EARTHQUAKE GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

VOLUME 3
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EARTHQUAKE
GEOTECHNICALENGINEERING/LISBOA/PORTUGAL/21-25 JUNE 1999

Edited by
Pedro S. Sec0 e Pinto
Portuguese Societyfor Ge'otechnique(SPG),Lisboa, Portugal
National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC),Lisboa, Portugal

VOLUME 3
Keynote lecture I Theme lectures1General reports1PanelistS contributions

A.A. BALKEMA./ROTTERDA.M/BROOKFIELDI1999
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0 1999 A.A.Balkema, Rotterdam
Printed in the Netherlands
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,S6co e Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Table of contents

Keynote lecture
Performances of storage tanks during the 1995 Kobe earthquake 795
K.Ishihara & K. Furukawazono

Dynamic characterizationof soils:

- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions

Dynamic soil properties: Laboratory, field and correlation studies 811

K. H. Stokoe, II, M,B,Darendeli, R. D.Andrus & L.I:Brown
On the dynamic characterizationof soils 847
J. D. Bray, M. I;:Riemer & W B. Gookin
Visualization of soil behavior from dynamic centrifuge model tests 857
B. L. Kutter & A. Balakrishnun
Dynamic characterisation of soils from laboratory tests 863
M.Maugeri & A. Cavallaro
Soil characterization by shear wave velocity 869
M.Hatanaka

Strong motions and site ampljjication:

- Theme lecture
- Panelist’s contributions

Strong ground motions and site amplification 879

A.M.Ansal
Modeling of liquefaction-induced shear deformation 895
A. Elgamal, Z Yang, E. Parra & R. Dobry
Site effects: Recent considerations and design provisions 90 1
K. D. Pitilakis, D. G Raptakis & K.A. Makru
Effect of nonlinear soil properties on seismic amplification in surface layers 913
Kokusho
Site amplification 919
J. L.Just0 & R. Carrasco

Soil-structure interaction and retaining structures:

- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions

Soil-structureinteraction studies through shalung table tests 927

S.Iai & TSugano
Soil-structureinteraction and retaining structures 941
G. Gazetas
Dynamic soil-structureinteraction of adjacent structures 943
SA.Savidis & R. Hirschauer
Seismic soil-structure interaction of rigid and flexible retaining walls 949
R. S. Steedman
Performance of pile foundations in laterally spreading soils 957
K.Tokimatsu
Seismic soil-pile-structureinteraction in soft clay 965
CJ.Curras, R.WBoulanger,B. L. Kutter & D.WWilson

Underground and buried systems:

- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions
Responses of large-diameterburied pipes to earthquakes 973
J. I? Bardet & CA.Davis
Underground and buried structures 987
h? Yoshida
Dynamic analysis of tunnel-shaft-soil systems using FEM and ANN 993
M.R Romo, S. R.Garcia & J. Merlos
Design and technologies for improvement of tunnels in seismic areas 999
h? h?Fotieva
Super-dense real-time disaster mitigation system 1005
Y Shimizu, K. Koganemaru, ? Nakuyama
I? & S.Yasuda

VI
Liquefaction
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions

Liquefaction and deformation of silty and fine-grained soils 1013

T.L.Youd & S. D.Gilstrap
Estimation of minimum undrained shear strength for flow liquefaction using the CPT 1021
I?K. Robertson
Constitutive modeling of cyclic mobility and implications for site response 1029
S,L. Kramer & l? Arduino
Soil liquefaction in Peru 1035
J. E.Alva-Hurtado

Slopes and embankments

- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions

Effect of subsurface liquefaction on stability of embankment resting upon surface 1045

I. Towhata & T.Mizutani
Slopes and embankments 1059
R S. Stco e Pinto
Assessment of residual strength for embankments 1069
R M. Byrne & M. H. Beaty
Seismic slope stability - The critical acceleration 1077
S. K. Sarma
A review of experimental studies of seismic behavior of reinforced soil structures 1083
N. Sitar & L. Nova-Roessig

Codes, standards and safety evaluation

- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions

Codes, standards and seismic safety evaluation of earth structures 1091

U!D. L. Finn
Session: Codes, standards and safety evaluation 1107
A. Pecker
Recent advances in US codes and policy with regard to seismic geotechnics 1111
R.B. Seed & R. E. S. Moss
Seismic design codes for liquefaction in Asia 1117
S.Yasuda

VI I
Geotechnicalearthquake engineering design practice in New Zealand 1123
M.J. Pender
Codes and standards for Europe 1129
VCue'llar

Author index 1135

Vlll
Keynote lecture
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,SBco e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Performances of storage tanks during the 1995 Kobe earthquake

Kenji Ishihara & Kenro Furukawazono
Department of Civil Engineering, Science University of Tokyo,Japan

SYNOPSIS: Following the 1995 earthquake in Kobe district, survey was conducted on the tilt of oil storage
tanks in the severely shaken area. The survey consisted in measuring elevations of several points along the
periphery of each tank. Some parameters indicative of levels of soundness or risk for continued operation were
defined to properly analyze the vast amount of available data. Thus, the parameter “overall tilt” and “local tilt”
were considered most appropriate to reflect the level of damage due to liquefaction of the ground. Features of
the tanks in each farm regarding the size, scale and amount of oil contained at the time of the earthquake were
introduced and summary of the damage to the tanks is presented in term of the above parameters for each group
of tanks classified according to the scale and the kind of seismic regulation used in the design. Brief description
is given concerning the soil conditions in the severely shaken areas and rough correlations are introduced
between the extent of damage and the thickness of at-depth soil deposits likely to have developed liquefaction at
the time of the earthquake.

INTRODUCTION SEISMIC DESIGN OF STORAGE TANKS IN

At the time of the January 17, 1995 earthquake in
Kobe, Japan, liquefaction developed extensively in
the man-made deposits which were reclaimed with
gravel-containing silty sands. In several islands
consisting of such deposits there were many farms for
oil storage tanks where deleterious effects of
liquefaction were noted for safe operation of the
tanks. Fortunately, no fire broke out in any of the oil
tanks though there were many injuries such as
elephant-shoe buckling and tilting of the tanks due to
liquefaction of the ground.
Inasmuch as the earthquake occurred on Monday
following the New Year’s period, oil had been
consumed exhaustively for domestic use leaving
relatively a small amount of reserve in the tanks.
Hence, the majority of the oil tanks contained oil at a
level less than half of the full capacity and this is
deemed as one of the reasons for not having had fire
breakout.
The other types of damage to the oil tanks were
striking, however, including the injury to tank body,
the concrete-made mounds, pipelines, and
appurtenances for the tank facilities. Following the
earthquake, detailed investigations were conducted on
these injuries, but most systematic was the survey
made for identifying tilting of tanks. The results of
such survey will be introduced in the following pages
of this paper.
JAPAN
During the period of 1960 - 1980, there has been a
remarkable growth in the energy and chemical
industries in Japan and a number of tanks for storage
of oil, LPG and chemical materials have been
constructed on alluvial and reclaimed deposits in the
lowland areas particularly near the sea. Since ground
conditions are generally poor in these areas, it has
been recognized of prime importance to pay due
attention to the risk of damage to these tanks during
large earthquakes in future. Overall regulation was
put into effect in 1959 by Fire Department of the
Japanese Government regarding design and
construction of large tanks having a storage capacity
greater than 1OOOkl. Of particular importance was the
consideration of seismic effects on the safe operation
of the tanks. Some guidelines were put forward in
this regulation regarding the seismic design of tank
body. This regulation was modified and revised into
the new regulation in 1977. The regulation which
was effective prior to 1977 is referred to as the old
regulation. Upon experiencing liquefaction-induced
damage during the major earthquakes in 1960’s and
1970’s, the importance of considering effects of
liquefaction was recognized and some items related
with it were incorporated in the revised new version
of the design regulation in 1977.

795
 - for the ground in the periphery of tanks
for the ground in the center of tanks

2
$ 15
5
o_
Q

T
01 I I I I I I
11
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Fines content (%)

Fig. 1 Chart for identifying soils with liquefaction

susceptibility stipulated in the regulation on
hazardous materials (Fire Department, 1978)

In this new regulation, it was stipulated that the

ground conditions be diagnosed to identify whether or
not a sandy deposit in question is liable to liquefaction
in future earthquakes. This diagnosis was stipulated
to be made by way of a simple chart shown in Fig. 1
where the threshold SPT N-value differentiating
between liquefaction and non-liquefaction is indicated
as a function of fines content of the sandy deposit
under consideration. It was assumed tacitly that the
rule of identification as indicated in Fig. 1 is
applicable for the intensity of seismic shaking which
is similar to that experienced in Niigata at the time of
the 1969 earthquake, namely, for the level of the
horizontal ground acceleration of the order of 200 to
250 gals.
It is to be noticed that both the old and new seismic
design regulations were stipulated to be applicable for
large-scale tanks having a storage capacity in excess
of 1000M. Therefore, small scale tanks with a lesser
amount of storage capacity have been left out of
restriction by any regulation. The large tanks to be
designed under any regulation as above are referred to
as “specified tank”, whereas those not subject to any
regulation is called “unspecified tank”. Thus, the
large-scale tanks with a storage capacity greater than
lOOOkl is called “specified tank” and those with lesser
capacity are referred to as “unspecified tank” in the
following.
TYPES OF SEmLEMENTS AND DEFINITIONS
Oil storage tanks made of steel plates are generally
placed on the flattened surface of gravely soil fills.
Since the steel-made bottom plate is deformable under
the weight of oil, the load is deemed to be distributed
uniformly over the entire area of the bottom plate. If
Fig. 2 Types of settlements of tanks
the underlying soil deposit develops uneven
settlements, the tank body is deformed accordingly
and this is deemed as sources of breakage and
sometimes leakage of oil.
The settlements of the oil storage tank may be
classified into three types as illustrated in Fig. 2. If
the settlement is uniform, there would be no problem
for maintaining integrity of the tank body itself. If the
settlement is combined with a uniform tdt as
illustrated in Fig. 2(b), some degree of inconvenience
would be encountered in the annexed structure and
pipeline system attached to the tank. Non-uniform tilt
as illustrated in Fig. 2(c) would involve local
deflection of the steel plate and if it becomes large
enough in excess of an allowable limit, partial
breakage of the tank body will take place.
In order to assess the level of soundness, it is a
usual practice to monitor the elevation of the tank
along its periphery at various stages of the tank
operation including the check-up tests at the
completion of construction, initial water-filling tests,
and periodical tests conducted at a certain interval of
time. If the tank is inclined with a uniform tilt, the
elevation measured at points along the periphery can
be expressed in terms of cosine function as follows,

796
Fig. 3 Representation of uniform tilt
71:
y - y a = (&= -6,,)COS(-X) ....** (1)
D
As illustrated in Fig. 2, 6,, and 6 ,” denote
maximum and minimum settlements, respectively,
and D is the diameter of a tank. y, denotes the
elevation at the point of the minimum settlement and y
is the elevation at any point along the periphery of the
tank. The coordinate x is measured around the tank
starting from its origin which is fixed at a point of the
maximum elevation. If the relation of Eq.(l) is
displayed in a diagram, it is represented by a cosine
curve as shown in Fig. 3(b).
When the tank body is deformed as a result of non-
uniform tilt, measured elevations along the tank
periphery may be plotted versus the distance, x, from
a datum point, as schematically illustrated in Fig.
4(b). It is to be noted that the points indicating the
elevations plotted in the diagram do deviate from the
cosine curve of Eq. (1) representing the uniform tilt.
To examine features of the non-uniform settlement, it
would be preferable to read off the deviation of the
measured elevation from that corresponding to the
uniform tilt. Such deviatric portion of the elevation
may be plotted versus the distance, x, as
schematically illustrated in Fig. 4(c). It is this
797
Fig. 4 Representation of non-uniform tilt and
definition of local tilt
deviatric portion that is associated with distortion and
hence the damage of the tank body.
There would be several methods of approach for
assessing the level of injury to the tank based on the
data as arranged in Fig. 4(c). In evaluating the
integrity of a tank, it has been customary to determine
what may be called “overall tilt”. This is defined as
the difference between the maximum, am,, and
minimum elevation, 6min, divided by the diameter, D,
of the tank,
According to the stipulation by the Japanese
Government, the overall tilt of a tank needs to be less
than 1% at any stage of operation during the life span
of a tank. This limit is not a value derived from any
rational background data, but a conservative value
based on empiricism for safe operation of a tank. An
other factor which might be related with the injury to
the tank body would be the gradient of the settlement
difference between two successive measuring points
as indicated in Fig. 4(c). For a tank in question, the
spacing between two nighbouring points of
Fig. 5 Processing of settlement data for a tank.

798
measurement is generally set at an equal interval.
Therefore, the maximum value of the settlement
difference at any two neighbouring points divided
by the corresponding peripherical distance may be
taken as a measure of local distortion of the tank
body. This value will be referred to as the “local
tilt” and denoted by AS,.
ARRANGEMENTS OF MEASURED DATA
Actual data of elevation survey are somewhat
complicated and even erratic. Thus, some additional
procedures are required in the data processing in
order to single out values of the local tilt, AS,. This
process will be explained by referring to actually
measured data shown in Fig. 5(a). This example is
quoted from the elevation survey performed on a
17.43m in-diameter tank No. 66 in Wagehama
Island, Kobe, which was severely affected by the
earthquake in 1995. Location of this island is show
in Fig. 6 and the exact location of the tank is shown
in Fig. 7. It is seen in Fig. 5(a) that the tank had
tilted southwards with the maximum differential
settlement of 6 , - 6,,=S =43.8cm. Thus the
overall tilt is calculated as 6/D=2.5 1% as indicated
in the figure. By choosing the point 15 on the
southeast side as a datum point, all measured
Fig 6. Locations of the major tank farms in the severely shaken area
799
elevations are replotted in Fig. 5(b). Superimposed
in Fig. 5(b) is the plot of values for the case of the
uniform tilt which are calculated via Eq. (1) using 6
= 43.8cm. It is to be noticed that the theoretical
curve in Fig. 5(b) was constructed so that it passes
through the point 15, and for this reason overall
coincidence does not appear good between the
measured values and those corresponding to the
uniform tilt as calculated by Eq. (1). Then, an
attempt was made to shift the theoretical curve
rightwards so that the best degree of coincidence is
achieved. The curve thus shifted is shown in Fig.
5(c), together with the plot of the measured values.
In this adjustment, the theoretical curve was shifted.
so that it coincided with the measured values at point
16 and 8, as indicated in Fig. 5(c). After making
the above adjustment, the difference between the
measured and theoretical values was obtained at
each point of the elevation measurement. The
differential settlement thus obtained is displayed in
Fig. 5(d). In this diagram, the maximum value of
the local tilt is calculated as 0.39% as accordingly
indicated in the figure. Thus, for the tank 66
studied, the overall tilt was 2.51% with the local tilt
amounting to 0.39%. More exact account on the
design and damage feature of t h s tank will be
described in the later section.
Fig. 7 Layout of the tanks at MC-site
GENERAL FEATURES OF TANK DAMAGE IN
KOBE AREA
In the coastal area of Kobe, there are a number of
tank farms constructed on reclaimed or alluvial
sandy deposits. A majority of these farms suffered
liquefaction at the time of the 1995 earthquake
resulting in more or less damage to tanks
constructed on such deposits. The sites of major
tank farms in the severely shaken area are indicated
in Fig. 6.
Tanks at MC-site
The layout of the oil tanks at MC-site is shown in
Fig. 7. In this farm, about half,of the tanks were of
the specified type with a storage capacity greater
than 1000k1, but most of them were constructed
before 1977 in accordance with the old regulation.
The dimension of each tank is shown in Fig. 8 in
terms of the height H plotted versus the diameter D
of the tanks. It may be seen that the height of these
relatively large tanks is 13m - 17m, but the diameter
800
varies widely with its maximum of 32m at one
particular tank. Generally, the tanks are flat in
shape with the height smaller than the diameter. For
smaller tanks pertaining to the unspecified type with
a storage capacity less than 1000k1, it may be seen
in Fig. 8 that the tanks are slender with the height-
to-diameter ratio greater than 1.O.
The conditions of oil storage tanks at MC-site at
the time of the earthquake are demonstrated in Fig. 9
in which the height of oil filling, h, is plotted versus
the diameter of the tanks. It may be seen that for the
large-capacity tanks, the majority was less than one-
quarter filled, whereas about half of the smaller-
capacity tanks were filled to a level greater than half
of the height.
From records of the survey over all the tanks at
MC-site, the overall tilt AS was evaluated and
plotted in Fig. 10 versus the height-to-diameter ratio
of the tanks. It may be seen that there is no
tendency for the overall tilt either to increase or
decrease with change in the height-to-diameter ratio,
but as many as half of the tanks had developed the
overall tilt in excess of 1%.

Fig.8 Height and diameter of the tanks at MC-site
Fig.9 Height of oil storage at the time of the 1995
quake plotted versus the diameter of the
tanks at MC-site
Fig. 10 Overall tilt versus the height-to-diameter ratio
of the tanks at MC-site
801
Tanks at S-site
In the tank farm at S-site, practically all the tanks
were constructed in the period between 1954 and
1973 and hence designed based on the old
regulation. The layout of the tanks in this farm is
shown in Fig. 11. The tanks in this premise have a
height which is more or less equal to the diameter as
shown in Fig. 12. However, for the small-tanks
with a storage capacity less than IOOOM, the height
is larger than the diameter. Regarding storage
conditions at the time of the earthquake, Fig. 13
shows that in a majority of tanks, the amount of oil
was less than half of their capacity. The lesser
amount of oil storage is considered due to the fact
that the earthquake took place in the early period of
New Year, January 17, 1995, when domestic
consumption of energy had been exhaustive in the
New Year period. The feature of the settlements in
the tanks is demonstrated in Fig. 14 in terms of the
overall tilt plotted versus the height-to-diameter ratio
where it may be seen that the overall tilt is generally
less than 1% for the large specified tanks. For the
unspecified small-scale tanks the overall tilt is
shown in Fig. 14 to be generally in excess of 1%.
These small tanks were constructed directly on the
man-made fills without improvement of underlying
loose deposits of sandy soils.
Fig. 11 Layout of the tanks at S-site
Tanks at G-site tilt of individual tanks is plotted versus the height-
At G-site located west of &be city to-diameter ratio. Practically all the tanks developed
district(Fig.6), the tilting of rather slender tanks was tilting in excess of 1% With the maximum reaching a
striking because of poor soil conditions in this farm. value as large as 20%. the tilt Of the
slender tanks in this lot were visible from far away
The layout of various tanks is shown in Fig. 15. after the earthquake.
The dimensions of the tanks in this premise is
shown in Fig. 16 in terms of the height plotted
versus the diameter of the tanks. It may be seen that
the majority of the tanks have a height which is
about 1.5 times larger than the diameter. All the
tanks are used not for oil but for storage of
various kinds of chemicals for industrial use. Since
the tanks have an equivalent storage capacity less
than 1000k1, they are classified as being of
unspecified type and hence were not designed based
on any design code.

Fig. 14 Overall tilt versus the height-to-diameter ratio

of the tanks at S-site

Fig.12 Height and diameter of the tanks at S-site

Fig.13 Height of oil storage at the time of the 1995

quake plotted versus the diameter of the
tanks at S-site

At the time of the earthquake, the tanks in this

premise had a storage of chemical materials to
varying levels as indicated in Fig. 17. The level of
the damage may be seen in Fig. 18 where the overall Fig.15 Layout of the tanks at G-site

802

Fig. 16 Height and diameter of the tanks at G-site
Fig.17 Height of storage of chemical at the time of
the 1995 quake plotted versus the diameter
of the tanks at G-site
Fig. 18 Overall tilt versus the height-to-diameter
ratio of the tanks at G-site
803
EXAMPLES OF TANK DAMAGE
Since the damage were investigated more
thoroughly for the tanks in Mikage-hama Island,
somewhat detailed account will be given for the
feature of the damage there. Detailed arrangements
of the tank group at MC-site in the island of
Mikagehamaare shown in Fig. 7. In this premise,
the triangular section in the southeast is the lot
where storage tanks with liquefied propane gas
(LPG) are installed for which detailed account is
given elsewhere (Ishihara, 1979). The remaining
part of the premise in the northwest is occupied by
steel-made oil-storage tanks of various sizes.
Fig. 19 Feature of overall tilt of the tanks at MC-site
The group of tanks installed in the premise of
MC-site have suffered more or less damage
resulting mainly from the differential settlements due
to liquefaction of the reclaimed fills in the
Mikagehama Island. The feature of the tilt in each
tank is demonstrated in Fig. 19 in terms of vectors
oriented towards the direction of tilting. The length
of the vectors indicates the amount of tilt. It may be
seen in Fig. 19 that the tilt is almost randomly
directed PhCUlarlY for the tanks inland, but
oriented by and large towards the waterfront
 Fig. 20 Side and plan view of the 3000kl tank 66 at MC-site
for the tanks located close to the quaywall. There are
two pile-supported tanks, denoted by 71 and 72, in
the northwest corner which had been designed by the
new regulation authorized in 1977. These tanks
suffered some damage to the footing-pile connection
accompanied by the overall tilt of 0.5 and 0.4%. All
other tanks rest on the mound about 50cm high
enclosed by reinforced concrete ring. The gravelly
sand was filled inside the ring and compacted as
dense as possible to provide a sound base for the flat
bottom of the tank. In some, of the large-capacity
tanks, the gravel-containing man-made fill deposits
underneath the mound were compacted by means of
the vibroflotation technique, but in a majority of small
tanks, the soil deposits underneath the mound were
left uncompacted and intact.
There are two tanks TA65 and TA66 with a storage
capacity of 3000kl located 30m from the quaywall in
the southwest corner as shown in Figs.7 and 19. The
804
details of the damage will be described below for
these tanks. They were constructed in 1967 and
basically the same in design as that shown in Fig. 20.
The soil deposits were compacted by means of the
vibroflotation to a depth of 6m. The diameter of the
sand piles was 23cm and the spacing was 1.2m as
accordingly indicated in Fig. 20. As shown in the
figure, the tanks of roof-type were 13.66m high and
17.63m in diameter. Compacted sand fill was lad
inside the concrete ring and asphalt motor 50mm thick
was put on top of it to provide a sound base for the
bottom plate of the tank. It is to be noted that the
stabilization by the sand pile extends 2.5m outward
from the side of the tank. At the time qf the
earthquake, the tank 65 contained oil to a height of
only 1.83111 and there was no oil in the tank 66. The
tank 65 sustained a uniform tilt of 0.55% which is
well below the allowable limit of 1% stipulated by the
Japanese Government. The tank 66 suffered a
uniform tilt as much as 2.5% which is in excess of the
allowable limit. Thus, somewhat detailed account
will be given below for the damage feature of the tank
66. A set of figures showing the settlement
characteristics of the tank 66 were demonstrated
already in Fig. 5 where a local tilt of 0.39% is noted
between the measuring points 15 and 16. In fact, a
cave about 30cm deep was observed at this location
following the earthquake under the concrete ring as
illustrated in Fig. 21. Minor cracks were observed
having developed in the concrete ring at the portion of
the caving. The concrete ring tilted slightly as a
whole towards the waterfront. It is highly likely that,
as compared to the largely displaced soil deposit
beneath the tank, the tank body was unable to move
equally to catch up and left somewhat behind, and
consequently a large tension crack about 5m long
developed along the toe of the circular mound as
shown in Fig. 21(a). This tension crack was left in a
form of a long caving as illustrated in Fig. 2 1.

Fig. 22 Soil Profile near the tank 66 at MC-site

Fig. 21 Partial caving in the, south portion on the

Tank 66 at MC-site

The soil condition at this site may be represented

by the soil profile data shown in Fig. 22. The profile
at Point G2 was obtained by boring at a Place Just Fig. 23 Settlements of outdoor tanks for different
south of the Tank 66(Fig.7). It may be seen that the storage capacities ( 6 farms in Kobe area )
SIT N-value for the reclaimed deposit shows values

805
ranging from 10 to 15. Although the compaction was than 1.5% accompanied also by the local tilt less than
performed to a depth of 6m as described above, there 0.4%.
is no discernible stiff layer in the soil profile in Fig.
22 corresponding to the compact portion near the
surface. Thus, the point G2 is likely to be outside the
compacted zone and represent as-deposited soil
condition in the vicinity of the tank 66. The repair
work for the tank 66 was conducted by removing the
tank body and by adjusting the elevation of the
concrete ring. The sandy gravel inside the ring was
compacted and the surface was levelled off. The
same tank body was placed on the smoothed surface.
The tank 65 suffered practically no damage as
envisioned by a small amount of overall tilt of 0.55%.
There was no need for retrofit for this tank.

PERFORMANCES OF STORAGE TANKS IN

GENERAL

Following the earthquake, in-situ survey was

conducted for all the tanks in the strongly shaken area Fig.24 ~ o c a tilt
l plotted versus the overall tilt for
to diagnose the integnty of each tank. The outcome unspecified tanks in Kobe district
of the survey of damage for various size ranges of the
tank was compiled and expressed in terms of the
overall tilt as defined above. For the specified tanks
designed by the old regulation, Fig. 23 indicates that
the number of tanks surveyed was 67. Out of these,
18 tanks showed the overall tilt in excess of 1%. For
the small tanks less than lOOkl storage capacity, 68%
of the tanks surveyed showed the overall tilt greater
than 1%. It is to be noted in Fig. 23 that for the
relatively large tanks with the capacity of 700 -
1000kl, as many as 94% of the tanks surveyed
indicated the overall tilt which is greater than 1%.
Reflecting on the fact that these tanks had not been
designed liquefaction-resistant, needs were addressed
for including this size range of tanks in the realm of
the seismic design code if it is to be revised again in
the future. Other aspects of the damage would be the
local tilt as defined above. The surveyed data were
Drocessed in the manner described above to obtain
values of overall tilt and the local tilt. The data
processed in this fashion are shown in Fig. 24 for the Fig*25 Local tilt plotted the Overall tilt for
unspecified tanks with the storage capacity less than specified tanks in Kobe district
10Cklkl. It may be seen that for this category of tanks
constructed without specifically considering seismic
effects, the uniform tilt as much as 2.7% indeed SOIL CONDITIONS RELATED WITH DAMAGE
occurred with the AS,-value of 1.2%. The majority
of data points is shown to fall in the range of 0.5 - In the majority of the tank farms, the ground consists
2.0% for the uniform tilt and in,the range of 0.1 - 1% of man-made deposits reclaimed by gravel-containing
for the local differential tilt. Similar data plotting is silt sands which were derived from weathered granite.
made in Fig. 25 for the specified tanks with the The materials were obtained from mountain areas just
capacity greater than lOOOkl designed based on the north of Kobe city and transported to the site for
old regulation which was effective until 1997. filling. The reclamation work was conducted mainly
Also shown in Fig. 25 are the data pertaining to the in 1960 and tanks were constructed over the period of
specified tanks with the capacity greater than 1OOOkl 1960 - 1980. The soil conditions in the reclaimed
constructed acting upon the new regulation. AU of deposits in Kobe are represented by a typical example
these tanks shows a small amount of uniform tilt less of soil profile shown in Fig. 26. This is the soil

806
profile at point No.2 at G-site in the west of Kobe
(Fig. 15). It may be seen that there exists a deposit
reclaimed by the disintegrated granite called “Masado”
to a depth of 12m which is underlain by a silt deposit
of marine origin. It is believed that the loose deposit
of the reclaimed Masado did developed liquefaction at
the time of the earthquake. Although not clear
exactly, it may be assumed with reasons that the
reclaimed deposit with NI-values less than 15 had
developed liquefaction, where N, indicated the SPT
N-value normalized to an overburden pressure of 1.O
kgf/cm2. Entering in the soil profile in Fig. 26 with
the above definition, one may assume that the
thickness of unliquefied layer H I near the surface is
H1=2.5m and the thickness of underlying liquefied
layer is H2=9.5m for this particular soil profile.
indicated by solid circles. It may be seen in Fig. 27
that the tanks designed by the new regulation suffered
only a small amount of overall tilt less than 0.2 %
without any damage whatsoever. The small-scale
tanks unspecified suffered relatively large overall tilt
amounting to values of the order of 10%. These tanks
were located mostly in the farm at G-site, where the
thickness of the liquefied layer was as large as 15-
20m below the surface layer having a thickness of 2-
3m.

Fig. 27 Overall tilt plotted versus the thickness

underlying liquefied deposit

It is apparent that the observed values of the overall

tilt 6/D of the tanks tends to increase with increasing
thickness of the at-depth deposit which is likely to
have developed liquefaction with SPT N,-values less
than 15.

CONCLUSIVE REMARKS

To evaluate the integrity of an oil tank for its safe

Fig. 26 Typical soil profile at G-site
It is likely that the tanks resting on the reclaimed
deposit with larger thickness of liquefied layer were
more susceptible to damage than that on the deposit
with smaller thickness of liquefied layer. In order to
examine this feature, the over41 tilt 6/D surveyed after
the earthquake was compiled and plotted in Fig. 27
versus the thickness H, of the liquefied deposit for
each of the tanks surveyed. In this figure, the data on
the specified tanks with more than lOOOkl capacity
designed by the new and old regulations are indicated,
respectively, by open circles and open rectangles.
The data on the unspecified tanks having smaller sizes
constructed without considering earthquake effects are
operation, it has been customary to measure the
elevation of the base along the periphery of the tank.
The data obtained in this way for the tanks affected by
the Kobe earthquake of 1995 was used to evaluate the
overall tilt which is defined as the difference in
elevation between its maximum and minimum points
divided by the diameter of the tank. The definition as
above was examined from a broader perspective and a
new parameter called “local tilt” was introduced which
may be related with the injury of the tank body. The
procedure for evaluating these parameters on the
diagrams were described by quoting an example of
the damage of a tank.
The features of the damage to many tanks at the
time of the 1995 Kobe earthquake were introduced by
compiling and processing the surveyed data in the

807
above manner. The outcome of such data processing
showed that the local tilt tends to generally increase
with increasing overall tilt for the tanks affected by the
Kobe earthquake. The maximum value of the overall
tilt observed was of the order of 2.5% and the
maximum value of the local tilt was of the order of
1.0 %.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The data presented here were offered by the Fire

Department of the Japanese Government. The
authors wish to acknowledge the cooperation of Chief
Officer Mr. T. Yanagisawa.

REFERENCES

Fire Department, 1978, “Regulation on Hazardous

Materials”. (in Japanese)
Ishihara, K., 1977, “Geotechnical Aspects of the
1995 Kobe Earthquake”, ‘Terzaghi Oration”,
Proc. of the International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering,
Hamburg, Vol. 4
Japanese Geotechnical Society, 1996, Report of the
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, pp.253-257 (in
Japanese)
Sakemi, T., 1996, “Settlements of Oil Storage Tanks
Caused by Liquefaction”,Proc. 31st Annual
Convention of the Japanese Geotechnical Society,
pp.1231 -1232 (in Japanese)

808
Dynamic characterization of soils:
- Theme lecture
- General report

- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Dynamic soil properties: Laboratory, field and correlation studies

K. H. Stokoe, I1 & M. B. Darendeli
University of Texas,Austin, Tex., USA
R.D.Andrus
National Institute of Standards and Technology,Gaithersburg, Md., USA
L.T. Brown
Geovision Geophysical Services, Corona, CaliJ:, USA

ABSTRACT: Laboratory and field studies of dynamic soil properties for geotechnical earthquake engineering
analyses are presented. The dynamic properties are expressed in terms of shear wave velocity, V,, shear
modulus, G, and material damping ratio, D. The effects of various parameters on these properties are studied
in the laboratory using combined resonant column and torsional shear equipment. Intact specimens were tested
over shearing strains, y, where the soil response ranged from linear (y < 0.001 %) to highly nonlinear (y >
0.1 %). The results are compared with generic nonlinear modulus and damping curves, and strong correlations
with plasticity index and effective confining pressure are shown. Recent developments in correlating field
measurements of V, with the liquefaction resistance of granular soils are presented. Field studies involving
surface wave measurements to evaluate profiles of V, and small-strain material damping ratio are also
discussed. Results from a study in which Vs profiles evaluated independently by downhole, surface wave,
and suspension-logging tests are compared.

1 INTRODUCTION the difference between traditional D - log y

The topic of this Theme Paper is dynamic soil
properties. This topic has been studied extensively
over the past 40 years. It is very broad, and the
words “dynamic soil properties” have a multitude
of meanings. A sense for the breadth of the topic
can be obtained simply by reviewing recent
proceedings such as Shibuya et al. (1994), Ebelhar
et al. (1994), Ishihara (1995), and Dakoulas et al.
(1 998) and recent textbooks such as Ishihara
(1996) and Gamer (1996). In the context of this
conference, the topic is narrowed to cover the
dynamic response of soils to earthquake shaking in
the free field. The properties of concern are the
shear wave velocity, V,, shear modulus, G, and
material damping ratio, D, over strains which range
from low-amplitude shaking where soils respond
linearly to high-amplitude shaking where nonlinear,
degradable behavior is exhibited.
The main text in this paper is divided into three
sections. The first section deals with evaluation of
dynamic soil properties in the laboratory using
intact specimens. Key issues addressed herein are:
1. the importance of excitation frequency on D, 2 .
relationships (families of curves) and observed soil
behavior, and 3. the importance of effective
confining pressure on the nonlinear modulus and
damping relationships. All of these issues can be
quite important in evaluating dynamic site response,
especially if generic degradation curves are used in
place of site-specific measurements.
The second section of the paper deals with
recent studies involving the use of shear wave
velocity to predict the liquefaction resistance of
sands. Although there is another theme lecture
dealing with liquefaction in this conference, this
particular information is presented because it deals
with a dynamic soil property; that is, the small-
strain shear wave velocity, V,, which is measured
in the field
Finally, the third section of the paper deals with
field measurements of dynamic soil properties at
small strains. In this case, advances and
improvements in field seismic testing are presented.
These include Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Waves
(SASW) and suspension-logging techniques for Vs
profiling and the use of SASW testing to estimate
small-strain material damping, D ~ n .

811
2 EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON same piece of equipment. Switching from one type
G AND D OF INTACT SPECIMENS of test to the other is simply done outside the
confining chamber by changing: 1. the input
About one third of the papers contributed to this
excitation frequency used to drive the specimen and
technical session deal with evaluation of shear
2. the motion monitoring devices used to record the
modulus and material damping of soils in the
specimen response. As a result, variability due to
laboratory. These papers highlight the importance
testing different specimens is eliminated so that
of time and magnitude of confining pressure on
results from both tests can be compared effectively.
small-strain shear modulus and material damping
Second, the loading frequency in the torsional shear
ratio. They also show the effects of soil type,
test can be easily changed from 0.01 to about 10
particle size, plasticity, confining pressure, number
Hz. Therefore, the effect of frequency and number
of loading cycles, and shearing strain amplitude on
of loading cycles on the deformational
G and D in the nonlinear range. Understanding the
characteristics of intact specimens can be
effects of these parameters is important in
conveniently investigated.
predicting and analyzing the response of
The basic operational principle in the RC test is
geotechnical sites during earthquake shaking.
to vibrate the cylindrical specimen in first-mode
As a complement to the laboratory results
torsional resonance. At the University of Texas
presented in the other papers and as an extension in
(UT), this process is completely automated so that
the evaluation of some of the parameters, the results
first-mode resonance can be quickly and accurately
from a comprehensive set of combined resonant
established as illustrated in Fig. 2a. (Ni, 1987).
column and torsional shear (RCTS) tests on three
Determinations of resonant frequency and
intact soil specimens are shown. Test parameters
amplitude of vibration are made from the response
include: effective isotropic confining pressure,
curve. These values are then combined with
oo’ , loading frequency, f, shearing strain
equipment characteristics and specimen size to
amplitude, y, and number of loading cycles, N .
calculate shear wave velocity, V,, shear modulus,
The soil specimens have been selected to cover a
G, and shearing strain amplitude, y.
range in material type, going from nonplastic silty
Material damping in the RC test is evaluated
sand to moderate plasticity clay with a plasticity
from the dynamic soil response using either the
index, PI, of 36 %. To elaborate further on the
free-vibration decay curve or the half-power
effect of some of the test parameters, selected
bandwidth method. The free-vibration decay curve
results from additional specimens have also been
is recorded by shutting off the driving force after
included. Emphasis is placed in this study on
the specimen is vibrating in steady-state motion at
material damping because it is more difficult to
the resonant frequency. Figure 3 shows an
measure and more sensitive to many of the
parameters than shear modulus. Finally the effects example of this process. The logarithmic
decrement, 6, is defined from the decay curve as:
of various parameters on the dynamic soil response
are compared with behavior estimated from generic 6 = ln(zl/z2) (1)
curves, with limitations of several of the generic where zl and z2 are the amplitudes of two
curves shown through the comparisons. successive cycles. Material damping ratio, D, can
then be determined from 6 by:
2.1 Background on Combined RCTS Equipment D = [62/(4~2+62)]1/2 (2)
The effects of various parameters on G and D are The half-power bandwidth method is based on
conveniently evaluated in the laboratory with measurement of the width of the dynamic response
curve around the resonance peak. For small values
combined RCTS equipment as discussed by Stokoe
of material damping, one can approximate damping
et al., 1994a. This equipment is of the fixed-free
as:
type, with the bottom of the specimen fixed and
torsional excitation applied to the top as illustrated D G (f2 - fl)/2fr (3)
in Fig. 1. The equipment has two important where fl and f2 are the two frequencies at which the
attributes. First, both resonant column (RC) and amplitude is 0.707 times the amplitude at the
torsional shear (TS) tests can be performed with the resonant frequency ,f,, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

812
Figure 1 Simplified Diagram of a Combined
Resonant Column (RC) and Torsional Shear (TS)
Device (Confining Chamber not Shown)

Figure 3 Material Damping Measurement in the

RC Test Using the Free-Vibration Decay Curve

Figure 4 Material Damping Measurement in the

RC Test Using the Half-Power Bandwidth (Same
Specimen as Shown in Fig. 3)

Figure 2 Examples of Measurements Performed

in the RC and TS Tests

813
 For measurements at small strains (y<10-3 %),
background noise can have a more adverse effect
on the free-vibration decay curve than on the
frequency response curve. On the other hand, at
large strains, the assumptions implied in the
derivation of Eq. 3 are no longer valid, and serious
errors can be introduced into values of D
determined by the half-power bandwidth method
(Ni, 1987). In this study, both methods were used
at shearing strains less than about 0.002 %, but
only the free-vibration decay method was applied at
larger strains. In addition, the strain at which the
damping measurement was assumed to occur was
taken as the average of the first three cycles of free
vibration. This procedure is not conventionally
employed at y > 0.002 % but more correctly
represents the strain associated with damping
measurements from the free vibration decay curve.
In the TS test, shear modulus and material
damping are measured using the same RCTS
equipment, but the equipment is operated in slow
cyclic torsional loading at a given frequency.
Instead of determining the resonant frequency, the
stress-strain hysteresis loop is determined from
measuring the torque-twist response of the
specimen as shown in Fig. 2b. Proximitors are
used to measure the angle of twist while the voltage
applied to the coil is calibrated to yield torque.
Shear modulus is calculated from the slope of a line
through the end points of the hysteresis loop.
Material damping is determined from the hysteresis
loop as the ratio of the energy dissipated in one
cycle of loading (AL) to the peak strain energy
stored during the cycle (AT) times a factor of 4n: as
shown in Fig. 2b.
As discussed by Stokoe et al., (1994a), the
RCTS equipment at UT is calibrated so that
equipment-generated damping can be subtracted
from the measurements. Equipment-generated
damping, D,,, is measured along with material
damping of the specimen when the damping
measurements are performed following the
procedures outlined in Figs. 2 through 4.
Equipment-generated damping results from the
back-electromagnetic force generated by the
magnets moving through the drive coils. It is
important to calibrate the drive system of each
RCTS device over the entire range of frequencies
used in testing so that equipment-generated
damping can be determined before testing any
814
Figure 5 Example of Equipment-Generated
Damping Measured in the Resonant Column Device
Using Metal Specimens (from Hwang, 1997)
specimens. Typical results for D,, in RC testing are
shown in Fig. 5 (Hwang, 1997). This damping is
then subtracted from the combined measurement
to yield material damping of the specimen. In all
results where material damping ratios of soil
specimens are presented, these values have been
corrected by subtracting Dq from the combined
measurement of D.
2.2 Effects on Small-Strain Shear Modulus and
Material Damping Ratio
The effects of various state, material, and ground
shaking parameters on the small-strain shear
modulus, Gm,,, and material damping ratio, Dmin,
are shown in Figs. 6 through 8. The state
parameters are presented in terms of the effective
isotropic confining pressure, o0’, and the
overconsolidation ratio, OCR. The material
parameters are soil type and plasticity index, PI, as
listed in Table 1. (The first three specimens in
Table 1 are used throughout this section. Also, in
Table 1, the liquid limit, LL, natural water content,
w,, dry unit weight, y d , void ratio, e, and degree
of saturation, S,, are listed.) The only ground
shaking parameter is excitation frequency because
all dynamic measurements were performed at small
shearing strains (y around 0.001%), where the
effects of strain amplitude and number of loading
cycles are insignificant.

