency of the dominant component
clockwise from the horizontal axis in the seg- shifted from 2.2Hz to 0.78Hz during 10 second
ments from 115 second to 130 second and the from 110 second to 120 second. The softening of
secondary direction of movement was orthogonal the soil stiffness was evaluated as 90% of reduc-
to the principal direction. The orbit after 130 sec- tion. Beside the dominant component the accom-
ond showed the circular movement. panying component in the frequency range of
0.1
around 2.0Hz was detected at the same time of
pulse wave (see Figure 10 and 11). From this fact
Displacement (m)

CHB024NS
0.05 CHB024EW it was concluded that the pulse wave was com-
0 posed of the dual frequency components, which
was called the cyclic mobility phenomenon. The
-0.05
occurring mechanism was assumed that the dis-
-0.1
80 90 100 110 120 130 140
solved soil fraction skeleton was re-constructed in
Time (s) the process of the liquefaction.
Figure 7 Displacement profiles of CHB024
3
CHB024

Acceleration (m/s2)
2 NS
0.1 0.1
1
115-120s 120-125s
0
0.05 0.05
EW component
EW component

-1
E -2
0 E 0 S -3
110 115 120 125 130
S
Time (s)
-0.05 -0.05 5
CHB024inage(NS)
Data-window width=2.0s 100
-0.1 -0.1 4 FFT analytical time=5.12s
-0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 90
80
Frequency (Hz)

NS component NS component 70
3
60
115120second 120125second 50
2 40
30
0.1 20
0.1 1
125-130s 130-135s 10
0
0.05 0.05
EW component
EW component

S 0
110 115 120 125 130
0 0 S
E Time (s)

-0.05 -0.05 Figure 10 Non-stationary Fourier spectrum

E
-0.1 -0.1 2
Maximum amplitude (m/s 2)

-0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.049Hz

NS component NS component 1.5
125130second 130135second
1
Figure 8 Orbit of displacement in horizontal plane
0.5
0.2
Disp. amplitude (m)

CHB024NS 0
0.15 CHB024EW 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency
0.1
Figure 11 Maximum amplitude spectrum
0.05

0
80
Figure 9 Transient of peak-to-peak deformation amplitude
The peak-to-peak displacement amplitude in each
segment of 5 second is illustrated from 80 second
to 140second in Figure 9. The occurrence time of
the maximum displacement amplitude is 125 sec-
ond, which is coincident with the occurrence time
of the pulse wave.
90 100 110 120 130 140
Time (s)
4 COMPARISON OF ARTIFICIAL WAVE
Building Research Institute and Building Center
of Japan published the guideline on the generation
method of artificial seismic ground motions for
the seismic design (Draft) and opened the artifi-
cial seismic waves at bedrock on web site (BRI
1992). The fundamental period of buildings tends
to be longer since the high-rise buildings and the
isolation buildings are popular, which requires the
re-estimation by the artificial design wave (Oka-
wa, 2010, Kamagata and Takewaki 2013).
4.1 Artificial design wave 3

Maximum amplitude (m/s 2)

BCJ-L2
CHB024NS
Two levels of artificial design wave were defined 2 CHB024EW

based on the design spectra and the envelope

function as shown in Figures 12 and 13. 1

Design spectra (Level-2) 0

B(T ) = 350 T 2
0 2 4 6 8 10
H 0.02 T < 0.05 Frequency (Hz)
= 350 T (T 0.05)
{1+ log (5 7 ) 2 log 2}
2 0.05 T < 0.2 Figures 15 Comparison of maximum amplitude spectra
= 1000 T 2 0.2 T < 5
= 100 5 T < 10
Envelope function (Level-2) 4.3 Analysis by response envelope spectra
e(t ) = (t 5) 0T <5
2
As shown in Figure 12 the design spectra are de-
e(t ) = 1 5 T < 35 fined as the velocity response spectra. Trifunac
e(t ) = exp[ 0.027(t 35)] 35 T < 120 proposed the response envelope spectrum (Tri-
funac 1971), which is a useful tool to evaluate the
Pseudo velocity (m/s)