Figure 6 Variation in Small-Strain Shear
Modulus (a), Void-Ratio Adjusted G,, (b), and
Small-Strain Material Damping Ratio (c) of Intact
Specimens with oo from RC and TS Tests
815
It should be noted that time of confinement at a
constant o0 also affects the values of Gmax and
Dminmeasured in the laboratory. The general effect
is that Gmax increases and Dmin decreases with
confinement time. All reported values of Gmax and
Dminwere measured approximately 1000 minutes
after each confining pressure was applied. The
1000-minuteconfinement time is well past the time
for primary consolidation in these specimens.
However, no effect of long-term confinement was
considered herein.
The influence of effective isotropic confining
pressure, o0’ on Gmax and void-ratio adjusted
G m a x of the intact specimens is shown in Figs. 6a
and 6b, respectively. The void-ratio adjusted Gmax
is simply Gmax multiplied by the Hardin (1978)
void ratio term, F(e), which is:
2
F(e) = 0.3 + 0.7e (4)
where e is the void ratio at each confinement state.
(Other void-ratio-adjustment terms, such as ones
proposed by Jamiolkowski et al. (1995), Shibuya
and Tanaka (1996), and Vrettos and Savidis (1999)
could also be used.) The log Gmax - log 0, ‘ and
log Gmax F(e) - log o0’ relationships are
composed of two linear segments, with the
intersection occurring near the maximum previous
in situ mean effective stress, Omp’ . For each of
these three specimens, the value of O m p ‘
approximated the present value of the estimated in
situ mean effective stress, 0,‘ based on a
coefficient of earth pressure at rest of 0.5.
Therefore, each specimen was essentially normally
consolidated in situ.
The solid symbols and lines in Figs. 6a and 6b
represent values and relationships determined with
the resonant column (RC) test. The open symbols
in each figure were measured in the torsional shear
(TS) test after 10 cycles of loading at a frequency of
1 Hz. The small differences in Gmax values
between the RC and TS measurements are due to
loading frequency as discussed below.
By comparing Figs. 6a and 6b, it can be seen
that the void-ratio adjustment factor brings the
small-strain modulus relationships closer together.
This general aggregating of the curves usually
occurs, but it never results in a unique curve when
a range in soil types are compared. Furthermore,
use of the F(e) adjustment term by itself (as done in
Fig. 6b) was intended by Hardin (1978) for only
Figure 7 Variation in Small-Strain Shear Figure 8 Variation in Small-Strain Material
Modulus (a) and Normalized Small-Strain Shear Damping Ratio (a) and Normalized Small-Strain
Modulus (b) with Loading Frequency at ci, ' Material Damping Ratio (b) with Loading
Frequency at ci,

Depth cim' LL PI Wn yd VoidRatio, S,*

Soil Type
(m) (kPa) (%I (%) (%) (g/cm 1 e (%)
Silty Sand 7.9 110 NP NP 22 1.70 0.58 99
(SM)
Sandy Lean 4.9 62 33 10 21 1.67 0.6 1 93
Clay (CL)
Fat Clay 8.4 48 63 36 50 1.14 1.38 98
(CH)
Sandy Lean 3.1 55 37 15 20 1.59 0.70 77
Clay (CL)
Fat Clay 11.0 41 122 79 84 0.82 2.3 1 98
(CH)
Peat 9.1 76 285 0.28 4.45 96
(W
*Based on assumed values of specific gravity.

816
the normally consolidated range. The Hardin Table 2 Values of Dimensionless Constants A and
equation, adopted from Hardin and Dmevich n from Least-Squares Fits of Resonant Column
( 1972), has an additional overconsolidation term
which is used in conjunction with the F(e) term
when normalizing the overconsolidated range, if
desired. This equation is:

where:
A = dimensionless stiffness coefficient,
OCR = overconsolidation ratio,
k = exponent dependent on PI, Fatclay 289 0.40 317 0.56
P, = atmospheric pressure (100 kPa) (CH)
n = exponent related to isotropic stress state. * Based on G,, F(e) = A oc P(’-”oc)
a ohno,
The values of A and n are presented in Table 2
for separate fits to the normally consolidated and Table 3 Values of Constants B and m from Least-
overconsolidated portions of the relationships. Squares Fits to the log Dmin - log oo’
The influence of oo’ on Dminis shown in Fig. Relationships Measured in the Resonant Column
6c. The solid symbols and lines represent values
and relationships determined with the RC test. The Over- Normally
open symbols and dashed lines represent
measurements in the TS test after 10 cycles of
loading at a frequency of 1 Hz. It is clear from Fig.
6c that: 1. D,in decreases with increasing oo’ and
SiltySand 1.9 0.17 1.8 0.20
2. lower values of Dminare measured in the TS test
when compared with the RC results. The (SM)
difference between D,in values from TS and RC SandyLean 4.0 0.04 3.8 0.18
testing is related to excitation frequency as Clay (CL)
discussed below. The decrease in Dmin with Fatclay 2.4 0.05 2.4 0.06
confining pressure can be expressed in a general (CH)
form as:
overconsolidated range

Table 4 Values of Constants B and m from Least-

The values of B and m are presented in Tables 3
Squares Fits to the log Dmin - log oo‘
and 4 for separate fits to the normally consolidated
Relationships Measured in the Torsional Shear
and overconsolidated portions of the relationships.
Test
The effect of excitation frequency on Gmax and
Dminis shown in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. It
should be noted that these results are only for
testing performed at the estimated in situ mean
effective stress, q,,’ , for each specimen. In these
figures, G, and Dminmeasured at all frequencies
have been normalized by dividing by the respective
value measured at 1 Hz. The effect of excitation
frequency on Gmaxis small, averaging only about
10 % as frequency changes from 1 Hz to 50 Hz.
On the other hand, the effect of excitation frequency
on D d n is very significant in the range of 1Hz to *Based on a linear fit to Eq. 6 in the
50 Hz, with Dmin increasing by about overconsolidated range

817
100 % over this frequency range. This effect is
clearly shown in Fig. 6c, where nearly all values of
Dmin measured in the RC test plot above values
measured in the TS test at I Hz.
It is interesting to observe the effect of
excitation frequency on Gma, and Dminshown in
Figs. 7b and 8b, respectively. First the effect o f f
on Gmax increases as the plasticity of the soil
increases for frequencies greater than about 10 Hz.
The relationship with PI is a general trend and not a
perfect correlation when a wide range in soils are
tested. Second, the effect of frequency on Dmin
follows this general trend with soil type, but the
highest PI material does not exhibit the largest
change for these three specimens. In the writers’
experience, significant variability with soil type is
typically seen in the effect of excitation frequency
on Dmin. Often soils composed of both sands and
clays exhibit a very strong frequency effect.
Finally, the results in Fig. 8 clearly show that a
frequency-independent model does not represent
small-strain material damping in these undisturbed
soil specimens as frequency increases above about
10 Hz.

2.3 Efsects on G in the Nonlinear Range

The effects of y, o O rand N on G are shown in

Fig. 9. The solid symbols represent values
determined in the RC test, the open symbols
represent values determined in the first cycle in the
TS test, and the symbols with an “X’ in them
represent values determined in the tenth cycle in the
TS test. (In this figure and in Fig. 10, TS testing
was performed at 1 Hz.) There are two sets of
combined RCTS measurements in each figure. The
lower set of measurements was performed at a
confining pressure approximately equal to the
estimated in situ mean effective stress, CTm ’ , and
the second set (the upper set) was performed at four
times Gm ’ . For each soil type shown in Fig. 9,
Om’ is approximately 0.5 atmosphere. Also, the
results from the silty sand (shown in Fig. 9a) were
adjusted from a somewhat higher pressure to be
-
representative of Om ’ 0.5 atm.
First consider the linear and nonlinear behavior
shown in Fig. 9. The shear modulus is constant Figure 9 Variation in Shear Modulus of Intact
and equal to Gmax below an elastic threshold strain, Specimens with Shearing Strain, Confining
74, which is nominally in the range of 0.001 % to Pressure and Number of Loading Cycles as
0.01 %. The value of yf generally increases with Determined by RC and TS Tests

818
increasing PI and increasing confining pressure as
shown in Table 5. The value of Gmax determined
in the RC test is slightly above the value of Gmax
determined in the TS test at a frequency of 1 Hz
because of the effect of frequency. The response of
soil at shearing strains below yf is commonly
termed linear or “elastic.” The word “elastic” is
used even though soils exhibit material damping at
such low strains. The term yf is also called the
nonlinearity threshold by Vucetic and Dobry, 1991,
and Ishihara, 1996.
As shearing strain increases above yf, G
decreases nonlinearly with increasing y. Shear
modulus decreases in a similar manner in both the
RC and TS tests. Number of loading cycles has no
effect on G (at least for N I 1000 cycles) until a
cyclic threshold strain, yt, is exceeded. Above
y:, G varies with y and N. This threshold strain
also varies with PI and confining pressure as
shown in Table 5. The value of y: is nominally in
the range of 0.01 % and 0.1 %.
If the specimens were saturated and if volume
change were measured, then the threshold denoting
the onset of volume change is also presumed to be
at or slightly below y:. Above y:, G decreases
somewhat with increasing N at a constant y as
shown in Fig. 9 for all three specimens. This effect
of N on G can be influenced by void ratio,
confining pressure and degree of saturation. The
term y: is called the degradation threshold by
Vucetic and Dobry, 1991, and Ishihara, 1996. The
effect of plasticity on yf and y: has been studied
by these researchers as well as Vucetic, 1994.
The variation in normalized shear modulus,
G/Gmax, with the logarithm of shearing strain is
shown in Fig. 10 for each intact specimen tested at
its estimated in situ mean effective stress, CTm .
Table 5 Values of Elastic Threshold Strain ( yf ) and Cyclic Threshold Strain ( y:) from Figs. 9, 10 and 14
Confining Pressure = Om
PI Y:: yffor G
(%) (0.001 %) (0.001 %)
Silty Sand NP 0.7 10
, (SM)
SandyLean 1o 1.o 15
Clay (CL)
FatClay 36 3.0 35
(CH)
819
The elastic and cyclic threshold strains are more
easily seen in Fig.10 than in Fig. 9. There is a
clear trend for each of the threshold strains to
increase with increasing plasticity index as shown
in Table 5. It is not unusual for an unsaturated
nonplastic soil with fines to exhibit a cyclic
threshold strain on the order of that found with a
low PI material.
The general relationship between the G/Gmax -
log y curves for these soil types is shown in Fig.
11. The nonplastic and low PI soils show a similar
relationship while the general relationship shifts to
higher strains as PI increases. This trend agrees
with the generic curves presented by Sun et al.
(1988) and Vucetic and Dobry (1991) which show
the effect of PI on normalized shear modulus.
The effect of effective confining pressure on the
G/Gmax - log y relationships is presented in Fig.
12. The relationships were determined from the
RC results shown in Fig. 9. (The same trend is
observed in the TS results.) The general trend
shows the G/ Gmax - log y relationship shifting to
higher strains as ooI increases. In this case, the
largest shift is shown by the nonplastic material,
with the effect decreasing with increasing PI. The
effect of 0,’ is not taken into account in many
generic G/Gmax - log y curves as discussed in
Section 2.5. However, Kokusho (1980), Ni
(1987), Sun et al. (1988) and Ishihara (1996)
present studies showing similar trends in the
G/Gmax - log y relationship with o0 .
Each curve in Fig. 12 has been fitted with a
hyperbolic relationship in the form:
G/Gmax = 1/(1 +y/yr) (7)
in which reference strain, yr, is simply a curve
fitting parameter and is equal to y when G/Gmax
* Confining Pressure = 4 x o m
$for D Yf y:for G yf for D
(0.001 %) (0.001 %) (0.001 %) (0.001 %) ,
6.0 1.o ** **
8.0 1.5 22 10
25 5.0 60 40
 Figure 11 Effect of Soil Type on the G/Gmax-
log y Relationship at a Constant o0’

Table 6 Reference Strain, yr, Values for the

G/Gmax - log y Curves Based on Eq. 7 at

* y,estirnated to be > 1 %

Table 7 Reference Strain, yr, Values for the

G/GmaX- log y Curves Based on Eq. 7 at 4 x

Figure 10 Variation in Normalized Shear Modulus

of Intact Specimens with Shearing Strain and
Number of Loading Cycles from RC and TS Tests

820
 equals 0.5. (Improved fits can be obtained using a
modified hyperbolic relationship with the term,
( ~ / y ~However,
)~. the original hyperbolic model is
used herein for simplicity.) The resulting yr values
are given in Tables 6 and 7. The trend of
increasing yr with increasing PI is clearly shown in
Table 6. The trend of increasing yr with increasing
oo is shown by comparing Tables 6 and 7.
I

To illustrate further the effects of confining

pressure and PI on the G/G,,, - log y
relationships, the results of a study involving 40
intact samples recovered from sites shaken by the
1994 Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles,
California area are presented in Fig. 13. (This
work is part of a joint project called ROSRINE,
Resolution of Site Response Issues in the
Northridge Earthquake.) The curves can be
subdivided according to plasticity and effective
confining pressure. In this case, oo is presented
I

in terms of sample depth. In Fig. 13a, the effect of

PI is shown for soils in the depth range of 7.5 to
100 m. (This depth range was one of three
categories based on depth.) As noted earlier,
natural nonplastic soils with fines and soils with
low plasticity (in this case PI 5 5 %) exhibit very
similar relationships. This result is clearly shown
in Fig. 13a.
Figures 13b and 13c illustrate the effect of
confining pressure on plastic and non-plastic soils,
respectively. Comparison of these two figures also
shows that the effect of oo' decreases somewhat
with increasing PI as indicated in Fig. 12. The
values of yr associated with the curves in Fig. 13
are presented in Table 8.

Table 8 Reference Strain, yr, Values for the

7.5 - 100 4.72E-02

7.5 - 100
I I 7.5- 100 1 15-36 I 1.01E-01 I

Figure 12 Effect of Effective Confining Pressure

I 13b
c 7.5
7.5- 100
100 - 250
2 - 20
6 - 14
5 - 36
5.04E-02
7.18E-02
1.77E-01
on the G/G,,, - log y Relationship for Each Soil 1 3 ~ 7.5- 100 NP 4.72E-02
Type 100 - 250 NP 1.57E-01

821

Figure 13 Trends in the Average G/G,,, - log y
Relationships with Confining Pressure (Depth) and
Plasticity Index Determined from RCTS Tests of
Soils Subjected to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake
822
2.4 Efsects on D in the Nonlinear Range
The effects of y, ool and N on D are shown in
Fig. 14. As in Fig. 9, the solid symbols represent
values from RC testing, the open symbols represent
values from the first TS cycle, and the symbols
with an “X’ represent values from the tenth TS
cycle. Only results from testing at O m l are
presented in Fig. 14. The results from testing at
4 x CTm have not been included in Fig. 14 (as they
were in Fig. 9) because oo has a smaller effect on
D than G. Therefore, material damping results
determined by combined RCTS testing at
multiple confining pressures can become quite
challenging to study if data from several pressures
are presented in the same figure.
It is seen in Fig. 14 that material damping is
constant and equal to Dmin at strains less than or
equal to an elastic threshold strain, yf, which is
nominally the same as that found for G (see Table
5). As with Gmax, there is a difference between
Dmin values determined in the RC and TS tests
because of different loading frequencies in the two
tests as shown in Section 2.2. The value of yf is
affected by PI and increases as PI increases.
As y increases above y f , D increases
significantly. A cyclic threshold strain, y:, is also
found for D which ranges from about 0.006% to
0.025% in these tests. It is interesting to note that
y: for D is somewhat smaller than that found for G
(see Table 5). Above y:, D decreases as N
increases. The importance of N increases as y
increases further above yt. This effect is most
easily seen in Figs. 14a and 14b. Much of the
decrease in D with increasing N occurs in the first
10 cycles as shown in Fig. 14. It is also interesting
to note that: 1. N has a greater influence on D than
G in the unsaturated nonplastic specimen, and 2.
excitation frequency still has an important effect
over the strain range in these tests, strains as high
as 0.1%.
The variation in D with log y for each specimen
as determined in the RC tests is shown in Fig. 15a.
The variations in D with log y as determined for the
first and tenth cycles in the TS test are shown in
Figs. 1% and 15c, respectively. The general
trends in Fig. 15 are: 1. the nonplastic soil exhibits
the lowest Dminvalue, 2. the nonplastic soil exhibit
the highest value of D at y = 0.1 %, 3. Dminvalues
increase with increasing PI, and 4. values of D
Figure 14 Variation in Material Damping Ratio of Figure 15 Effect of Soil Type on the D - log y
Intact Specimens with Shearing Strain and Number Relationship at a Constant o0’ as Determined by
of Loading Cycles as Determined by RC and TS RC test (a), first cycle of TS test (b) and tenth cycle
Tests of TS test (c)

823
decrease at y = 0.1 ‘XOas PI increases. This rather
complex relationship between the D - log y curves
for different soils is generally not shown in any
generic model curves as discussed in Section 2.5.
It has been presented in a general sense in Electric
Power Research Institute, EPRI, (1993a and b)
based on RCTS tests of intact soil specimens
tested at UT. This behavior has also been
observed by Vucetic et al., 1998. Also, the general
switching in the relative positions of the curves for
the different soil types is best shown in the TS
tests at an excitation frequency of 1 Hz. (Figs. 15b
and 15c). The relative positions are changed and
less ordered when the effect of excitation
frequency impacts the measurements as shown in
Fig. 15a in the RC measurements.
The effect of oo‘ on the D - log y relationship is
also shown in Figs. 16 and 17 for RC and TS
results, respectively. The general trend shows the
D - log y relationship shifting to higher strains
while simultaneously shifting downward. As a
result, D decreases slightly at a given y as oo’
increases. In general terms, the largest shift is
shown by the nonplastic material, with the effect
decreasing with increasing PI. This behavior is
similar to that evaluated for shear modulus, except
that Dmin of the nonplastic soil exhibited little
change with increasing oo‘ . Sun et al., 1988 have
noted the same overall effect. The effect of o0’ is
not taken into account in many generic D - log y
curves as discussed in Section 2.5
The effect of loading frequency at small strains,
on G,, and Dmin,is discussed earlier (Figs. 7 and
8). The effect o f f on shear modulus and material
damping at strains above yf, and sometimes at
strains exceeding yt, is shown in Figs. 18a and
18b, respectively. The effect of f on G is small
and decreases even more as cyclic strain increases
above yf. This effect is shown in Fig. 18a by the
G50Hz/G1 Hz - log y relationship. For these intact
specimens, shear modulus increased slightly with
increasing f at y > yt, presumably because of
cyclic stiffening which becomes more important
with increasing y. In terms of D, the effect of f on
D is significant at small strains but decreases as y
increases above yf . It is interesting to note at these
strains and in these soils, the importance of cycling Figure 16 Effect of Effective Confining Pressure
above yf on D seems to have been minor compared on the D - log y Relationship for Each Soil Type as
to the effect of frequency. Determined by RC Tests

824

Figure 17 Effect of Effective Confining Pressure
on the D - log y Relationship for Each Soil Type
as Determined in the tenth cycle of the TS Test
825
Figure 18 Variation in G (a) and D (b) with
Frequency over a Range in Shearing Strains for
Each Soil Type
2.5 Additional Results and Comparisons with
Generic Curves
The G/G,,, - log y and D - log y relationships
from additional specimens are presented in Fig. 19
along with the previous results from Figs. 11 and
15. Three additional specimens (see Table 1) have
been included: 1. a sandy lean clay (PI=15%), 2. a
fat clay (PI 79%), and 3. a peat. The general
shifting of the G/G,,, - log y relationships to
higher strains as PI increases in clays is further
shown. The more complex shifting of the D - log y
relationships (upward shifting of Dmin and
downward shifting of D at y = 0.1% with
increasing PI in clays) is also confirmed. For
interest, the extreme linearity exhibited by peat is
shown.

Figure 19 Additional Results Comparing the
Nonlinear Response of Clayey Soils and Peat with
Results Shown in Figs. 11, 15a and 15c
826
Additional results from testing performed as
part of the ROSFUNE project are presented in Figs.
20 and 21. The double-specimen direct simple
shear, DSDSS, (Doroudian and Vucetic, 1995)
tests were performed by Prof. Vucetic and students
at the University of California at Los Angeles
(UCLA). These results are shown by the solid
symbols in Figs. 20 and 21. Each UCLA and UT
companion specimen was recovered from the same
undisturbed sample, and each companion specimen
was tested at equivalent effective stresses based on
an effective coefficient of earth pressure at rest of
about 0.5. (It is important to note that the RC and
DSDSS confinement states are isotropic and
anisotropic, respectively.) The main difference
between the results exists in shear modulus. The
GIG,,, - log y relationships are nearly identical as
are the D - log y relationships from TS and DSDSS
testing. As usually happens, the in situ seismic
values of G,, (Figs. 20a and 21a) are above those
determined in the laboratory. In this case, they are
about 50% greater than the values determined in the
RC test.
Generic curves of G/G,,, - log y and D -
log y proposed for sands by Seed at al. (1986)
and for sands and clays by Idriss, (1990) are
presented in Fig. 22. Similar generic curves
proposed by Vucetic and Dobry (1991) showing
the effect of PI on the relationships are presented in
Fig. 23. The results presented by Ni (1987)
showing the importance of effective confining
pressure on the G/G,,, - log y and D - log y
relationships of clean sand are presented in Fig. 24.
The G/G,,, - log y results in Fig. 24 are similar to
those presented by Kokusho (1980) for Toyoura
sand. The D - log y relationships presented by Ni
(1987) show the effect of oo on D at all strains
which is not readily apparent in other studies.
These generic studies show good agreement
with the G/G,,, - log y relationships shown earlier
for different soil types. The main variable not
included is the effect of o0’ on the modulus
degradation relationship. The impact of oOf is
shown through comparison with the generic curves
in Fig. 25a for clay with an average PI of about
15%. The Same COmpariSOn for sandy Soils with
no Plasticity is shown in Fig. 2%. In terms of Yr
(Eq. 7) which can be used to represent the G/G,,,
- log yrelationship, the curve proposed by Vucetic
and Dobry (1991) is a good representation of the
Figure 20 Comparison of the Dynamic Response Figure 21 Comparison of the Dynamic Response
of Companion Specimens of Sandy Lean Clay of Companion Specimens of Silty Sand Tested at
Tested at UT and UCLA on the ROSRINE Project UT and UCLA on the ROSRINE Project

827
Figure 22 Generic Curves Proposed by Seed et al Figure 23 Generic Curves Proposed by Vucetic
(1986) for Sands and by Idriss (1990) for Sands and Dobry (1991) Showing the Effect of Plasticity
and for Clays Index

Figure 24 Effect of o0' on Nonlinear G and D of Clean Sand (from Ni, 1987)

828

Figure25 Comparison of Generic Curves for
Lower PI Clay (a) and Non-Plastic Sandy Soil (b)
with the Average ROSRINE Relationships
average ROSRINE results for depth categories of:
1 . less than 7.5 my and 2. 7.5 m to 100 m.
However, clay specimens from the third depth
category of 100 m to 250 m exhibited an average yr
about two times the value of the generic curve.
This general correspondence is also found for the
nonplastic sandy soil specimens, with yr for the
average ROSRINE results for the depth category of
7.5 m to 100 m closely approximated by the generic
curves but yr for the third (deepest) category of 100
m to 250 m ranging from about 2.5 to 5 times the
value of yr from the three generic curves as shown
in Fig. 25b.
The complexity in the shifting of the D - log y
relationships with PI and oo' as shown in Figs.
15, 16 and 17 results in none of the generic curves
predicting the behavior of clayey soils properly.
This complex behavior has been illustrated in EPRI
829
(1993a and b) for other RCTS test results from UT
and by Vucetic et al. (1998). The curves by Ni
(1987) show the effect oo' on the D - log y
relationship of clean sand which is reconstituted in
the laboratory. However, when intact field
specimens are tested and sandy soils with some
fines are included, no generic curve shows the
effect of N and f on the D - log y relationship.
Therefore, behavior of sandy soil with some fines
can not be modeled accurately with these generic
curves.
3 LIQUEFACTION RESISTANCE BASED ON
IN SITUVS
In this section, a procedure for evaluating the
liquefaction resistance of granular soil based on in
situ Vs measurements is briefly discussed. This
topic is included because the dynamic response of
soil at small-strains, expressed in terms of in situ
V,, is the key soil parameter. In addition, nearly
half of the papers contributed to this technical
session deal either with pore pressure generation
and liquefaction of granular soils or in situ
techniques to measure V,.
The evaluation procedure originally developed
for this purpose, termed the simplified procedure,
was developed by Seed and Idriss (1971). The
simplified procedure uses blow count from the
Standard Penetration Test (SPT) correlated with a
parameter representing the seismic loading on the
soil, called the cyclic stress ratio.
Small-strain shear wave velocity measurements
provide a promising alternative, or supplement, to
the penetration-based approach. The use of V, as
an index of liquefaction resistance is soundly
based, since both Vs and liquefaction resistance are
similarly influenced by many of the same factors
(e.g., void ratio, state of stress, stress history, and
geologic age). Furthermore, the strong theoretical
basis underlying stress wave propagation offers the
opportunity for additional advances in the
approach.
During the past two decades, a number of
simplified procedures for evaluating liquefaction
resistance based on Vs have been proposed (Dobry
et al., 1981; Dobry et al., 1982; Seed et al., 1983;
Bierschwale and Stokoe, 1984; de Alba et al.,
1984; Hynes, 1988; Stokoe et al., 1988; Tokimatsu
and Uchida, 1990; Tokimatsu et al., 1991; 3. I .2 Stress-Corrected Shear Wave Velocity-
Robertson et al., 1992; Kayen et al., 1992; Andrus, Following the traditional procedures for correcting
1994; Lodge, 1994; Rashidian, 1995; Kayabali, SPT blow count to account for overburden stress,
1996; Rollins et al., 1998; Andrus and Stokoe, one can correct V, to a reference overburden stress
1997; and Andrus, Stokoe and Chung, 1999). by (Sykora, 1987; Robertson et al., 1992):
Several of these procedures follow the general
format of the Seed-Idriss simplified procedure,
with V, corrected to a reference overburden stress
vs,=vs [?) 0.25
(9)
where V,, is the overburden-stress-corrected shear
and correlated with the cyclic stress ratio.
wave velocity, P, is a reference stress of 100 kPa
However, nearly all of the simplified procedures
or about atmospheric pressure, and 0'"is the initial
have been developed with limited or no field
effective overburden stress in kPa. In using Eq. 9,
performance data.
it is implicitly assumed that the initial effective
Outlined below is the procedure originally
horizontal stress, o'h, is a constant factor of the
proposed by Andrus and Stokoe (1997) and
effective vertical stress. The factor, generally
subsequently updated by Andrus, Stokoe and
referred to as K t 0 , is assumed to be approximately
Chung (1999). The updated procedure uses an
0.5 at sites where liquefaction has occurred. Also,
expanded database consisting of field performance
in applying Eq. 9, it is implicitly assumed that Vs is
data from 26 earthquakes and in situ V ,
measured with both the directions of particle motion
measurements at over 70 sites. Much of the new
and wave propagation polarized along principal
data are from the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe),
stress directions and one of these directions is
Japan earthquake (moment magnitude, M, = 6.9).
vertical (Stokoe et al., 1985).
3.1 Evaluation Procedure
3.1.3 Cyclic Resistance Ratio (CRR)- The value
of the cyclic stress ratio, CSR, separating
Three parameters are required to evaluate the
liquefaction and non-liquefaction occurrences for a
liquefaction resistance of soil. These parameters
given V,, (or corrected blow count in the SPT
are: 1. the level of cyclic loading of the soil,
procedure) is called the cyclic resistance ratio,
expressed as a cyclic stress ratio; 2. the stiffness of
CSR. Andrus and Stokoe (1997) proposed the
the soil, expressed as an overburden-stress-
following relationship between cyclic resistance
corrected shear wave velocity; and 3. the boundary
ratio, CRR, and Vsl:
separating liquefaction and non-liquefaction
occurrences, expressed as a cyclic resistance ratio.
Each parameter is discussed below.
+b[ * 1 -I)JMSF
3.1.1 Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR)- The cyclic
stressratio, T ~ , , / C T 'at
~ , a particular depth in a level VSl - VSl V,*l
soil deposit can be expressed as (Seed and Idriss, where V i l is the limiting upper value of V,, for
1971): liquefaction occurrence, a and b are curve fitting
Tav = 0.65 amax
-
d V [ g IL,)
CTV
rd (*)
where T, is the average equivalent uniform cyclic
parameters, and MSF is the magnitude scaling
factor. The first term of Eq. 10 is based on a
modified relationship between V,, and CSR for
shear stress caused by the earthquake and is constant average cyclic shear strain suggested by R.
assumed to be 0.65 of the maximum induced Dobry (personal communication to R. D. Andrus,
stress, amax is the peak horizontal ground surface 1996). The second term is a hyperbola with a small
acceleration, g is the acceleration of gravity, (T', is value at low values of V,,, and a very large value
the initial effective vertical (overburden) stress at as V,, approaches Vgl.
the depth in question, (T, is the total vertical The magnitude scaling factor, which accounts
(overburden) stress at the same depth, and rd is a for the effect of earthquake magnitude on the CRR,
shear stress reduction coefficient to adjust for can be expressed by:
flexibility of the soil profile.

830
where n is an exponent. The lower bound for the
range of magnitude scaling factors recommended
by the 1996 National Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research (NCEER) Workshop on
Evaluation of Liquefaction Resistance of Soils
(Youd et al., 1997) is defined by Eq. 11 with n =
-2.56 (Idriss, personal communication to T. L.
Youd, 1995). More recently, Idriss (1999)
proposed revised magnitude scaling factors that can
be reasonably approximated by Eq. 11 with n = -
1.75. The difference in the two proposed MSF
relationships is not significant for earthquake with
magnitudes of about 7 to 7.5, the range of the
majority of the liquefactioncase histories.

3.2 Liquefaction Evaluation Charts

Figure 26 Curves Proposed by Andrus, Stokoe
The case history data for magnitude 5.9 to 8.3 and Chung (1999) for Calculation of CRR from V,
earthquakes adjusted using Eq. 11 with n = -2.56 Measurements Along with Case History Data Based
are presented in Fig. 26. Also presented in the on Lower Bound Values of MSF for the Range
figure are the proposed CRR-V,, curves. The Recommended by the 1996 NCEER Workshop
curves are defined by Eq. 10 with a = 0.022, b = (Youd et al., 1997) and Average rd Values
2.8, and VE1 = 200 m/s for a fines content (FC) 2 Developed by Seed and Idriss (1971).
35 %, VEl = 208 m/s for FC = 20 % and Vgl =
215 m / s for FC I 5 %. The case history data, and
CRR-Vsl curves, are limited to relatively level
ground sites with average depths less than 10 m,
uncemented soils of Holocene age, ground water
table depths between 0.5 m and 6 m, and V,
measurements performed below the water table.
Of the 90 liquefaction case histories shown in
Fig. 26, only two incorrectly lie in the no-
liquefaction region. The two liquefaction cases that
lie in the no-liquefaction region are for sites at
Treasure Island, California. These sites are located
along the perimeter of the island where liquefaction
was marginal during the 1989 Loma Prieta
earthquake (M, = 7.0).
To illustrate the effect of using different
magnitude scaling factors on the case history data,
the data have been recalculated using the MSF
proposed by Idriss (1999). The recalculated case
history data are presented in Fig. 27. Also shown
in Fig. 27 are the same three liquefaction resistance Figure 27 Curves Recommended for Calculation of
curves from Fig. 26. Many of the case history data CRR from Shear Wave Velocity Measurements
in Fig. 27 plot at higher CSR values than in Fig. 26 Along with Case History Data Based on Revised
since the earthquake magnitude is 57.5 for most of Values of MSF and rd Proposed by Idriss (1999).
the data. The upward shifting in the liquefaction

831
data points near the curves at CRR of about 0.08 is
less than 0.01. This difference is not significant
and is within the accuracy of the plotted case
history data.
The three CRR- V,, curves shown in Figs. 26
and 27 exhibit V,, values of 195 m l s and 210 m/s
at CRR near 0.6 for FC 2 35 % and FC I 5 %,
respectively. These Vsl values are considered
equivalent to corrected blow counts, (N,),,, of 21
for FC 2 35 % and 30 for FC I 5 % commonly
assumed in the SPT-based procedure as the limiting
upper values for cyclic liquefaction Occurrence in
the respective soils.
3.3 Factor of Safety
A common way to quantify the potential or hazard
for liquefaction is in terms of a factor of safety.
The factor of safety, FS, against liquefaction can be
defined by:
CRR
FS=-
CSR
Figure 28 Application of the Recommended Procedure for Evaluating Liquefaction Resistance - Treasure
Island Fire Station Site and 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
832
Liquefaction is predicted to occur when FS I1.
Liquefaction is predicted not to occur when FS > 1.
The acceptable value of FS will depend on several
factors, including the acceptable level of risk for the
project, the extent and accuracy of seismic
measurements, the availability of other site
information, and the conservatism in determining
the design earthquake magnitude and the expected
value of amm.
3.4 Case Study
Figure 28 presents the liquefaction evaluation from
crosshole seismic testing at the Treasure Island Fire
Station site and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Values of Vsl and CSR are shown in Figs. 28a and
28d, respectively. These values were calculated
3
assuming densities of 1.76 g/cm above the water
3
table and 1.92 g/cm below the water table. Based
on amax of 0.16 g and 0.11 g recorded in two
horizontal directions at the fire station during
the 1989 earthquake (Brady and Schakal, 1994), a
geometric mean value of 0.13 g is used to calculate
CSR. The value of MSF used was 1.19, the lower
bound value recommended by the 1996 NCEER
Workshop.
Values of FS shown in Fig. 28e are less than 1
for the depths of 4 m to 9 m. Between the depths
of 4 m and 7 m, the sand contains non-plastic fines
and is considered liquefiable. Between the depths
of 7 m and 9 m, the soil exhibits plasticity
characteristics and may be non-liquefiable by the
so-called Chinese criteria. According to the
Chinese criteria, non-liquefiable clayey soils have
clay contents (particles smaller than 5 pm) 2 15 %,
liquid limits 2 35 %, or moisture contents I 90 %
of the liquid limit (Seed and Idriss, 1982). Thus,
the layer most likely to liquefy, or the critical layer,
lies between the depths of 4 m and 7 m as depicted
in Fig. 28a.
Although, no sand boils or ground cracks
occurred at the site during the 1989 earthquake,
there is a sudden drop in the fire station strong
ground motion recording at about 15 seconds and
small motions afterwards (Idriss, 1990). This
behavior is unlike behavior observed in recordings
at other seismograph stations located on soft soil
sites in the San Francisco Bay area. De Alba et al
(1994) attributed this behavior to liquefaction of an
underlying sand. It is possible that the 5-m thick
layer capping the site, predicted not to liquefy in
Figs. 28d and 28e, prevented the formation of sand
boils at the ground surface (Ishihara, 1985).
4 IN SITU SEISMIC MEASUREMENTS OF
VS AND Dmin
The third and final section of the paper deals with
measurement of dynamic soil properties in the field
by seismic methods. Several papers on this topic
have been contributed to this session.
Traditionally, shear wave velocity has been the
dynamic soil property evaluated by seismic testing.
Prior to the early 1980s, the crosshole and
downhole methods were the dominant methods for
geotechnical engineering purposes. The seismic
cone penetration test (SCPT) has been actively used
since the early 1980s (Campanella and Robertson,
1984 and Lunne et al., 1997). During this period,
the spectral-analysis-of-surface-waves (SASW)
833
technique has undergone considerable development
(Stokoe et al., 1994b). More recently, suspension
logging (Kitsunezaki, 1980 and Toksoz and
Cheng, 1991) has received active use. The SASW
method is discussed below, and comparisons with
suspension logging and downhole seismic testing at
two strong-motion sites are shown. In addition,
some recent measurements of Dmin with an
adaptation of the SASW method are discussed, and
comparisons with crosshole and laboratory results
are presented.
4.1 Background on SASW Method
Spectral-analysis-of-surface-waves testing is an in
situ seismic method for determining shear wave
velocity profiles at geotechnical and pavement sites.
The test is non-invasive and non-destructive, with
testing performed on the ground surface at strain
levels in the elastic range (y < 0.00 1%). From the
modeled shear wave velocity (V,) profile, a small-
strain shear modulus, G, profile can be
determined using an estimated material density, p,
as :
2
Gmax = P * VS (13)
SASW testing has been used for a variety of
engineering applications requiring shear stiffness
data, including studies of earthquake site response,
liquefaction susceptibility analyses, soil compaction
control and evaluation, and pavement testing
(Nazarian and Stokoe, 1986; Stokoe et al., 1988;
Rix and Stokoe, 1989; Andrus, 1994; Stokoe, et
al., 1997; and Bueno, 1998).
The basis of the SASW method is the
dispersive characteristic of Rayleigh waves when
propagating in a layered system. The phase
velocity, V,, depends primarily on the material
properties (shear wave velocity, mass density, and
Poisson’s ratio or compression wave velocity) over
a depth of approximately one wavelength. Waves
of different wavelengths, h, (or frequencies, f)
sample different depths as illustrated in Fig. 29. As
a result of the varying shear stiffnesses of the
layers, waves with different wavelengths travel at
different phase velocities. A surface wave
dispersion curve, or dispersion curve for short, is
the variation of V, with h or f, and it is the key
characteristic of the site evaluated in the field for
stiffness profiling.
Figure 29 Approximate Distribution of Vertical
Particle Motion with Depth for Two Surface
Waves with Different Wavelengths

The test method involves actively exciting

surface wave energy at one point and measuring the
resulting vertical surface motions at various
distances (receiver points) away from the source.
Figure 30a shows the typical field testing
arrangement. Measurements are performed along a
linear array placed on the exposed surface. Fourier
transforms are performed on the recorded time
records of two (or more) vertical receivers. The
phase difference relationship between the receivers
as a function of frequency (4, vs. f) is found from
the cross power spectrum G12(f) , defined by:
G 12(f)=S1(f) S*2(f) (14)
where Sl(f) is the Fourier transform of receiver 1
and S*2(f) is the complex conjugate of the Fourier
transform of receiver 2. A typical 4, vs. f result is
shown in Fig. 30b. The @ vs. f plot in Fig. 30b is
called a wrapped phase plot because of the “jumps”
present in the plot. These “jumps” represent 360-
degree phase shifts or full cycles of the wave. By
properly counting these jumps, the phase plot can
be unwrapped, as illustrated in Figs. 31a and 31b.
From the unwrapped phase and frequency values,
the phase velocity can be found from:
VR = f * (360/@)*d (15)
where VR is the phase velocity, f is the frequency,
@ is the unwrapped phase angle and d is the
receiver spacing. Therefore, a plot of phase
velocity vs. wavelength can be determined as
shown in Fig. 31c. In this particular test, the
receiver spacing was 30.5 m, the source was a
moving bulldozer, and the source was positioned
slightly more than 30.5 m from the first receiver.
Figure 30 Typical SASW Field Arrangement: and
Associated Spectral Measurement from One
Source-Receivers Set-Up
The bulldozer simply moved back and forth over a
distance of about 3 m. The bulldozer motion
generated random noise which contained significant
surface wave energy from about 4 Hz to above 30
Hz as shown in Fig. 30b by the continuity in the
pattern of the wrapped phase.
The SASW test procedure is repeated with
many receiver spacings which cover a broad range
of wavelengths. For testing illustrated in this
example, receiver spacings of 0.9, 1.8, 3.8, 7.6,
15.25, 30.5 and 61 m were employed. A sledge
hammer was used at source spacings up to 3.8 m.
The bulldozer was used as the source for the larger
spacings. The process of collecting dispersion data
at multiple receiver spacings is followed so that
wavelengths are measured which cover the
complete profile, ranging from shallow materials
(high frequencies) to deep materials (low
frequencies). Results from three receiver spacings
with the bulldozer source are shown in Fig. 32.
An important consideration in SASW data
collection is that the spacing between the source and
first receiver, d in Fig. 30a, is a significant fraction
of the longest wavelength, A,, collected at that
spacing for use in modeling the data.

834

Figure 3 1 Unwrapped Phase Spectrum and
Associated Dispersion Curve from Testing at One
Receiver Spacing as Shown in Fig. 30a
In general, h,, can be expressed as:
,A I 2d
In terms of unwrapped phase (or wrapped phase
for that matter), Eq. 16 represents @ = 180" in
Figs. 31a and 31b, and all data at longer
wavelengths are deleted as shown by the darken
zones in the figures. This criterion is used in an
attempt to perform all data collection in the far field
because forward modeling or inversion of the
dispersion curve is based on wave propagation in
the far field. In fact, whenever possible, it is
preferable to use the criterion h,,, I d in
constructing the dispersion curve from each
receiver spacing. In all cases, the source should
835
never be located closer to the first receiver than d, a
distance equal to the receiver spacing.
A composite dispersion curve is created from
measurements at all receiver spacings, as illustrated
in Fig. 33a. Due to the large number of data points
in the composite curve, an average dispersion curve
with fewer points is calculated for the inversion
process, as shown in Fig. 33b. Through an
iterative inversion process of matching a theoretical
dispersion curve with the average experimental
dispersion curve, the shear stiffness profile can be
evaluated (Joh, 1997). A final match is shown in
Fig. 33c, and the resulting stiffness profile,
typically the final product of the SASW test, is
shown in Fig. 34.
4.2 Examples of V, Profiles at Strong-Motion
Sites
A study investigating the utility of the SASW
method for V, profiling at strong-motion stations
used to record earthquake shaking was undertaken
in cooperation with the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) (Brown, 1998). As part of the
study, SASW testing was performed at various
sites in Southern California. Downhole seismic
measurements had been performed earlier at several
of the sites by USGS personnel. In-hole
suspension logging results were also available at
a few sites. The results of the SASW tests were
analyzed independently of the borehole results.
The V, profile from the three methods were then
compared. Comparisons from two of these sites
are discussed below. The sites are the Rinaldi
Receiving Station, RIN, and the Sepulveda
Veterans Administration Hospital, SVA. Both sites
are located in the Los Angeles, California region,
and both sites recorded strong ground motions
during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The analytical model used to compute the
theoretical dispersion curves for given stiffness
profiles is based on the dynamic stiffness matrix
method described by Kausel and Roesset, 1981 and
Roesset et al., 1991. The analytical model is called
the 3-D global model herein. This model simulates
body wave effects and higher modes of propagation
as well as the fundamental Raleigh-wave mode.
The computer program WinSASW (Joh, 1992 and
1997) incorporates the 3-D global model in it, and
this program was used in modeling the RIN and
SVA field data presented below.
 Figure 32 Typical Receiver Arrangements and Associated Dispersion Curves
4.2.I Rinaldi Receiving Station Site SASW
testing was conducted along a linear array near the
USGS borehole at Rinaldi Receiving Station. To
illustrate the test results, the field data and the
compacted dispersion curve are presented in
logarithmic and linear distributions in the
wavelength domain in Figs. 35a and 35b,
respectively. A logarithmically distributed
compacted dispersion curve gives more weight to
the shorter wavelengths, and a linearly distributed
compacted dispersion curve emphasizes the longer
wavelengths as shown in Fig. 35. Both
distributions are useful in interpreting the
dispersion curve; the logarithmic distribution is
used first in modeling the shallow layers and the
linear distribution is used for the deeper layers.
The amount of scatter in the dispersion curve
for the Rinaldi Receiving Station site in Fig. 35
shows that there is considerable variability in the
subsurface. This is consistent with the site
geology; the borehole is near the mouth of a small
canyon below the Van Norman Dam, where the
depth to bedrock presumably changes across the
SASW array. The theoretical dispersion curve was
fit through the middle of the experimental curve as
836
shown in Fig. 36. This was relatively easy to do
because of the general increase in shear wave
velocity with depth. Since the SASW profiles
represent the average material properties across the
array, specific features such as layer interfaces and
velocity inversion layers that are not laterally
extensive cannot be resolved.
As seen in Fig. 37, there is good general
agreement between the shear wave velocity profiles
from the SASW method and the USGS downhole
seismic testing. This agreement occurred even
though there is considerable scatter in the SASW
dispersion data. This good agreement exists from
the surface to a depth of about 53 m (175 ft) as
shown in Fig. 37. From 53 m (175 ft) to
approximately 73 m (240 ft), the shear wave
velocity in the 3-D global solution is about 25%
higher than the USGS profile. This could be due to
the decreasing resolution in the SASW test with
depth and also due to assumptions about Poisson’s
ratio and lateral uniformity in the modeling process
(Brown, 1998). The OYO suspension log exhibits
a lot of variability in the profile, especially at depths
below about 15 m (50 ft). The general trend in the
OYO logger profile is consistent with the other
 Figure 34 Shear Wave Velocity Profile Determined
from the Inversion Process Shown in Fig. 33c

b. Linearly Distributed Field and Compacted

Dispersion Curves
Figure 33 Developing the Field Dispersion Curve
Figure 35 Surface Wave Dispersion Curve
and Matching a Theoretical Curve to It. Determined at the Rinaldi Receiving Station Site

837
a. Comparison of the Match in the Logarithmic b. Comparison of the Match in the Linear
Wavelength Domain Wavelength Domain

Figure36 Comparison of the Match Between the Theoretical Dispersion Curve and the Compacted
Experimental Curve - FUN Site
phase velocity by 10% to represent V, and
representing the sampling depth by h 12 or h 13
(Heisey et al., 1982). In Fig. 37 (and in Fig. 38),
U3 (lambdd3) is used to approximate the depth.
The velocity profile from this interpretational
method compares well with the other profiles. In
fact, Brown (1998) found this approximation to be
a very good starting point in the SASW analytical
modeling process with the 3-D global solution.

4.2.2 Sepulveda Veterans Administration

Figure37 Comparison of Shear Wave Velocity
Profiles from SASW, USGS Downhole, and
Suspension (OYO) In-Hole Logger Tests at the
Rinaldi Receiving Station Site
data, except near the surface, where the values are
well below the others. Since the OYO data were
collected in a borehole about 15 m from the USGS
borehole, some difference is to be expected.
The V, profile from an empirical Rayleigh wave
analysis is also shown in Fig. 37. The empirical
analysis procedure simply involves increasing the
Hospital (SVA) Site The SVA site exhibited
significant variability andor scatter in the field
dispersion data. This variability was considered to
be a measure of the lateral variability at the site and
indicated that the shallow subsurface is quite
nonuniform while the deeper subsurface is fairly
uniform. In the forward modeling process, the
theoretical curve was simply fit thorough the middle
of the band of the experimental data, resulting in a
smooth, global profile for the site.
Comparison of the SASW, Lambdd3
approximation, USGS downhole, and OYO
suspension log profiles is shown in Fig. 38. The
match is good except in the top 2 m. The velocity
inversion in the USGS downhole profile between
40 m and 47 m is supported by the OYO
suspension log, although the high values of Vs in
the OYO log from 21 m to 33 m are not consistent
with the other profiles. Given the amount of scatter
in the composite dispersion curve and the extensive
area over which the SASW data were collected at
the SVA site, it is to be expected that the SASW

838
 Figure 39 Determination of Rayleigh Wave
Attenuation Coefficient

Figure 38 Comparison of Theoretical Shear Wave

Velocity Profiles from SASW, USGS Downhole,
and Suspension (OYO) In-Hole Logger Tests at the
Sepulveda Veterans Administration Hospital Site

solutions do not resolve all of the details shown in

the borehole measurements. However, the overall
good comparison between the profiles shows that
the V, profile from the SASW tests correctly
represents the global characteristics of the site.

4.3 Field Measurement of Dmin

The SASW method may be extended to permit in

situ measurements of material damping ratio in
addition to shear wave velocity (Lai and Rix, 1998;
Rix et al., 1999). Rayleigh wave attenuation
coefficients, a,(o), are obtained from
measurements of the vertical particle displacement
amplitudes I w (r, o)I at several receiver offsets
over a specified range of frequencies using a non-
linear regression based on:
Iw(r,o)l = Fz +G(r,w).e-"R(m)'r (17)
where F, is the magnitude of the source and G (r,
o)is the geometric spreading function. Figure 39
shows an example of the regression for f = 30 Hz.
Figure40 Comparison of Shear Damping Ratio
Measurements at Treasure Island Site near the Fire
Station
An inverse analysis is required to evaluate the
shear damping ratio of individual soil layers using
the frequency-dependent attenuation coefficients.
Figure 40 shows the results of the inversion
performed using data from the Treasure Island
National Geotechnical Engineering Site, NGES,
where independent measurements of material
damping ratio from field crosshole and laboratory
tests are available for comparison. These
measurements were conducted by UT personnel

839
(Fuhriman, 1993 and Hwang, 1997) and are
presented in EPRI, 1993c along with a discussion
of the data collection and analysis procedures. The
material damping ratios from surface wave
measurements are generally less than those from
crosshole testing possibly due to: 1. different
amounts of apparent attenuation, 2. different
attenuation mechanisms which control at higher
frequencies and produce frequency-dependent
damping ratios, 3. different volumes of soil
sampled by the methods, and 4. uncoupled
analyses of V, and Dmin. On the other hand,
values of damping ratio from surface wave tests
agree well with values from resonant column and
torsional shear laboratory tests.
Lai and Rix (1998) also describe a method in
which measurements of surface wave velocity and
attenuation are used to simultaneously determine the
shear wave velocity and shear damping ratio
profiles. The method takes advantage of the
coupling between velocity and material damping in
a linear, viscoelastic medium to achieve a more
robust inversion of the data. This approach should
be considered for analysis of crosshole data in the
future.
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
One of the goals in geotechnical earthquake
engineering is predicting the response of soil sites
during earthquake shaking. The sites can range
from shallow (a few meters) to very deep (300 m or
more) deposits composed of quite soft (V, - 80
d s ) to very stiff (V, > 500 d s ) soils.
Characterization of the dynamic properties of these
soils is an important aspect in predicting the site
response. This work often involves both
laboratory and field studies, particularly at
important or critical sites. Some recent studies in
the measurement and analysis of dynamic soil
properties are discussed in this paper
The effects of various parameters on dynamic
soil properties are discussed in Section 2.
Laboratory measurements of intact specimens are
presented to illustrate the importance and impact of
each parameter. Key parameters discussed herein
are: 1. soil type 2. plasticity index, 3. mean
effective confining pressure, ci 4. excitation
frequency, f, 5. shearing strain amplitude, y, and
840
6. number of loading cycles, N. The importance of
excitation frequency on material damping ratio, D,
the difference between traditional D - log y
relationships and measured behavior, and the
importance of o r o on nonlinear modulus and
damping relationships are highlighted in the text.
Many of these parametric effects are not captured in
present-day generic models.
In Section 3, a procedure is outlined for
evaluating liquefaction resistance through V,
measurements. The proposed procedure follows
the general format of the Seed-Idriss (1971)
simplified procedure. The procedure has been
validated with case history data from soils ranging
from fine sand to sandy gravel with cobbles to
profiles including silty clay layers. Caution should
be exercised when applying the procedure to sites
where conditions are different from the database.
Additional well-documented case histories with all
types of soil that have and have not liquefied during
earthquakes are needed, particularly from denser
soils (Vsl > 200 d s ) shaken by stronger ground
motions (ha,> 0.4 g), to further validate the
procedure.
Finally some recent developments in field
measurements to evaluate V, and Dminprofiles are
briefly presented in Section 4. The field techniques
include surface wave (SASW) measurements and
suspension (OYO) logging. Comparisons of V,
profiles from independent USGS downhole tests,
and OYO suspension logs show the validity and
strengths of the field methods. Adaptation of the
SASW method to field measurement of Dmin is
shown through comparisons with independent
crosshole seismic and laboratory measurements.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writers very much appreciate the opportunity
given by the organizers of this symposium to
present these results. The patience and
understanding of Prof. Pedro Sec0 e Pinto is
especially appreciated. Support from the California
Department of Transportation, the National Science
Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, the United States Geological Survey,
and the ROSRINE project is gratefully
acknowledged. Earlier support from the Electric
Power Research Institute and the Westinghouse
Savannah River Corporation are also
acknowledged. Encouragement and guidance from
Dr. Clifford Roblee, Dr. John Schneider, Dr.
Walter Silva, Dr. Robert Pyke, Dr. Robert Nigbor,
Dr. Donald Anderson, Dr. David Boore, Prof. I.M.
Idriss, Prof. T. Leslie Youd, Prof. Mladen Vucetic
and Dr. Richard Lee of those organizations are
appreciated, and their interactions have made the
activities stimulating and enjoyable. The assistance
of Prof. Glenn Rix in contributing the material in
Section 4.3 on field measurement of Dmin is
sincerely appreciated. Finally, the assistance of the
many graduate students at the University of Texas
who worked on the research projects or on
associated projects is also sincerely appreciated. In
particular, Mr. Brent Rosenblad, Dr. Seon-Keun
Hwang, Dr. James Bay and Dr. Sung-Ho Joh
made significant contributions in support of this
work.
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(1997). “In Situ V, Profiles from SASW
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(1985). “Effects of Stress State on Velocities of
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

On the dynamic characterization of soils

J. D. Bray & M. E Riemer
University of California, Berkeley, CaliJL:,USA
W. B.Gookin
URS Greiner Woodward Clyde, Santa Ana, CaliJL:,USA

ABSTRACT: Selected topics relevant to the dynamic characterization of soils are discussed. Some recent
state of the art papers in this area are reviewed. Two topics that the authors have explored are discussed in
greater detail, namely, issues involved in bender element testing, and load frequency effects in dynamic
testing of soils. Sample disturbance represents a major limitation to advances in characterizing small strain
dynamic properties of soil, and additional research in this area is warranted.

1 INTRODUCTION in testing capabilities, sample disturbance remains a

Considerable effort has been devoted toward
developing analytical techniques for evaluating the
seismic response of soil deposits. Practicing
engineers often employ these analytical procedures in
the evaluation of potential seismic hazards at project
sites. Yet, the accuracy and reliability of seismic
response analyses are highly dependent on the
characterization of the subsurface conditions and the
evaluation of the dynamic properties of the critical
soil strata. Specifically, the results of dynamic
analyses are often quite sensitive to the shear modulus
and material damping ratio versus shear strain
relationships employed by the engineer.
Tremendous recent advances in field and
laboratory testing techmques provide the opportunity
to improve significantly an engineer's ability to
characterize the dynamic properties of soil. Recent
papers, including those presented at this conference,
describe some of these advanced testing techniques
and the implications of the resulting test data. A
thorough review of all relevant topics cannot be
presented in this discussion paper, so only a few
recent state-of-the-art papers are discussed. In
addition, two topics, wluch have been investigated
by the authors as well as by others, are discussed.
These topics are: issues involved in bender element
testing, and load frequency effects in dynamic
testing of soils. In the end, with the recent advances
significant obstacle to improved characterization of
small strain properties of soil.
2 RECENT ADVANCES IN TESTING
The development of sophisticated data measurement
and acquisition techniques now allows engineers to
make precise and reliable measurements of soil
properties across a wide range of strains. In
particular, small strain measurements can be made
reliably in the laboratory allowing for good
characterization of small strain dynamic properties
of soil. It is now commonly recognized that
interpreting load-deformation of soil specimens with
measurement devices that are external to the testing
chamber are inadequate, especially with regard to
small strain dynamic stiffness and material damping.
Thorough reviews of potential testing errors and
the capabilities of state-of-the-art small strain
laboratory measurement devices are presented in
Tatsuoka (1988) and Scholey et al. (1995).
Measurement devices are separated into three broad
classes based on their placement location. External
measurement devices such as linear variable
differential transducers (LVDT) and load transducers
are located outside of the testing chamber, and hence
prone to potentially significant errors due to piston
friction and connection compliance. Internal

847
measurement devices, which are located inside the
testing chamber, may include LVDTs and load cells
in addition to noncontacting proximity transducers.
By locating these devices on the top or bottom
platens adjacent to the test specimen, most
measurement errors can be avoided or minimized.
However, interfaces between the platen, porous
stone (if used), and specimen can lead to
measurements of deformation larger than those
experienced by the soil, while at the same time, the
boundary conditions at the ends of the specimen may
inhibit soil deformations near the platens. Hence,
local deformation measurement devices that are
attached to the specimen itself in an attempt to
measure deformation across a part of the specimen
only were developed to avoid these troublesome
interfaces.
LVDTs and noncontacting proximity transducers
may be used to measure the relative deformation of
targets mounted directly on the membrane
surrounding the test specimen. Recently, new
devices, such as the Hall effect gage (Clayton et al.
1989) and the local deformation transducer (LDT;
Tatsuoka 1988), allow local deformations across a
part of the test specimen to be measured relatively
inexpensively with high resolution and accuracy.
Attachment of all of these local deformation
measurement devices to the test specimen, as well as
sensitivity to background electrical noise, etc. does
make these devices more difficult to use than
internal devices. However, if the platen-specimen
interfaces are greased to reduce deleterious boundary
effects and to promote more uniform specimen
deformation, the local devices are necessary.
Both internal and local measurement devices
require water proofing for most soil testing
applications, and although potentially an initial cost
and maintenance issue, these devices can generally
be adapted to work immersed in water. Obviously,
all measurement t e c h q u e s eventually assume that
deformation occurs uniformly across some part of
the specimen, and this is a limitation to all of these
devices. A micro-mechanical examination of the
internal deformation of a test specimen composed of
particulate media clearly shows that this assumption
of uniform straining across the specimen breaks
down at some level.
A number of investigators have employed these
measurement techniques with advanced
instrumentation in their laboratories to provide an
improved picture of small strain dynamic properties
of soil. Works by Goto et al. (1991), Jamiolkowski
et al. (1994a&b), Kim and Stokoe (1994), Tatsuoka
848
et al. (1994), Lo Presti et al. (1995), Shibuya et al.
(1995), Gookin et al. (1996), Boulanger et al.
(1998), and Vucetic et al. (1998), to name a few,
have provided important insights regarding the small
strain stiffness and damping of a variety of soils.
Properties at shear strain levels on the order of
0.001% are reliably measured, with some devices
often able to attain reliable measurements at the
commonly accepted "small strain" level of 0.0001%.
These studies, as well as others, represent a
significant advancement of the profession's ability to
characterize a soil specimen's dynamic properties
over a wide range of strain.
3. BENDER ELEMENTS
Dynamic StifJitess
Since the mid-1970'~~ a technology for measuring
shear wave velocities on laboratory soil samples has
developed using pairs of polarized piezoceramic
wafers described as "bender elements" (e.g. Shirley
and Hampton, 1978; De Alba et al., 1984; Dyvik and
Madshus, 1985). These elements can be
incorporated directly into the top and bottom caps of
standard testing devices, and thereby permit direct
measurement of shear wave velocity (V,) on the
same specimen used for measuring the shear
modulus at larger strains (e.g., Gookin et al. 1996).
This approach removes errors arising from specimen
variability when developing an individual modulus
degradation curve. The magnitudes of the shear
strains associated with the measured shear waves are
difficult to measure, but are estimated to be
approximately 10 -'% (Dyvik and Madshus, 1985),
and so are believed to provide a measure of the
elastic maximum shear modulus, G,, = pV;, where
p is the mass density of the medium. However, local
strains induced by bender elements may be larger
than this for soft soils (on the order of 0.001% for
some cases; Arulnathan et al., 1998).
While commonly used procedures for bender
element testing are straightforward and the
instrumented caps are relatively easy to construct,
precise interpretation of the data obtained is difficult
due to a number of factors. Bender element
measurements of shear wave velocity require only
knowledge of the travel path length and the travel
time, yet the precision of these measurements has
been limited primarily by uncertainties in identifying
the appropriate travel time. A precise measure of V,
is important because any errors in its measurement
are amplified when the data is converted to shear
modulus, as velocity is squared in that process.
Because the bender elements protrude into the
soil from the surface of the end caps, it is not
intuitively apparent whether the travel path length is
the full specimen height, the distance between the
tips of the bender elements, or some intermediate
"effective" length. Dyvik and Madshus (1985)
showed that using the distance between the tips of
the bender elements as the travel path length of the
shear wave gave the best agreement with the other
measurements of modulus. Viggiani and Atkinson
(1995) performed a series of bender element tests on
specimens of varying heights, and reached the same
conclusion. As a result of these studies, it is
standard practice to adopt the tip-to-tip distance
between the elements as the effective length of the
travel path.
Researchers have faced considerably greater
difficulty in establishing a procedure for accurately
evaluating the travel time of the shear wave. The
shape of the arriving wave can vary substantially
depending on the geometry and fabrication of the
apparatus, the specimen properties, and the nature of
the transmitted pulse, making a precise interpretation
of the travel time difficult. The earlier arrival of
compression waves or other "near field effects"
(Viggiani and Atkinson 1995) can make the first
arrival of the shear wave difficult to detect, as
illustrated in Fig. 1, which shows the trace of a wave
arrival in medium dense sand created by a step wave
pulse (also shown). Such low-frequency step
waves., have been widely used as triggering pulses
(Thomann and Hryciw, 1990; Dyvik and Olsen,
1989; Jovicic et al., 1996).
The nearly square corners and abrupt rise of a
step wave pulse seem to provide a distinct measure
Figure 1. Transmitted pulse and received wave in a
bender element test on sand.
849
of the appropriate time of triggering, but also
produce a transmitted wave that is rich in many
frequencies. This is part of the problem in
interpreting shear wave data such as that shown in
Fig. 1. Viggiani and Atkinson (1995) demonstrated
that the form of the arriving wave is much "cleaner"
(that is, composed of a single frequency response) if
the transmitted wave is sinusoidal, as shown in Fig.
2. They proposed an alternative method of
interpretation using the elapsed time between the
first peak of the transmitted signal (B) and the first
peak of the received signal (B') as the travel time,
demonstrating that it produced modulus values in
good agreement (within 12%) with those from
sophisticated cross-correlation analyses of the step
wave signals. Other investigators (e.g. Lohani et al.
1999) have developed alternative interpretation
techniques for bender element tests.
Although such use of "characteristic peaks"
bypasses the near field distortions of the first arrival,
it raises questions about the timing and form of the
created pulse: the signal displayed by the
oscilloscope is the voltage sent to the transmitting
element, which is not necessarily the form of the
transmitted wave. Delays between the electrical
pulse and the physical deformation of the element,
which can result from soinender element
interaction effects, are not accounted for at either
end of the specimen, nor are distortions of the
resulting wave due to reflections off the transmitting
cap. Analytical studies and numerical simulations of
such tests by Arulnathan et al. (1998) have shown
that sent waves with long periods will systematically
Figure 2. Typical oscilloscope signals from a bender
element test with a sine pulse excitation (after
Viggiani and Atkinson 1995).
overestimate V,, while the bender elements are
incapable of producing those with very short
wavelengths. For these reasons, there is a question
as to whether the peak of a received signal actually
corresponds to the transmitted peak, and no way of
determining at what time the deflection of the
transmitting element reaches its peak value (point B)
in a test such as that in Fig. 2, both of which are
necessary if the method of characteristic peaks is to
be used.
A new procedure for measuring shear wave
velocities, bypassing the difficulties described
above, was proposed by the authors (Riemer et al.
1998). The technique, which is based on the
generation and interpretation of multiple reflections
of the transmitted waves, uses the same basic bender
elements, function generators and high resolution
oscilloscope used for the standard method, but relies
solely on data obtained by the receiving element.
As recently noted by Fratta and Santamarina
(1996) and Nakagawa et al. (1996) using different
transmission and reception techniques, compression
and shear waves generated in soil specimens reflect
off the end caps of the specimen, and the reflections
Figure 3. Reflected "tuned" sine pulse bender
element technique proposed by Riemer et al. (1998)
850
of a given pulse can be detected. The clarity of the
reflected waves and their attenuation with each
reflection depends not only on the specimen, but
also on the shape and frequency of the transmitted
pulse. The authors have found that if a shear wave
pulse consisting of a half or full sine wave is
properly "tuned" (i.e., the duration is appropriately
adjusted), the transmitted wave is sufficiently strong
to reflect off the end caps of the specimen multiple
times while maintaining its characteristic shape.
Each time the reflected wave passes the receiving
bender element, a similarly shaped wave trace is
recorded, as shown in Fig. 3a ( results from a
medium dense sand). The velocity of this reflected
wave can then be calculated as two times the full
specimen height divided by the elapsed time
between similar peaks in the respective waves (e.g.,
points B and B', or points C' and C" in Fig. 3a).
As only the received signal is used in this
method, any time delays between the deformation
and recorded electrical signal are bypassed and no
assumptions regarding first arrival or
synchronization of the pulse and the generated wave
are required. Simple averaging of the received
signals from multiple identical pulses can be used to
reduce effects of low frequency noise, but no
conditioning, signal processing, spectral analyses or
cross-correlation methods are necessary to obtain V,
by this method. There is no need to assume an
effective length between the two bender elements,
because the full height of the specimen is traversed
twice by the wave between recorded reflections.
To obtain useful data, it is important not only to
generate a sufficiently strong wave to detect the
reflections, but the shapes of subsequent reflections
must be sufficiently similar to identify equivalent
points on them. Fig. 3b shows the results of a test
performed on the same specimen, under the same
conditions, as that shown in Fig. 3a; the primary
difference between the two is the duration of the
transmitted half-sine pulse, which is much shorter in
Fig. 3b. While the short transmitted pulse is still
sufficiently strong to generate a detectable reflection,
there is no way to identify corresponding points on
the reflections, and therefore no way to utilize the
reflected wave to calculate V,.
Having observed that pulse duration is an
important factor in the clarity of the received
reflected waves, it is desirable to identify what the
optimum pulse duration would be for a particular
soil specimen. The clarity of the signal depends
both on the properties of the specimen (stiffhess and
height) and the properties of the bender elementlcap
system, which includes the stifhess of the bender
element embedded in the cap. This is not surprising,
because the physical response of the transmitting
bender element embedded in the soil will have
soiVstructure interaction effects. Recent analytical
work on these effects (Arulnathan et al., 1998)
suggests that using a pulse with a wavelength
between 5 and 10 times the cantilevered length of
the bender element produces shear waves with
strong amplitudes and clear peaks. Finding the best
pulse duration for the generation of clear reflected
peaks still requires some trial and error for a specific
soil. However, because individual shear wave
velocity tests are simple and require only a few
minutes to conduct and to interpret once the
specimen is prepared, it is easy to search for an
optimum pulse duration around this target range by
altering the pulse duration until a distinct received
signal is obtained with at least one geometrically
similar reflection.
Damping
The attenuation of the amplitude of successive
reflected pulses should be related to the degree of
damping in the specimen. Clearly, finding a reliable
means to obtain material damping from these
measurements is desirable, as it would provide data
at strain levels for which there is presently little
information. However, the soil-cap-bendersystem is
not perfectly analogous to that of successive
oscillations of a freely resonating specimen, because
the amplitude detected by the bender elements will
be affected by the efficiency of the reflection off the
caps. Other inevitable losses of energy in the
system associated with imperfect reflection,
dispersion and scattering should not be included
with the energy dissipated by the soil when
calculating the level of soil damping. However, the
tuning process of testing at an optimum pulse
duration is essentially an attempt to find a "resonant"
response, and one can still calculate the degree of
damping in the overall system, thereby identifying
an upper limit of material damping.
The simplest approach to estimating this
upper limit to the damping ratio (1)is to apply the
principles used for interpreting general system
vibrations, as used for resonant column tests,
obtaining an equation of the form:
h = (1/2nn)*ln(Vi/Vi)
85 1
where viand 5 are the full amplitude voltage values
from successive reflections of the received signal,
and n is the number of wavelengths traveled by the
shear wave between those traces. Voltages can be
used directly because the voltage output is
essentially linear with deformation at very small
strains. Applying this simple method to the multiple
reflections plotted in Fig. 3a for dry sand yields
values of h ranging from 0.35% to 0.6 %, which are
reasonable for the small strains involved. Similar
analysis for a soft clay yields values of h between
1.0 and 1.5 %.
While the above formulation for estimating
damping is simple and preliminary, it should be
recognized as a true upper limit: there are no
assumptions made to ''correct for" machine
damping. Any energy losses caused by imperfect
reflection as well as other factors imply an actual
value of soil damping less than the value calculated.
It may also be important to note the relatively h g h
frequency of this technique (around 1 kHz), if
frequency effects are considered important.
4.FREQUENCY EFFECTS
Results presented in the landmark paper by Hardin
and Drnevich (1972) indicated that loading
frequency (from 0.1 Hz to 260 Hz) had no
significant effect on the modulus of both
cohesionless and cohesive soils at shear strains
lower than 0.001%. However, results presented by
Richart (1977) suggested that strain rate or loading
frequency effects were not significant for sand, but
were potentially significant for clays. Cyclic
torsional shear tests performed by Isenhower and
Stokoe (1981) clearly indicated that strain rate
affects the measured modulus of San Francisco Bay
Mud, a medium plasticity silty clay, with higher
applied strain rates leading to higher measured
modulus values. These test results question the
internal consistency of resonant column test results
due to the variable loading frequencies or strain rates
used to measure the shear modulus at each strain
level (see Fig. 4 developed by Isenhower and
Stokoe,1981). Dynamic testing of cohesive soils by
others, such as Aggour et al. (1987), Georgiannou et
al. (1991), Kramer et al. (1992), Shibuya et al.
(1995), and Vucetic et al. (1998), also provided
results suggesting that loading frequency
systematically affected the measured shear modulus
and damping ratio in cohesive soils.
 TORSWL SHEAR TES
I I I I I I

IO-~ 10-4 IO-~ IO-‘ 10” I Figure 5. Shear modulus reduction and damping
SINGLE- AMPLtTUDE SHEARING STRAIN,. % ratio curves for kaolinite specimens isotropically
consolidated at 202.3 kPa (OCR=l).
Figure 4. Comparison of resonant column data with
torsional shear test data at different strain rates (after
Isenhower and Stokoe 1981).

It is widely accepted that the dynamic strength of

cohesive soils is strain rate dependent, and there is
no reason to suspect that the small and intermediate
strain dynamic stiffness and damping properties of
cohesive soils are not also strain rate dependent.
The authors recently re-examined the loading
frequency issue using a hydraulic cyclic triaxial
testing system capable of imposing a wide range of
loading frequencies across a wide range of shear
strains (Gookin et al. 1999). Both clean sand and
clays of various mineralogies (i.e. kaolinite, illite,
and montmorillonite) and plasticity (PI = 0, 10, 75,
and 500) were tested. As expected and consistent
with previous studies, significant loading frequency
effects on sandy soils were not observed. However,
loading frequency effects were found to be
significant for clay soils under a number of
conditions.
Representative results from Gookin et al. (1999)
are shown in Fig. 5. At each strain level, the
measured shear modulus systematically increases
and the measured material damping ratio
systematically decreases with increasing loading
frequency. The offset in the damping ratio measured
at 0.1 Hz, 1 Hz, and 10 Hz is evident in Fig. 5.
However, the shear modulus curves appear to
converge at higher strain levels. This is an artifact
due to the smaller shear modulus measured at each
load frequency at higher strain levels. In fact, as
shown in Fig. 6, if the strain dependent shear
modulus curve obtained at each loading frequency is
normalized by their respective maximum shear
Figure 6. Normalized shear modulus reduction
curves for kaolinite specimens of Figure 5 with each
normalized by their respective value of G,,,.
modulus, the normalized shear modulus reduction
curves for these soils are insensitive to loading
frequency. Hence, if the shear modulus values are
measured at the same loading frequency and
normalized by the small strain shear modulus
measured at that same loading frequency, the strain
dependent normalized shear modulus reduction
curves will be independent of loading frequency. It
may be inferred that a similar normalization
procedure could be used for testing conducted at the
same strain rate. In using these normalized modulus
reduction curves for seismic analysis, the
appropriate small strain modulus must be used and
this parameter will be a function of loading
frequency or strain rate.
Additional representative results from Gookin et
al. (1999) for the illite specimens zire shown in Figs.

852

Figure 7. Shear modulus reduction and damping
ratio curves for illite specimens anisotropically
consolidated at 202.3 kPa, with K=0.6 (OCR=l).
Figure 8. Normalized shear modulus reduction
curves for illite specimens of Figure 7 with each
normalized by their respective value of G,.
7 and 8. Trends similar to those for the kaolinite
specimens are observed for these results from the
illite tests. However, loading frequency effects are
seen to be more significant for the higher plasticity
illite clay soil.
In an attempt to measure the dynamic properties
of soil across a wide range of strain (i.e. from
0.0001% to 10%), bender elements were
incorporated into the top and bottom caps of this
triaxial testing device to obtain V, and hence G,,,.
This procedure was successful for sand specimens
(Gookin et al. 1996), but not for these plastic clay
specimens (Gookin et al. 1999). For the kaolinite
and illite clay specimens, the maximum shear
853
modulus measured using the bender elements were
generally lower than that measured in the cyclic
triaxial deformation mode at a loading frequency of
0.1 Hz, with G, underestimated by 5% to 15% (see
Figs. 5 & 7). Bender element estimates of G, were
even lower when compared to G, measured in the
cyclic triaxial deformation mode at higher loading
frequencies, due to rate effects. The greatest
differences between bender element estimates of
G, and triaxial measurements of G,,, were for
anisotropically consolidated test specimens. For the
montmorillinite clay specimens, the bender element
estimate of G,, was generally higher than that
measured in a triaxial deformation mode.
The vertical propagation of shear waves in a test
specimen produces a mode of deformation that is
significantly different than that produced in the
cyclic triaxial device undergoing axial displacement.
Hence, in retrospect, it is not surprising that these
techniques obtain different values of G,,,, especially
for anisotropically consolidated specimens that are
stiffer in axial compression than in a pure shear
deformation. In addition, as the strain rate induced
by bender elements in soft soil are nonuniform
(higher in the vicinity of the element and relatively
lower away from the element, Arulnathan et al.
1998) and inconsistent with that induced in the
triaxial deformation mode, bender elements cannot
be used to develop an internally consistent
normalized shear modulus reduction curve. It is
imperative that a consistent test type and loading
frequency (or strain rate) be used to develop a shear
modulus versus shear strain curve from 0.0001%
strain to higher strain levels. A normalized modulus
reduction curve derived from this consistent data can
then be used in a dynamic analysis as long as the
appropriate strain rate dependent value of G, is
used with the normalized modulus reduction curve.
Currently, normalized shear modulus reduction
curves obtained in the laboratory are combined with
a value of G,, obtained from shear wave velocity
measurements performed in the field. This approach
is acceptable only if the normalized modulus
reduction curve is obtained from a consistent data
set, as described previously, and if G,, is insensitive
to loading frequency and strain rate. Whereas G,
is relatively insensitive to loading frequency in
cohesionless soils, this is not the case for cohesive
soils. Cohesive soils consolidated anisotropically
showed an increasing effect of loading frequency on
shear modulus and damping ratio with increasing
plasticity index (Gookin et al. 1999). This is
consistent with the prevailing view of the increasing
importance of rate effects on the dynamic shear
strength evaluation of clay soils of increasing
plasticity. Hence, for clay soils, the field estimate of
G, derived fi-om the in situ shear wave velocity
measurement should be adjusted to represent the
small strain shear modulus at strain rates appropriate
for the dynamic loading in the field.
As shown previously in Figs. 5 and 7, tests
performed at higher loading frequencies tend to have
lower material damping ratios than tests performed
at comparable strain levels at lower loading
frequencies for a given soil. The separation between
the damping ratio values between tests at different
loading frequencies appears to be a constant value
independent of shear strain. Unlike shear modulus
curves that are normalized so that the normalized
curves are frequency independent, material damping
curves are not normalized. Thus, the effect of
loading frequency may be an important
consideration in selecting a strain dependent
damping curve for a seismic analysis.
5. SAMPLE DISTURBANCE
Investigators as early as Seed and Idriss (1970) have
recognized that sample disturbance affects the
dynamic soil properties measured in the laboratory.
For example, the small strain shear moduli measured
from laboratory dynamic testing are typically lower
than those measured in situ. This is especially true
when comparing the in situ dynamic stiffbess of
deep deposits of Pleistocene soils with that measured
on a laboratory specimen retrieved fiom the field by
conventional sampling (e.g. Guha et al. 1997).
Factors that influence the laboratory
measurement of shear moduli include confining
pressure (both magnitude and duration), stress
history, shearing strain amplitude, number of cycles
of loading, degree of saturation, and drainage
conditions (Anderson and Stokoe 1978). Among
these, the factors that cause underestimation in
laboratory measurements are stress history (i.e. the
permanent changes that take place in a soil's
structure due to the removal of the soil from its in
situ stress environment) and duration of confinement
(a factor that takes secondary compression and the
aging process into account). Although investigators
have found that by reconsolidating high quality soil
specimens to the in situ stress state, the laboratory
G,,, value is often close to its in situ value, this is
often due to the laboratory specimen having a lower
void ratio at the end of the reconsolidation process
854
(Jamiolkowski et al. 1994a). Thus, it is
compensating errors that are difficult to quantify
independently which leads to the fortuitous
agreement between laboratory and field G,
measurements on occasions. Investigators have
explored some of these issues (e.g. Tatsuoka and
Shibuya 1992, Jamiolkowski et al. 1994a, Hight and
Georgiannou 1995, Guha et al. 1997), however,
additional research is needed to quantity sample
disturbance effects due to issues such as stress, state,
and fabric differences.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Recent advances in laboratory testing equipment and
techniques offer engineers the opportunity to
develop more accurate characterizations of the
dynamic soil properties. These improved
characterizations will be necessary to support
advanced soil constitutive modeling and numerical
analysis in geotechnical earthquake engineering.
Whereas the length of this paper does not allow all
critical issues regarding the evaluation of dynamic
soil properties to be discussed, some key papers in
this area have been referenced for the interested
reader.
Two topics, bender elements and loading
frequency effects, were emphasized to promote
discussion during this conference. The use of a half-
sine or sine wave as the transmitted signal in bender
element testing is recommended with the use of
reflected wave arrivals at the receiving bender
element to estimate shear wave velocity. This
technique does not require an assumed travel
distance, nor sophisticated techniques to interpret the
received signal to estimate travel time. Loading
frequency has been shown to shift material damping
curves, with higher loading fi-equencies leading to
lower measurements of damping ratio at a given
strain level. Strain dependent shear modulus
reduction curves, normalized by maximum shear
modulus measurements made at the same loading
frequency, are independent of loading frequency.
The small strain shear modulus value used in
conjunction with the normalized modulus reduction
curve, however, is a function of loading frequency or
strain rate. Consequently, bender elements cannot
necessarily be used to measure G, in the
laboratory, and the same testing device and
procedure should be used to measure shear modulus
at all strains, so that the normalized modulus
reduction curves are internally consistent. These
normalized curves should be used with an
appropriate value of G,, for the field loading.
A major limitation to continued advancement in
the profession's ability to characterize soil properties
is sample disturbance. Thus, minimization and
evaluation of disturbance effects in both field and
laboratory testing represent important research
needs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support was provided by the California
Department of Transportation under Award No.
RTA-59A130, the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation, and the National Science Foundation
(BCS-9157083). This support is gratefully
acknowledged.
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856
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, SBco e Pinto (ed.)0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Visualization of soil behavior from dynamic centrifuge model tests

B. L. Kutter & A. Balakrishnan
University of California, Davis, Gal$, USA

ABSTRACT: Due to the increase in complexity and the amount of data and instrumentation obtained in large
scale centrifuge model tests, it is important to improve our techniques for processing and presenting the data.
This paper attempts to present a large amount of complex model test data involving liquefaction and lateral
spreading in formats that allow intuitive understanding of mechanisms involved. Evidence of shear shock
waves in liquefying/de-liquefying soil is presented, and time and spatial relationships between acceleration,
displacement and pore water pressure are presented using snapshots from data animations.

1. INTRODUCTION Each model is typically subjected to between 5

Engineers and scientists are becoming more and
more burdened by large quantities of information.
As our ability to generate and collect data expands,
we need to develop better ways to process, present
and understand the data.
Geotechnical centrifuge modeling has continued
to grow in usage and sophistication. The acceptance
of usefulness by the engineering profession has
contributed to a steady growth and productivity of
centrifuge facilities. The quality and quantity of
data have made major improvements over the last
decade. With the improvements, we see more and
more information and detail in the experimental
results.
The extraction of knowledge (as opposed to data)
from complex nonlinear tests, however, takes a
tremendous time and effort. Beyond the knowledge
gained by the researchers conducting the tests, it is
also important to transfer this knowledge to
engineers that might find it useful for practice.
The large size of the centrifuge at UC Davis has
led to a tendency to include increasingly complex
models with more detailed structures, and increasing
numbers of instruments. For example, in one large
container full of soil, we have placed more than one
single pile and more than one pile group in one
container. Containers have included multiple soil
layers and pile groups with more than 30 piles.
and 30 shaking events. During each shaking event,
60 to 80 instruments are recorded dynamically.
Researchers spend a large fraction of their time
organizing data before they get a chance to study the
results.
As a standard practice, one data report is
produced for each container tested on the centrifuge.
The electronic data and reports are available for
anyone to use; some of these data reports can be
directly downloaded from the internet:
(http ://cgm. engr.ucdavis. edu) . It is important to
make the data available because so much time is
spent gathering it. It is just not possible for one or
two individuals to completely analyze the test
results. So, analysis by outside researchers is
encouraged. It is recognized, however, that outside
researchers must also invest a major amount of time
to understand the motivation, design and intricacies
of large-scale complex experiments.
This paper presents examples of how centrifuge
model test data can be presented in understandable
formats. Another goal of this paper is to convey the
richness of the available centrifuge data. Finally, it
is intended that the reader will gain some new
perspectives on mechanisms of liquefaction and
lateral spreading. Among other phenomena, the data
presented illustrate: the importance of density and
soil layering on liquefaction mechanisms, cyclic
liquefaction and de-liquefaction (caused by
contraction and dilation), the propagation of a slow

857
Figure 1. Configuration of model U50; (a) plan view,
and (b) cross-section.
shear shock wave due to nonlinear wave propagation
in liquefying soil.
2. MODEL TEST DESCRIPTION
The liquefaction and lateral spreading of sloping
ground was studied in a series of seven model tests.
One goal of this study is to investigate the
effectiveness and extent of ground improvement
required to mitigate effects of liquefaction. Results
from just two of the seven model tests is presented
here.
The models were constructed in a flexible shear
beam (FSBl) container (1.72 m long, 0.7 m deep,
and 0.69 m wide). The container consists of six
rings made from structural aluminum tubing
separated by soft neoprene rubber. Wilson et al.
(1997) documents aspects of the performance of the
FSBl container. The models were tested at a
centrifugal acceleration of 30 g on the 9 m radius
centrifuge at UC Davis, which accommodates
perhaps the largest centrifuge based shaker in the
world. The centrifuge, shaker and container are
described in more detail by Kutter et al. (1994) and
on the internet (http://cgm.engr .ucdavis.edu).
The models included two Nevada sand layers,
covered by a sloping clay layer as depicted in Figure
1. In test U50, the bottom sand layer was a dense
(Dr = 80%) 6 m thick layer. All dimensions
presented in this paper are given at the prototype
scale unless otherwise indicated. The top 9 m of
858
Figure 2. Acceleration and pore pressure time
histories for model U50 (south vertical array).
sand had a relative density (Dr = 50%). The top soil
layer, made from remolded San Francisco Bay Mud,
was preconsolidated in the laboratory and sloped
toward a "river" channel which ran across the width
of the model. The base of the models was tilted
down from South to North with about a 3% slope.
This paper also presents some results from model
C80, which was identical except that the sand with
50% relative density was replaced by sand with 80%
relative density.
3. TEST RESULTS
Figure 1 shows the configuration and instrument
locations for model U50. Figure 2 shows time
histories of acceleration and pore pressure obtained
from the vertical array of numbered instruments at
the south side of the model. The time histories show
a nonlinear transformation of the motion between
the base and the ground surface. The plots also
show a clear relationship between the downward
spikes of pore water pressure and the large spikes of
acceleration. Base input motions of U50 and C80
were obtained by scaling recorded motions at Port
Island in the 1995 Kobe Earthquake.
Similar to the procedure described by Zeghal et
al. (1995), it is possible to multiply the horizontal
accelerations by tributary layer masses to get
estimates of cyclic shear stresses at selected depths.
The cyclic shear displacements can be obtained by
subtracting displacements computed from two
 Figure 3. Stress-displacement loops computed at interface between sand and clay at the
south vertical array of instruments. Model U50 had contains 50% relative density sand.
In model C80 the looser sand was replaced by 80% relative density sand.
accelerometers. Displacements were computed by sand and clay. Stress-displacement loops allow an
double integration of the accelerations with respect engineer to visualize the soil behavior more directly
to time. Figure 3 shows computed shear stress- than is possible by viewing of time histories alone.
displacement curves at the interface between the In Figure 3, we may make a few observations:
clay and sand determined from entries 46 and 50 “banana” shaped stress-displacement relationships
(see locations on Figure 1). The legend in Figure 3 are obtained; hysteresis loops for loose sand (U50)
gives the initial effective stress at the interface and are smaller than for dense sand ((280); and, a slack
the prototype spacing between the accelerometers; range of strains over which the shear stresses are
an average shear strain could be computed by small seems to evolve. Beyond the slack range, the
dividing the displacement by the spacing. material stiffens due to increases in effective stress
Presentation of the data in the form of stress- associated with dilatancy (negative pore pressures
displacement or stress-strain relationships is a useful seen in Fig. 2).
way to characterize dynamic soil behavior in a Figure 4 shows cross sections of models U50 and
region of the model. Here, we prefer to present C80 obtained from photographs and measurements
displacement instead of strain because the strains are of black sand columns exposed during post-test
clearly non-uniform owing to the interface between dissection of the models. It is apparent that the sand
in the looser model deformed much more than that
in the dense model. Increasing the density of the 9-
m thick layer from 50% to 80% was found to reduce
settlements and lateral displacements of the sand by
a factor of approximately three. The magnitude of
lateral clay displacement, however was
approximately the same for both models. It appears
that densification of sand does not necessarily
control the deformation of an overlying
impermeable layer.