1.5 1.2
h=0.05% Level-1
1 Level-1 transient response process. The authors illustrate
Level-2 Level-2
the response envelope spectrum as a 2-
Amplitude

1 0.8
0.6 dimensional contour in the plane of the time axis
0.5 0.4
0.2
(X) and the period axis (Y).
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 x(t , Ti ) + 2hx (t , Ti ) + 2 x(t , Ti ) = y(t ) (2)
x(t + t , Ti ) = A 1 [FS (t + t ) + FR (t )]
Period (s) Time (s)
(3)
Figure 12 Design spectra Figure 13 Envelope function
where
A = 1 + ht + 0.25 2 t 2 (4)
4.2 Comparison of artificial wave FS (t + t ) = y(t + t ) (5)
The BCJ-L1 has the duration of 60 second and the FR (t ) = G1 x(t , Ti ) G2 x (t , Ti ) G3 x(t , Ti ) (6)
maximum value of 2.07m/s2 and the BCJ-L2 has G1 = ht + 0.25 t 2 2
(7)
the duration of 120 second and the maximum val-
ue of 3.56 m/s2. The profiles and non-stationary G2 = 2h + t 2
(8)
Fourier spectra of the BCJ waves are illustrated in G3 = 2 (9)
Figure 14. The dominant components of BCJ-L1 x (t + t , Ti ) = x (t , Ti ) + 0.5t{x(t , Ti ) + x(t + t , Ti )} (10)
scattered in the frequency range lower than 4.0Hz x(t + t , Ti ) = x(t , Ti ) + x (t , Ti )
in the duration of 30 second and that of BCJ-L2
scattered in the frequency range lower than 4.0Hz (11) + 0.25t 2 {x(t , Ti ) + x(t + t , Ti )}
in the duration of 60 second. The maximum am- The acceleration and velocity response envelope
plitude of BCJ-L1 was 1.5m/s2 and that of BCJ-L2 spectra of sinusoidal waves are illustrated in Fig-
was 2.5m/s2. The maximum amplitude of CHB024 ure 16. The transient response process of forced
was almost 50% of the maximum amplitude of vibration is explained clearly in these Figures.
BCJ-L2. This relation reveals that the artificial de-
sign wave has sufficient amplitude in the safe 1.5
5
Acc. response
1
Acceleration (m/s2)

SIN(1.0Hz)
side. Nevertheless it should be considered that 1 4 0.8
Vel. response
Acc. response

Vel. response
0.5 3 0.6
much damage was caused by the liquefaction. 0
-0.5 2 0.4

-1 1 0.2
-1.5
4
Acceleration (m/s2)

4 0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Acceleration (m/s2)

BCJ-L1 BCJ-L2 0.1 1

Time (s) Period (s)
2 2
10 SIN(1.0Hz)2cycles 10
0 0 h=5% 100
90
80
-2
Period (s)

-2
Period (s)

70
1 1 60
50
-4 -4 40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 30
Time (s) Time (s) 20
10
10 10 0.1 0.1 Sweep L-H 0
h=5%
BCJ-L1 BCJ-L2 0.05 0.05
Data-window width=2.0s Data-window width=2.0s 100
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (Hz)

8 8
Frequency (Hz)

FFT analytical time=10.24s FFT analytical time=10.24s 90

80 Time (s) Time (s)
6 70
6 60 Acceleration response Velocity response
50
4 4 40
30
Figure 16 Response envelope spectra of sinusoidal wave
20
2 2 10