4. DATA ANIMATION
Liquefaction is a boundary value problem. The
stresses and strains imposed on an element are the
product of the input motion, and the response of soil
layers around the element. Furthermore, in
permeable soils, the hydraulic gradient that
Figure 4.

859

Figure 5. Snapshot from test U50 at time t = 5.702 s.
accompanies liquefaction will lead to re-distribution
of pore water from one layer to other layers.
Stress-displacement loops (Fig. 3) attempt to look
at isolated behavior in certain soil elements. To help
understand the global behavior, animations of the
data can be extremely useful. Results from
experiments can be compared in space and time.
One goal of animation ought to be to reduce the
level of abstract thinking required to visualize the
mechanisms at work. It is not possible to convey
animations in conventional paper publications, but a
few frames of such an animation of data from model
U50 are shown in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 5 shows one frame (time = 5.702 seconds)
after one large cycle of loading, before liquefaction.
Acceleration waves, pore pressure waves, and
displacement profiles are included in the animation.
The data are from the north and south vertical arrays
of accelerometers and pore pressure transducers.
Data points show transducer locations. Pore
pressures are normalized by the initial vertical
effective stress. Tick marks on the sides of the
figures represent meters in prototype scale.
Dynamic (high frequency) displacements
presented in the animations are obtained by double
integration in time of the accelerometer data.
Because integration of acceleration data is subject to
drift, it cannot provide accurate information about
the permanent (low frequency) displacements. The
low frequency horizontal displacement of the clay
layer on the south side of the model was directly
measured by an LVDT. This LVDT data was
combined with acceleration data using a signal
processing technique described by Kutter and
Balakrishnan (1 998) to calculate the displacement of
the clay at the south array.
860
The low frequency displacement of the sand layer
could not be measured continuously by LVDT’s.
But, the final lateral displacement profile of the sand
was determined from measurements of deformed
vertical colored sand columns (Fig. 4).
To include permanent and low frequency
deformations at various depths in the sand, the low
frequency component of displacement was assumed
to be a scaled version of the displacement of the clay
(from LVDT). The scale factor was chosen to force
the ultimate displacement to match the final
deformed shape of the sand columns. This is useful
for visualization purposes, but it must be regarded as
an assumption, not an observation.
Also shown in Figure 5 is the time history of base
motion applied by the shaker. The base acceleration
is plotted with time increasing along the vertical
axis. The scale for acceleration is indicated at the
bottom of the figure. A horizontal line shows the
point in the time history corresponding to the
snapshot.
At t = 5.702 s (Fig. 5 ) little permanent
displacement has occurred. The pore pressure ratios
on the south side are approximately 50%. On the
north side, the pore pressure happens to be negative
near the top of the sand. The negative pore
pressures, associated with the dilation that is
expected to occur in sand at large shear strains, is
consistent with the negative pore pressure spikes
seen in Figure 2. It should be noted that the south
side of the model had a much larger slope toward the
river channel than the north side. In addition, an
abutment was placed upon the north flood plain; so,
differences in behavior of the north and south sides
are expected. At t= 5.702 s the acceleration
distribution is very similar at the north and south
vertical arrays; the wavelength of the acceleration
wave appears to be about 15 m at this particular
time.
Figure 6 shows several snapshots from the same
animation (t = 3.001, 11.54, 11.78, 11.99, 12.5,
17.257 s). Refer to Figure 5 for the legend for this
Figure 6. The first frame shows a condition before
shaking. The next three (1 1.54, 11.78, and 1 1.99 s)
are a sequence after initial liquefaction showing an
acceleration wave travelling up the north vertical
array. At 11.54 s, the third accelerometer (from the
top on the north array) reached a peak acceleration.
At 11.78 s, the peak acceleration pulse reached the
second accelerometer. The top (clay) acceleration
reached a peak at 11.99 s. The wavelength cannot
be directly deduced from the snapshots because only
one transducer recorded the pulse at a given time;
but, this must mean the wavelength is less than the
transducer spacing (1.35 m). The shear wave
velocity in the soil might be estimated from time
delay between peak acceleration at successive
accelerometers. The spacing of the 2”d and 3‘d
accelerometers is 1.35 m (prototype), providing:
1.35~1
v = = 5.6m I s
(1 1.78-1 1.54)s
The mechanics of non-linear wave propagation in
liquefying soil is poorly understood. It appears that
861
while the effective stress is zero, the wave velocity
is nearly zero and no accelerations are transmitted.
Deformations may, however, accumulate due to
momentum prior to liquefaction. When the liquefied
soil reaches a threshold strain, it begins to dilate.
When it dilates, it de-liquefies and “grabs”,
transmitting the acceleration upward. This in turn
propagates strains to the soil above. From the
snapshots s h o w in Figure 6, it can be Seen that
acceleration spikes are accompanied by pore
pressure ratios less than one in the soil beneath the 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
acceleration spike. It seems that an acceleration
The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research
shock front is associated with the onset of dilatancy.
Center (PEER) and the California Department of
Shock waves are expected in materials that stiffen
Transportation supported this research. Construction
with increasing strain. A soil that de-liquefies due to
of the centrifuge and shaker facilities were made
dilatancy is certainly a strain-hardening material, so
possible by support from the National Science
the occurrence of shear shock waves in
Foundation, the Obayashi Corporation, the
liquefying/de-liquefying soils would be expected.
University of California, and Caltrans. Tom
Very small accelerations were observed in the
Kohnke, Dennis O’Brien, Dan Wilson, Ross
north vertical array at the times of the snapshots
Boulanger, and I. M. Idriss, all contributed to
shown if Figure 6. This is consistent with the
various stages of this research project.
generally large pore pressure ratios at the south
flood plain. At time 17.257 s, the strong shaking is
7. REFERENCES
completed, and high pore pressures remain
throughout the upper 9 m of sand (Dr = 50% sand) Balakrishnan, A., Kutter, B.L., and Idriss, I.M. 1998.
The lower, Dr = 80% sand has smaller pore pressure Centrifuge testing of remediation of liquefaction
ratios. The near final deformed shape of the soil at bridge sites. Transp. Res. Rec. 1633, TRB,
layers is seen at t = 17.257 s, and this is seen to be National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,
consistent with the data presented in Figure 4. 26-37.
Kutter, B.L. and Balahishnan, A. 1998. Dynamic
5. CONCLUSIONS model test data from electronics to knowledge.
Proc. Int. Conf Centrifuge ’98,Vol. 11, in press.
Large-scale experiments with a large amount of
Kutter, B.L., Idriss, I.M., Kohnke, T., Lakeland, J.,
instrumentation, layered sloping soil deposits and
Li, X.S., Sluis, W., Zeng, X., Tauscher, R., Goto,
highly non-linear liquefaction mechanisms are
Y., and Kubodera, I. 1994. Design of a large
presented. It goes without saying that the is
earthquake simulator at UC Davis. Proc, Int.
complex. In order to enable readers to comprehend
Conf Centrifuge 94, Roterdam:Balkema, 169-
the relationships of the data, it is important to search
175.
for new and better ways of presenting the
Wilson, D.W., Boulanger, R.W., Kutter, B.L., and
information.
Abghari, A. 1997. Aspects of dynamic centrifuge
We have attempted to present data from
testing of soil-pile-superstructure interaction.
animations of acceleration, pore pressure and
Observation and Modeling in Numerical Analysis
displacement profiles. Relationships between
and Model Tests in Dynamic Soil-Structure
dilatancy and acceleration waves were discussed in
Interaction Problems, Special Pub., ASCE, (64),
some detail, and it is apparent that a shear shock
New York, 47-63.
wave is being observed in the model test. The
Zeghal, M., Elgamal, A.W., Tang, H.T., and Stepp,
possibility of a shock wave may be anticipated for a
J. C. 1995. Lotung downhole array. 11: Evaluation
material that stiffens with strain. The measured
of soil nonlinear properties. J. Geotech. Engrg.,
shock wave velocity was very slow (about 6 d s ) ,
ASCE, 121(4), 363-378.
but this velocity may increase with the magnitude of
the stress wave.
There is a need to be able to publish movies of
the full animations, which of course, is not possible
in conventional paper publications. Researchers can
pause, rewind or fast-forward movies or they may be
viewed in “prototype time” to provide improved
comprehension of temporal relationships. Interested
readers may access movies of centrifuge test data by
accessing the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical
Modeling web site (http://cgm.engr.ucdavis.edu).
Also, it is apparent that denser arrays of
instruments and greater sampling rates would be
desirable to provide more resolution of features such
as the observed shock wave.

862
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, SBco e Pinto (ed.)0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Dynamic characterisation of soils from laboratory tests

Michele Maugeri & Antonio Cavallaro

Universityof Catania, Italy

ABSTRACT: This Panel presentation concerns with dynamic characterisationof soils from laboratory tests of
undisturbed clays and summarises the research activity undertaken by the writer's at the University of Catania
and at the Politecnico of Torino over the last five years. The paper describes and compares the results of
laboratory investigations performed on Augusta and Catania clay which were carried out in order to determine
the variation of shear modulus and damping ratio during Torsional Shear and Resonant Column tests; the pore
pressure build up during the tests are also discussed. Finally the Young's Modulus is evaluated by triaxial
monotonic apparatus equipped with local strain gauges.

1 INTRODUCTION and the interaction between soil and structures. A

Soil stfiess at small strains is a relevant parameter
in solving boundary value problems such as:
- seismic response of soil deposits to earthquakes;
- dynamic interaction between soil and
foundations;
- design of special foundations for which the
serviceability limit allows only very small
displacements.
However, it was been pointed out by many
researches that the strain level which occurs in many
geotechnical problems is quite small even under the
static loading condition and even in the case of
conventional foundations (Jardine et al. 1986,
Burland 1989, Berardi and Lancellotta, 1991,
Maugeri et al. 1998).
On the other hand, it is known that the
hypotheses of homogeneity, elasticity and isotropy
are unrealistic for soils. In reality soil behaviour is
non linear (non linear elasticity or plasticity) and
anisotropic. In particular, many researches (Hardin
1978, Jardine et al. 1984, 1986) have postulated that
an elastic or apparently elastic soil response occurs
only at small strains (i. e. less than 0.001 %) which
are typical strain levels that occurs in many
geotechnical design problems involving both static
and dynamic loading conditions.
Shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) of soils
are basic input parameters used to compute the
equivalent-linear seismic response of soil deposits
great deal of experimental data are available in
literature concerning the dependence of these two
important parameters on several factors such as the
shear strain level (y) consolidation stresses
(&, ag ), void ratio (e), overconsolidation ratio
(OCR), etc. However there is limited information
about the influence of loading rate or strain rate on
G and D.
In order to study the influence of strain rate, a
comprehensive laboratory investigation has been
carried out to obtain the variation of the shear
modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) on Augusta and
Catania clay. Three different kinds of tests were
performed on solid and hollow cylindrical specimens
reconsolidated to the in situ geostatic stress:
- monotonic loading tests at constant stress rate;
- cyclic loading tests at constant strain rate;
- Resonant Column tests.
Moreover the influence of strain rate on pore
pressure build up are also investigated. Finally the
Young's Modulus is evaluated by triaxial monotonic
apparatus instrumented with local strain gauges.
2 TESTED SOILS
The Augusta and Catania sites are located on the
east coast of Sicily, which is one of the most
seismically active areas of Italy.

863
 The Augusta deposits mainly consist of a medium
stiff, overconsolidated (OCR = 2.0 to 6.0), marine
clay with medium to high PI.
The values of the natural moisture content w,
prevalently range from between 30 and 35 %.
Characteristics values for the Atterberg limits are:
w,=60 - 65 % and w,=22 - 26 %, with a plasticity
index of PI=30 - 40 %. The deposits shown a very
high degree of homogeneity and can be classified as
inorganic clay of medium to high plasticity. Detailed
information on the Augusta clay deposit is given by
Maugeri et al. (1994), Cavallaro and Maugeri
(1 996), Cavallaro (1997) and Lo Presti et al. (1998).
The Catania deposits mainly consist of a
normalconsolidated silty clay with medium PI. The
natural moisture content w, range from between 20
and 27 %. The dynamic characteristics of soils in the
Catania municipal area is one of the main objective of
"Catania Project", that requires a reasonably detailed
model of the surface geology and geotechnical
characterisation. Detailed information on Catania site
is given by Carmbba and Maugeri (1998).
Typical range of physical characteristics, index
properties and strength parameters of the Augusta
and Catania deposits are reported in Table 1.
3 SHEAR MODULUS AND DAMPING RATIO
3.1 Tests procedures
The equivalent shear modulus (G,) and damping
ratio D were determined in the laboratory by means
of a Resonant Column test (RCT) and cyclic loading
torsional shear tests (CLTST) performed on
undisturbed specimens which were isotropically
reconsolidated to the best estimate of the in situ
mean effective stress by means of a Resonant
ColumdTorsional shear apparatus (Lo Presti et al.
1993). Monotonic loading torsional shear tests
(MLTST) were also performed on specimens using
the same apparatus, obtaining the measurement of
Table 1. Mechanical characteristics of tested soils.
e I I
c'
I I
[WaI ["I
AU 18.7-19.4 29-38 32-46 0.810-1.030 35 17
CT 19.2-20.5 20-27 18-32 0.551-0.695 43 24
where: AU = Augusta; CT = Catania; c' (Cohesion) and
4' (Angle of shear resistance) were calculated from C-U
Triaxial Tests for Augusta and from Direct Shear Test
for Catania site.
864
the secant shear modulus G,.
For RCTs the damping ratio was determined
using two different procedures: following the
steady-state method, the damping ratio was obtained
during the resonance condition of the sample;
following the amplitude decay method it was
obtained during the decrement of free vibration.
3.2 Shear modulusfrom laboratory tests
For Augusta clay the laboratory test conditions and
the obtained small strain shear modulus Go are listed
in Table 2.
The Go values, reported in Table 2 for Augusta
clay, indicate a moderate but measurable influence of
strain rate and type of loading even at very small
strains where the soil behaviour is supposed to be
elastic. In particular, the effect of an increase in the
strain rate is that of an increase in the elastic limit
which is also called the elastic threshold shear strain
(y:) (Vucetic 1994), that is, the strain level below
which the stress-strain relationship is linear. Also it is
generally recognised that the rate dependence of soil
s t a e s s is due to the viscosity of the soil skeleton
(Dobry and Vucetic 1987). In order to appreciate the
rate effect on Go, it is worthwhile to remember that
the equivalent shear strain rate (y = 240. f - y [%/s])
experienced by the specimens at given frequency f
during RCT can be three orders of magnitude greater
than those adopted during CLTST. The effects of the
rate and loading conditions become more and more
relevant with an increase of the shear strain level, as
can be seen in Figure 1 where the G-y curves
obtained from MLTST, CLTST and RCT are
compared.
It is possible to notice that the lowest decay of G
with y is observed in RCT, while the maximum decay
occurs during MLTST.
Table 2. Test Condition for Augusta Clay Specimens.
I
Tesd o : ~ e IP11MLTSTIG,(1)IG0(2)IG0(3)1Speci
I
No. [kPa] I I I CLTST I[MPa]l[MPa]l I
men
3 I
155 10.6931301 U I 1 4 6 l H
4 377 0.834 38 U 67 75 H
5 398 0.768 38 U 70 H
where: U= Undrained. Go(I) from MLTST, Go(2) from
CLTST, G,(3) from RCT. H= Hollow cylindrical
specimen (R, = 25 mm R, = 15 mm h=lOO mm). S=
Solid cylindrical specimen (R = 25 mm h=lOO mm).
 3.3 Damping ratio from laboratory tests

For Augusta clay a comparison between the

Figure 1. G-y curves from MLTST, CLTST and RCT
tests for Augusta clay.
For Catania clay the Go values are reported in
Table 3. As can be inferred fiom data shown in
Figure 2 the rate effects on the shear modulus are the
same over the entire strain interval investigated
where Go(RC)/Go(CLTST)E 1.21. This experimental
finding is different than that observed for Augusta
clay who have showed an increasing rate effect with
an increase of the strain level. This different
behaviour can be tentatively explained by considering
that in this study solid cylindrical specimens with a
shear strain variable fiom zero, at the centre, to a
maximum value at the edge have been used, while in
previous study mainly hollow cylinder specimens
were used. In the case of hollow specimens, the shear
strain is quite constant along the radius.
damping ratio values obtained fiom RCT and those
obtained fiom CLTST is shown in Figure 3. It is
possible to see that the damping ratio from CLTST,
at very small strains, is equal to about 2 %. Greater
values of D are obtained fiom RCT for the whole
investigated strain interval. After a correction of the
experimental data for equipment-generated damping
(Dq ) , according to Stokoe et al. (1995), still large
differences remain between the CLTST and RCT
results.
As regard Catania clay a comparison between the
results of the CLTST and RCT is shown in Figure 4.
The damping ratio values obtained fiom RCT
using two different procedures are similar even if for
strain level more than 0.2 % higher values of D have
been obtained from steady-state method. It is
possible to see that the damping ratio fiom CLTST,
at very small strains, is equal to about 1 %. Greater
values of D are obtained fiom RCT for the whole
investigated strain interval.

Table 3. Test Condition for Catania Specimens.

Test 1 oiC I e I PI ICLTSTIGo(1)IGo(2)lSpeci
No. [kPa] RCT [MPa] [MPa] men
1 172 0.551 26.05 U
I
91 S
2 I 246 10.582 128.601 U I 45 I 64 I S
3 375 0.653 20.02 U 62 77 S
4 411 0.695 31.40 U 77 93 S
where: U= Undrained. Go(1) fiom CLTST, Go(2) froin
RCT. S= Solid cylindrical specimen (R = 25 mm h=lOO
mm).

Figure 2. G-y curves from CLTST and RCT tests for Figure 4. Damping ratio from CLTST and RCT tests for
Catania clay. Catania clay.

865
 Considering that the influence of N on D has
been found to be negligible, in the case of clayey
soils for strain levels of less than 0.1 % (Cavallaro
1997, Lo Presti et al. 1996, Lo Presti et al. 1997%
Lo Presti et al. 1997b, Lo Presti et al. 1998), it is
supposed that RCT provide larger values of D than
CLTST because of the rate (fiequency) effect, in
agreement with data shown by Shibuya et al. (1995)
and Tatsuoka et al. (1995). According to these
researchers the nature of soil damping in soils can be
linked to the following phenomena:
- Viscosity of the pore fluid which is relevant at
very high fiequencies.
- Viscosity of the soil skeleton (creep) which is
relevant at very small strain rates.
- Non-linearity which governs the so called
hysteretic damping controlled by the current
shear strain level. This kind of material damping
is absent or negligible at very small strains.
Soil damping, at very small strains, is mainly due
to the viscosity of the soil skeleton or of the pore
fluid, depending on the strain rates or frequencies.
Moreover, according to Tatsuoka and Kohata
(1995) and Tatsuoka et al. (1995) a partial drainage
condition can provide very high values of the
damping ratio. Shibuya et al. (1995) indicate that,
for a given strain level, the damping ratio of
cohesive soils increases when the loading frequency
is smaller than 0.1 Hz (because of the creep effects),
is more or less constant for loading fiequencies
between 0.1 and 10 Hz (non linearity is dominant)
and increases for frequencies greater than 10 Hz
(because of pore fluid viscosity).
Figure 5 shows the damping ratio of Vallericca
clay (Italy) vs. fiequency, for a strain level of 0.01 %
and consolidation pressure between 100 and 800
H a . This data was obtained by d'Onofiio 1996. The
considered soil is a stiff, highly overconsolidated,
Figure 5. Damping ratio vs. frequency (after Lo Presti et
al. 1998).
866
Pliopleistocene, marine clay with a PI of about 26%.
In the same figure the data of Augusta clay,
obtained in this research and those of Pisa clay
obtained by Lo Presti et al. (1997b) have been
reported. The trend of the whole data is in good
agreement with the findings of Shibuya et al. (1995).
4 PORE PRESSURE BUILD UP
The volumetric threshold shear strain y: (Vucetic
1994, Jamiolkowski et al. 1994) indicates the strain
level above which the following phenomena occur:
i) the build up of permanent volumetric strains in
drained tests; E) the pore pressure build up in
undrained tests. The above phenomena, obviously,
have to be observed in monotonic or cyclic tests that
do not involve a change of the mean total stress. The
accumulated pore pressure excess, measured during
undrained tests, is plotted in Figure 6 vs. the shear
strain. In the same figure the data of Pisa clay
obtained by Lo Presti et al. (1996) have been
reported.
It is possible to observe that:
- the values of y r increase with an increase of the
strain rate.
- the values of the accumulated Au, for a given
strain level increase with an increase of the strain
rate.
- greater values of y: occur during monotonic
tests in comparison to cyclic tests, regardless of
the strain rate.
- the pore pressure build-up, for a given strain level
is greater in the case of cyclic tests than for
monotonic tests, regardless of the strain rate.
A severe shear modulus degradation, which
brought the specimen to failure, had been observed
in CLTST for y = 0.1%. On the contrary, no failure
occurred in RCT even at strains larger than 0.1%.
Figure 6 . Pore pressure build up for Augusta clay.
Moreover, the accumulated pore pressure increase,
for a given shear strain resulted to be larger in
CLTST than in RCT. It is believed that the material
degradation and the related pore pressure increase
not only depend on y but are also influenced by the
rate of loading. In particular, such phenomena
become more relevant as the strain rate decreases.
5 YOUNG'S MODULUS
For the valuation of Young's modulus at small strain
a new triaxial apparatus called DBB Triaxial Cell
was designed (Figure 7). The double ball bearing
allow a good alignment between loading axes and
sample axes. The apparatus, equipped with several
sensors, should be able to provide stifEness
measurements in the small strain range (i.e. E, =
0.001 - 0.1 %) (Cavallaro 1997, Cavallaro et al.
1998).
The specimens were underwent to wet and dry
setting procedure (Cavallaro 1997).
The Young's modulus results vs. axial strain are
reported in Figure 8. For strain level less than of
0.01 % a remarkable influence of setting specimen
procedure is shown. It could be done to the swelling
of the sample in the wet setting condition.
Figure 7. The DBB Triaxial apparatus.
867
Figure 8. Young's modulus results vs. axial strain.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A dynamic characterisation of two Italian clay has
been presented in this paper. On the basis of the data
shown it is possible to draw the following
conclusions:
- the shear modulus and damping ratio obtained by
CLTST is considerable less than that obtained by
RCT for strain level between 0.001 % - 0.1 %;
- the shear modulus and damping ratio are
influenced by rate effects; the shear modulus is
moderately influenced at small strain and when
hollow cylindrical specimens have been used;
- the volumetric threshold shear strain y: seemed
to be dependent on strain rate, as well as, on
loading conditions;
- the Young's modulus at small strain, evaluated
by the DBB triaxial apparatus, could be used for
evaluation of allowable settlement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Authors would like to thank Prof. Lo Presti and
Dr. Pallara of Politecnico of Torino for their
contributionto the research activity.
REFERENCES
Berardi, R. & Lancellotta, R. 1991. S t a e s s of
granular soils from field performance.
Geotechnique Vol. 4 1,No. 1 , pag. 149 - 157.
Burland, J. B. 1989. Small is beatiful - The stifbess
of soil at small strains. Ninth Laurits Bjerrum
Memorial Lecture, Canadian Geotechnical
-
Journal, Vol. 26, No.4, pag. 499 516.
Cavallaro, A.M.F. & Maugeri, M. 1996.
Comportamento tensionale deformativo
dell'argilla di Augusta sottoposta a carichi ciclici.
Ingegneria Sismica, Vol. XIII, No. 1, pp. 30-40.
Cavallaro, A.M.F. 1997. Influenza della velocita di
deformazione sul modulo di taglio e sullo
smorzamento delle argille. Ph. D. Thesis,
University of Catania.
Cavallaro, A., Lo Presti, D. C. F., Maugeri, M. &
Pallara 0. 1998. Strain rate effect on stiffhess and
damping ratio of clays. Italianan Geotechnical
Journal, Vol. XXXII, No. 4, pag. 30 - 50.
Carrubba, P. & Maugeri, M. 1988. Determinazione
delle proprieta dinamiche di un'argilla mediante
prove di colonna risonante. Rivista Italiana di
Geotecnica, Vol. 22, No. 2, 101- 113.
Dobry, R. & Vucetic, M. 1987. Dynamic Properties
and Response of Soft Clay deposits. State of the
art Report. Proceedings of the Int. Symposium on
Geotechnical Engineering of Soft Soils, Mexico
city, Vol. 2, pp. 5 1-87.
d'Onofrio, A. 1996. Comportamento Meccanico
dell'argilla di Vallericca in condizioni lontane
dalla rottura. Ph. D.Thesis, University of Naples,
Department of GeotechnicalEngineering
Hardin, B. 0. 1978. The nature of stress-strain
behaviour of soils. Earthquake Engineering and
Soil Dynamics, Vol. 1, Pasadena, CA, ASCE,
New York, pp. 3-90.
Jamiolkowski, M., Lancellotta, R. & Lo Presti,
D.C.F. 1994. Remarks on the stiffhess at small
strains of six italian clays. Theme lecture session
la, Proceedings IS Hokkaido, Volume 2, pp. 817-
836.
Jardine, R. J., Symes M. J. & Burland J. B. 1984.
The measurement of soil stiffhess in the triaxial
apparatus. Geotechnique, Vol. 34, NO.3, pag.
323-340.
Jardine, R. J., Potts, D. M., Fourie, A. & Burland, J.
B. 1986. Studies of the influence of non-linear
stress-strain characteristics in soil-structure
interaction. Geotechnique, Vol. 36, NO.3, pag.
377-396.
Lo Presti, D.C.F., Pallara, 0, Lancellotta, R.,
Armandi, M. & Maniscalco, R. 1993. Monotonic
and cyclic loading behaviour of two sands at
small strains. Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol
16, NO 4, pp 409-424.
Lo Presti, D.C.F., Jamiolkowski, M., Pallara, 0. &
Cavallaro A. 1996. Rate and creep effect on the
s t f i e s s of soils. ASCE Convention, Washington,
10-14 Nov. 1996, Geotechnical Special
Publication No. 6 1, pp. 166-180.
868
Lo Presti, D.C.F., Jamiolkowski, M., Pallara, O.,
Cavallaro, A. & Pedroni, S. 1997a. Shear
modulus and damping of soils. Proceeding of the
International Symposium on the Pre-failure
Deformation Behaviour of Geomaterials, 50th
Geotechnique, London, 4 September 1997,
Geotechnique Vol. 47, No. 3, pag. 603 - 6 17.
Lo Presti, D.C.F., Pallara, 0. & Cavallaro, A.M.F.
1997b. Damping ratio of soils fi-om laboratory
and in situ tests. Proceeding of the 14th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Foundations Engineering, Hamburg, 6 - 12
September 1997, Special Volume TC4, 391 -
400.
Lo Presti, D. C. F., Maugeri, M., Cavallaro, A. &
Pallara, 0. 1998. Shear modulus and damping of
a stiff clay fi-om in situ and laboratory tests. 1st
International Conference on Site
Characterization, Atlanta, 19 - 22 April 1998,
1293-1300.
Maugeri, M., Castelli, F. & Motta, E. 1994. Pile
foundation performance of an earthquake
damaged building. Proc. of the Italian-French
Symposium on Strengthening and Repair of
Structures in Seismic Areas, Nice, France.
Maugeri, M., Castelli, F., Massimino, M. R. e
Verona, G. 1998. Observed and computed
settlements of two shallow foundations on sand.
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Geonvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 124,
No. 7, July, 1998, pag. 595-605.
Shibuya, S., Mitachi, T., Fukuda, F. & Degoshi, T.
1995. Strain rate effect on shear modulus and
damping of normally consolidated clay.
Geotechnical Testing Journal 18~3,365-375.
Stokoe, K.H. 11, Hwang, S.K. Lee, J.N.-K &
Andrus, R. 1995. Effects of various parameters
on the stiffhess and damping of soils at small to
medium strains. Keynote Lecture 2, IS Hokkaido
1994 2, 785-816.
Tatsuoka, F. & Kohata, Y. 1995. S t f i e s s of hard
soils and soft rocks in engineering applications.
Report of the Institute of Industrial Science, The
University of Tokyo, March 1995, Vol. 38, NO.5.
Tatsuoka, F., Lo Presti, D.C.F. & Kohata, Y. 1995.
Deformation characteristics of soils and soft
rocks under monotonic and cyclic loads and their
relations. 3rd International Conference on
Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering and Soil Dynamic, State of the Art
1, 2, 85 1-879.
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Soil characterization by shear wave velocity

Munenori Hatanaka
Takenaka Research and Development Institute, Chiba,Japan

ABSTRACT Based on the results shown in recent studies, the in-situ shear wave velocity has been
found as one of the useful indices to characterize the soil properties. Following conclusion can be made
from these studies. (1) In-situ shear wave velocity is a useful indicator to evaluate the liquefaction
potential for sandy and gravelly soils. (2) %-value of in-situ soils can be evaluated by using the in-situ
shear wave velocity. (3) The stress dependency of Gofor in-situ sandy and gravelly soils is larger than that of
reconstituted sand samples. In average, the power of the confining stress ( J c ' is about 0.67, and 0.70 for
sandy and gravelly soils, respectively. (4)I t is important to take into account of the effect of the &-value
on the sample quality evaluation by comparing the initial shear modulus observed both in the field and
laboratory. It is also, however, pointed out that many efforts are required for increasing the accuracy in
measuring the in-situ shear wave velocity.

1INTRODUCTION disadvantageof SPT N-value based simplified procedure,

The body wave velocity, especially, the shear wave
velocity (V,) has been widely used as one of the useful
tool to characterize the in-situ soil properties. Compared
with other in-situ testing methods, the in-situ shear wave
test has an important advantage that it is basically
applicablefor any kind of soil.
In this paper, recent studies related to the following
topics will be reviewed and discussed.
1.Liquefaction potential evaluationby V,.
2. &-value estimation by V,.
3. Initial shear modulus (Go)from V,.
4. Sample quality evaluation by V,.
2 LIQUEFACTION POTENTlALEVALUATIONBY Vs
shear wave velocity has been studied as a useful index
related to the liquefaction potential of in-situ soils
(Tokimatsu et a1.(1986, 1988, 1992); Robertson et
a1.(1995); Stokoe et a1.(1988); Finn et a1.(1991);
Hatanaka et a1.(1997)). This kind of approach to access
the liquefaction potential of in-situ soils can be divided
into three groups;
1) Directly relating the ground shaking (acceleration at
the ground surface) and the field performance during the
earthquake (liquefaction or non-liquefaction).
2) Extending a correlation between the initial shear
modulus and the liquefaction strength for reconstituted
samples to the field performance.
3) Correlating the in-situ shear wave velocity and the
liquefaction strength measured in laboratory tests using
high-quality undisturbed samples.

Evaluation of liquefaction potential for construction Group 1)

sites is one of the major works in foundation designing.
At the present time, the simplified procedure for
evaluating the liquefaction potential based on the pene-
tration resistance (N-value) of the standard penetration
test (SIT) is most often used in practice. As has been
pointed out by many researchers (Tanaka, et al.(1989);
Suzuki et al.(1993); Tokimatsu et al.(1986)), however,
mainly due to the scale effect of the inner diameter of the
penetration spoon, the SPT N-value is possible
overestimating the in-situ liquefaction strength of
gravelly soils because of its large soil particles.
Responding to the needs for overcoming this
One method for evaluating the liquefaction potential of
sands from shear wave velocity has evolved from the
strain approach by Dobry and his colleagues (1982).
Bierschwale and Stokoe (1984) and Stokoe et al.(1989)
used the strain approach in analytical studies to generated
liquefaction assessment charts based on measured Vs and
the maximum ground surface acceleration estimated for a
stiff site at candidate-site location. Andrus et al (1992)
applied these procedures to gravelly soils that liquefied.
The assessment chart for 15 cycles of shaking at a level
ground site with the liquefiable sand in the upper 12 m is
shown in Fig. 1. The lowest values of Vs from each of

869
the four gravelly sites are also shown in Fig. 1. The
plotted data from the four gravelly sites lies within the
liquefiableregion. Therefore, this procedure correlating
predicts liquefaction at all four sites.
Fig.1 Liquefaction assessment chart based on shear wave velocity (Stokoe et al,
1989)withresults from the four liquefaction sites (after Andrus et al, 1992)
Another method relating liquefaction potential and
shear wave velocity has been proposed by Robertson
(1990). An empirical correlation between in-situ cyclic
stress ratio and normalized shear wave velocity, Vsl, has
been proposed for evaluatingthe liquefaction potential of
sands (Fig.2). The cyclic stress ratio is calculated using
the following expression:
z,J CJ v ’ = 0 * 6 5 (/g)(
~ CJ v’/ CJ v) rd (1)
in which &= maximum ground acceleration, CJ ”= total
overburden pressure, CJ ,,’= effective overburden pressure
and rd = a stress reduction coefficient. The shear wave
velocity is normalized with respect to an effective
overburden stress as follows:
v,,=v,,(Pa/CJ v’)o.2j (2)
where Pa=reference stress, typically 100 Ha. Cyclic
stress ratio and the lowest V,, values for the gravelly sites
are plotted in the proposed liquefaction assessment chart
by Andrus et al (1992) as shown in Fig. 2. The plotted
velocity data lie within the zone of predicted liquefaction
which agrees with observed field behavior. This chart
(Fig.2) is based on soil, site and earthquake charact-
eristics treated. Reasonable caution should be exercised
in applying the chart to other areas.
Fig2 Proposed correlation between V,, and z d/ U ”’ to muse liquefaction for
M=7.5, (after Robertson, 1990) and cornpared with Eeld performance
of four gravelly cites (after Andrus et al., 1992)
870
Grouup 2)
Figure 3 shows the procedure belonging to group 2),
for evaluating the in-situ liquefaction characteristics of
sand and gravel proposed by Tokimatsu et a1 (1986) and
Tokimatsu and Uchida (1990). The working principle in
this procedure is that the liquefaction strength has a good
correlation with elastic shear modulus for a given soil
under given confining pressures. The procedure shown
on the left corresponds to the shear wave velocity
measurement in-situ. Based on the measured shear
wave velocity, Vs, the elastic shear modulus in the field,
GOF,can readily be determined.
The procedure on the right involves laboratory tests on
a specimen reconstituted from the sample obtained at the
site. Before liquefaction test, the shear modulus at small
shear strain, Go, of the specimen is measured, and
compared with Gof:. If they are equal, the liquefaction
test is run on the same specimen. If they are not equal,
that usually means that GOFis larger than Go, cyclic
shear stresses are applied to the specimen until the shear
modulus reaches the field value; then the liquefactiontest
is run. In order to take the effects of void ratio (e) and
confining stress ( CJ ,’) on the Go into account, Go is
normalized with respect to e and CJ c’ as described by Eq.
(3). “n” in Eq. (3) is used as 2/3 for better data fitting.
(3)
(4)
In-situ test Sampling & lab test
Drestress
Evaluation of in-situ
Fig3 Outline of the proposed method (after Tokimatsu et al, 1988)
Fig.4 Relationship between liquefaction resistanceand GKfor various sands
with n=213 (after Tokimatsu and Uchida, 1990)

Fig5 Comparison of field performance with boundary between liquefiable and
non-liquefiable conditionspredicted by the proposed method
(after Tokimatsu and Uchida, 1990)
Figure 4 shows the results for various sands. A good
correlation was found between the liquefaction resistance
and normalized shear modulus. Figure 5 shows the
comparison of field performance with the proposed
method. Fairly good agreement can be seen.
In this method, it is important to determine the Go,
from laboratory test. Go, value highly depends on the
confining stress at laboratory. As a result, it is an
important work to reasonably estimate the &-value of in-
situ soils.
Group 3)
Hatanaka et al(1997) performed a systematic research
relating the undrained cyclic shear strength of high-
quality undisturbed gravel samples to the shear wave
velocity measured in-situ.
87 1
As shown in Figs.6 and 7, a good correlation between
the undrained cyclic shear strength (cyclic stress ratio to
cause double amplitude axial strain of 2.0 or 2.5 %, in 5
or 20 cycles) and the normalized shear wave velocity
(VSJwas observed for Holocene gravel and gravelly fill
(Masado) in the range of shear wave velocity from 100
m/s to 600 m/s. V,, is used for correctingthe effect of the
confining stress on V, by using Eq (5).
V,,=VJ( o v’/98)3M 0“I: kPa (5)
The value of 3/8 in EQ (5) is the average value of 0.5 and
0.25 which covered the test results observed in recent
studies (e.g. Hatanaka et al., 1999). The data for
Pleistocene gravel, however, is indicated in two separate
groups. One group of data basically coincides with that
of Holocene gravel. The data from another group
shows that the liquefaction strength is much higher than
that of Holocene gravel for the same shear wave velocity.
More studies should be conducted,however, in the future
for investigating the cause of differences between these
two groups.
It is also important, however, to know the Ko-value for
converting the liquefaction strength obtained in
based on EQ
laboratory (RLab)to that in the field (Rin.sit,J
(6).
R,,,=0.9{ (l+2&)/3}R, (6)
3 KO-VALUEESTIMAIION BY VS
The coefficient of the earth pressure at rest (&) is an
important soil constant to characterize the in-situ stress
condition. In recent years, two approaches to access the
&-value by using the shear wave velocity measured in-
situ have been proposed. Hatanaka and Uchida (1996)
proposed a simple method (named “Go-equalmethod”)
to evaluate the &-value of the in-situ sandy and gravelly
soils by equalizing Goboth observed in the field and that
measured in laboratory on high quality undisturbed
samples recovered by in-situ freezing sampling method.
This method is modified by Hatanaka et al(1999) as “Vs-
equal method”. The Vs measured in the laboratory (Vs3
can be related to the effective confining stress, Oc7,as
indicated in E q . 0
V,,=a. o c 7 n (7)
where, ”a” and “n” are soil constants. If the 0c 7 can be
correctly estimated as that in-situ, the Vs must be same as
that observed in the field (V,,) as shown in Eq.(8).
VSF=VSL (8)
0c 7 is related to the effective vertical stress y7 and &-
value as indicated in Eq.(9).
0,7=(1+2&) 0“73 (9)
By inserting Eqs. (7) and (9) into Eq.(8), &-value can
be described as Eq.(lO).
&= {(3/ o v’)*(V,,/a7)”n-1}/2 (10)
 Hatanaka et a1 (1997) improved a simple and reliable
method to measure the shear wave velocity in laboratory
(shear wave velocity method: SWV-method). Figure 8
shows a schematic cross section of the test apparatus.
This method has the following advantages: 1) without
bedding error, 2) little personal error, and adjustable to
specimen height.
In order to examine the validity of Eq. (10) for soils
with various stress conditions and stress histories, the
effects of the principal stress ratio and the stress history
were investigated by Hatanaka et a1 (1999). They
reported that the effects of these factors are negligibly
small. The physical properties of the high-quality
undisturbed gravel samples tested and the KO-value
estimated by this method are listed in Table 1. The K,,-
value obtained by this method is also related to the V,
measured in-situ. As shown in Fig.9, although the data is
quite limited, there can be seen a good correlation
between the Vs measured in the field (V,,) and the
coefficient of the earth pressure at rest (&) for gravelly
soils, and it can be described by Eq.(ll). Such kind of
data on sandy soils is hoped to be accumulated in future.
K,,=0.0058VS4.53 (1505Vs,~350)
Based on the body wave velociQ, Vioravante et al
(1998) have proposed a simple method to estimate the
KO-value as to be described in Eq.(12).
Table 1 Physical properties of undisturbed gravel samples tested and
values obtained (after Hatanaka et al., 19998)
0.19
Fig8 Test apparatus for measuring (after Hatanaka et al., 19998)
where, Vs(HH) and Vs(HV) are horizontally and
vertically polarized shear wave velocities, respectively.
Cs (HH) and Cs (HV)are dimensional material constants,
the ratio of which reflects the fabric anisotropy of the soil
structure. They have successfully accessed the &-value
in ideal laboratory chamber conditions. They also
described that their method is difficult to estimate the in-
situ &-value because it is very difficult to determine the
value of Cs (HH)and Cs O N ) and n. Typical test results
are shown in Fig.10. A data obtained by this method on
sand with rare gravel was also plotted in Fig.9. An
agreement between the data and the Eq.(ll) can be seen.
4 INITIAL SHEAR MODULUS (Go)FROM Vs
For a long time, stress dependency of Go, which means
the value of “n” in Eq. (13) is widely recognized as 0.5
based on the test results of reconstituted samples (Hardin
and Richart,(l963)). As described in Section 1, many
researchers have tried to correct the effect of the
confning stress on the shear wave velocity in the way
that the power of the confining stress, 0c7, is adopted to
(11)
be 0.25 by Robertson, 2/3 by Tokimatsu et al and 3/8 by
Hatanaka et al, respectively.
In recent years, the stress dependency of G, was again
discussed by some researchers (e.g. Nishio and Tamaoki
(1988), Suzuki et a1 (1993), Tanaka et al (1994),
&,-
0.80
0.93
0.83
872
Hatanaka et al(1999)) based on the test results for high-
quality undisturbed samples. Hatanaka et al (1999)
have performed a systematic research on the stress
dependency of Go for high-quality undisturbed sand and
gravel samples obtained by in-situ freezing method.
The physical properties of test samples are listed in Table
2 and Table 3 for gravelly and sandy soils, respectively.
In order to separate the effect of the void ratio on the Go,
Go was normalized by F(e) as indicated in Eq. (14),
which is often used as a factor reflecting the effect of the
void ratio on Go for sandy soils. As a result, E@ (13)
can be rewritten as Eq. (15). By regressing the test data
using Q. (15), we can determine the constants “a’ ” and
“n’ ” in Eq. (15).
Go=aCJ c”’ (13)
F(e)=(2.17-e)’/(l fe) (14)
GJF(e)=a’(CJ ,’)”’ (15)
Test results are shown in Fig.11 as G/F(e)- CJ c’
relation. As indicated in Fig.11, fairly good liner
correlation between GJF(e) and CJ ,’ in log-log scale are
obtained for each type of gravelly soil. The constant
“n”’ listed in Table 4 are all larger than 0.5. These
values basically correspond to the test results obtained by
other investigators (Nishio and Tamaoki (1988), Tanaka
et al(1994), Suzuki et al(1993)). The average value of
“n” is about 0.7. The higher stress dependency of Go for
undisturbed gravelly soils were reconfrmed in the

present study by Hatanaka et a1 (1999).

Table 2 Physical properties of undisturbed gravel samples Because the height of undisturbed sand samples is
about 12.5 cm,it is not large to secure enough accuracy
in measuring Vs by SWV method. As a result, Go
measured by the Non-contact displacement gauge
(NDG) method was used for studying the stress
dependency of undisturbed sandy soils. The log
GJJ?(e)-logCJ ,’ relation obtained for sandy soils is plotted
in Fig.12. The values of “n”’ obtained by regressing the
test data are listed in Table 5. As shown in Table 5, the
constant “n’ ” for Toyoura sand is 0.48. This value is
almost corresponding to 0.5 proposed for reconstituted
Table 3 Physical properties of undisturbed sand samples and Toyoura sand
sand samples by Hardin and Richart (1963). Other in-
situ sandy soils, however, show larger n-value (between
0.54 and 0.86). This result means that the stress
dependency of Gofor in-situ sandy deposits is larger than
that for reconstituted sand samples. It is interesting to
note that except the SS sample (a volcanic soil), the
GJF(e)- 0 ,’ correlation for other sandy soils can be
regressed as Eq.(16).
GJJ?(e)=2.59(0c7)o.69 (16)
Table 4 “n”’ value in Eq.(7) for Table 5 “n”’ value in Eq.(7) for undis-
undistuhed gravel samples turbed sand samples and Toyoura sand

I Samdename I n’ I 5. SAMPLE QUALITY EVALUATION BY Vs

As already has been shown by many investigators, the in-

situ soil properties are si@icantly influenced by the
disturbance during the sampling procedure. Especially, it
is much more serious for initial shear modulus and

873

Fig.13 Summary on modulus ratio, GoL/G,,, versus in-situ shear modulus, Go,-,
relationship (after Kokusho,T., 1987)
liquefaction strength of sandy and gravelly soils (e.g.
Yoshimi et al. (1984), Hatanaka et al. (1986, 1995)). As
a result, it is an important work to know the effect of
sample disturbance on these properties for design
purposes. Tokimatsu et a1 described that the shear wave
velocity (or the initial shear modulus (Go))can be a good
index to evaluate the sample quality. Figure 13 shows
such a kind of results summarized by Kokusho et a1
(1987).
The degree of sample quality has been discussed by the
ratio of the initial shear modulus calculated from the in-
situ shear wave velocity (G0J and that measured on the
undisturbed samples in laboratory test (GoJ We must
recognize, however, that the initial shear modulus
measured in laboratory test highly depends on the
effective confining stress( (T ,’) as described in the
previous section.
When we are going to compare the Go measured in
laboratory with the Gocalculated from in-situ shear wave
velocity, we must reasonably estimatethe value of CJ c’ for
laboratory test. There are two ways to determine the (T c’
for laboratory test as described in Eqs. (9) and (17). The
vertical effective stress, (Tv’, is easily to be evaluated
fiom the soil density and the depth of the ground water
table. It Is, however, very difficult to evaluate the
coefficient of the earth pressure at rest, &. In most
cases, for both research and practical purposes, (T c’ is
used as (T ”’, in order to exclude the possible effect of
overconsolidation on the Go. (7 c 7 = (T v’ means that &=
1.0. As a result, the discussion based on Fig.13 is only
valid for the case of &=l.O.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results shown in recent studies, the in-situ
shear wave velocity has been found as one of the useful
indices to characterize the soil properties. Following
conclusioncanbe made from these studies.
(1) In-situ shear wave velocity is a useful indicator to
874
evaluate the liquefaction potential for sandy and
gravelly soils.
(2) &-value of in-situ soils can be evaluated by using the
in-situ shear wave velocity. Such a data for sandy
soils is hoped to be accumulatedin future study.
(3) The stress dependency of Go for in-situ sandy and
gravelly soils in larger than that of reconstituted sand
samples. In average, the power of the c o n f i i g
stress 0,’is about 0.67, and 0.70 for sandy and
gravelly soils, respectively.
(4) It is important to take into account of the effect of the
&-value on the sample quality evaluation by com-
paring the initial shear modulus observed both in the
field and laboratory.
It is also, however, pointed out that there are many
problems to be solved for increasing the accuracy in
measurement of in-situ shear wave velocity.
7 REFERENCES
1) Biershwale, J.G. and Stokoe, K.H. (1984): “Analytical evaluation
of liquefaction potential of sand subjected to the 1981
Westmoreland Earthquake,” Gcotech, Engrg. Rep. GR-84-15, Civ.
Enm. Dcpt, University of Texas, Austin, Tex.
2) Finn, W,D.L. (1991): ” Assessment of liquefaction potential and
post-liquefaction behavior of earthstructures: develop-ments
1981-1991, In S. Prakash (ed.),“Proceedings, 2 nd
ICRAGEESD II,St. Louis, MI: pp.1833-1850.
3) Hardin, B. 0.and Richart,E E., Jr (1963): “Elasticwave velocities
in granular soils, “Journalof the Soil Mechanics and Foundations
Division, ASCE, Vo1.89, No.SM1,pp.33-65.
4) Hatanaka,M., Suzuki,Y, Kawasaki,T. and Endo,M. (1988):
“Cyclic undrained shear properties of high quality undisturbed
Tokyo gravel,” Soils and Foundations, Vol.%, No.4, pp.57-68.
5 ) Hatanaka,M and UchidaJ. (1996): “A simple method for the
determination of &-value in sandy soils,” Soils and
Foundations, Vo1.36,No.2, pp.93-99.
6) Hatanakq M., Uchida, A. and Suzuki, Y (199‘7): ”Correlation
between Undrained cyclic shear strength and shear wave
velocity for gravely soils,” Soils and Foundations, Vo1.37, No.4,
pp.85-92.
7)Hatanaka, M., Uchida, A. and Taya, U.( 1999): “Ko-value of in-
situ gravelly soils,” 11th ISSMGE, Asian Regional Conference
(to be published).
8) Hatanaka, M., Uchida, A., Taya, U. Hagisawa, T. and Terui, N.
(1999): “Some factors affect the initial elastic modulus
measured in hiaxial cell,” 2nd ICEGE, Lisboa, Portgal (to be
published).
9) Robertson,P.K., Woeller,D.J., Finn,W.D.L(1992): “Seismic
Cone Penetration Test for evaluating Liquefaction Potential
under Cyclic Loading,” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vo1.29,
pp.686-695.
10) Robertson,P.K, Sasitharan, J.C., Cunning, J.C. and Sego, D.C.
(1995): “Shear-wave velocity to evaluate in-situ state of Ottawa
sand,” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, V01.121 ,
pp.262-273.
11) R. D. Andrus, KH. Stokoe, 11 , J.A. Bay, and T.L. Youd
(1992) :”In situ Vs of gravelly soils which liquefied,” 10 th
Earthquake Engineering of World Conference, pp.
12) Stokoe, K H. II., and Nazarian, S.(1985): “Use of rayleigh
waves in liquefaction studies,” Proceedings, Measurement and
Use of Shear Wave Velocity, ASCE, pp.1-17.
13) Stokoe, K H. II., Roesset, J. M., Bierschwale, J. G. and Aouad,
M.(1988):”Liquefaction potential of sands from shear wave
 velocity," Proceedings BWCEE, Vo1.3, pp.213-218 and
Abstract Vol.1, pp.474.
14) Suzuki, Y., Goto, S., Hatanaka, M and Tokimatsu, K. (1993):
"Correlation between undrained cyclic shear strengths and
penetration resistanus for gravelly soils," Soils and
Foundations, Vo1.33, No.1, pp.92-101.
15) Tanaka, Y, Kokusho, T., Yoshida, Y and &do, K (1989):
"Dynamic strength evaluation of gravelly soils,"Pmceedings of
discussion session on influence of local conditions on seismic
response, 12th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
FoundationEngineering pp.113-120.
16) Tanaka,Y, Kudo,K., Yoshida,Y, and Kokusho,T. (1992):
"Undrained cyclic strength of gravelly soil and its evaluation by
penetration resistance and shear modulus," Soils and
Foundations, Vo1.32, No.4, pp.128-142.
17) Tokimatsu, K and Uchida, A.(1990): "Correlation between
liquefaction resistance and shear wave velocity," Soils and
Foundations, Vo1.30, No.2, pp.33-42.
18) Tokimatsu, K., Yamazaki, T. and Yoshimi, Y. (1986): "Soil
liquefaction evaluations by elastic shear moduli," Soils and
Foundations, Vo1.26, No.1, pp.25-35.
19) Tokimatsu, K and Yoshimi, Y. (1986): "Liquefaction evalua-
tions of gravelly soils based on shear wave velocity,"llth Japan
Earthquake Engineering Symposium, pp.661-666.(in Japanese)
20) Tokimatsu, K, Yoshimi,Y. and Uchida, A. (1988):
"Evaluations of undrained cyclic shear strength of soils with
shear wave velocity," 9WCEE, Vo1.3, pp.207-212.

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Strong motions and site amplification:
- Theme lecture
- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Strong ground motions and site amplification

Atilla M. Ansal
Civil Engineering Faculty, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

ABSTRACT: The major factors that control strong motion characteristics on ground surface are source, path,
and site conditions. Acceleration records obtained in near field during recent earthquakes with relatively short
distances apart have demonstrated that certain source factors such as fault type, rupture mechanism, rupture
directivity, and fault orientation as well as geotechnical site conditions such as soil stratification, depth of
ground water table, and properties of soil layers could have significant influence on strong motion
characteristics on ground surface. The acceleration records obtained during recent major earthquakes in
Turkey will be evaluated based on the source and site conditions to demonstrate the variability and the effects
of these factors. An important step in estimating the design ground motion requires a comprehensive
assessment of source characteristics as well as geotechnical and geological site conditions taking into
consideration variability observed in nature.

1 INTRODUCTION ground motions. Since induced earthquake ground

The basic features of earthquake strong ground
motions affecting the man made and natural
environment are the amplitude, frequency content
and duration of the induced cyclic ground
accelerations. The conventional seismic design and
structural analysis requires parameters to account for
the amplitude and frequency content of strong
ground motions generated during earthquakes and
for designating design requirements. A more
comprehensive approach is to perform dynamic
analysis using representative earthquake strong
ground motion acceleration records. One alternative
is to use synthetically generated accelerograms and
the other alternative is to use real acceleration time
histories obtained in similar site and source
conditions (Bommer et al, 1998).
The parameters used in the conventional seismic
design and analysis like design spectrum and design
acceleration may not characterise the complexity of
the earthquake generated strong ground motions.
Therefore, one purpose from an engineering
perspective is to establish practical procedures to
define new parameters or modify the existing ones to
account for the effects of important factors that
control earthquake ground motions (Hall et al.,
1995; Kawashima & Aizawa, 1986; Shome &
Cornell, 1998 ). In this respect, a comprehensive
dynamic analysis performed using acceleration time
histories may be better suited to model the
characteristics of earthquake generated strong
accelerations are controlled by earthquake source
mechanism, path characteristics between the source
and the site, and geotechnical and geological site
conditions, the design parameters in conventional
approach as well as the acceleration time histories
used in the comprehensive approach need to be
determined to account for these factors.
Due to the variability observed in nature in
source, path and site effects, it is generally preferred
to adopt a probabilistic approach in defining design
parameters or acceleration time histories
representing the three basic features of the induced
earthquake excitations, its amplitude, frequency
content and duration (Marcellini, 1995; McGuire,
1995).
The conventional probabilistic approach to
estimate the design ground motion parameters
accounting for the amplitude, frequency content and
duration of a probable earthquake can be considered
in three stages. The first stage is the estimation of
earthquake source characteristics based on
seismological and geological data for all earthquake-
generating sources in the region. The second stage is
the estimation of path characteristics based on
attenuation relationships. The third stage is the
estimation of earthquake characteristics on the
ground surface based on geotechnical, geological
and topographical site conditions.
In evaluating earthquake probabilities, the first
component is the tectonic and geologic formations
that can produce earthquakes in the region and the
 second component is the seismic history. To
understand the possible mechanisms that can
generate earthquakes, detailed geological and
seismological studies are necessary. However, in
addition to being more deterministic, such
concentrated multi-disciplinary investigations may
seldom be available. Even if available, probabilistic
evaluation of earthquake hazard may be more
meaningful in the light of unknowns regarding to
earthquake source characteristics. Earthquake
source characteristics could vary significantly,
especially in the near field, depending on the fault
orientation, stress drop, rupture pattern, directivity
effects, fault roughness, and velocity of rupture
propagation (Allen, 1995).
Due to the fault tectonics and fracture
mechanism, each earthquake possesses unique
characteristics that are partly reflected in the
obtained strong motion records and partly in the
observed damage. Damage patterns and distribution
in recent earthquakes have indicated that ground
motion characteristics such as direction, pulse or
fling effects and duration could have significant
influence on forces generated and thus could play
important role in response of structures (Bolt 1997,
Jennings 1997, Naeim 1995).
In addition to its magnitude, the source location
of the design earthquake also needs to be estimated
in accordance with the geological and tectonic
formations in the region based on the estimated
source zones. The determination of the source zones
strongly relies on subjective expert judgements and
is affected by many arbitrary factors.
The second stage requires the use of a suitable
attenuation relationship for assessing the path
effects. There are large numbers of attenuation
relationships proposed in the literature based on
different data sets obtained in different parts of the
World (Abrahamson & Silva, 1997; Ambraseys,
1995; Ambraseys et al. 1996; Campbell 1993 &
1997; Campbell & Bozorgnia, 1997; Gregor & Bolt,
1997; Iai et al, 1993; McVerry et al, 1993).
Large number of strong motion records
compiled during the last decades made it possible to
account for the differences in the source mechanisms
and site conditions for establishing attenuation
relationships with respect to peak accelerations,
velocities, displacements and for different response
spectra. However, the source and site classifications
used in these relationships are different with respect
to each other and limited in the classification
categories, thus can only represent source and site
conditions approximately. Even with these new
contemporary attenuation relationships, it is essential
to account for the variability to estimate the
exceedance probabilities. In addition, several factors
such as; azimuth dependence of seismic radiation,
limited geophysical and geotechnical information
about soil conditions of the recording stations,
880
instability of parameters like peak acceleration may
increase the scatter. Other more stable parameters
like response spectra are affected by instrumentation
limits since the majority of strong motion data were
recorded by analog accelerometers.
Another option in modelling and assessing
strong ground motion or for determining the design
earthquake parameters is the use of methods based
on the empirical Green’s function (Aguirre et al.,
1994; Bernard et al., 1997; Durukal et al., 1998; Dan
& Sato, 1999). This approach appears more suitable
and justified when selecting scenario earthquakes
with predefined or estimated source characteristics.
Although it is a deterministic approach, it is also
possible to evaluate the obtained results in a
probabilistic manner (Berge et al., 1998) or by
conducting a parametric study with respect to
possible variations in source zones and source
parameters.
An attempt will be made in this paper to review
the literature concerning strong ground motion and
site amplification from geotechnical engineering
perspective. This review can not claim to be very
comprehensive in this vast interdisciplinary field.
The main purpose is to demonstrate the variability
observed in earthquake source and site conditions
and their effects, in the light of the observations and
accumulated data during the last three major
earthquakes in Turkey, Erzincan 1992, Dinar 1995
and Ceyhan 1998 (GDDA-ERD, 1999).
2 GROUND MOTION CHARACTERISTICS
The observed damage distribution and strong motion
acceleration records obtained in recent earthquakes
indicate a need for more comprehensive definitions
for existing parameters as well as some new
parameters to account for the complex
characteristics of earthquake induced strong ground
motions for engineering analysis and design. The
peak accelerations used for representing the
amplitude of earthquake excitations in seismic
design have poor correlation with observed damage
distribution. In addition to amplitude of earthquake
strong ground motions, it is also essential to account
for the frequency content and duration especially in
the field of geotechnical engineering.
This issue has been addressed by many
researchers and various proposals were made to
define other parameters to account for amplitude,
frequency content and duration (such as; peak
horizontal velocity, sustained maximum
acceleration, effective design acceleration, rms
acceleration, power spectrum intensity, ratio of peak
velocity to peak acceleration, Arias intensity,
cumulative absolute velocity, response spectrum
intensity, acceleration spectrum intensity, bracketed
duration, central frequency, and etc.) as summarised
in detail by Kramer (1997). Although most of these
parameters may represent earthquake characteristics
more accurately, only few can be used in seismic
design and analysis.
The acceleration records registered during
earthquakes contain significant information about
source, path and site effects that is necessary for
engineering analysis and design (Takemura et al.,
1995). However, the geological differences, the
variability in characteristics of different soil and rock
layers, the reflection and refraction of earthquake
waves from the boundaries of these layers, the effect
of these different layers on earthquake waves passing
through these layers, as well as the differences in the
source mechanisms of each earthquake prevents
comprehensive analysis of earthquake characteristics
on the ground surface.
The problem can be approached in an empirical
manner. With the increase in the number of
acceleration records obtained at different geological
and soil conditions, the local site effects as well as
various features of source mechanism can be better
evaluated. In addition, large number of acceleration
records obtained under different conditions have led
to more comprehensive analysis of response of
engineering structures during earthquakes.
With this perspective, the three major
earthquakes that took place in recent years in
Turkey, Erzincan 1992, Dinar 1995, and Ceyhan
1998 was studied to evaluate the variability in the
source and site conditions. These earthquakes were
medium strong to strong earthquakes with different
rupture characteristics. The cities or towns affected
by these earthquakes were in the near field. Some of
the acceleration records obtained in the near field
contained relatively high acceleration peaks. The
recording stations were situated on different site
conditions and some were on soft soil deposits.
Therefore it could be rewarding to analyse these
strong motion records obtained during medium
strong earthquakes on medium stiff to soft soil
conditions. The purpose is to demonstrate certain
features of strong ground motion records that may be
important for engineering design and analysis.
2.1 Erzincan Earthquake
The M,=6.8 earthquake of March 13, 1992 took
place in the Erzincan Basin along the North
Anatolian Fault (Ansal et al., 1993, Barka & Gulen,
1993; Bayiilke et al. 1993, EERI, 1995). The
epicentre was approximately 10 km to east-southeast
of Erzincan with focal depth of 9 km (Bemard et al.
1997; Berge et al., 1998). The rupture that caused
the Erzincan earthquake was described as pure right-
lateral strike slip on a nearly vertical fault plane.
The nodal plane of the rupture almost coincides with
the northeastern edge of the basin (Eyidogan 1993).
881
According to the model study conducted by
Bemard et al. (1997), the best fault rupture model for
the main shock was obtained for the fault direction
of N125E for a bilateral rupture, with larger
propagation toward southeast with most likely
distance of 15 km. It is estimated that the total
length of the horizontal rupture was 25 km and the
vertical fault width was 9 km (Berge, et al., 1998).
2.2 Dinar Earthquake
The earthquake sequence that affected Dinar was
composed of small to medium size foreshocks, main
shock, and aftershocks. The foreshocks started on
September 26, 1995 and the main shock (ML = 5.9
ERD, M,=6.1 USGS-PDE) took place on October 1,
1995. More than 300 aftershocks were observed
with magnitude equal or larger than 3 (Demirta? et
a1.,1997; Durukal et al., 1998).
The main rupture was located on the northwest
of Dinar along NW-SE trending Dinar-Civril fault.
The distribution of aftershocks and surface cracks
indicates that a rupture length was approximately 10-
15 km. The fault plane solutions indicate a normal
faulting with a strike of N130E and a dip of 41".
The vertical offsets were in the order of 25 cm with
right lateral offsets of 10 cm. The aftershocks
concentrated along the rupture and according to the
distribution of slip amounts rupture started from
hypocentre and propagated in one direction toward
northwest. The hypocentre of the earthquake was
located right under Dinar with a focal depth of 24
km. Rupture mechanism determined based on p-
wave conversion indicate two separated ruptures
with rise time of 2.5 sec for each rupture (Eyidogan
& Barka, 1996; Durukal et al., 1998).
2.3 Adana-Ceyhan Earthquake
The earthquake took place on June 27, 1998 with
estimated epicentre distance of 38 km to Ceyhan
strong motion station. There was a relatively dense
seismic network in the region operated by Marmara
Research Centre of Turlush Science and
Technological Research Council. The magnitude of
the earthquake was given as ML= 5.9 by Turkish
Earthquake Research Department (ERD). The focal
depth was reported as 22 km. Most of the fault
plane solutions indicate that the earthquake was due
to left-lateral strike slip with normal faulting
component with a strike of N207E and with a dip of
70" (Aydan et al., 1998). It is estimated that fault
rupture propagated toward north. The earthquake
was recorded by most of the strong motion
instruments operating in south Turkey. Most of the
damage was in the town of Ceyhan located on
alluvial deposits and around 35 km from the
epicentre.
3 SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS rms accelerations or Arias intensities are calculated
for the same duration, the difference becomes more
'The Source mechanism and fault rupture 1s a very significant with resultant accelerations giving values
complex Phenomenon. It is difficult to make a PriOri approximately 35% higher than the values calculated
estimation of what may happen. However, an for recorded NS or EW components.
engineer who has to design and construct is required
to use some parameters to account for the effects of
strong ground motions generated during earthquakes.
One practical but empirical approach is to modify
the conventionally used design parameters to
account for the important factors. It was observed
that earthquake source characteristics may play more
dominant role in the near field (Durukal et al., 1998,
Gao et al., 1991; Schneider et al., 1993; Vidale et al.,
1991). This issue will be evaluated based on the
records obtained in the near field during Erzincan,
Dinar and Adana-Ceyhan earthquakes.

3.1 Fault Orientation and Directivity

One source of variability in observed strong motion
records is due to the fault orientation and fault type.
Another source is the directivity effects caused by
the rupture propagation direction (Somerville, 1998).
The inertia forces affecting structures during
earthquakes are not due to separate accelerations
acting in EW and NS directions but rather due to the
resultants of these components. Thus, the peak
acceleration amplitudes recorded in EW or NS
directions are theoretically less than the peak
accelerations experienced by the structures. This
difference may not be significant in most
earthquakes but there may be few exceptions. The
other important feature of the resultant accelerations
is their direction. The histogram of the directions of
the resultants may indicate the dominant direction of
the earthquake generated accelerations (Ansal &
Marcellini, 1998). The directional effects due to
different source characteristics and fault orientation
are evaluated with respect to resultant accelerations
and with respect to the histograms of resultant
acceleration directions based on the strong motion
acceleration records from Erzincan, Dinar and
Adana-Ceyhan earthquakes.
The effect of fault orientation on the dominant
direction of the earthquake accelerations can be
determined from the histogram calculated for the
directions of the resultant accelerations. Assuming
65% of the peak acceleration as an effective
acceleration limit, directions of all resultants with
larger acceleration amplitudes were calculated with
respect to fault orientation as shown in Figure 1 for
Erzincan acceleration records obtained at Erzincan
strong motion station. In this case, the dominant
direction of the resultant accelerations for Erzincan
records was exactly normal to the fault. The peak
amplitude of the calculated resultant accelerations
was only insignificantly larger than the peak The acceleration time histories obtained in
acceleration obtained from EW record. However, if Erzincan was near field records. When the same

882
approach is applied to Refahiye strong motion acceleration observed with respect to peak recorded
records obtained during the same event with the acceleration in EW direction. However, as observed
epicentre distance of 74 km,the effects of the source for the Erzincan record rms acceleration for the
characteristics become more visible. It was resultant was about 35% higher.
originally estimated that the Erzincan earthquake
consisted of two consecutive ruptures (Eyidogan,
1993). As shown in Figure 2, the arrival of S waves
from the second rupture is more visible around 11
seconds in the Refahiye strong motion records. In
comparison to Erzincan record that was obtained
approximately at a source distance of 13 km, the
second spike that may indicate a second rupture is
around 4 seconds. The dominant direction of
resultant accelerations was also calculated as
90' with respect to fault orientation as shown in
Figure 2. This similarity indicates the importance of
the source mechanism and fault orientation.
Although Refahiye record can not be regarded as a
near field record, it was still possible to observe
orientation and directivity effects.

Figure 4. Variation of resultant accelerations with

time and histograms of the resultant acceleration
directions for Burdur records

The same variability is also observed in the

strong motion records obtained at Burdur station
approximately 48 km away from the epicentre as
shown in Figure 4. As also observed for the
Refahiye record (Fig.2) the source characteristics
were also dominant for the Burdur record.

Figure 3. Variation of resultant accelerations with

time and histograms of the resultant acceleration
directions for Dinar records

In the case of the Dinar earthquake, the variation

of resultant acceleration and resultant acceleration
directions with respect to fault direction were
determined for the main shock as shown in Figure 3.
The observed multi directionality of the main shock
was very different from Erzincan record. The
differences among the dominant directions of the
resultant accelerations indicates the variability in the
ground motion characteristics arising from the
difference in the source characteristics where
Erzincan earthquake was due to a strike-slip faulting
and Dinar was due to normal faulting. Figure 5. Variation of resultant accelerations
The peak acceleration calculated for the resultant with time and histograms of the resultant
acceleration is insignificantly higher than the peak acceleration directions for Ceyhan records

883
 In the case of the Adana-Ceyhan earthquake, the
resultant acceleration directions with respect to fault
direction were determined for the Ceyhan record as
shown in Figure 5. It is reported that fault rupture
direction was towards Ceyhan. The observed
directionality of the main shock was very similar to
Erzincan record (Fig. 1). Both earthquakes being
caused by strike slip faulting led to similar dominant
acceleration directions normal to the fault.
However, the peak acceleration calculated from the
resultant accelerations were about 18% larger than
the recorded peak acceleration in EW direction as
well as the rms acceleration value was about 38%
higher for the resultant accelerations. A similar
difference in peak acceleration values was also
observed when NS and EW records were rotated as
fault normal and fault parallel. The peak
acceleration was in fault normal direction and was
about 17% larger (0.32 g) in comparison to peak
acceleration (0.27 g) recorded in EW direction. This
indicates the possibility that recorded accelerations
in EW and NS direction may be lower than what has
been experienced by the structures in the region and
may be one reason for the scatter observed in
attenuation relationships.
In the case of Karata? record (Fig.6) that was
obtained in the opposite direction of the fault
rupture, the dominant acceleration direction was
more multi-directional indicating the importance of
directivity. In addition the peak amplitude of the
recorded and resultant accelerations as well as the
rms accelerations were much smaller compared to
Ceyhan record although the epicentral distances for
both stations were very similar.
Figure 6. Variation of resultant accelerations with
time and histograms of the resultant acceleration
directions for Karatav records
884
All these observations, indicate that fault
orientation, fault type as well as the rupture pattern
are very effective on the dominant direction of
induced accelerations during earthquakes. Thus in
evaluating the structural damage or vulnerability,
these aspects need to be taken into account.
Recently some proposals were made to take into
consideration the effect of these factors in an
empirical way by introducing additional coefficients
in the determination of design earthquake parameters
namely peak ground acceleration and acceleration
response spectrum (Somerville et al., 1997). On the
other hand as calculated for the Ceyhan strong
motion records, the resultant and fault normal peak
acceleration can be higher than the recorded peak
acceleration in EW and NS direction.
3.2 Frequency Content
The other important ground motion characteristic
that needs to be taken into consideration in the
engineering analysis and design is the frequency
content of the earthquake accelerations. The
frequency content of strong motion on the ground
surface is much more affected by site conditions.
However, source mechanism is also effective
especially in the near field zones. From an
engineering perspective, the frequency content and
site amplification characteristics of strong ground
motions can be evaluated based on response spectra.
Response spectra are affected by both site
conditions and source characteristics in different
ratios depending on the relative influence of these
two factors. It is also natural that there is going to be
some coupling between these factors. This aspect of
response spectra has been evaluated by many
researchers and some proposals were made to
separate source and site effects (Brune, 1970;
Atkinson, 1995, Eyidogan & Akinci, 1997). One
generally accepted approach is to determine the
cutoff and corner frequencies based on Fourier
amplitude spectra where corner frequency is more
related to source while cutoff frequency is related
both site and source characteristics.
Another alternative to evaluate the effects of
source and site conditions can be to analyse weak
and strong motion records obtained at the same
station during different earthquakes. As shown in
Figure 7, for the records obtained at Erzincan strong
motion station, there appears to be peaks in the
normalised absolute acceleration spectra for each
record independent of its magnitude around 0.2
second period. The first set of these spectra are for
the main shock where peak ground acceleration
(PGA) was 0.49 g, the second set are for the
strongest aftershock with M,=6 and PGA = 0.04 g
that took place on March 15, 1992. The epicentre of
this event was approximately 40 km away from the
Erzincan strong motion station located toward the
southeast of the estimated fault rupture. The third
set is for a more recent very small earthquake
obtained on Dec. 31, 1994 with magnitude ML= 3.9,
PGA = 0.003 g, and epicentral distance around 68
km.
Figure 7 . Normalised absolute acceleration response
spectra for records obtained at Erzincan station
For weak ground motion that could have only
generated elastic excitations, these peaks around
(0.2-0.3 sec) correspond to predominant periods of
the soil layers in the elastic range. The existence of
peaks around the same periods in the case of
stronger earthquakes with higher peak accelerations
supports this concept. However, other peaks
corresponding to longer period levels may be the
result of the source characteristics as well as due to
the elasto-plastic response of soil layers due to
strong ground shaking.
The effects of site conditions can also be
observed from weak motion records obtained at the
second strong motion station in Erzincan. Twenty-
five weak motion acceleration records were obtained
at this station during the past five years, for events
with magnitudes between M~=4.3-3.1,epicentral
distances between 105-28km, and peak accelerations
between 0.05-0.002g.
As shown in Figure 8, the normalised absolute
acceleration response spectra of all these 25 records
885
in NS direction with different spectral amplifications
clearly indicate two predominant periods. The first
set of periods that were approximately 0.07 sec can
be considered due to the structural effects where the
instrument is located. However, the second set of
periods corresponding to 0.15-0.17 sec may reflect
the predominant period of the soil layers at the site
in the elastic range.
Figure 8. Normalised absolute acceleration spectra
for NS component of 25 weak ground motion
records obtained at Erzincan
The effect of fault orientation on strong ground
shaking can also be observed in Figure 9, where the
normalised absolute acceleration spectra are plotted
for fault normal and for fault parallel directions. As
was shown in Figure 1, the dominant direction of the
resultant acceleration was normal to the fault. Thus,
it is possible to conclude that ground shaking
intensity was much higher in this direction and as
observed in Figure 9, predominant period is around 1
second for fault normal direction and amplification
is lower as expected in the case of elasto-plastic soil
behaviour. One other reason suggested by some
researchers is the presence of the long period waves
in fault normal direction.
Figure 9. Absolute acceleration response spectra for
fault normal and parallel directions for Erzincan
earthquake
 Similar differences in the normalised absolute
acceleration response spectra for fault normal and
fault parallel directions can not be observed in the
main shock records obtained at Dinar station.
Spectral amplification as well as the predominant
periods was very similar for both directions
indicating no effect of fault orientation in the case of
normal faulting (Fig. 10).

Figure 12. Absolute acceleration response spectra for

fault normal and parallel directions for Karatas
record in Adana-Ceyhan earthquake

3.3 Rupture Characteristics

Figure 10. Absolute acceleration response spectra for
fault normal and parallel directions for Dinar
earthquake
No significant difference in the normalised
absolute acceleration response spectra for fault
normal and fault parallel directions was observed in
the main shock records obtained at Ceyhan station
(Fig.11). Spectral amplification as well as the
predominant periods are very similar for both
directions indicating no effect of fault orientation.
The particle acceleration trajectories drawn for the
time interval corresponding to high acceleration
amplitudes can be used to evaluate the effect of fault
orientation as well as to observe the fling or pulse
effects that may have arisen from the rupture
characteristics. In the case of the Erzincan strong
ground motion records, one peculiar aspect is the
presence of significant east-west pulse or fling,
which mounted up to 0.9g (Fig. 13). Even though
accelerations during these initial seconds were
relatively high, the effective duration of the
earthquake was only in the order of 10 seconds as
can be observed in Figure 1 that can partly be due to
bilateral rupture mechanism.

Figure 11. Absolute acceleration response spectra for

fault normal and parallel directions for Ceyhan
earthquake

In the case of Karata? record as shown in Figure

12, the and predominant periods are Figure 13. Acceleration trajectory in the horizontal
very similar as observed for Ceyhan record however, plane for ~~~i~~~~ main shock
the predominant period is much lower and
amplification is higher.

886
 The particle acceleration trajectories of Dinar
main shock (Fig.14) when compared to Erzincan
record indicate a different pattern that may be partly
due to source conditions and fracture mechanism.
The main differences between the two records were
duration and multi directional nature of Dinar
record. However, during the initial 3-4 seconds of
Dinar earthquake, it was also possible to observe
pulse effects in EW direction as observed in
Erzincan.
Figure 14. Acceleration trajectories in the horizontal
plane for Dinar main shock
In the case of acceleration trajectory for the
Ceyhan records as given in Figure 15, the observed
trajectory was relatively different in comparison to
the trajectories observed for Dinar and Erzincan
records. However, it is also possible to observe one
pulse approximately normal to the fault direction.
Figure 15. Acceleration trajectories in the horizontal
plane for Ceyhan main shock
887
All these trajectories as well as the dominant
directions calculated for the three earthquakes
indicate the importance and the influence of fault
orientation and directivity effects for the structural
design and analysis.
4 GEOTECHNICAL SITE CONDITIONS
The earthquake source Characteristics induced by a
tectonic source mechanism are on macro level and
are not sufficient to explain the variations in
structural damage observed within short distances.
The geotechnical site conditions that can be very
different due to changes in the thickness and
properties of soil layers, depth of bedrock and water
table may have more significant influence on
damage distribution. The effect of coupling between
site and source characteristics may also modify
earthquake ground motion characteristics. There are
large numbers of instrumental field observations
obtained during recent earthquakes reflecting the
effects of geotechnical site and earthquake source
characteristics (Chang et al., 1996; Gazetas et al.,
1990; Seekins & Boatwright, 1994; Su et al., 1998)
During earthquakes soil layers are subjected to
multi-directional cyclic stresses with different
amplitudes and frequencies that lead to cyclic
deformations and to changes in stress-strain and
strength properties of soil layers. Extensive
laboratory, model and field studies were conducted
concerning response of soils subjected to cyclic
stresses. Significant improvements were achieved in
the field of insitu tests to obtain more reliable soil
properties. Numerous analytical and empirical
relationships were developed to model the behaviour
of soil deposits subjected to earthquake excitations.
A comprehensive approach in estimating local
ground motion characteristics is to use one or two-
dimensional numerical models to characterise local
soil and geologic conditions and to perform site
response analyses under selected input acceleration
time histories. The results obtained in these analyses
would be dependent on the characteristics of the
input acceleration records.
The final stage in the seismic hazard analysis
involves the estimation of earthquake characteristics
on the ground surface at the selected site to be used
for the engineering analysis. The first option is to
use contemporary attenuation relationships
formulated in terms of site and source
classifications. The second option is to use site
parameters as suggested by Borcherdt (1994) and
Crouse and McGuire (1996). The third option is to
adopt the comprehensive approach in estimating the
site specific earthquake characteristics based on site
response analysis using a more detailed site
characterisation. Taking into consideration the
possible differences in soil profiles even within
relatively short distances and observations in
previous earthquakes that site conditions are
important (Field & Hough 1997, Hartzell et al.
1997), it may be more reliable to adopt the third
alternative for the assessment of site-specific ground
motion characteristics.
In this section the effects of site conditions on
damage distribution as well as on recorded strong
ground motion records will be evaluated based on
the observations and findings in the case of Erzincan
and Dinar earthquakes.
4.1 Site Conditions in Erzincan
The city is located on north part of the Erzincan
Basin composed of very thick heterogeneous fluvial
and colluvium deposits consisting mostly of medium
dense granular soils. An extensive subsoil
exploration program comprising of large number of
boreholes, static and dynamic penetration tests,
seismic wave measurements have been carried out
within the city (Ansal, et al., 1994). The soil layers
were composed mostly of coarse grained soils with
alternating layers of gravelly sandy silts, silty
gravelly sands, sandy silty gravels and in limited
locations sandy silty clays. Very dense, partly
cemented gravel layers were encountered underlying
the city, in the north sectors at depths of 5-6 m, and
in the south sectors at depths of 15-20 m. The
ground water table in the north part of the city is
approximately at 30 m and on the south part at 16 m
below the ground surface.
Figure 16. Variation of damage ratio with respect to
layer thickness in Erzincan
To evaluate the damage distribution, Erzincan
city was divided into 180 meshes with mesh size of
250m x 250m. The average damage ratios were
calculated for each mesh for 3 to 4 storey reinforced
frame structures. Based on insitu test results and
available damage ratios, the data from 74 meshes
888
were used to assess the effects of site conditions on
damage distribution.
In the first stage the variation of damage ratios
with respect to average thickness of soil layers
overlying the dense gravel layer were evaluated as
shown in Figure 16. Most likely due to the
differences in the soil stratification, the data was
very scattered indicating no correlation between
layer thickness and damage ratio.
One of the factors controlling the earthquake
characteristics on the ground surface is soil
stratification and properties of soil layers. One
alternative to assess the effect of these factors is to
define some parameters representing the insitu
properties of soil layers (Borcherdt 1994). One such
parameter named as equivalent shear wave velocity
was defined as the weighted average with respect to
the thickness of the soil layers overlying the dense
gravel layer in the soil profile (Ansal, et a1.,1994).
Based on shear wave velocities measured from
down-hole seismic surveys and calculated using the
correlation developed in terms of penetration tests,
the shear wave velocity. profiles were calculated for
all insitu test locations (Iyisan 1996).
As shown in Figure 17, even though there was
significant scatter in data set, it was possible to
observe the decrease in damage ratio as equivalent
shear wave velocity increases, indicating a decrease
in amplification with increasing soil stiffness. It was
possible to obtain a correlation between damage
ratios and equivalent shear wave velocities
calculated for selected mesh points but the
correlation coefficient was relatively low, R=0.37
(Ansal & Lav 1995).
Figure 17. Variation of damage ratio with respect to
equivalent shear wave velocity in Erzincan
The equivalent shear wave velocity may not be a
very suitable parameter for the case of heterogeneous
subsoil conditions with alternating layers of different
properties. In such cases equivalent shear wave
velocity may not be sufficient to differentiate among
different types of soil profiles (Bouckovalas 1997).
Although equivalent shear wave velocity could be
used for explaining the differences in the damage equivalent shear wave velocity and R=0.65 for
distribution to a certain extent, it was not possible to microtremor measurements) were relatively higher
accurately model damage distribution only based on indicating that local soil conditions were more
equivalent shear wave velocities or layer thickness. dominant in the damage distribution in Dinar (Ansal
This was expected because equivalent shear wave et al., 1997). The presence of softer soil layers and
velocity reflects only average properties of insitu soil high ground water table can be one reason for more
layers without taking into account the influence of significant effect of site conditions.
earthquake characteristics. However structural
damage may be due to the coupled effects of
earthquake source and local site conditions and it
would not be sufficient to use parameters only
related to site conditions to model structural damage
distribution (Ansal & Siyahi 1995).