0 0
0
The dominant components of CHB024 were ob-
0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60 80 100 served after 110 second in the frequency range be-
Time (s) Time (s)
low 10Hz (see Figure 17). Especially the response
Figure 14 Non-stationary Fourier spectra of BCJ waves of the period of 3.8 second continues after 120
second. On the other hand the dominant compo-
nents of BCJ-L2 were distributed uniformly in the spectra to evaluate the seismic behavior, e.g. the
time domain from 10 second to 80 second and the liquefaction phenomenon. From the shift of domi-
period domain longer than 1.0 second (see Figure nant component from 2.2Hz to 0.78Hz in the liq-
18). The velocity response spectrum of CHB024 uefaction process the reduction ratio of the soil
was smaller than that of BCJ-L2 (see Figure 19); stiffness was evaluated as 90%. The displacement
nevertheless severe hazard of liquefaction took profile was calculated through the numerical inte-
place in Chiba bay area. gration of the acceleration record. The movement
of surface soil during the seismic event was eval-
4
uated by the orbit which was illustrated using the
Acceleration (m/s2)

CHB024NS
2
NS and EW components of displacement time his-
0
tory. The authors focused on the pulse wave at the
-2
later of main-shock and analyzed by using the
-4
50 70 90 110
Time (s)
130 150 non-stationary Fourier spectrum. It was detected
10
CHB024(NS)
that the pulse wave was composed of a dual fre-
8
h=5% 100
90
quency components. The accompanying compo-
80
70
nent was considered to be caused by the cyclic
Period (s)

6
60
50
mobility phenomenon. The velocity response
4 40
30
spectrum of the seismic record was smaller than
2
20
10
that of seismic design wave; nevertheless severe
0
hazard of liquefaction took place. The seismic de-
0
50 70 90 110 130 150 sign code should be revised by taking the lique-
Time (s) faction into account.
Figure 17 Velocity response envelope spectrum of
CHB024NS

4
PREFERENCES
Acceleration (m/s2)

BCJ-L2
2
0 Building Research Institute Incorporated Administrative
-2 Agency (1992), Guideline on generation method of
-4
0 20 40 60 80 100
artificial seismic ground motion for the seismic design
Time (s) (Draft) instruction manual
10
Chiba Prefectural Environmental Research Center (2012),
100 Research Report G-8 Liquefaction-Fluidization Phe-
8 90
80 nomena on Boso Peninsula at the 2011 Earthquake off
70
Period (s)

6
60
50
the Pacific Coast of Tohoku, Central Japan: Part1-5
4 40
30
Japan Association for Earthquake Engineering Bulletin of
20 JAEE, No.9 January 2009
2 10
BCJ-L2 Velocity
h=5%
0 Kamagata, S. & Takewaki, I. (2013) Role of records dur-
0 ing the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (s)
in seismic resistant design of nuclear power station Int.
Figure 18 Velocity response envelope spectrum of BCJ-L2 J. of Earthquake Engineering and Hazard Mitigation
(IREHM), Vol.1, N.1 p9-21
2 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,
BCJ-L2Vel
Velocity (m/s)

CHB024NSVel Kanto Regional Bureau (2011) Report: Survey on the

liquefaction phenomenon at Kanto district during the
1
2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Prevention, Strong-motion Seismograph Networks
Period (s) Okawa, I. et.al. (2010) Study on the Safety Countermeas-
Figure 19 Velocity response spectra ures for Super-High-Rise Building etc. against the Long-
Period Earthquake Ground Motion, Building Research
Data No.127 Building Research Institute Incorporated
5 CONCLUSIONS Administrative Agency, Japan, (in Japanese)
The Building Center of Japan (2013), Artificial seismic
During and after the 2011 off the Pacific coast of wave at bedrock (BCJ-L1 and BCJ-L2), accepted at
Tohoku earthquake the hazard of liquefaction was http://www.bcj.or.jp/download/wave.html
extended in the Chiba bay area which is located Trifunac, M.D. (1971). Response envelope spectrum and
350km far from the epicenter. The seismic records interpretation of strong earthquake ground motion,
of K-NET such as CHB008, CHB009 and Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 61(2)
CHB024 were analyzed by the non-stationary 342-356