4.2 Site Conditions in Dinar

Dinar is located partly on the hills and partly in a
valley extending below the hills. The surface
geology of the hills to the east of the town consists
of limestone, mar1 and schist. The flat zone is
covered with alluvium deposit containing alternating
layers of loose to medium dense silty sands and soft
to medium stiff silty fat clays at some locations of
organic nature.
The damage distribution in Dinar indicates the
effects of the differences in the geotechnical
conditions. The buildings located on rocky hill
slopes suffered relatively minor damage while heavy
damage occurred in the valley. The damage survey
conducted by the General Directorate of Disaster
Affairs revealed large variations in damage ratios
within different districts in Dinar.
Geotechnical investigations composed of insitu
penetration tests, seismic wave velocity
measurements were carried out to evaluate the
effects of soil conditions. The borings in Dinar have
shown soil stratifications consisting of alluvium
deposit composed of alternating layers of silty clay
and clayey sand. The ground water table is almost at
the ground surface. Microtremors measurements
were also conducted at different locations within the
town to investigate the effects of local site
conditions. The amplification ratios are calculated
for all the microtremor records taken within each
district based on spectral ratios of horizontal to
vertical component at each point. In order to
minimise the effects of local sources, an averaging
procedure was adopted to obtain the representative
amplification curve for each district.
Although the construction properties of
buildings in Dinar were similar, different damage
ratios observed in different district indicate that the
local soil conditions could be one of the important
factors affecting in the damage distribution. Figure
18 shows the damage ratio correlations between
amplification ratios determined from microtremors
and calculated from equivalent shear wave velocities
for the eight districts in Dinar. In comparison to
Erzincan, the correlation coefficients (R=0.78 for Figure 19. Soil profile at Dinar strong motion station

889
 A detailed geotechnical investigation including
in-situ seismic wave velocity tests by Suspension PS
Logging technique were conducted to determine the
soil stratification and soil properties by the Dinar
strong motion station. As shown Figure 19, the soil
profile consisted mostly of sandy, silty, clay layers
with shear wave velocities ranging between 150-250
&sec in the top 42 m. Very stiff and dense sandy
clayey gravel layer with shear wave velocities
around 600 d s e c was encountered below this depth.
Figure 20. Normalised absolute acceleration spectra
for different earthquake recorded at Dinar strong
motion station
890
It is also possible to demonstrate this source and
site effects based on the recorded accelerations at the
Dinar strong motion station during different
earthquakes. As shown in Fig.20, there are
significant differences among the normalised
absolute acceleration response spectra for different
earthquakes. All of these recorded accelerations
were from shallow near field medium strong
earthquakes with epicentres ranging from 2 to 19 km
and magnitudes ranging between ML=4.1-5.9. The
recorded peak accelerations were in the range of
0.069-0.330 g representing medium strong to strong
ground motions that may have induced elasto-plastic
behaviour of soil layers. As can be observed in
Fig.20, the differences in predominant soil periods
and amplification ratios are different for each
earthquake relatively independent of magnitude,
epicentre distance, and peak acceleration values.
It is interesting to see the shift in the acceleration
spectra towards longer periods and the decrease in
the spectral amplifications with the increase in the
peak accelerations. In addition, the similar shift is
also observed for the records registered in the same
day with relatively limited time in between. This
indicates that the increase in the pore pressures and
degradation of soil stiffness due to the first event can
be one reason for the observed behaviour in the
second earthquake. It is likely that pore pressure
generated during the first ground shaking have not
dissipated due to the clayey properties of the soil
layers. Consequently during the following
earthquake the response of the soil layers are more
elasto-plastic with lower spectral amplification and
longer predominant periods.
Figure 21. Normalised absolute acceleration spectra
at different stations of Dinar strong motion network
A strong motion network was established by KOERI
(Durukal, et al., 1998) to monitor the aftershocks in
Dinar at different site conditions. As can be
observed from the observed absolute acceleration
spectra the amplification and predominant
characteristics are different for each case even under
weak ground motions. The spectra given in Figure
21 were calculated from the NS acceleration records
obtained during an aftershock with magnitude
M L = ~1.. The epicentral distances for the recording
stations are between 8.4-5.2 km. The station DSI
was located on rock and the station DDH was on
weathered rock in the transition zone between the
hills and the valley. The other two stations, DJK and
DCE were in the town located on medium stiff-soft
soil layers of limited thickness and station DKH was
located farther in the valley on deeper alluvial
deposits. The peak ground accelerations recorded
were between 0.088 g (DKH) and 0.016 g (DSI).
The recorded peak ground accelerations as well as
the spectral accelerations (Fig. 21) were much higher
in the stations located in the valley on the soil layers.
4.3 Adana-Ceyhan Earthquake
In the Adana-Ceyhan earthquake, the variation of
peak accelerations between Ceyhan and Karatag
strong motion stations indicate the importance of the
fault rupture directivity as shown in Figure 22. In
addition, the strong motion station in Karatag was
located on rock formations while Ceyhan station is
located on alluvial deposit. The normalised absolute
acceleration spectra for Ceyhan (Fig. 1 1) and Karatag
(Fig.12) for fault normal and parallel directions
indicate a difference in the predominant periods.
Predominant period for Karata? record was around
0.1 sec while it is around 0.6 sec for the Ceyhan
record indicating the effect of site conditions.
Figure 22. Variation of peak accelerations with
epicentral distance stations for Adana-Ceyhan
earthquake
After the earthquake, Earthquake Research
Department of General Directorate of Disaster
Affairs established a strong motion network
891
consisting of eight stations to monitor the aftershock
activity. The stations were situated on different
geological formations with different site conditions
that exist in the Adana-Ceyhan valley.
Most of the records obtained were from small
earthquakes with low peak acceleration amplitudes.
All the normalised absolute acceleration spectra
obtained at Ceyhan-PTT strong motion station
located on relatively deep alluvial deposit are shown
in Figure 23. The predominant periods and spectral
amplifications are very similar most likely due to the
dominant effect of soil layer in the elastic range.
The differences due to the earthquake source
characteristics are not very visible. This indicates
that the effect of source characteristics would be
more significant during strong ground shaking with
predominant periods longer that the predominant
period of the soil layers in the elastic range.
However, nonlinear elastoplastic response of soil
layers at this range may also be an important factor.
This level of ground shaking and the predominant
periods of the strong ground motion can be
considered as a threshold levels for accounting for
the effects of source conditions as well as for the
effects of nonlinear elastoplastic behaviour of local
soil layers.
Figure 23. Normalised absolute acceleration spectra
at different stations obtained from Adana-Ceyhan
network
5 CONCLUSIONS
The earthquake strong motion characteristics on the
ground surface are affected by the source conditions
in the near field. However, the local site conditions
especially in the case of softer alluvial deposits, may
also be important. Therefore, it is not possible to
evaluate the encountered damage distribution if
geotechnical site or earthquake characteristics are
considered separately. Depending on the earthquake
source characteristics such as fault orientation, fault
type and rupture mechanism, the induced earthquake
ground motions can have directional properties that
could influence the structural damage patterns. The
other important issue is related to the response of
soil layers under strong ground motions. Soil layers
depending on their properties could demonstrate
nonlinear elastoplastic response modifying the
strong ground motion characteristics.
One practical but empirical approach is to
modify the definitions of the design parameters used
in conventional seismic analysis to account for the
observed effects of earthquake source characteristics.
However, all of these observations are based on
previous earthquakes with very specific source and
site conditions. It could be difficult to extrapolate
these results to other sites with different geological
and tectonic characteristics and deterministic
decisions may be necessary to estimate the source
parameters (Studer & Koller, 1998).
The other possibility as suggested by Bommer et
al, (1998) is to utilise actual earthquake acceleration
records to estimate the earthquake characteristics on
the ground surface talung into consideration site and
source conditions. This approach appears more
reliable for performing seismic design and analysis.
However, it would more comprehensive if the
directional properties arising from earthquake source
and site conditions could be taken into account in the
analysis.
Another option is to conduct a much more
comprehensive analysis similar to those proposed by
Durukal, et al. (1998) and Berge et al., (1998). Even
though it may require much more sophisticated
tools, the method developed can account for
important aspects of earthquake generated strong
motion characteristics necessary for engineering
analysis and design. The most important but also
most subjective aspect of these and all other models
is the selection of the input parameters.
In order to perform a realistic assessment to
estimate the necessary parameters for earthquake
resistant structural design, it appears essential to
perform an accurate evaluation of input ground
motion. Presently deterministic and probabilistic
approaches are adopted independently or together. It
is preferable to adopt deterministic approach for
scenarios or input motion evaluation for special
plants, while probabilistic approach is more suitable
for seismic design and analysis. In addition,
seismicity of the region need to be evaluated and
possible range of expected earthquake characteristics
should be realistically estimated. The observations
and findings strongly indicate that it is essential to
conduct a comprehensive source and site response
analysis to have a realistic ground motion estimates.
892
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Modeling of liquefaction-induced shear deformation

Ahmed Elgmal - University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Gal$, USA
Zhaohui Ymg - Columbia University,A?K, USA
Ender Parra -INTEVEP SA, Venezuela
Ricardo Dobry - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troj AX,USA

ABSTRACT: A constitutive model is developed to reproduce salient aspects associated with seismically-
induced soil liquefaction (medium to dense clean cohesionless soils). Attention is mainly focused on the
deviatoric (shear) stress-strain response mechanism. Soil cyclic shear behavior during liquefaction is
modeled to display a significant regain in stiffness and strength with the increase in deformation during
each cycle of applied load. This behavior appears to play a major role in dictating the magnitude of shear
deformations as observed in laboratory tests and manifested in acceleration records from earthquakes
and centrifuge experiments (clean sands and non-plastic silts). Constitutive model parameters are se-
lected to represent medium, medium-dense and dense clean cohesionless soils. Using these parameters,
the resulting model response is presented under simple-shear cyclic loading situations. Further modeling
accuracy may be achieved based on a more thorough understanding of the underlying physical processes.

KEYWORDS: Liquefaction, cyclic-mobility, sand, constitutive modeling, earthquake, plasticity

1. INTRODUCTION a dominant role in dictating the extent of shear

During liquefaction, recent records (Holzer
et al. [9], Zeghal and Elgamal [23], Youd and
Holzer [22]) of seismic site response have man-
ifested a possible strong influence of soil dila-
tion during cyclic loading. Such phases of di-
lation may result in significant regain in shear
stiffness and strength at large cyclic shear strain
excursions (Figure l), leading to: i) associated
instances of pore-pressure reduction, ii) appear-
ance of spikes in lateral acceleration records (as
a direct consequence of the increased shear re-
sistance), and most importantly, iii) a strong re-
straining effect on the magnitude of cyclic and ac-
cumulated permanent shear strains. This restraint
on shear strain has been referred to as a form
of cyclic-mobility in a large number of pioneer-
ing liquefaction studies (e.g., Seed and Lee [16],
Casagrande [a], Castro [3], Castro and Poulos [4],
Seed [17]). For the important situations of bi-
ased strain accumulation due to an initial locked-
in shear stress, this pattern of behavior may play
deformations. Currently, the above mentioned ef-
fects are thoroughly documented by a large body
of experimental research (employing clean sands
and clean non-plastic silts), including centrifuge
experiments (e.g., Dobry et al. [5], Taboada [?I,
Dobry et al. [6]), shake-table tests, and cyclic lab-
oratory sample tests (Arulmoli [l]). A thorough
summary has been compiled (Elgamal et al. [S]) of
the relevant: i) seismic response case histories, ii)
recorded experimental (centrifuge, shake table and
laboratory) response, and iii) constitutive models
developed to simulate this phenomenon.
In the following pages, illustrations of the
above-described shear stress-strain mechanisms
are presented. Thereafter, the constitutive model
is discussed, and the salient model response char-
acteristics are presented.
2. CYCLIC LOADING MECHANISM
A thorough review of available relevent liter-
ature has been presented recently by Elgamal et

895
 Figure 1 : Wildlife-Refuge NS shear stress-strain and effective-stress histories during the Su-
perstition Hills 1987 Earthquake (evaluated from acceleration histories and computed,
after Elgamal et al. 1995).
al. [8]. An illustration of the dilative-tendency
mechanism observed in undrained cyclic labora-
tory tests is shown in Figure 2 (Arulmoli et al. [l]).
Similar response (Figure 1) was observed (Zeghal
and Elgamal [23]) at the US Imperial County
Wildlife Refuge site (1987 Superstition Hills earth-
quake records). Currently available constitutive
models that reproduce important aspects of the
above shear mechanism include those by Iai [lO],
Iai et al. [ll]and Tateishi et al. [20].
One-dimensional shear stress-strain histories
(e.g., Figure 3) calculated from recorded centrifuge
experiment acceleration and LVDT records (Dobry
et al. [5], Dobry et al. [6], Taboada [18], Elgamal et
al. [7], Taboada and Dobry [19]) also display a sim-
ilar response mechanism. Figures 2 and 3 depict
the mechanism of accumulation of cycle-by-cycle
deformations. Accuracy in reproducing this mech-
anism is among the most important goals of the
developed constitutive model.
3. CONSTITUTIVE MODEL
The model framework follows the procedures
developed by Prevost [15], based on the multi-
896
ple yield surface plasticity concept (Iwan [12], and
Mroz [13]). It was modified (Parra [14], Yang [all)
from its original form (Prevost [15]) to model the
shear stress-strain features discussed above (Figs.
1 - 3). Special attention was given to the devia-
toric - volumetric strain interaction under cyclic
loading; in particular during loading - unload-
ing - reloading near the yield envelope (Parra [14],
Yang [21]).
4. MODEL RESPONSE
Figures 4 and 5 illustrates the mechanism of
model response. These figures depict a simulation
of a biased cyclic shear stress - strain history. A
static driving “locked-in” shear stress was simu-
lated by applying load cycles in the range of 0.0
kPa to 60 kPa (Figure 4). Under this loading his-
tory, gradual pore pressure buildup and liquefac-
tion occurs (i.e., effective confinement approaches
zero, Figure 5). During liquefaction the model re-
produces a stable cycle-by-cycle accumulation of
shear deformation, along the lines of the experi-
mental response of Figure 2. For engineering ap-
plications, three performance scenarios were se-
 Nevada Sand ( D ~ 4%)
0

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time(sec)

-40 Initial deviatoric s u e s s offsett=21.5 k P a

10

-lot 1121 A sec -1

10
0

10
0
-10

10

- 10

Shear strain (%)

Figure 3: RPI Model 2 shear stress-strain histories with superposed static stress due to incli-
nation (Taboada 1995, Dobry et al. 1995, Elgamal et al. 1996).

897
Figure 4: Simulation of undrained biased cyclic simple shear tests.

Figure 5: Computed stress path during undrained biased cyclic simple shear.

898
lected t o represent clean medium, medium-dense
and dense sand (or silt) situations (relative density
in the range of about 40% to 90%). In Figure 4,
maximum accumulated cycle-by-cycle shear defor-
mations are about 1.3% (medium), 0.5% (medium-
dense) and 0.3% (dense).
The medium sand response was calibrated by
extensive laboratory tests (Arulmoli et al. [l])and
centrifuge experiments (Parra [14], Yang [21]). At
this point, the deformation characteristics for the
medium-dense and dense situations are qualitative
(motivated by the literature review in Elgamal et
al. [S]). Further data is needed to refine the esti-
mates of the proposed model, particularly for the
medium-dense and dense sand situations.
Additional Remarks
1. A “damage” parameter can allow the model
t o reproduce stiffness and strength degradation (as
a function of total accumulated plastic strain) as
depicted in Figure 1.
2. Note that loose cohesionless soils will possi-
bly display a dominant contractive response with
little dilative tendency and much increased level
of accumulated shear deformations. Such defor-
mations can be reproduced by the developed con-
stitutive model (among many others). However,
the emphasis placed on the deformation ranges of
Figure 4 reflects the interest in: i) estimation of
deformations that might be objectionable despite
the absence of a flow-failure (performance-based
design assessments), and ii) applicability to lique-
faction countermeasure effectiveness (e.g., by den-
sification). In this regard, the accurate estimation
of very large flow-failure deformations is not a pri-
mary goal, since loose soils (that may be vulnera-
ble to flow-failure) are unacceptable from a prac-
tical engineering point of view.
5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A new constitutive model is developed to model
the cyclic shear behavior of clean cohesionless
soils during liquefaction (emphasis on medium to
dense sand scenarios). The underlying mecha-
nisms are based on observed soil response dur-
ing earthquakes, centrifuge experiments and cyclic
laboratory tests. A range of response character-
istics (pore pressure buildup and accumulated de-
formations) is proposed as a first step towards a
performance-based liquefaction design methodol-
ogy*
899
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research reported herein was supported by
the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Cen-
ter (PEER), the United States Geological Survey
(grant No. 99HQGR0020) and INTEVEP, SA,
Venezuela. This support is gratefully acknowl-
edged.
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March, 115-131.
[l2] Iwan, W. D. (1967). “On a class of Models
for the Yielding Behavior of Continuous and
Composite Systems”, Journal of Applied Me-
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[13] Mroz, Z. (1967). “On the Description of
Anisotropic Work Hardening”, Journal of the
Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol. 15,
pp. 163 - 175.
[14] Parra, E. (1996). “Numerical Modeling of Liq-
uefaction and Lateral Ground Deformation
including Cyclic Mobility and Dilative Behav-
ior in Soil Systems”, Ph. D. dissertation, Dept.
of Civil Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute.
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[15] Prevost, J. H., (1985). “A Simple Plastic-
ity Theory for Frictional Cohesionless Soils”,
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering,
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[16] Seed, H. B. and Lee, I(.L. (1966). “Liquefac-
tion of Saturated Sands During Cyclic Load-
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[17] Seed, H. B. (1979). “Soil Liquefaction and
Cyclic Mobility Evaluation for Level Ground
During Earthquakes”, J of the Geotech Engng
Div, ASCE, 105, No. GT2, Feb., 201-255.
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in Sand using a Laminar Box”, Ph. D. Thesis,
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“Centrifuge Modeling of Earthquake-Induced
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 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Site effects: Recent considerations and design provisions

K. D. Pitilalus, D.G. Raptakis & K.A.Makra

Aristotle Universityof Thessaloniki, Greece

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses some recent developments and results of ground shaking site effects and
the few aspects of the definitions and considerations of modern seismic code provisions. (uBC97 and EC8)
regarding the evaluation of earthquake motion due to local soils and the surface geology. Instrumental as well
as numerical approaches are considered to study the physics of ground motion and 1D-2D amplification
phenomena in a specific test site (Euroseistest) of both horizontal and vertical components. Detailed 1D
analysis using different soil constitutive models (equivalent linear, nonlinear, elastoplastic-drained and
undrained) of a specific typical soil profile is performed and the results are discussed with code specifications.

1 INTRODUCTION works related to 2D effects. We also discuss the use

Observations from recent strong earthquakes such as
that of Mexico (1985), Loma Prieta (1989),
Northridge (1994) and Hanshin-Kobe (1995) and
from experimental sites like Ashigara Valley,
Euroseistest and others, have provided important
high quality data regarding the effects of surface
geology on ground motion.
In all recent congresses and conferences (4"
I.C.S.2.-Stanford 1991, 1l* W.C.E.E.-Acapulco
1996, 10" E.C.E.E.-Vienna 1994, 11'" E.C.E.E.-
Paris 1998 and ESG98, Yokohama, Japan) different
aspects of site amplification from experimental and
theoretical point of view were extensively discussed.
Issues like the nonlinear behavior, effects of irregular
geological configurations, near field phenomena,
basin edge and 2D effects are better understood and
in a certain degree quantified as well.
The enhancement of numerical modeling now
enables the study of 2D or 3D phenomena making
feasible source, path and 3D site effects to be studied
as a complete issue in the near future.
The motivation of this paper is mainly due to the
fact that there is certainly a gap to be filled between
research on site effects, which is constantly
producing new results and better insights of the
physics of ground motion and engineering practice as
it is mainly reflected in modern seismic codes
(UBC97, EC8).
In order to contribute in the discussion on the
above statement, we have selected for illustration in
the present paper, among the numerous interesting
subjects, some recent theoretical and experimental
of empirical methods for site effect estimations and
the amplification of the vertical component. Finally,
an important part of the work is focused on the
discussion and validation of nonlinear 1D models
which are still affecting explicitly or implicitly the
design response spectra of modern codes.
2 COMPLEX SITE EFFECTS
In the last few years many studies have analyzed 2D
site effects in the elastic range on ground motions
(Aki 1993, Bard 1994, Moczo et al. 1996), showing
that differences relative to the 1D response may
appear due to the lateral propagation of locally
generated surface waves and possible 2D resonance
phenomena. Theoretical 3D elastic response studies
indicate that differences relative to 2D are only
quantitative. In Kobe, it has been demonstrated
(Kawase, 1996) that the zone of ground motion
amplification is induced by the constructive
interference between basin edge diffracted waves and
the direct S waves.
It is well documented from theoretical and
experimental studies that long period surface waves
are generated in rather large size structures (Osaka
basin, Kanto plaine, Los Angeles basin). From a
practical point of view, the consequence is a clear
inadequacy of 1D models to describe site effects at
long periods. The question is whether these
phenomena are likely to occur in smaller size
structures (i.e. only a few kilometers wide)?
Recent experimental studies using data from

901
arrays (ESG98 Special Session on Test Sites)
demonstrated that the deep geological structure has a
significant impact in the ground motion mainly
because it affects the incident wave field in terms of
incident wave angle, amplitude and frequency
content (Uetake & Kudo, 1998).
On the other hand, it is well known that modern
seismic codes (UBC97, EC8) consider seismic site
response as a 1D vertical wave propagation.
Nevertheless, seismic response coefficients and
spectral shapes for different soil classes are used in
order to quantifj site effects. The site classification is
based exclusively on the vertical soil profile.
Moreover, in UBC97 the uppermost soil layers are
taken into account disregarding whether the total
thickness of sediments is greater than 30m, and also
their dynamic properties of the sediments and
bedrock.
Three main questions arise:
a) Are 2D or 3D phenomena systematically
insignificant in engineering practice?
b) How representative could an estimation of the
site response be if it is derived on the basis of
the first 30m only?
c) How reliable are the site coefficients of
UBC97?
The aim of the instrumental and theoretical studies
presented herein is to contribute to the discussion on
the physics of 2D ground motion phenomena and to
try to give some answers to the above questions. As
an example of complex structure with irregular
geological configuration of sedimentary deposits, we
examine the case of Euroseistest instrumented site.
This is located on a 5.5 kin wide and 200 m deep
sedimentary valley, 30 km eastwards of Thessaloniki
in northern Greece. Volvi valley is well investigated
in geophysical and geotechnical terms (Pitilakis et al.
Figure 1. NNW-SSE 2D model of the Volvi
structure (Pitilakis et al., 1998; Raptakis et al.,
1998b).
902
1998, Jongmans et al. 1998 and Raptakis et al.
1998b). The NNW-SSE cross-section of the valley is
depicted in Figure 1.
In this study the results are based on recordings
which come from a seismograph and an
accelerograph network. The first included 24 Reftek
seismographs and the second 7 free-field and 2
downhole 3-D accelerographs. Both arrays were
installed along the cross-section (Fig. 1) and gave a
large data set (Raptakis 1995, Raptakis et al. 1998a
and Riepl et al. 1998).
To examine in detail the relation between
observed, 1D (Raptakis et al., 1998b) and 2-D
(Chavez-Garcia et al., 1998) site effects in the
frequency and time domain, two well recorded events
have been selected; the first event (06.25.94, M=3,
R=25km) was recorded at the seismograph array and
the second one (05.03.95, M=5.8, R=32km) at the
accelerograph array. The use of the most commonly
applied empirical SSR and HVSR techniques in
estimating site effects and the reasons of the
amplification of the vertical component are also
discussed below.
2.1 Analysis of real data
SSR - Sfvdy in frequency domain
The study of site response in frequency domain using
spectral ratios of Fourier amplitude (SSR)
(Borcherdt, 1970) of entire seisinograms and
accelerograms, along the cross-section, show that the
lateral discontinuities and the complex geometry of
the valley are correlated with the amplification/
deamplification at low resonant frequencies (up to
3Hz). The reference site at the northern edge of the
valley is assumed to be free of site effects (Steidl et
al., 1996).
The dense distribution of the seismographs along
the cross-section gave the possibility to correlate the
observations in terms of transfer functions (TF) of
both radial and transversal components with the
underlying soil conditions. Figure 2 illustrated the
peaks of fundamental and higher resonant
frequencies up to 2.5 Hz commonly and distinctly
observed at all TF, for the transversal component.
Most of them are amplified by a mean factor of 20 at
the center of the valley. However, the amplification is
not uniform (Fig. 2). This could be due to the
important interactions among waves with low
frequency content. The faults play an important role
in the amplification pattern at the sites in their
vicinity and the center of the valley. Both horizontal
components are similar. However, the effect on the
transversal component is much more significant than
that on the radial one. Additionally, amplification
factors of the vertical components are almost
comparable with those of the horizontal ones,
whereas accelerograms’ TF present similar shape
 Figure 3. TF for P, S, and SW time-windows, of the
transversal accelerograms of all surface and down-
hole stations (Raptakis et al., 1998b).

Figure 2. Resonant frequencies and amplification

factors of transversal seismograms along the cross-
section. 1D amplification factors (bullets) from
theoretical TF (Raptakis et al., 1998b).

with those of seismograms. The above clearly

indicate that the complex geometry of the valley
strongly affect the incoming wave-train.

Analysis of time-windows
The study of individual time-windows (P, S and SW
waves) of the accelerograms’ transversal components
within the valley, shows large spectral amplitudes of
SW-window for frequencies up to 2Hz (Fig. 3). The
maximum spectral amplitudes are almost comparable
with those of the entire signals at the same frequency
band. The S window amplification values within the
valley are lower than those of SW window (Fig. 3).
As it is well known, TF is only a ratio as a
fbnction of frequency and phase information are lost.
Therefore, evolutionary spectra of transversal
accelerograms at the center of the valley (TSTO) and
at the reference site (PRO), filtered with a low pass
cut-off 5 Hz filter, are calculated (Fig. 4). The
spectrogram at TSTO for frequencies of interest (0.5-
1 Hz), shows all maxima between 16.5-25.0sec, Figure 4. Evolutionary spectra of the transversal
where long period waves dominate. Furthermore, accelerograms at TSTO (top) and PRO (bottom)
lower maximum appears at the same frequencies in (Raptakis et al., 1998b).
the S time-window (14-16.5 s). The fact that
observed maxima in both S and SW time-windows
appear at the frequency 0.7 Hz, means that both S hand, the spectrogram at PRO shows that S window
and SW time-windows contribute to the spectral presents maxima higher than those of SW window.
amplification of the fkndainental peak. On the other In combination, these spectra show: a) SW waves

903
contribute significantly to the resonant peak at 0.7
Hz at the center of the valley and b) the striking
difference, between the TSTO and PRO means that
SW waves appear at the center of the valley but not
at the edges. This is also confirmed with TF for
stations at the southern edge of the valley, where SW
contribution is lower than that of S waves (Fig. 3).
Analysis of downhole data
The contribution of SW window with depth has also
been observed. Transfer hnctions of S and SW
windows at 17 and 72m depth show that the
amplification of SW window is constantly 2-3 times
larger than those of the S window (Fig. 3). This
means that the propagation of locally generated
surface waves affect a large volume of soil deposits,
Figure 5 . Transversal seismograms (bottom) and
synthetics (top) with respect to the cross-section
(Raptakis et al., 1998b).
lying in the center of the valley and not only the
shallow soil formations. The contribution of locally
generated surface waves remains stable with depth at
the center of the valley and affects all three
components.
904
Observations on time-histories
A quick look at the seismograms (Fig. 5), filtered
with a low pass cut-off 3.5 Hz filter to include the
most energetic phases, is adequate for the distinction
of the strong differences in the duration of shaking
between the stations at the edges and at the center of
the valley. The long duration recorded between the
central faults is due to locally generated surface
waves which are distributed either in the S or SW
time-length. This confirms the fact that S and SW
waves appear with the same frequencies (up to 3.5
Hz) along the entire time history. Consequently, it is
difficult to distinguish the contribution of these phase
types in the frequency domain. The study of
accelerograins gave similar results.
Vertical coniponent and HVSR technique
Recent observations on the vertical ground motion
suggest that it is actually amplified and that the
coininonly adopted vertical to horizontal response
spectra ratio at 2/3 may be significantly exceeded at
short periods in the near source distance range (Silva,
1997). In the Euroseistest case, though the
earthquakes studied actually come from long
distances. Nevertheless, their vertical accelerograms
at the center of the valley show amplification of the
same order as that of the horizontal ones. This is due
to the contribution of Rayleigh waves which appear
as a part of surface waves in the vertical component.
This explains the significant contribution in the
amplification at low frequencies where S-wave
resonance occurs. The windowing procedure of the
Figure 6. TF for P, S, and SW windows of all surface
and down-hole vertical accelerograms (Raptakis et
al., 1998b).
vertical component (Fig. 6), shows for all surface and
downhole accelerographs no contribution of P-wave
at low frequencies (up to 2.0 Hz), as it is anticipated.
Moreover, the S window amplification factor were
lower than those of SW at the stations within the
valley. Hence in case, Rayleigh waves appear, a part
of them would be in the vertical component. In fact,
the largest amplification (2-3 times) appeared at the
SW window, instead of the S one at the superficial
stations within the valley. It is clear that surface
waves which are dominant in the SW window
contribute significantly to the resonance’s peak.
Raptakis et al. (1998a) related directly the mismatch
of the amplifications factors between horizontal to
vertical ratio method (HVSR) and SSR, with the
large amplification of the vertical component. In
Figure 7 the mean spectral ratios HVSR and SSR for
horizontal and vertical components from a lot of
earthquakes are presented. This amplification
degrades the usefblness of the vertical component as
reference. This fact could justify the disparity
between HVSR and SSR.
Figure 7. HVSR, SSR for horizontal and vertical
components mean spectral ratios from a lot of
accelerograms (Raptakis et al., 1998a).
2.2 1D theoretical analysis
The study of the empirical TF and the observations
on time-histories showed that the amplification of
ground motion was not only due to the resonance of
vertically propagated shear waves. 1D theoretical
estimates (Kennett 1983) of site response were
computed for all instrumented sites. 1D soil profiles
were extracted from the 2D model (Fig. 1). The
transition from high resonant frequencies with low
amplification levels at the edges of the cross-section
t o low frequencies (smaller than 1Hz) with high
amplification factors showed that the computed site
responses were directly related to the depth of the
bedrock and Vs velocity contrast. Despite the
agreement of resonant frequencies (0.7 and 2 Hz)
905
between 1D and empirical TF, a large disparity of the
amplitudes within the valley was observed.
Theoretical fbndamental peaks were lower than the
empirical ones (Fig. 2). This is natural since the
contribution of the locally generated surface waves is
not included in 1D site response.
The results of the 1D modeling in frequency
domain are confirmed by synthetic time-histories
obtained from the convolution with a reference
record. Convoluted signals were again filtered with a
low-pass cut-off 3.5 Hz filter. All of them present the
dominant ground motion in a narrow time-window,
as the S one of data’s (Fig. 5). The last part of the
synthetics, which should correspond to the locally
generated surface waves, shows very small amplitude
and does not present any variation along the cross-
section. This is not surprising since Love waves are
generated only within the valley because of lateral
propagation (2D effect and not 1D).
2.3 2D theoretical analysis
A 2D SH-wave finite difference method (Moczo
1989, Moczo and Bard 1993 and Moczo et al. 1996)
was used (Chavez-Garcia et al., 1998), because a)
the structure (Fig. 1) is irregular and b) the response
of the valley is 2D and not 3D (Riepl et al. 1998).
Time domain seismograms (with finite attenuation
- damping) from 155 receivers distributed along the
free surface are shown in Figure 8. They have been
low-pass filtered with corner frequency of 3.5 Hz.
The receivers at the center of the valley show clearly
the 1D resonance of the sediments, but the largest
amplitudes are not related to vertical propagation.
The synthetic seismograms are very clearly
dominated by locally generated Love waves. The
identification of Love waves is confirmed by many
Figure 8. Synthetics seismograms from 2D modeling
with respect to the cross-section (Chavez-Garcia et
al., 1998).
other analyses i.e. modal analysis and f-k spectra
from downhole and CIES array recordings,
respectively. The main result of Chavez-Garcia et al.
(1998) is that both S and Love waves appear with
the same characteristics. Therefore, surface waves
cannot be identified in the frequency domain TF,
since they contribute to the main ''resonance peak" of
the empirical TF rather than appearing as separate
peaks of amplification.
Transfer fimctions relative to input ground motion
have been calculated based on the seismograms of
Figure 8. The center of the valley shows a first peak
of amplification at about 0.85 Hz. This peak is not
homogeneous across the valley and that it breaks at
two points at the center of the valley. This
heterogeneity of the TF at the resonant frequency
must have resulted from the interaction of surface
waves. This is shown in the spectrogram of the
synthetic seismogram at the position of TST. Figure
9 shows that the energy that contributes to the
"resonant" peak at 0.8 Hz is distributed all along the
synthetic, including both ID resonance and surface
waves. In other words, the results of 2D model
confirms the existence of the surface waves locally
generated which have been already observed in the
recordings.
Figure 9. Evolutionary spectrum of synthetic
seismogram at the center of the valley (Chavez-
Garcia et al., 1998).
Does 2 0 resonance exist?
We showed above that the main 2D effect is due to
the lateral propagation of surface waves because of
the complex structure of the valley. At this point it is
useh1 to show whether 2D resonance contribute to
2D site effects appeared in Euroseistest experiment.
The existence of 2D resonance due to SH waves, in
sedimentary valleys, is correlated with the shape ratio
(Wa) and the velocity contrast (Cv), as Bard &
Bouchon (1985) and Chavez-Garcia & Faccioli
906
Figure 10. Existence condition of the 2D resonance
in sedimentary valleys for SH case. The curve was
empirically determined by Bard & Bouchon (1985);
solid circle show the Volvi valley (after Chavez-
Garcia & Faccioli, 1998).
(1998) have proposed (Fig. 10). In Euroseistest,
these parameters are equal to 0.08 and 5.8 assumed
as depth, h, 200 in, semi-distance of the valley, a,
2500 in, Vs of bedrock 2600 m / s and a mean value
of sediments Vs 450 mds. This point on the hla-Cv
diagram in Figure 10 falls in the area where ID and
lateral propagation appear and not 2D resonance. As
it is evident and Chavez-Garcia & Faccioli (1998)
have mentioned, the properties of the materials are
not crucial on the basis that the sedimentshedrock
velocity contrast controls the shape ratio value for
which the main phenomenon shifis from lateral wave
propagation to 2D resonance.
2.4 How could 2D phenomena be included in design
spectra?
In this section an example is presented for the
evaluation of whether the elastic design spectra
should be modified in order to take into account site
effects of complex nature i.e. 2D caused by irregular
geologic structures such as Euroseistest sedimentary
deposits. It is well known that ratios of 2D results
relative to ID case (aggravation factor) are proposed
(Faccioli 1996, Faccioli at al., 1998). To this end, we
compute the response spectra of the strong event at
the center of the valley and the convoluted signals
from ID and 2D TF with PRO (Fig. 11). We observe
that response spectra of the recording and 2D
convoluted are quite similar for a band of periods
ranging from 0.25 to 3 sec. On the contrary, for
periods shorter than 0.25 sec the similarity of the 1D
spectra and the recording is observed, while for
larger periods the disparity is quite large. Moreover,
the ratio between 2D and 1D response spectra (Fig.
11) shows that the additional amplification

Figure 11. Normalized response spectra (top) for the
strong event and 1D / 2D convoluted signals at the
center of the valley. Aggravation factor (2DAD) in
comparison with the ratio of the event relative to ID
case (bottom).
introduced by 2D effects with respect to 1D response
attains a “mean” factor of 6 for periods larger than
0.25 sec. In addition to 2D/1D, the ratio of the
accelerogram response spectrum and ID has been
calculated. This ratio presents similar shape as that of
the aggravation factor (Fig. 11) despite the relative
fluctuation for the periods of interest (0.25-3 s). The
mean value of this ratio attains a factor of 4.
This qualitative result makes clear that a) an
aggravation factor may be introduced following a
very thorough and extensive theoretical and
experimental analysis of many different cases, b) the
aggravation factor should be used at periods which
correspond to the period content of surface waves
locally generated by the lateral propagation at the
center of the sedimentary deposits and c) the result
907
of Faccioli et al. (1998) for which the 2D aggravation
factor should only be used at periods shorter than the
1D resonance period at the center of the sedimentary
deposits, seems to be unconditional in Euroseistest
case, where amplification of 1D resonance and lateral
propagation appear at the fhndamental frequency.
2.5 Final considerations
Some significant considerations could be clarified by
the previous section. An example of a particular
structure of 2D sedimentary valleys was examined.
However, this example is adequate to confirm though
that the discussion started almost 20 years ago
regarding the fact in shallow alluvial valleys, such as
Euroseistest, locally generated surface waves is an
important phenomenon (Bard & Bouchon 1980a,b).
In the present study, only linear elasticity has been
considered in wave propagation theoretical
estimations, empirical determination of transfer
hnctions and response spectra obtained because of
the weak events which have been used. The specific
nature and the non-linear behavior of soil materials
are not examined. The previous results may be
summarized as follows:
-The study of empirical site response in the
frequency domain shows that SSR technique is
inadequate to give a complete understanding of the
physics of site effects because it reveals only a
partial image of site response and introduces
incertitudines related to the reference site.
- Frequency domain analysis of recordings showed
that the sediments filling the valley of Euroseistest
a) amplify ground motion by factors larger than 10
at low frequencies (up to 3 Hz),
b) provoke strong interaction between different
wave-types of low frequency content at the center
of the valley, because of the irregular geometry of
the structure and
c) amplify all three components in the same order of
amplitudes with emphasis to the vertical
component.
. Observations on recordings and transfer fknctions
of specific time-windows show that surface waves
appear at the center of the valley and contribute
significantly to the ID resonance, making difficult
to distinguish the contribution of different type of
waves in “resonance”.
. Vertical component is amplified because of the
Rayleigh waves locally generated by the lateral
propaEation. This amplification influence the
reliability of the HVSR amplitudes.
’ 1D inodeling cannot estimate reliably and
quantitatively the amplification where complex
phenomena are included and cannot represent the
effect of locally generated surface waves
concerning the duration of shaking within the valley
in time domain. This fact may lead to erroneous
predictions of design ground motion.
- 2D modeling suggest that:
a) locally generated surface waves contribute
significantly to ground motion, and that they appear
at the same frequencies as resonance of vertically
propagating waves,
b) 2D TF confirm the important interactions
between the low frequency different wave-types as
they observed on the recordings.
All these show that the amplification observed at
the center of the valley is due to the 1D resonance
and the lateral propagation. The geometry of the
Volvi valley does not justify 2D resonance. However,
aggravation factor (2D/1D) must be considered in
order to modify seismic design spectra since the:
-2D/lD attains a factor of 5 and present shape
comparable with that of the ratio between recording
and lD,
-the aggravation factor should be used at periods
where surface waves locally generated by the lateral
propagation appeared at the center of the valley.
Finally, this study illustrates that a complex
structure may produce complex site effects inferring
2D phenomena which are governed by the velocity
contrast between sediments and bedrock. In this
case, the common practice in which the amplification
is based on a 1D soil profile of the topmost layers
(first 30 m as suggested in Borcherdt 1994) may be
not conditional for evaluating safely the additional
response induced by 2D response.
3 SITE EFFECTS ESTIMATION: HOW VALID IS
THE 30m ASSUMPTION?
The new UBC97 code introduced the concept of the
uppermost 30m Vs profile as a single parameter to
evaluate the design response spectra for different
shaking intensity levels (Borcherdt 1994).
Certainly, its main advantage is the simplicity and
the unambiguous evaluation by conventional
geotechnical surveys. But is it accurate enough to
estimate site effects using this assumption?
The importance of the geometry and the velocity
contrast between alluvial deposits and underlying
bedrock has already been discussed. In this section,
we present two examples where the use of the
uppermost 30m to estimate site effect may lead to
ambiguous results.
The first example comes from Euroseistest
downhole array (Figs 12a,b) for the same event
presented in previous sections; the second is a strong
motion event recorded at Port Island downhole array
during the 1995 Kobe earthquake (Figs 12c,d). The
elastic response spectra at different depths and their
ratios are presented.
In Euroseistest, we observe a clear amplification
in high frequencies (T<O.Ssec). Moreover, a signi-
ficant amplification at long periods (1 .O<T<2.Osec) is
observed for the response spectra ratio between
908
Figure 12. Euroseistest (up) and Port Island (down)
downhole arrays. Response spectra (left) and
response spectra ratios (right)
surface and 72m depth. However, no amplification at
long periods is recorded between surface and 17m
depth. The ID resonance phenomena at the
hndainental frequency of this site (0.7Hz) combined
with the contribution of locally generated surface
waves disappear when only the uppermost layers are
taken into consideration.
In the Port Island array due to the liquefaction and
the strong inelastic behavior of the surficial soil layer
the ground motion is deamplified and the most severe
response is observed at the fhdamental period of the
deposit (“1 .Osec). The recorded response spectra
ratio between surface and 32.0m depth give practical
no amplification for T>0.5 sec while the response
spectra amplification between surface and 83 .Om
depth (stiff-hard soil) is quite important.
Consequently, the consideration of the top 30m in
order to classifL soil and site categories should be
reconsidered especially in the case of deep soft soil
deposits.
4 ID SOIL AMPLIFICATION MODELS AND
THEIR IMPACT TO CODE PROVISIONS
Code provisions and current engineering practice are
extensively and constantly based on 1D site
characterization and 1D theoretical models.
The possible influence of 2D effects on site
response is discussed in the previous sections. The
aim of the present chapter is three-folded: (a) to
point out some topics of modeling the nonlinear
behavior of soils, (b) to examine the effect of
nonlinear behavior on the amplification
characteristics of ground motion in terms of the
elastic response spectra and (c) to discuss some
topics of the recent UBC97 local site response
provisions for soft soils.
The amplification of surface ground motion has
two main characteristics. In soils with low S wave
velocity, the accumulated energy results in
amplification. Therefore, as the ground becomes
softer, amplification becomes larger (elastic range).
On the other hand, under strong dynamic loads the
ground becomes softer and shear strength decreases.
Hence, the peak acceleration becomes smaller and
the predominant period of soil profile is shifted to
higher values. Consequently, amplification occurs
under small ground shaking with decreasing absolute
value as the ground shaking level is increased. This is
due mainly to nonlinear soil behavior and has been
extensively reported (Idriss 1990, Dickenson & Seed
1996).
1D soil amplification models should be capable to
reproduce accurately these phenomena. In order to
study the effects of different nonlinear soil models in
1D site response, an idealized soil profile of 30m soft
clay (IP=30) with shear wave velocity of 200dsec
(T0=0.6sec) subjected to five seismic motion
recorded at rock or very stiff soils with PGA varying
from 0.lg to 0.7g (Table 1) was examined. The
profile is classified as soil type C according to EC8
and SD according to UBC97.

Earthquake I M R(km) PGAg

1978 Thessaloniki-AS I 5.1 15.0 0.091
1995 Kozani 6.6 12.0 0.208
1971 SanFernando 6.6 27.6 0.309
1989 Loma Prieta 7.0 28.0 0.430
1995 Hanshin (Kobe) 7.2 12.0 0.680

Three different numerical models are used: (a) the

well known equivalent linear approach (EQL-
SHAKE), (b) a direct nonlinear approach in which
the shear modulus in each soil layer is modified at
each time step according to the current strain
following an hyperbolic stress-strain relationship
(NL-DESRA) and (c) an elastoplastic model under
drained (EP-D) and undrained conditions (EP-U-
CYBERQUAKE).

4.1 PGA on soil vs PGA on rock

Figure 13a presents the computed PGA values
together with the proposed curves for this soil type
by UBC97 and Dickenson & Seed (1996). As it was
expected, Dickenson & Seed’s curve is very similar
to our EQL results because they have also used
essentially the same model. UBC97 curve gives
higher PGA values. This curve has been developed Figure 13. Site coefficients for (a) zero period, (b)
using few recorded data from recent earthquakes i.e. short periods, (c) intermediate and (d) long periods.

909
Mexico 1985 and Loma Prieta 1989, and an
extensive site response analyses performed mainly
with the EQL model. Nonlinear and elastoplastic
models are producing clearly lower amplifications.
The advantages and disadvantages of the EQL
method are well known. They have been extensively
discussed by many researchers and recently reviewed
by Yoshida (1998). It is well known that this
approximate method based on a frequency domain
analysis, has a tendency to give larger accelerations
and shear stress under large earthquakes and lower
amplification is high frequency range. The reasons of
the latter phenomena are many. It should, at first,
noted that the total stress analysis is unable to take
into account the degradation of stiffness which is due
to the pore-pressure build up and consequently it
might overestimate the surface ground motion. It
must be admitted though that as EQL analysis is
actually a linear analysis the large amplification may
come from the resonance as Finn et al. (1978, 1991)
mentioned, regardless of the magnitude of ground
motion.
Yoshida (1 998) expresses a rather different
opinion which is explained through Figure 14. If the
stress strain curve specified for the analysis is the
solid line, then linear relation used is the line OAC.
Therefore, peak shear stress is not ~2 which
corresponds to the point B but ZI.So the peak stress
peak strain relationship is expressed by the dashed
line; the shear stress is overestimated and larger
amplification begin to appear as nonlinear behavior
becomes predominant.
Figure 14. Scheme showing a reason why equivalent
linear method exhibits larger shear strain than
specified.
In any case, the key parameter controlling the
amplification in EQL analysis is the way to estimate
the effective shear strains y.ff from the maximum
strains y,,. Most researchers consider the ye^ as a
constant percentage of y,,,, (a=65%) independently
of the magnitude of shaking.
Idriss & Sun (1992) proposed a modification of a
according to the magnitude of the “design”
910
earthquake with the simple empirical equation
[a=O.l(M-l)]. Practically, they suggest the use of
smaller a values. However, it is difficult to accept
that the effective strains for a specific seismic ground
motion depend only on the earthquake magnitude.
Sugito et al. (1994) suggest an improvement of
EQL analysis by taking into account frequency
dependent characteristics. They incorporate a
frequency fknction in the definition of the effective
strain which is defined as a ratio of the shear strain
Fourier amplitude with respect to its maximum value.
4.2 Site coefficients
Figures 13b,c and d present the computed average
ratios of response spectra, or site coefficient F, for
short periods (0-0.5sec), intermediate (0.5-1.5sec)
and long (>1.5sec) periods for different shaking
levels. The relative short (Fa) and long period (Fv)
site coefficients of uBC97 (Dobry et al. 1997) and
EC8 are also presented.
At short periods, all analyses produce lower site
coefficients than UBC’s Fa. EC8 implies a constant
coefficient equal to 0.9. The nonlinear undrained
elastoplastic analysis show deamplification for rock
shaking intensities higher than 0.25-0.38,
At intermediate periods due to the resonance
phenomena (T0=0.6sec), the EQL analysis gives
higher site coefficient, especially at high rock shaking
levels. The nonlinear elastoplastic analysis show high
site coefficient at low intensities while for very strong
shaking the ratio of response spectra tends to unity.
For long periods, the EQL site coefficients are
clearly lower than 2.0. Undrained elastoplastic
analysis present important amplification factors at
low shaking intensities. For PG&o,k=0.4-0.5g, they
tend again to unity.
UBC97 coefficient Fv follows in general the EP
analysis with lower values for low intensities and
higher ones at very strong shaking levels.
4.3 Main considerations
The present parametric study is certainly very limited
and has a tentative and indicative character.
However, it is quite representative. The main
conclusions are the followings:
-The differences between several approaches of 1D
soil response models are very important
-The systematic use of one specific model and
especially the equivalent linear one, to calculate
response spectra values for design code
specifications present serious weaknesses and it
does not always lie in the conservative side.
-The elastoplastic model produce a quite different
picture of the response spectra ratio but fkrther
effort is needed in order to validate the numerical
models and the input geotechnical parameters
 which normally are not provided by conventional
in-situ or laboratory testing.
-UBC97 site coefficients Fa and Fv are rather
conservative for strong input ground motions. The
corresponding EC8 factors may be considered as a
mean lower value at strong ground motion and they
could be higher for low intensities ground motion.
-Despite the substantial enhancement of numerical
modeling techniques no significant and rigorous
parametric study has been performed yet.
-The validation of the different theoretical models
with recordings at sites with well constrained soil
properties and geometry is very required.
5 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
The presented material contains some ideas that are,
in our opinion, of prior importance regarding the
current research on site effects and the necessity to
transfer the results of these studies to applications
including seismic codes.
Concerning ground response of complex
geological structures, 2D effects seem to have a
special practical interest and in near fbture they
should be included in the earthquake engineering
practice. At the same time, much more effort is
needed to systematically validate the numerical
predictions with data from dense instrumented sites
with very well known geotechnical and geological
structures. Further work along this approach must be
undertaken especially for reliable and low cost site
and soil characterization.
Concerning the ID ground response, we
illustrated the potential differences between different
nonlinear models and the important effect that might
have the use of the equivalent linear approach as a
single tool to estimate site response characteristics
for code’s specifications. There is an urgent need to
validate 1D numerical codes with well constrained
data and then perform a rigorous, code oriented,
parametric study with an unambiguous ID numerical
model taking into account inelastic phenomena under
realistic soil conditions.
Apart from these rather general and
methodological conclusions, there are a number of
areas where fbrther research is important and which
may affect fiiture generation of seismic codes. A
possible short list may be the following: Site effect
and ground amplification of nearby earthquakes, site
effects on very long period motions, site effects and
spatial variation, site effects and ground motion
duration, amplification of the vertical component,
influence of deep (below 3Om) geological formations
and rock properties, nature of nonlinearities in
ground motion, attenuation and damping.
It is also very important to fill the gap between
seismology, engineering seismology and earthquake
911
engineering through permanent cooperation schemes
in common research projects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work presented in this paper is mainly by the
European Commission, DG XI1 for Science,
Research and Development, Climate and Natural
Risks (ENV.4-CT96-0255).
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Effect of nonlinear soil properties on seismic amplification in surface layers

T. Kokusho
Civil Engineering Department of Chuo University, Japan

ABSTRACT: The effect of soil properties on seismic amplification is discussed with emphasis on soil
nonlincarity based on vertical array records for the main shock and aftershocks of the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu
carthquake. Clear dependency of average spectral amplification is confirmed not only on the Vs-ratio between
base and surface but also on the base acceleration probably due to soil nonlinearity effect. Soil nonlinearity
affecting the site amplification tcnds to be very large within about 30ni from the surface during a severe
shaking and below that depth moderate nonlinearity is exerted down to about 100m. Equivalent linear
analyses may still be applicable to such strong nonlinearity if appropriate equivalent properties can be chosen.
For a site with deep bed rock, reliable damping evaluation in a deep ground is of utmost importance for
reliable site amplification evaluation.

1 INTRODUCTION a soil nonlinearity effect as one of the significant

parameters in the local site amplification. In this
Local site amplification is one of the most important research these records are utilized to study the effect
factors in seismic zonation study. The site of soil properties on site amplification by means of
amplification is correlated to properties of soil layers data analyses including spectrum ratio. Nonlinearity
such as soil density, wave velocity and material in soil properties due to strain-dependency and
damping. At the same time it is expected to be liquefaction is addressed as well as depth-depcndcncy
highly dependent on the nonlinearity of soil properties of damping ratio based on the data analyses.
in soft soil sites in particular.
Nonlinear seismic response of soft ground due to
nonlinear soil properties was numerically evaluated
either by equivalent linear analyses (e.g. Schnabel
1972) or by step-by step nonlinear analyses (e.g.
Constantopoulos et al. 1973) almost for the past three
decades. In model tests, Kokusho (1982) performed
a shake table tests of a model ground in a laminar
shear box and demonstrated a clear reduction in
dynamic amplification due to increasing input
acceleration level. The test results were compared
with the equivalent linear analysis and thestep-by-step
nonlinear analysis based on the soil properties of the
model ground under a very low confining pressure
to find a fair agreement between them. More recently
several centrifuge shake table tests have been
conducted for sand layers in laminar shear boxes to
find clear amplification reduction with increasing
acceleration again. Thus, the nonlinearity of site
amplification due to strong input motions had
obviously been shown in numerical analyses and
model tests. Fig.1 Location of vertical array sites and epicenters
During the Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake valuable of main-shock and aftershocks
vertical array records were obtained, demonstrating

913
2 SITE CONDITIONS AND SEISMIC AMPLIFI- Table 1 Directional offsets for buried seismographs
CATION ALONG DEPTH

1
Site Depth of Directional offset (de Tee)*
Seism;gyph(m)-This research 1 21.
Sat0 et 1996'
Vertical arrays which could record the main-shock p, 0 0
of the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake (M,=7.2)
were located in four sites in the coastal zone around
the Osaka-Bay area as shown in Fig.1. The same
figure also indicates the fault zone including the
jiGX 1
83.4
0.0
24.9
25
0
6
15
0
0
epicenters of the main-shock as well as aftershocks.
The four sites were properly distributed by chance in 25.0 -30
100
terms of distances from the fault zone so that the
maximum accelerations are quite different from site 25.0 64 60
to site. Fig.2 depicts the vertical distribution of 100 48 60
maximum acceleration for the main shock at the four
Note*:The original data should be corrected with this value
sites, showing quite different style of amplification (plus; anti-clockwise, minus; clockwise) to have
according to the maximum acceleration at the deepest a directional coincidence with surface records.
seismograph level (abbreviated as the deepest level
or the base hereafter). The soil profiles and the
seismograph installation levels are shown for the
four sites in Fig.3 together with S-wave velocity (Vs)
measured by the down-hole logging method. The
deepest seismographs are installed at GL-83m in PI,
GL-97m in SGK, and GL-100m in TKS and KNK
respectively, and the geological condition there is
Pleistocene gravelly or clayey soils except for KNK
(a hard rock). Upper soil conditions at the four sites
are rather similar as shown in Fig.3, consisting of
smdy fill at the surface in most sites underlain by
Holocene clay and/or sand and farther underlain by
Pleistocene soils. Vs at the base layer of Pleistocene
gravelly soil in Pi, SGK and TKS is 380-480 m/s Fig.2 Distribution of maximum acceleration for main
shock along deuth at four vertical arrav sites

Fig.3 Soil profiles, Vs logging test results and Vs- reduction rate at four vertical array sites

914

Fig.4 Normalized maximum acceleration for main
shock and aftershocks along depth
while that at the base rock in KNK is as high as
1630 m/s.
The original seismic records were first examined
in terms of directional offsets possibly introduced
during installation of the down-hole seismographs
by combining the maximum coherence method and
the locus-drawing method (Kokusho et al. 1998). In
Table 1, the directional offsets thus evaluated are
compared with those given in the previous research
(Sato et al. 1996), indicating they are basically
consistent with each other. These newly obtained
values are used in this research for the offset
corrections.
In Fig.4, the down-hole distribution of maximum
acceleration in two horizontal directions (NS, EW)
at the four sites are shown in the normalized form
for the main shock and several aftershocks. In PI
the surface sandy fill layer experienced very extensive
liquefaction during the main-shock which obviously
led to the de-amplification in the maximum
acceleration in the upper sandy fill layer also during
two aftershocks which occurred a few minutes after
the main shock. In TKS a minor liquefaction in the
surface silty sand layer was witnessed during the
main shock, which seems to give minimal influence
on the amplification. Despite a rather large scatter in
the data for aftershocks, it is obviously seen that a
major amplification/de-amplification occurs almost
solely in the top layer of about 20m thick in PI, SGK
and TKS, where the rock base is more than 1 km
deep. The amplification may possibly take place
quite gradually in deeper soil layer in these sites. In
KNK, where the hard rock is shallower than loom,
the amplification takes place not only in the top layer
but also in all soil layers. A comparison between
the main shock and aftershocks reveals that the style
of amplification is rather similar although the former
tends to show a lower amplification presumably due
to the soil nonlinearity effect except KNK where the
nonlinearity was slight due to the smaller input motion.
915
3 SPECTRAL AMPLIFICATION
Because the seismic amplification study in terms of
maximum acceleration and velocity are available in
other literature (Kokusho et al. 1998), the spectral
amplification will be discussed here based on the
main shock and aftershock records.
Fig.5 shows the Fourier spectra ratios or the
transfer functions computed from measured
accelerations in the NS direction between the surface
and the deepest level for the aftershocks in the four
sites. The thick solid line in each chart indicates the
average of the aftershocks. For PI, only two
aftershocks available just after the main shock are
shown. It is noted for all sites that peak frequencies
are rather consistent for several aftershock events
except for some higher frequency peaks. This
indicates that despite different features in individual
input motions, the soil layering systems are almost
stable and tend to respond rather consistently.
The spectra ratio for the main shock is compared
with the average for the aftershocks in Fig.6. The
first peak frequencies are almost identical with the
main shock. Incontrast to that, higher peak frequencies
are obviously transformed into lower frequencies;
for some of them it may be possible to track down
from the aftershocks to the main shock, while for
others it is difficult. Also noted is that the peak
values are mostly lower in the main shock than in
the aftershocks although there are a small number of
exceptions. Considering that the soil layering systems
respond consistently during aftershocks, the soil
nonlinearity may be responsible for the difference in
the transfer function between aftershocks and main
shock. These trends are still visible in KNK where
the response does not seem so strongly nonlinear.
The larger gaps between the aftershocks and
main shock in higher frequency peaks than in the
first peak may be explained like this; The first peak
reflects the dynamic characteristics of the total depth
from the deepest level (84-100111) to the surface, while
the higher frequency peaks are more likely to reflect
those of shallower layers in which greater soil
nonlinearity is exerted than in deeper parts. Even in
KNK site, the Vs-reduction rate during the main shock
compared with the PS-logging measurement is
evaluated about 20% in the top layer of 15m thick as
cxplained later, which may cause the shift of higher
frequency peaks for the main shock.
In order to make a simplified evaluation on the
site amplification, the average Fourier spectra ratio
for the frequency from 0.5Hz to 2.5Hz is taken
(Borcherdt et al. 1992) because this frequency range
is considered to be essential for major civil engineering
structures. Ln Fig.7, the average spectra ratios in NS
and EW accelerations for the main shock and
aftershocks are plotted versus the Vs-ratio between
the deepest instrumentation level and the surface in

Fig.5 Fourier spectra ratios between surface and base
for aftershocks at four vertical arrays
F i g 6 Fourier spectra ratios between surface and base
for main shock as compared with aftershocks
the four sites. Despite some data scatters there exists
a clear trend of increasing average spectrum ratio
with the increase in the Vs-ratio, indicating a dominant
effect of Vs ratio on the site amplification. The plots
for the main shocks with the solid symbols are
obviously lower than those for the aftershocks in PI,
SGK and TKS, reflecting the soil nonlinearity.
h Fig.8, the average spectra ratios are plotted
versus the base accelerations (the maximum
accelerations at the deepest instrumentation level)
for the main shock and aftershocks. The plots in
KNK where the Vs-ratio is as large as 7 are clearly
biased from those in other sites where the Vs-ratio is
between 2 to 4. In these sites, a decrease in the
average spectrum ratio with increasing base
acceleration is evidently seen although the decreasing
rate is varied from site to site. The decrease is more
remarkable in PI where extensive liquefaction took
916
Fig.7 Average spectral amplification
(f=O.5-2.5 Hz) versus Vs-ratio
between base and surface
Fig.8 Average spectral amplification
(f=0.5-2.5 Hz) versus
maximum base acceleration
place in the thick surface layer than other sites where
strain-dependent soil properties or a minor
liquefaction are responsible for the soil nonlinearity .
It may thus be said that the nonlinearity in site
amplification is caused firstly by the strain-
dependency, but in extensively liquefied layers it is
also caused by the decrease in effective confining
stress due to liquefaction.
4 INSITU SOIL PROPERTIES
The degree of soil nonlinearity exerted insitu during
the main shock has already been evaluated by an
inversion analysis based on the vertical array records
(Kokusho et al. 1996). The thin lines in Fig.3 indicate
the reduction rate of Vs thus evaluated in contrast to
the initial Vs for the down-hole logging test. It may
be said that the Vs-reduction in high seismic intensity
sites such as PI and SGK is 40% to 50% down to the
depth of about 30m and if liquefied it increases to be
as high as 80 %. In Pleistocene layers below, the
reductionis 20% orless though it still keeps amoderate
value of around 10 % at the depth of about 100m.
In KNK, the reduction of 20% is limited near the
surface and 5% or less in the deeper part. These
reduction rate is actually reflected in the site
amplification as evidenced in the spectral
amplification.
Fig.9 shows the back-calculated shear modulus
and damping ratio versus the effective strain obtained
from the same inversion analysis (Kokusho et al.
1996). Despite some scatters, the data plots for the
four sites clearly demonstrates the existence of strain-
dependency in the modulus and damping. The plots
with arrow marks correspond to liquefied layers,
implying an additional influence of liquefaction on
soil properties through the decrease in the effective
stress. The highest damping ratio thus evaluated in
the PI liquefied layer is 50% too high to be measured
by a laboratory soil test and should be attributed to
some other causes. It has been found however that,
excluding those for liquefied layers, these plots, if Fig.9 Shear modulus ratio and damping ratio versus
classified into different soil types, are rather consistent effective strain back-calculated from vertical
array records at four sites
with corresponding soil types such as clay, sand and
gravel (Kokusho et al. 1996).
Fig.10 depicts the acceleration time histories at
the ground surface of PI computed by the multiple
SH-wave reflection analysis based on the back-
calculated properties. The computation satisfactorily
reproduces the measurement even for the liquefied
surface layer for all practical purposes, indicating
that the equivalent linear analysis may be applicable
even to a strong nonlinearity dynamic response
problem if the equivalent soil properties can be
properly chosen.
Another significant problem implied in this vertical Fig. 10 Equivalent linear analysis results in Port Island
array study is the site amplification mechanism in based on back-calculated properties
deeper soils. As indicated in Fig.4, the amplifications
between the deep base rock and the vertical array in
PI, SGK and TKS are beyond estimation despite its in every 10 times depth increase. Above the chart,
significance in site amplification for sites with a deep lab test damping ratios are also indicated for different
base rock. In order to tackle this problem, a damping soil types (Kokusho et al. 1992), which seems to fall
ratio amongst other properties in deeper layers are of within the scattered insitu values for corresponding
utmost importance for a reliable amplification effective confining stresses. In shallower layers some
evaluation despite difficulties in measuring it in the insitu data exceeds the dashed lines, indicating larger
field. Fig.11 shows a full logarithmic chart of the damping due to soil nonlinearity. In the deeper part
back-calculated damping ratios for the four vertical the nonlinear effect will diminish although some
array sites versus a ground depth superposed on measurable difference in damping ratio may exist
previous research results for a greater depth due to different soil types. Anyhow, greater part of
(Yamamizu et al. 1983 and Kokusho et al. 1992). future research efforts should concentrate on reliable
The symbols in the figure are differentiated for damping evaluation in deep soil layers because small
induced strain levels. Despite large data scatters, a differences in damping evaluation there may result
pair of the straight dashed lines with a slope of -0.3/1.O in a great difference in site amplification evaluation.
may represent a depth-dependent variation in the
damping ratio for the strain level below lO”, indicating
approximately 50% reduction in the damping ratio

917

Fig.1 1Back-calculated damping ratio versus depth
superposed on previous research results
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the maximum acceleration distribu tion along
the depth of about loom, it may be said that a major
amplification occurs exclusively in the top layer of
about 20m thick in a site where a rock base is much
deeper than loom, while in a site where the hard
rock is as shallow as loom, the amplification takes
place in the whole soil depth. This trend does not
seem to differ so much between weak and strong
seismic events due to soil nonlinearity.
Fourier spectra ratios of the surface to the deepest
instrumentation level reveal that larger differences
in the peak frequencies and peak values takes place
between the main shock and aftershocks for higher
frequency peaks than the first peak, because the higher
frequency peaks tend to more reflect nonlinear
properties in a shallower part of a ground.
The spectra ratio averaged for a significant frequ-
ency range of 0.5 to 2.5Hz has a clear correlation
with the Vs- ratio between the deepest level and the
surface. It also shows decreasing trend with increas-
ing base accelerations, presumably due to soil
nonlinearity effect. Therefore, in a simplified
procedure, the site amplification considering soil
nonlinearity may be evaluated by combining S-wave
velocity ratio and the acceleration at the base layer.
Equivalent linear analyses may be applicable
for site amplification even with strong nonlinearity
if appropriate equivalent properties can be chosen.
In a very high seismic intensity zone, the Vs-reduction
rate is 40 to 50% in non-liquefied layers and 80% in
liquefied layers for the top 30m from the surface and
below that depth a moderate nonlinearity is exerted
918
down to about 100m. The damping ratio, though it
has clear decreasing trend with increasing ground
depth, becomes larger reflecting soil nonlinearity in
shallower layers. In order to make a numerical analysis
for a site with a deep bedrock, reliable damping
evaluation in a deep ground is of utmost importance.
Kansai Electric Power Company and the Committee
on Earthquake Observation and Research in the
Kansai Area who kindly provided the vertical array
data are gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Borcherdt,R.D., 1991 Wentworth, C.M.,
Janssen, A., Fumal, T. and Gibbs, J.
"Metho-dology for predictive GIS mapping of
special study zones for strong ground shaking in
the San Francisco Bay Region", Proc. of 4th
International Conference on Seismic Zonation,
V0l.3, pp545 -552
Constantopoulos, I.V., Roesset, J.M. and Christian,
J.T., 1973 A comparison of linear and exact
nonlinear analyses of soil amplification, Proc.
5th International Conference on SMFE, Rome,
pp. 1806-1815
Kokusho, T., 1982 "Dynamic soil properties and
nonlinear seismic response of ground"
Dissertations to the Tokyo University for Doctor
of Engineering Degree (in Japanese)
Kokusho, T., Tohma, J., Yajima, Y., Tanaka, Y.,
Kanatani, M. and Yasuda, N., 1992 "Seismic
response of soil layer and its dynamic properties"
Proc. lOWCEE, Madrid, pp6671-6680
Kokusho,T. Sato,K. and Matsumoto,M., 1996 "Non
linear dynamic soil properties back-calculated
from strong motions during Hyogoken-Nanbu
Earthquake" Proc. 11th WCEE, Acapulco
Kokusho,T. and Matsumoto, M., 1998
" Nonlinearity in site amplification and soil
properties during the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu
earthquake" Soils and Foundations Special Issue
for the Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake, September
Sato,K., Kokusho,T., Matsumoto,M. and Yamada,E.
1996 "Nonlinear seismic response and soil pro-
perty during 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake
Soils and Foundations Special Issue for the
Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake, January, pp41 -52
Schnabel, P.B., Lysmer,J. and Seed, H.B., 1972
"SHAKE, A computer program for earthquake
response analysis of horizontally layered sites"
Report EERC 72-12, University of California
Berkeley
Yamamizu,F., Goto,N. Ohta,Y., ar?d Takahashi,H.
1983 "Attenuation of shear waves in deep soil
deposits as revealed by down-hole
measurements in the 2,300 meter-borehole of
the Shimohsa Observatory, Japan" Journal of
Physics of the earth, Vo1.31, No.2.
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&o e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Site amplification
J.L. Justo & R.Carrasco
Department of Continuum Mechanics, University of Seville, Spain

ABSTRACT: A review has been made of the more important studies on the transmission of earthquake
vibrations through a horizontal layer of soil. On the other hand the survey of the effect of important shocks,
and of the ground motion and response spectra in different soils and rocks has allowed us to draw conclusions
about the effect of the ground at the site. Usually the damage in rock is small, and a resonance effect between
the fundamental periods of the structure and ground motion might amplify the vibration. Duration decreases
with the hardness of the soil and this might explain the usually small damage in rock.
It is usually more exact to estimate directly the ground motion at the surface rather than calculating the
ground motion at the bedrock and the amplification through the overburden.

1 INTRODUCTION
A fact well known in earthquake engineering is the
influence of ground conditions in the response of
structures (Justo, 1974). This influence is twofold:
on the one hand loose or soft ground is usually
responsible for damage due to liquefaction or ground
settlement produced by vibrations, and often
buildings founded on rock suffer no damage.
On the other hand there is a selective damage for
each ground type and depth with respect to the type
of structure: deep deposits of soft clay or alluvium
produce usually more damage in modern high
buildings that in old one or two storey houses; this
happens in Mexico City, Caracas and Manila. In
other cases there is a direct relationship between the
depth of alluvium and the height of the building type
that suffers the greater damage (Seed & Idriss 1971).
This was the case in the Caracas 1967 earthquake. It
seems that large damage is produced when there is a
resonance effect due to the similarity between the
predominant periods of the structure and ground
motion. As the predominant period of the ground
motion depends also upon magnitude, the type of
structure suffering the greater damage may change
somewhat from earthquake to earthquake in a given
town.
Several authors have studied the transmission of
the earthquake vibrations from the bedrock through
a horizontal layer of soil. It is assumed that only
horizontal shear strains are transmitted. The
conclusion was that there is soil amplification for
small vibrations and damping for large ones (Seed &
Idriss 1969; Idriss 1990; Finn & Lei 1996;
Dickenson & Kawase 1996). The border between
both types of behaviour lies around 4 d s 2 . The
ground acceleration has been measured at some
places in the same vertical, in the bedrock (0.2 to 2
d s 2 ) and at surface (Okawa et al. 1996; Iai et al.
1996; Sugito et al. 1996); the amplification factor
ranged from 2 to 4, and was larger when the bedrock
acceleration was smaller. These results indicate a
non-linear behaviour of the soil.
Table 1. Ground types for data base No.1 (Justo et al.
1989)
-
Ground
type
1
Description
I
2 Pleistocene or hard soil
3 Soil of medium consistency or alluvium
4 Deep, very soft soil
5 Hard rock
-
6
2. RESULTS OBTAINED AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF SEVILLE
A thorough research on ground motion was
undertaken some years ago in the Department of
Continuum Mechanics (Justo et al. 1989) based on

919
2000 world-wide earthquakes and 5000 records
(data base No. 1). The ground was classified as
indicated in Table 1.
Ground types 1 to 4 are ordered form harder to
softer. When more data are available soil type 1
(rock) is subdivided into 5 and 6 .

Figure 2. Attenuation of peak horizontal acceleration for

different soils a1 the site (data base No. 1).

Figure 2 shows the attenuation of peak ground

Figure 1. Probability of exceeding each peak
acceleration.
Figure 1 shows the probability of exceeding each
horizontal peak acceleration as a function of
intensity. There is a different curve for each ground
type. The abscissa scale C depends upon MSK
intensity scale as indicated in Table 2.
acceleration as a function of distance to the fault, D,
for the average values of magnitude and focal depth.
There is little influence of the ground at the site, but
the peak acceleration is smaller for rock at low and
large distances and is usually larger for hard soil or
pleistocene. Based upon 57 earthquakes Trifunac
(1 976) finds little dependence on geological
conditions for acceleration but larger for velocity
and displacement. In any case, the peak ground
motion increases with softness at the site.

MMI C
I11 I I < IX 1
I11 I I < IV 0.35
I V I I < V 0.40
V I I < V I 0.67
VIrI<VII 1.07
VII I I < VIII 4.70
VIII 5 I < IX 7.98

For a given probability fractile and intensity the

peak horizontal acceleration increases with ground
hardness, specially form ground type 4 to type 2.
The graph is based upon a number of ground
acceleration values that ranges from 55 (ground type
4) to 948 (type 3). A similar result is reached with
vertical acceleration. For a given intensity a ground
acceleration about 1.8 times larger is needed with Figure 3. Probability of exceeding each duration of
rock foundation than with deep, very soft soil. horizontal acceleration.

920
 Duration has been defmed according to Trifunac
& Brady (1975). Figure 3 shows the probability of
exceeding each duration of horizontal acceleration
for every ground type. For a given hctile, the
duration of horizontal acceleration increases with
ground softness, and, as an average, is 5.7 times
larger in deep, very soft soil than in hard rock.
Westermo & Trifunac (1978) found also that
duration increases with the depth of the sediments.
Approx.
Ground
Description equivalence
type with ground
at Table 1
1 Bedrock and hard rock 5 rock foundations. For a given earthquake and
2 Sedimentaryand 6 distance the peak acceleration is usually smaller in
conglomerated rock
3 Soil and glacial till 2 given intensity (damage).
4 Alluvium and unconsolidated 3 &4
deposits
A second research has been undertaken, based
upon 2000 accelerograms included in the file of the
National Geophysical Data Center, 1996 (data base
No. 2). The file distinguishes four ground types at
the site, as indicated in Table 3, where the
approximate equivalence with the ground types of
data base No. 1 is indicated.
Figure 4. Attenuation of peak ground acceleration for
different soils at the site (data base No. 2).
Figure 4 shows the attenuation of peak ground
acceleration as a function of epicentral distance, D,,
for data base No. 2 and M=6. The following
921
relationships between the different ground types
may be deduced from this and similar graphs for
magnitudes 5 and 7:
1. The smaller peak acceleration corresponds to hard
rock for epicentral distance up to a critical distance
D, and to sedimentary and conglomerated rock for
D, 2 D,.
2. The critical distance increases with magnitude
from 44 km for M=5 to 68 km for M=7.
3. The larger peak acceleration corresponds usually
to ground type 3 (always for D, > 33 km).
When comparing Figures 3 and 4 it must be
taking into account that the distances are: to the fault
in Figure 3 and epicentral en Figure 4. There is no
contradiction between both data bases, although
Figure 4 shows more dependence upon ground type.
Figures 1, 3 and 4 explain the good behaviour of
rock, where a higher acceleration is needed for a
3. RESPONSE SPECTRA
The response spectrum is a better index of the
behaviour of the ground at the site than the peak
ground motion. Important parameters of the
spectrum are the periods corresponding to the
maximum response for displacement, velocity and
acceleration respectively, called resonance periods
of displacement, Trd, relative velocity, T, and
acceleration T,. Structures with a low natural period
will be affected mainly by the low frequencies that
appear in the acceleration record; those with a higher
period by the lower frequencies that dominate the
velocity and displacement diagrams.
Trifunac & Lee (1978 and 1985 a & b) found that
the amplitude of the pseudo relative velocity spectra
increases somewhat with the depth or the softness of
the sediments for periods from 0.3 to 8 seconds; in
this range lies the fundamental period of most
structures (except buildings less than 5-storey high).
Table 4. Seed et al. (1976) ground types.
2. Stiff soils. Depth 5 45 m
3. Cohesion's soils. Depth > 75 m
Seed et al. (1976) studied the influence of soil
conditions at the site on the spectral ratio, defined as
the ratio of spectral acceleration to maximum ground
acceleration, based upon 104 ground motion records,
mostly from the western U.S. They distinguished the
ground types of Table 4.
The average resonance period for acceleration
increases with the softness and depth of the soil,
from ground type 1 (0.18 s) to type 4 (0.83 s). The
maximum spectral ratio is smaller for ground type 4
(2.3), followed by types 1, 3 and 2 (2.9). The authors
cite similar results from Japanese earthquakes.

Figure 6 . The 50% fractile log absolute acceleration

Figure 5. Probability of exceeding each resonance period spectra for 2% damping, different ground types and
of horizontal acceleration. specified values of magnitude and epicentral distance.

Figure 5 shows the probability of exceeding each

value of the resonance period of accelerations for the
ground types of data base No. 1. The average
resonance period increases in a monotonic way with
the softness and depth of the soil fiom 0.18 s (hard
rock) to 0.74 s (deep, very soR soil). The result
nearly coincide with those indicated above. Similar
relationships exist between the resonance periods of
relative velocity, which are however larger.
A seismic hazard study has been undertaken, and
the variable whose risk is established is the response.
A statistical study of the response for each spectrum
has been estimated as a function of magnitude,
epicentral distance and ground type using the U.S.
National Geophysical Data Base. The results
indicated below are for 2% damping.
Figure 6 shows the absolute acceleration response
spectra corresponding to the 50% fiactile. The
resonance period increases with ground softness,
specially for low magnitude earthquakes. The
resonance period increases clearly with magnitude,
this effect being as important as the influence of the
geology at the site. The maximum spectral
acceleration corresponds to ground type 3 (Table 3)
for M I 6.0. The same relationships are obtained Figure 7. The 50% fractile log relative velocity spectra
with the 95% fractile, although, of course, the for 2% damping, different ground types and specified
spectral ratio is much larger, values of magnitude and epicentral distance.

922
 Table 5 . Standard errors of the log relative velocity
response about the regression on magnitude and
epicentral distance for each ground type.
I Ground I T (s) 1
type 0.5 1 2 5 10
1 0.34 0.37 0.34 0.35 0.33
2 0.41 0.45 0.44 0.41 0.41
3 0.40 0.41 0.43 0.45 0.40
4 0.31 0.30 0.31 0.34 0.28

The background underlying the soil amplification

Figure 8. The 95% fi-actile log relative velocity spectra
for 2% damping, different ground types and specified
values of magnitude and epicentral distance.
studies summarized in the Introduction is that it is
more exact to estimates the ground motion in the
bedrock and then to calculate the soil amplification
produced by the overburden, rather than estimating
directly the ground motion at the surface of the
overburden. Tables 4 and 5 show the standard error
about the regression for the estimate of absolute
acceleration and relative velocity respectively as a
function of magnitude and epicentral distance in the
four ground types, and for different periods. The
standard error for alluvium and unconsolidated
deposits is usually smaller than the standard error for
rock, so that the above statement is false. Even
more, few records are available to estimate the
ground motion in the bedrock at depth.

The relative velocity of the four ground types of

Table 3 follows the trend indicated in Figure 7 for
the 50% fiactile. There is no clear relationship
between ground softness and resonance period, but
this parameter increases clearly with magnitude. The
maximum relative velocity corresponds usually to
ground type 3 for M 2 6.0. In all cases the order for
increasing spectral velocity is: type 1,2 and 4.Some
of these relationships might change for the 95%
h c t i l e (Fig. 8), but the hard rock’s response is
always the lower.
The variable whose seismic hazard is determined
depends upon the nearness of the structure’s
fundamental period to the resonance periods of
acceleration, velocity or displacement for the
established fiactile. The chosen variable corresponds
to the closer periods.
Table 4. Standard errors of the log absolute acceleration
response about the regression on magnitude and
epicentral distance for each ground type.
Ground
type
I 1 0:; 1 1
0.02 I 0.05 1
T (s)
0.1 1 0.2
4 CONCLUSIONS
The influence of the ground at the site in the
response of structures is twofold: on the one hand
loose or soft ground is usually responsible for
damage due to liquefaction or ground settlement
produced by vibrations, and often buildings founded
on rock suffer no damage.
On the other hand there is a resonance effect when
the predominant periods of the structure and ground
motion are similar. Owing to that there is often a
direct relationship between the depth of alluvium
and the height of the type of structure that suffers the
greater damage.
For a given magnitude and epicentral distance the
ground acceleration, and the spectral relative
velocity are usually smaller in rock, and specially in
hard rock. On the other hand, the ground
acceleration needed for a given intensity (damage)
increases with the hardness of the ground. This
explains the general good behaviour of rock
I 0.5
1 foundations.
The resonance period (for maximum response) of
the ground motion increases usually with the

1
0.31 0.33 0.34 0.37 softness of the ground, although the relationship is
0.32 0.30 0.35 0.43 complex and it is not always so. More clear is the
0.32 0.32 0.36 0.38 0.40 increase of the resonance period with the
4 0.29 0.30 0.34 0.32 0.31 earthquake’s magnitude. Very often the larger peak

923
acceleration or response corresponds to not very
deep (245 m) stiff soils.
It is more exact to estimate directly the ground
motion at the surface of the overburden rather than
estimating ground motion in the bedrock and then to
calculating the soil amplification through the
overburden.
There is an important increase of the duration of
an earthquake with the s o h e s s of the ground. This
might be another reason for the small damage in
rock foundation.
REFERENCES
Dickenson, S.E. & H. Kawase 1996. Review of the
current state of knowledge on site amplification
factor. Proc. Int. Workshop on Site Response,
Port & Harbour Res. Inst., Japan, 1:101- 107.
Finn, W.D.L. & Z. Lei 1996. Data on dynamics
amplification factors under strong shaking.
Proc. Int. Workshop on Site Response, Port &
Harbour Res. Inst., Japan, 1:5 1-62.
Iai, S., T. Morita, T. Kameoka, Y. Matsugana & K.
Abiko 1996. Response of a dense sand deposit
during 1993 Kushiro-Oki earthquake. Proc. Int.
Workshop on Site Response, Port & Harbour
Res. Inst., Japan, 2:142-158.
Ichii, K. & M. Miyata 1996. Summary on nonlinear
site amplification factor. Proc. Int. Workshop
on Site Response, Port & Harbour Res. Inst.,
Japan, 15-21.
Idriss, I.M. 1990. Response of soft soil sites during
earthquakes. Proc. H. Bolton Seed Memorial
Symposium, 2:273-289,Bitech.
Justo, J.L. 1974. Cimentacionesy obras de tierra en
zonas sismicas. Fundacion Juan March, Madrid,
vol. 2.
Justo, J.L., A. Jaramillo & R. Garcia 1989. The
influence of the ground conditions in the design
accelerogram and response of structures. Proc.
12fh Int. Con$ Soil Mech., Rio de Janeiro,
3 :1967-1970.
National Geophysical Data Center 1996. Earthquake
Strong Motion.
Seed, H.B. & I.M. Idriss 1969. Influence of soil
conditions on ground motions during
earthquakes.J. Soil Mech., ASCE, 95:99-137.
Seed, H.B. & I.M. Idriss 1971. Influence of soil
conditions on building damage potential during
earthquakes. J. Structural Div., ASCE, ST2:
639-663.
Seed, H.B., C. Ugas & J. Lysmer 1976. Site-
dependent spectra for earthquake-resistant
design. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 66:1:221-243.
Shakal, A.F., R.W. Sherburne & D.L. Parke 1984.
Principal features of the strong-motion data
fiom the 1984 Morgan Hill earthquake. The
924
I984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake:249-
264. Calif. Department of Conservation Div. of
Mines & Geol., Special Pub. 68.
Sugito, M., K. Sekigachi, F. Oka & A. Yashima
1996. Analysis of borehole array records fiom
the South Hyogo earthquake of Jan. 17, 1995.
Proc. Int. Workshop on Site Response, Port &
Harbour Res. Inst., Japan, 2 :343-3 5 7.
Trifunac, M.D. 1976. Preliminary analysis of the
peaks of strong earthquake ground motion-
Dependence of peaks on earthquake magnitude,
epicentral distance, and recording site
conditions. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 66:1:189-219.
Trifbnac, M.D. & A.G. Brady 1975. A study on the
duration of strong earthquake ground motion.
Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 65:3:581-626.
Trifunac, M.D. & V.W. Lee 1978. Dependence of
the Fourier amplitude spectra of strong motion
acceleration on the depth of sedimentary
deposits. Report CE 78-14, Univ. Southern
California.
Trifunac, M.D. & V.W. Lee 1985a. Preliminary
empirical model for scaling pseudo relative
velocity spectra of strong earthquake
acceleration in terms of magnitude, distance,
site intensity and recording site conditions.
Report CE 85-04, Univ. Southern California.
Trifunac, M.D. & V.W. Lee 1985b. Preliminary
empirical model for scaling Fourier amplitude
spectra of strong ground acceleration in terms
of earthquake magnitude, source to station
distance, site intensity and recording site
conditions. Report CE 85-04, Univ. Southern
California.
‘Westermo, B.D. & M.D. Trifunac 1978.
Correlations of the fiequency dependent
duration of strong ground motion with the
magnitude, epicentral distance, and the depth of
sediments at the recording site. Report CE 78-
12, Univ. Southern California.
Soil-structure interaction and retaining structures:
- Theme lecture

- General report

- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 EarthquakeGeotechnicalEngineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Soil-structure interaction studies through shakmg table tests

s.Iai & T. sugano

Port and Harbour Research Institute, Japan

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in soil-structure interaction studies through shaking table tests are based on
solid understanding of the mechanics of models. One principle in the mechanics of models concerns material
behavior of soil and structure, and the other concerns the mechanics of soil-structure systems such as
equilibrium and mass balance. The paper points out the importance to differentiate soil-structure interaction in
cyclic mobility regime from that in strain softening regime. The two principles of mechanics of models lead to
a set of scaling relations. Soil-structure interaction studies on a gravity quay wall and a pile-supported wharf
reviewed in this paper indicates that shaking table tests, if carefully performed, have a potential to be a
powerful means to study the performance of complicated soil-structure interaction problems.

INTRODUCTION structure systems such as measurement of earth

Soil-structure interaction during earthquakes are
generally complex. They are affected by mechanical
properties of soil and structures as well as initial,
boundary, and loading conditions. Simplified
idealization of soil-structure systems has been often
successful to capture the essential performance of
relatively simple soil-structure systems such as a
building founded on a firm soil deposit or a signle
pile embedded in a firm ground. For more
complicated soil-structure systems such as retaining
walls and pile supported wharves, simplified
idealization often fails to describe essential
performance of soil-structure systems. Shaking table
tests are, if carefully conducted, one of useful
methods for understanding the complicated soil-
structure interaction problems.
Soil-structure interaction studies through shaking
table tests have a long history. Before mid 1980’s
when the centrifuge model tests became widely
accepted among the geotechnical earthquake
engineers and researchers (Schofield 198I), shaking
table tests have been the most common model tests
for soil-structure interaction studies. The scope of the
studies through shaking table tests in those days,
however, were generally limited to either qualitative
interpretation of soil-structure interactions or
quantiative evaluation of relatively simple soil-
pressures acting on a slowly moving wall. The use of
the same soil for the model tests as for the prototype
posed a problem for establishing reasonable scaling
relations applicable to shaking table tests.
Soil-structure interaction studies through centrifuge
tests since mid 1980’s triggered a new look at the
role of the conventional shaking table tests. In the
late 1980’s, comprehensive reviews were offered on
scaling relations for shaking table tests (Scott 1989,
Iai 1989). Since the Hyogoken-Nambu (Kobe)
earthquake of 1995, more and more attentions are
directed toward deformation based design approach
to evaluate the performance of soil-structure systems
during intense shaking. These developments set a
new stage for soil-structure interaction studies
through shaking table tests.
This paper reviews these recent developments in
two parts: the first half aims to give a basis for
discussion of shaking table tests - mechanics of
models, often called scaling relations. The second
half will discuss a selection of tests, first on gravity
quay walls in liquefiable ground and then on pile
supported wharves.
The reviews offered from a wider perspective on
dynamic model tests were available in Steedman
(1995) and Kagawa (1995).

927
MECHANICS OF MODEL TESTS - SCALING
RELATIONS
Everyone working on soil-structure interaction
studies through shaking table tests has to begin by
learning about the mechanics of models. The
principles have been understood for more than 40
years (Rocha 1957, Roscoe 1968, Kagawa 1978,
Kokusho & Iwatate 1979, Shibata & Ohta 1980).
There are two principles.
The first principle concerns the material behavior of
soil: the material behavior of soil in the model should
mimique that in the prototype. This is illustrated in
Fig. 1 as an example, in which the stress-strain of soil
in the prototype is represented by the stress-strain of
soil in the model through the use of scaling factors.
Since soil is a pressure/density sensitive material,
there are several options to choose from to achieve
this principle in the model tests. How to choose these
options will be discussed later.
A similar principle is required for structures, too:
the material behavior of structure in the model should
mimique that in the prototype. This is easier to
accomplish by choosing appropriate materials and
structural dimensions for model structures.
The second principle concerns the mechanics of
soil-structure systems: the fundamental laws of
mechanics such as equilibrium and mass balance of
soil skeletodpore water should be satisfied both in
the model and the prototype. In particular, the same
gravity applies to the model and the prototype in
shaking table tests.
In its simplest form, these principles are written for
dry soil as:
L’o + pg = pii (equilibrium) (1)
d&= Ldu (strain definition) (2)
d o = DdE (constitutive law) ( 3 )
where
gf. = (o,, o,,o,,z,,z,,z,,) : stress
&’*=
I &22 &33 Y12 Y23 Y31 : strain
uf*=( U , u2U , ) : displacement
D : tangent modulus
g: acceleration of gravity
p: density
r-
928
Structures are idealized into either a solid, a
plane/shell, or a beam. The equations for solid are
similar to those presented above and will not be
repeated. The equations for a beam are applicable
both to piles and sheet piles and are given as:
d 4 n T u+ pbn’ii - pbn’g + n T S o= 0
EI ____ (4)
an
EA d 2 t T U +p,tTii-pPbtTg+t’So=O
~ (5)
dS
where
E I flexural rigidity = Young’s modulus x second
moment of area
EA: longitudinal rigidity = Young’s modulus x
cross sectional area
n: unit vector normal to the beam
t: unit vector tangential to the beam
d / dn :differentiation with respect to n
d / ds : differentiation with respect to t
pb: density of beam (mass per unit length)
S: a matrix which transforms the stress into the
traction on the beam
E stress acting on the beam
Bending moment, shear and axial forces are given as
The scaling relations are systematically obtained by
introducing the scaling factors for all the variables in
Eqs.(l) through (6) and then by demanding that these
equations be satisfied both in the model and the
prototype. For example, Eq.( 1) demands the
following relations:
A. / A=A, = A,Au /A,, (7)
where A denotes the geometrical scaling factor
(prototype/model) and others denote the scaling
factors for the variables indicated in the subscripts.
The first half of equations in Eq.(7) comes from the
balance between the stress gradient L“o and the
gravitypg in Eq.(l), and the second half comes from
the balance between the gravity pg and the
inertia p i . After deriving other relationships from
Eqs.(2) through (6), simple algebraic manipulations
lead to the scaling factors for various quantities
specified in terms of scaling factors for length (A),
density (Ap), and strain (AJ.This line of derivations
are easily generalized to soil-structure-fluid
interaction problems with saturated soils, including
liquefiable deposits (Iai, 1989). Major scaling factors
obtained are shown in Table 1.
Physical background to these scaling factors may
be given as follows. Displacement is a product of
strain and length and accordingly scaled by AAF Time
Fig. 1 Illustrative example of model and prototype

929
 Ta e 1 Major scaling factors for shaking table tests
Quantity Scaling factor (prototype/model)
Generalized Scaling factors in practice
scaling Type I Type I1 Type I11
factors ;lP=1 ;1 ,203 2&=1
aP=I
Length 2 A.
Density 1 1
10.75 20.5
Time
Acceleration 1 1
20.75 20.5
Velocity
.5
Displacement 2
Stress 2 2
Strain 20.5
1
20.5
Stiffness 2
20.75 20.5
Permeability
Pore pressure a /t 2
E1 A5/A.& 14.5
2
EA A3/As 22.5
A3
Moment A4 A4 A4
Shear A3AP A3 A3 A3
Axial Force A3AP A3 A3 A3

should be scaled to satisfy the balance between
gravity and inertia (i.e. the second half of Eq.(I)),
and accordingly scaled by (22&)0-5. This naturally
leads to the scaling factor for acceleration and
velocity as shown in Table 1. Stress should be scaled
to satisfy the balance between stress gradient and
gravityhnertia (i.e. the first half of Eq.(l)), and
accordingly scaled by AAp Similar background is
given to the relevant terms for a beam type structure,
increase during shaking but the deformation cease to
increase as soon as the shaking stops. This type of
soil behavior is classified as cyclic mobility type, in
which strain continues to increase during shaking but
never goes into the state of strain softening as shown
in Fig. 2. Soil-structure interaction involving this

SCALING FACTORS IN PRACTICE

Various insights and wisdoms have been offered on

the use of scaling factors in practice of shaking table
tests (Scott 1989, Iai 1989 & 1990, Hettler 1990,
Steedman 1990). The central issue concerns with the
question of how to mimique the behavior of soil in
the prototype. In particular, saturated soil behavior
may be classified in two types (Whitman, 1985).; one
is limited deformation, the other unlimited flow type
deformation.

( 1) Soil-structure interaction with limited

deformation
The soil in the prototype is often medium to dense
sand deposit and exhibits pore pressure increase close
to the initial confining pressures during shaking. The
deformation of soil-structure systems continues to Fig. 2 Example of cyclic mobility (Ishihara 1985)

930
type of soil behavior will be called limited
deformation type.
In this type of soil-structure interaction studies, it is
important to take into account the scaling factor for
strain in order to capture the essential features of the
transient and cyclic response of soil-structure
systems. The scaling factor for strain is best
determined by (Iai, 1989 & 1990):
r 72
where (Ys),,, and (V,), denote shear wave velocities of
soil deposits in the model and the prototype,
respectively. This is useful when the shear wave
velocity of the model is already known by
preliminary model tests or other relevant source of
information. Once the scaling factor for strain is
determined by Eq.(8), other scaling factors are
obtained as shown in Type I in Table 1. It is
important to note that the density of the soil in the
model is not required to be the same as that in the
prototype as long as both the model and the prototype
sand exhibit cyclic mobility type performance. Thus,
it may be possible to use looser soil deposit in the
model than in the prototype to make the scaling
factor for strain AEcloser to unity. If this were indeed
possible, then the Type I scaling factors in Table 1
would be reduced to the type I11 in the same table.
This, however, is generally known to be rather
difficult to achieve in practice.
If the shear wave velocities of soil deposits in the
model is not known, then it is often the practice to
adopt an assumption that the elastic shear modulus is
proportional to the square root of the confining
pressure, provided the density of the soil in the model
is about the same as that in the prototype. This is
equivalent to assume that:
publications (Kagawa, 1995; KO, 1995); this should
be corrected as the scaling factor for EI shown in
Table 1.
(2) Soil-structure interaction including strain
softening regime
If the soil in the prototype soil-structure system
exhibits strain softening type behavior, then the
deformation becomes too large to allow the
introduction of scaling factor for strain. In this case,
the density of the model soil deposits should be
appropriately determined to mimique the strain
softening behavior of the prototype soil (Roscoe
1968, Schofield 1980, Scott 1989). In general, looser
deposits should be made in the model than in the
prototype to take into account the difference in the
confining stress. An example of strain softening
behavior reproduced by the looser deposits in smaller
confining stress is shown in Fig. 3 (Ghalandarzadeh
et a1 1996). In this case, the scaling factors of Type
I11 in Table 1 is applied.
Both for cyclic mobility or flow type behavior of
soil model tests, viscous fluid is often used for
substituting pore water in the model to adjust the
permeability in accordance with Table 1. Some
concerns on this point have been raised in a literature
(Poorooshasb 1995 & 1997, Iai 1997). The
discussions offered so far, however, are limited to
qualitative arguments and need further investigations
to validate or negate those concerns in quantiative
manner.

Other scaling factors are obtained as shown in the

column of Type I1 in Table 1. This is only an
approximation of Type I but often convenient to use
in practice.
The scaling factors for a beam type structure shown
in Table 1 are given for pile type structure. For a
sheet pile type structure, the dimensions and the cross
sections are generally specified per unit breadth, and
thus the scaling factors should be accordingly
specified per unit breadth. This is done by deviding
the scaling factors shown in Table 1 by A;the scaling
factor for E1 per unit breadth for type I, for example, Fig. 3 Strain softening type behavior and its
is given as A~/A,, etc. representation with looser material in lower confining
Unfortunately a wrong scaling factor was printed stress (Verdugo 1992 as reported by Ghalandarzadeh
for the scaling factor for EI in some of the previous et a1 1996)

931
 In order to review how well these scaling relations
work in practice, two soil-structure interaction
studies will be discussed. The first set of models are
for gravity quay walls, in which structure itself is
rigid so that a major attention is directed toward the
deformation of soil. The second is for a pile-
supported wharf, in which more complicated soil
structure interaction phenomenon is involved.
GRAVITY QUAY WALL
Gravity quay walls constructed on a loose saturated
backfill foundation provide an example of soil-
structure interaction problem which involves cyclic
behavior of sand subjected to anisotropic stress
conditions; where the principal stresses of cyclic
shear due to earthquake shaking are not coaxial with
those of the quasi-static anisotropic streses due to
gravity (Iai, 1997b). The Great Hanshin earthquake
of 1995 in Japan provided a solid case history data on
the performance of this type of soil-structure
interaction problems.
Many of the caisson walls in Kobe Port were
constructed on a loose saturated backfill foundation
of decomposed granite, which was used for replacing
the soft clayey deposit in Kobe Port to attain the
required bearing capacity of foundation. Shaken with
a strong earthquake motion having the peak
accelerations of 0.54g and 0.45g in the horizontal and
vertical directions, these caisson walls were displaced
an average of 3 m (maximum displacement = 5m)
toward the sea, settled I to 2 m and tilted about 4
degrees toward the sea. Figure 4 shows a typical
example of the cross section and the deformation
after the earthquake (Inagaki et al., 1996).
The geotechnical investigations were performed to
evaluate the soil properties, including cyclic triaxial
tests of undistrubed samples 60 cm long with a
diameter of 30 cm obtained by an in-situ freezing
technique. The cyclic triaxial tests showed cylcic
mobility type behavior and never exhibited the strain
softening type behavior (Ichii et al. 1997).
In the shake table tests, the caisson type quay wall
was modeled at a scale of 1/17 (A=17) of the
prototype (Sugano et a1 1996, Inagaki et a1 1996).
The quay wall model including foundation and
backfill soils was made in a steel container 3.5 m
long by 1.5 m wide and 1.5 m deep on a shaking
table, which was set in the middle of a water pool 2
m deep and 15 m by 15 m wide to simulate the effect
of sea water. The decomposed granite obtained from
a site nearby the quay wall was pluviated into the
water to simulate the dumping process of sand
replacement and backfill soils at the construction.
932
The cross section of the model quay wall is shown
in Fig. 5. The front end (i.e. left hand side in the
figure) of the container above the model seabed level
was open to the water pool whereas the back end of
the container was sealed with unwoven textile
reinforced with steel wire mesh to relieve adverse
effects of rigid boundary conditions. Both sides of
the container, however, were made of rigid steel
plates to constrain the normal component of ground
strain between these plates. Three model caisson
were placed along the quay wall face line 1.5 m long
and the caisson in the middle was used for
monitoring accelerations and displacements.
The clay layer at the quay wall site was idealized in
the model test by densely compacted layer of coarse
grained Soma sand as shown in Fig. 5 to simulate the
stable behavior of the clay layer during the
earthquake. The surface of this layer was sealed with
a thin bentonite layer to simulate the impermeable
behavior of the caly layer during the earthquake.
The scaling factors of Type I1 in Table 1 was
adopted for this study as shown in Table 2. Three
dimensional shaking was appoied using the
subsurface motion recorded at a depth of 32 m by the
vertical seismic array at Port Island in Kobe Port,
shown in the inset of Fig. 1, successfully recorded by
the Development Bureau of Kobe City. The peak
accelerations were 544, 461, and 200 cm/s2 in NS,
EW and UD directions. The input motions was
applied in accordance with the direction of the quay
wall, facing west.
Table 2 Scaling factors for shaking table tests for a
gravity quay wall
Quantities Scaling Scaling factors
factors for 1/17 model
Length a 17.0
Time 10.75 8.4
Acceleration 1 1.o
Displacement .5
70.1
Stredpore a 17.0
water pressure
Strain a0.5 4.1
A total of nine tests have been performed with
various conditions for the model tests. After each
text, the model foundation soils and backfill soils
were excavated for measuring the deformation, then
completely removed from the container and new
virgin soils transported from Port Island were
pluviated into the water to form a new model
foundation and backfill for the next case. Three
cases, Case-2, 6 and 7, were performed to repeatedly
Fig. 4 Location, cross section and residual deformation of a caisson quay wall at Port Island, Kobe Port during
Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995

933
 Fig. 5 Cross section of a model quay wall for shaking table tests

Fig. 6 Residual displacement of model quay wall (scaled in terms of prototype)

simulate the performance of the quay wall during the Table 3 Initial dry densities and void ratios of model
earthquake. To facilitate the comparison to those foundation and backfill soils for a gravity quay wall
measured in the field, the test results are presented in Case Soil deposits Dry Void ratio
terms of the prototype scale. The initial densities are No. density
shown in Table 3. The dry densities ranging from 1.6 (g/cm3)
to 1.9 g/cm3 as shown in this table are very large, Case-2 Sand replacement 1.843 0.440
probably because the decomposed granite contians Backfill soil 1.598 0.661
fair amount of large particles. The dry densities of the Case-6 Sand replacement 1.580 0.679
in-situ frozen samples of the decomposed granite Backfill soil 1.913 0.387
range from 1.7 to 2.1 g/cm3, basically consistet with Case-7 Sand replacement 1.592 0.667
those measured in the model foundation and backfill. Backfill soil 1.906 0.392

934
Residual displacements of the model caisson wall
after shaking are shown in Fig. 6 together with those
measured in the field as reproduced from Fig. 4. The
model test results are basically consistent with those
induced in the field during the earthquake.
In order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the
dynamic performance of the quay wall during the
earthquake shaking, time histories of the response of
the quay wall obtained by the model tets are shown in
Fig. 7. Accelerations of the quay wall continued for
about 20 seconds. In particular, the wave form at the
ground surface is similar to that recorded at the
ground surface at the vertical seismic array site in
Port Island shown in the upper right hand corner in
the same figure.
Displacements and excess pore water pressure were
gradually induced with the shaking for about 10
seconds. The order of magnitude of velocity of the
model caisson wall (i.e. 0.2 to 0.3 m/s) was
consistent with that of the prototype caisson
evaluated based on the response of a container craine
(Scott, 1997).
In summary, the model test results compare well
with those observed, including dynamic response of
backfill, movement of the caisson as well as residual
deformation of soil-structure system.

Fig. 7 Time histories of model quay wall response (scaled in terms of prototype) and the recorded time history
of acceleration at.the ground surface at the vertical seismic array site in Port Island

PILE-SUPPORTED WHARF constructed to replace a portion of the dike.

A pile supported wharf is composed of a deck
supported by a substructure consisting of piles and a
dike. The presence of the sloping dike causes the
supporting piles to have varying unsupported lengths
between the deck and the dike. When the
geotechnical material suitable for the dike is hard to
obtain, as being often the case in Japanese practice, a
gravity or sheetpile retaining structure is also
During the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 in
Japan, a pile supported wharf suffered damage at
Takahama Wharf in Kobe Port (Iai 1997b). The
horizontal residual displacement of the wharf ranged
from 1.3 to 1.7m with a typical example of the cross
section and deformation of the pile supported wharf
as shown in Fig.8. As shown in this figure, the wharf
was constructed on a firm foundation deposit
consisting of alternating layers of pleistocence clay

935
Fig 8 Cross section of a pile supported wharf at Kobe Port and deformatiodfailure during 1995 Great Hanshin
Earthquake, Japan

936
 Fig. 9 Cross section of a model pile-supported wharf for shaking table tests
and sandy gravel. The SPT N-values ranged from 10
to 25 for the clay and 30 to 50 or higher for the sandy
gravel. The firm deposit was overlain by an alluvial
sand layer having SPT N-values of about 15, the
thickness of which was variable, about two meters on
average. Behind the retaining wall made of concrete
cellular blocks was a hydraulic backfill of
decomposed granite having SPT N-values of about
10. The deck of the wahrf was made of reinforced
concrete slabs and beams supported by steel pipe
piles having a dimater of 700 mm.
The steel piles buckled at the pile heads except for
the piles located most landward. A crack was found
at the pile cap - concrete beam connection located
most landward. The piles, pulled out after the
earthquake for investigation at the site shown in Fig.
8(b), also showed buckling below the mudline at the
depths shown in Fig. 8(a). As shown in this figure,
some of the buckling was located close to the
boundary between the layers of alluvial sand and
pleistocence gravel. This boundary happend to be
located close to the level where the thickness of the
piles were reduced through factory weld joints with
937
the exception of the row of piles located most
seaward. Displacements of the rubble dike, measured
by divers at five locations 5 m apart, were about the
same as those of the deck as shown in Fig. 8(c). The
backfill behind the retaining structure settled about 1
m. These measruements indicated a somewhat
uniform movement of the dike and the retaing wall
toward the sea.
In the shake table tests, the pile-supported wharf
was modeled at a scale of 1/15 (A=15) of the
prototype. The steel container and the shaking table
used was similar to that for the gravity quay wall.
The cross section of the model wharf is shown in Fig.
9. The boundary conditions imposed by the container
were also similar to those for the gravity quay wall.
Three models of pile-supported decks were placed
along the quay wall face line 1.5 m long and the pile-
supported deck in the middle was used for
monitoring accelerations and displacements.
The scaling factors of Type I1 in Table 1 were also
adopted for this study as shown in Table 4. Three
dimensional shaking was applied using the
subsurface motion recorded at a depth of 32 m by the
vertical seismic array at Port Island in Kobe Port the deformation, then completely removed from the
mentioned earlier. The input motions was applied in container and new virgin soils transported from Port
accordance with the direction of the quay wall. Island were pluviated into the water to form a new
model foundation and backfill for the next case.
Table 4 Scaling factors for shaking table tests for a One case is reported here, in which the deck is fixed
tile-supported wharf to the top of the retaining structure. To facilitate the
Quantities Scaling Scaling factors comparison to those measured in the field, the test
factors for 1/15 model results are presented in terms of the prototype scale.
Length A 15.0 Time histories of the response of the quay wall
Time ~0.75 7.6 obtained by the model test are shown in Fig. 10.
Acceleration 1 1.o Residual bending moments of the model piles after
Displacement ill .5
58.1 shaking are shown in Fig. 11 together with those of
Stresdpore A 15.0 buckling locations observed in the field.
water pressure Displacement of the deck from the model test was
Strain Ao.5
3.9 about half of that observed. This inconsistency,
El A4.5
196000 however, may be partly explained by the fact that the
87 1 effect of yielding of piles were not taken into account
EA A2.j
in the model tests. The buckling locations observed
in the prototype piles approximately coincided with
A total of three tests have been performed with
the maximum locations of bending moment
various conditions for the deck-retaining structure
distribution.
connections. After each text, the model foundation
soils and backfill soils were excavated for measuring

Fig. 10 Time histories of model pile-supported wharf response (scaled in terms of prototype)

938

Fig. 11 Residual bending moments in the piles
(scaled in terms of prototype) obtained by shaking
table tests
At the current stage of the study, the agreement
between the model test results and those observed in
the field are obviously not perfect and limited to the
extent described above. Considering the complexity
of the soil-structure systems discussed here, however,
the extent of agreement discussed here may be
understood as an encouraging sign.
In addition to those model tests discussed above,
significant studies have been performed through the
comparison of 1 g shaking table and centrifuge tests.
One study is a series of model tests on composite
deposits of dense and loose sand and Type I11 scaling
factors were used (Gibson & Scott 1995). The other
is a series of model tests on an embankment founded
on liquefiable foundation and Type I1 scaling factors
were used (Hayashi et a1 1997). In both of these
studies, the results of l g model tests agrees well with
those of centrifuge tests, suggesting a good
applicability of the scaling relations for shaking table
tests.
939
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This paper reviewed recent developments in soil-
structure interaction studies through shaking table
tests. More and more sophisticated use of shaking
table tests has lead our attentions back to the
fundamental mechanics of models. The mechanics of
models consist of two principles. The first concerns
the material behavior of soil and structure; the
material behavior of soil and structure in the model
should mimique that in the prototype. The paper
pointed out the importance to recognize the
difference in soil-structure interaction problems in
cyclic mobility regime and strain softening regime.
The second concerns the mechanics of soil-structure
systems; the fundamental laws of mechanics such as
equilibrium and mass balance should be satisfied
both in the model and the prototype. These two
principles naturally lead to the scaling factors for
various quantitites such as time, displacement,
stiffness, etc. specified in terms of scaling factors for
length, density and strain. Soil-structure interaction
studies on a gravity quay wall and a pile-supported
wharf indicated that shaking table tests, if carefully
performed, have a potential to be a powerful means
to study the performance of complicated soil-
structure interaction problems.
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Gibson, A.D. & R.F. Scott, 1995. Comparison of a 1g
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940
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3
Soil-structure interaction and retaining structures
George Gazetas
National Technical University,Athens, Greece
Summary Thirty three papers have been
submitted for this sessioh, covering a
range of topics within the field of
dynamic response of foundations and
retaining structures. The topics can be
broadly classified into the following
five categories :
(a) Seismic behavior of quaywalls,
including the analysis and design
of countermeasures to resist strong
seismic motions and liquefaction
“flow” failure. Essentially all
papers in this category refer to, or
have been motivated by, the
extensive quaywall failures (and
successes) in Kobe, during the 17-
1- 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
[Papers Numbered : 32, 43, 59, 66,
92, 61, 1011.
(b) Analysis of piles and pile-
supported structures subjected to
lateral-spreading type of ground
deformation. Again, the papers in
this session seem to have been
motivated by the numerous
incidences of liquefaction-induced
large ground deformations and
their effect on nearby piles in the
1995 Kobe Earthquake. [Papers
Numbered : 55, 86, 90, 132, 1371.
(c) Dynamic response of pile
foundations, under inertial and
kinematic vibratory loading. The
papers in this group include studies
on the effect of pile response on
soil-structure interaction. [Papers
941
Numbered: 10A 28, 53, 57, 83, 98,
1081.
(d) Analysis of the dynamic responses
of shallow and embedded
foundations, in a variety of
situations. [Papers Numbered: 4 1,
43, 52, 127, 63, 134, 140, 1411.
(e) Dynamic response and design of
retaining walls, which retain and
are supported by “stable” soil.
[Papers Numbered: 3 1, 122A, 231.
One interesting remark is that the
methods used in the papers for
analysis, design, or just interpretation
of the observed phenomena include :
theoretical analyses (numerical.
analytical, and hybrid)
large scale shaking table tests
a centrifuge model tests.
In several of the papers the results of
such theoretical andor experimental
analyses are contrasted against field
observations, to reach reliable
conclusions regarding the seismic
behavior of complex soil-structure
systems.
Overall, the papers in this session
reflect the considerable progress during
the last 4 years in the state of the art of
analyzing the behavior of retaining
structures and pile foundations under
very strong seismic shaking and large
ground imposed deformations.
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 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering,SBco e Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Dynamic soil-structureinteraction of adjacent structures

Stavros A. Savidis & Reinhold Hirschauer

Geotechnical Institute, Technical University,Berlin, Germany

ABSTRACT: The presented paper describes a numerical procedure to analyze structures of arbitrary geometry
on the surface of a layered soil with constant stiffness and damping in each layer. The mixed boundary value
problem is solved numerically using influence-functions for the layered soil. The soil-structure interaction is
realized by a discrete weighted residual technique formulated in the frequency domain. Examples are given
for two structures under seismic excitation and for a system of railway ties exposed to harmonic excitation.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 METHOD OF SOLUTION

Considering dynamic soil-structure interaction
problems for foundation systems the dynamic sub-
soil coupling of the foundations is an important fac-
tor. A number of methods to solve this mixed
boundary value problem in the frequency domain
have been introduced during the past decades. Semi-
analytical methods, Savidis and Richter (1977),
Savidis and Sarfeld (1980), Wong and Luco (1986),
numerical finite element and boundary element
techniques, Roesset and Gonzalez ( I977), Moham-
madi and Karabalis (1995), as well as analytical
methods, Triantafyllidis and Prange ( I 987) have
been used. While numerical techniques allow the
treatment of foundation systems of arbitrary geome-
try, analytical methods are restricted to regular
geometries.
Regarding the soil, as nonhomogeneous and lay-
ered, special influence functions are required to con-
struct the corresponding stiffness matrix of the sub-
soil. One of the possibilities is, to use half-space
influence functions in terms of displacements for
dynamic point loads determined by the thin-layer
method developed by Waas (1972) and Kausel
(1 98 1). Using this method and the substructure tech-
nique, Wolf (1985), the interaction effects between
structures with foundations of irregular geometry on
a layered soil, excited by seismic waves or external
loads are studied here.
2. I Equation of motion
The substructure technique is the basis for the cal-
culation of the soil-structure-interaction. Here the
soil and the rigidelastic foundations are defined as
substructures. To compute the dynamic response of
structures resting on a layered soil and subjected to
seismic excitation or external loads respectively , the
principle of d’Alembert in the form of Lagrange is
applied to obtain the equation of motion (eq. 1)
Herein M, DIJ,and C,J,represent the mass, damping
and stiffness matrix of the elastic foundations. C,
and D,ydescribe the stiffness and damping matrix of
the underlying layered soil. The vector U represents
the absolute displacement whereas uo is the ground
base motion in the case of seismic excitation. Finally
p represents the external loads.
Seismic Excitation (External loadp = 0 )
Performing the Fourier transformation eq. (1) gives
(- Q ~ M
+ K )U = K U,, (2)
where K = K\.+ K,>,represents the complex stiffness
matrix of the entire system with K,,, = D,,, -I-C,,, being
the complex stiffness matrix of the elastic founda-
tion and K,Y= D, + C, the complex stiffness matrix of
the soil, considering the boundary conditions at the
soil surface. U and U. denote the complex ampli-

943
tudes in the frequency domain of the respective
quantities U and U, in the time domain.
External Loads (No seismic excitation (U, = 0)
Having no seismic excitation (U, = 0) and perform-
ing the Fourier transformation equation (1) yields
method to compute the influence functions, the finite
layers of the above soil profile have to be divided
into sublayers in order to linearize the transcendental
functions which govern the displacements in the
direction of the layering. The thickness of the sub-
layers have to be small compared to the wavelengths
involved.

(- Q*M + K)U = P (3)

P denotes the complex amplitudes of the external
loads in the frequency domain.
2.2 Complex stiffness of soil
The contact area underneath the elastic plates is di-
vided into a finite number N of subareas A; with uni-
formly distributed pressures qi = {e,qy,q z } and
weighted displacements U; = {U,, U?,,u z } over each
subregion (i = 1, 2, ..., N). Rearranging the vectors q
and U and imposing relaxed boundary conc&ions at
the contact g e a the influence matrix F yields
U = F q with F having the following form:
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Seismic excitation
The first system analyzed here is shown in figure 1
(Savidis et al, 1996). It consists of two structures
based on rigid plate foundations resting on a layered
soil. Foundation A is a circular plate with a radius of
r = 20 m. The superstructures are modelled by
lumped masses connected by rigid massless rods.
The masses rn and mass moments of inertia 0 are
shown in Table 1. Foundation B is circumscribed by
a rectangle of 32.6 m x 48 m. The side next to foun-
dation A has a curved edge. The distance between
the two structures is 5 m.

The components of the matrix F are derived by in-

tegrating the surface influence functions f k l as de-
scribed below over the area Ai.Assembling the in-
fluences over all soil elements leads to a frequency
dependent flexibility matrix of the layered soil. In-
version of the flexibility matrix yields the complex
soil stiffness matrix K(iQ. The soil stiffness matrix
K , v ( i Qwhich
) includes the compatibility of the dis-
placements of the rigid or elastic foundations with
the soil displacements is obtained by multiplying the
matrix K with a respective transformation matrix T
and its transposed T'.

K, =T ' K T (3)

2.3 InjZuencefunctions
The surface influence functions f k l for the case con-
sidered here are determined by using the thin layer
method by Kausel (1981). The method is a semi-
analytical technique, in which the layered soil is
discretized in vertical direction by polynomials and
in horizontal direction described by analytical func-
tions. This formulation leads to algebraic expres-
sions, whose integral transforms can readily be
evaluated. The frequency dependent influence func-
tions for layered media due to dynamic unit loads
are then computed with high accuracy and reason-
able computational effort. By using the thin layer
Figure 1. Perspective view and ground plan of the system
The soil profile consists of three layers overlying a
half-space. The first layer, representing sand, has a
thickness of h, = 8 m. The soil properties of the sec-
ond layer with a thickness of h2 = 6 m can be classi-
fied as marl. The third layer (dense sand) has a
thickness of h, = 15 m. The soil properties of the
underlying halfspace are those of gravel. The values
of the soil properties, i.e. density p, shear wave ve-

944
locity v , ~Poisson's
, ratio v and damping ratio Ps are
given in Table 2.
Table 1. Mass distribution
Node m 8 Z
NO. [Mgl [Mgm21 [m]
9 35000 4.2~ 106 0.0
10 38000 4 . 6 106
~ 10.0
11 20000 1.2 x 106 22.0
Y
7000 0 . 8 106
~ 35.0
~

12
27 31000 6.5 x 106 0.0
28 34000 7 . 0 106
~ 12.0
Y
wl 29 5000 2 . 5 106
~ 30.0

Table 2. Soil properties

[Mg/m3] [m/s ]

2 Mar1 2.0 220 0.45 0.02 6.0

3 Sand 250 0.33 0.01 15.0
4 Sand 1.9 300 0.33 0.01 CO

Both foundations are excited by a seismic base

motion. As time input function a recorded accelero-
gram of the earthquake of Friaul is chosen (figure 2).
The system response due to a seismic excitation is
computed for two cases. In case 1 only the response
of structure A is calculated, whereas in case 2 the
complete system, i.e. both structures is analyzed. In
ail graphs the results are denoted by dashed lines for Figure 2. Time history, Fourier and response spectrum of
case 1 and with solid lines for case 2. Friaul eathquake
Figure 3 shows the normalized horizontal accel-
eration of node 9 and 12 due to a unit horizontal
harmonic ground acceleration. At both graphs ampli-
fications at the frequencies of fi = 1 Hz and
f2 = 1.8 Hz can be seen clearly. The amplification at
frequencyfi increases from the bottom (node 9) to
the top (node 12) of the superstructure. This indi-
cates that the rocking eigenmode around the y-axis
is located at this frequency. The amplification at
frequency fi can interpreted as a horizontal transla-
tion eigenmode combined with a rocking mode. A
significant effect of interaction appears only in the
frequency range of 1.5 to 2.5 Hz.
Figure 4 shows the vertical normalized accelera-
tions on node 1 and 5 for the same unit horizontal
ground acceleration. Again the two dominant fre-
quencies fi and f2 can be identified. The interaction
effects are stronger on node 1, since this node is lo-
cated next to the structure B. At node 5 the interac-
'non e%em are'ies pnfurmnh.

Figure 3. Normalized horizontal acceleration for the nodes 9

and 12

945

Figure 4. Normalized vertical acceleration for nodes 1 and 5
Figure 5. Response spectra and interaction influence factor
of the horizontal acceleration for node 9 and 12
In figure 5 the reponse spectra for the horizontal
acceleration for Node 9 and 12 are plotted. Since the
946
dominant frequencies of the input function are 10-
cated in the range of 2 to 3 Hz and the eigenfre-
quency for the horizontal translation mode is in the
same range an amplification occurs in this range.
The same effect can be seen in the response spectra
for the vertical accelerations in figure 6. In order to
illustrate the interaction influence between both
structures the response curves for case 2 are divided
by the respective curves for case 1 by defining the
parameters Y,, and Y, for the horizontal and vertical
response. The variation of these parameters with
frequency is also shown in figure 5 and 6.
Figure 6. Response spectra and interaction influence factor
of the vertical acceleration for node 1 and 5
3.2 External Loads
The second system analyzed here is a system of
railway ties on the halfspace as shown in figure 7.
The middle tie is exposed to harmonic loading.
Hereby the influence of the number of ties (1,3,5)
involved in the investigation upon the absolute Verti-
cal displacement of the middle tie is examined. In
this case the halfspace is assumed to be a homoge-
neous one with density p = 2000 kg/m3, shear wave
velocity v, = 200 m/s and Poisson’s Ratio v = 0.33.

Figure 7. Investigated System. Number of investigated ties:
1 , 3 , 5 and 21
Figure 8. Absolute vertical displacement of the middle ties
as a function of the frequency f
The absolute vertical displacements of the middle
tie 0 as a function of the frequency f are shown in
figure 8. Due to the low mass of the tie there is no
peak in the plot for the single tie system and the ab-
947
solute vertical displacement is decreasing monoto-
nously with increasing frequency.
Calculating the 3 - tie system, three distinct reso-
nance peaks are obtained. Increasing the number of
involved ties the number of resonance peaks in-
creases. The influence of the number of the investi-
gated ties as well as the kind of the soil layering
upon the number and the shape of the resonance
peaks are shown and discussed in Savidis and
Hirschauer (1997) in more detail for the vertical and
the rotational modes.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The dynamic interaction of two adjacent structures
supported by rigid foundations exposed to horizontal
seismic excitation and of a railway tie system ex-
posed to harmonic excitation are presented. The nu-
merical procedure applied includes the complete
dynamic subsoil coupling and can be used to model
arbitrary shaped foundation resting on layered soil.
The results demonstrate the influence of frequency
in the dynamic soil coupling of adjacent structures.
5 REFERENCES
Kausel, E. (1981). An explicit solution for the
Green’s functions for dynamic loads in layered
media, Research Report R81-13, Publ. No. 699,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, M.I.T., Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Mohammadi, M. & Karabalis, D.L. (1995). Dynamic
3-D soil railway track interaction by BEM-FEM.
Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 24, 1177-1193
Roesset, J.M. & Gonzalez, J.J. (1978). Dynamic
interaction between adjacent structures. In Dyna-
mical Methods in Soil and Rock Mechanics (B.
Prange, ed.), Vol. I, pp. 127-166. A.A. Balkema,
Rotterdam.
Savidis, S. A., Faust B. & Sarfeld, W. (1996). Three-
dimensional Interaction between Structures on
Layered Soil under Seismic Excitation, Proc. 11th
World Con$ on Earthquake Engineering, Aca-
pulco1996
Savidis, S. A. & Hirschauer, R. (1997). Dynamische
Steifigkeiten von Schwellensystemen auf ge-
schichtetem Untergrund. Zwischenbericht, DFG-
Schwerpunktprogramm Systemdynamik und
Langzeitverhalten von Fahrwerk, Gleis und Un-
tergrund
Savidis, S. A. & Richter, T. (1977). Interaction of
rigid foundations under dynamic loading. Proc.
9th Int. Con. Soil Mech. Found. Engng., Tokyo,
Vol. 11,pp. 369-374.
Savidis, S. A. & Sarfeld, W. (1980). Verfahren und
Anwendung der dreidimensionalen, dynamischen
Wechselwirkung. Vortrage der Baugrundtagung,
Mainz, 47-78.
Triantafyllidis, T. & Prange, B. (1987). Dynamic
subsoil coupling between rigid rectangular foun-
dations. Soil dyn. earthq. eng. 6 , 164-179.
Waas, G. (1972). Linear Two-Dimensional Analysis
of Soil Dynamics Problems in Semi-Infinite Laye-
red Media. Ph.D. thesis, University of California,
Berkeley.
Wolf, J.P. (1 985). Dynamic Soil Structure Interac-
tion. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs:
Wong, H.L. & Luco, J.E. (1986). Dynamic interac-
tion between rigid foundations in layered half-
space. Soil dyn. earthq. eng. 5, 149-158

948
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S6co e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Seismic soil-structure interaction of rigid and flexible retaining walls

R.S.Steedman
GIBB Limited, Reading, UK

ABSTRACT: The nature of residual earth pressure behind a cantilever retaining wall is determined to be a
function of the relative mass and stiffness of the soil and wall. Elasto-plastic theory is used to analyse the
stress condition on the interface between the soil and wall, and to predict the wall top deflections.
Comparisons with data from centrifuge model tests show good agreement, even after three separate episodes
of base shaking. Permanent wall movement is concluded to be due to soil yielding in the backfill, generating
locked-in lateral stresses on the back of the wall. The method is applicable to the full range of wall stiffnesses
from rigid to flexible, and the implications of the analysis for design are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION vital to the prediction of wall displacements during a

The problem of dynamic earth pressure against walls
during earthquakes has been widely considered since
the early quasi-static solution of Okabe (1924).
However, a lack of well instrumented prototype data
has precluded a more fundamental understanding of
the interaction problem. Design techniques have
therefore usually been justified in relation to the
behaviour of small models.
succession of earthquakes.
There are two significant components to retaining
wall movement, namely sliding and rotation. Each
component results in a different distribution of
strains within the backfill, sliding, for instance,
leading to the development of a slip plane and highly
localised strains whereas rotation results in a much
more distributed pattern of strain.

Horizontal shaking caused by an earthquake is an
event of limited duration that causes fluctuations in
the earth pressure on a wall and may result in some
permanent ‘residual’ increase in stress. The dynamic
pressure distribution and amplitude have been the
subject of wide discussion, from the landmark paper
by Seed and Whitman (1970), through more recent
texts such as Ebeling and Momson (1992).
Although few retaining walls above the water table
have suffered total collapse during an earthquake,
the phenomenon of serviceability failure caused by
wall movement is common.
In the majority of cases, such outward wall
movement will have been caused by a permanent
increase in the horizontal stress on the wall after the
earthquake. Thus although calculations for the
maximum dynamic lateral force are important in
considering plastic collapse of soil-wall systems, an
understanding of the mechanism of residual stress is
Okabe’s (1924) solution for dynamic earth pressure
on a retaining wall was based on Coulomb wedge
theory. A simplified version, published by
Mononobe and Matsuo (1929) has subsequently
become known as the Mononobe-Okabe analysis.
Bolton and Steedman (1982) showed that dynamic
earth pressure coefficients of similar magnitude to
Mononobe-Okabe can be obtained for a wall without
appeal to the kinematics of sliding wedges, and
therefore that Mononobe-Okabe was relevant to the
problem of cantilever walls.
Prediction of displacements, however, requires that
closer attention be paid to the pattern of strains
within the backfill. A quasi-static elasto-plastic
analysis is presented below which considers in detail
the dynamic stress history within the backfill during
shaking, Steedman (1984). The model enables
calculations of wall top displacement to be made in
the time domain.

949
2 LATERAL ACCELERATION FIELD
An initial stress state in a homogeneous soil fill at
depth z has vertical and horizontal stresses yz and
Kip, where y is the unit weight of the soil. Consider
a uniform lateral acceleration field of magnitude khg
superimposed on the existing vertical field of
magnitude lg, Figure 1. D’Alembert body forces
act in a direction opposed to the direction of the
lateral acceleration field, of magnitude yzlcos p,
where the angle p, is defined by tan p = kh to the
vertical. The resulting shear and normal stresses on
a horizontal plane will be :
Figure 1 Lateral acceleration field
3 DEFLECTIONS
Consider the effect of such an acceleration field on a
retaining wall and the adjacent soil. The resultant
deflection must be the result of interaction between
wall and soil as each component attempts to reach a
‘fiee field’ profile. Both soil and wall can deform
‘elastically’, and both can also deform plastically.
For a conventional cantilever wall to deform
plastically would imply the formation of plastic
hinges and the onset of wall failure, but prior to this
stage, permanent wall movements will still be
caused by plastic yielding within the soil once the
stress state reaches a yield condition. In this paper,
the soil is idealised as obeying a Mohr-Coulomb
yield criterion whose strength is characterised by an
angle of internal shearing resistance.,,$, Consider
first, however, elastic free field deflections of wall
950
and soil, where the stiffness of the soil is governed
by a shear modulus G varying with depth.
3.1 Elastic soil free field defection, ys
In the elastic free field, each elemental soil column
may be idealised as a shear beam, with adjacent
elements having negligible bending stiffness and
therefore unable to transmit extra normal stresses but
fully able to respond with complementary shear
stresses. The local change in angle on the boundary
is therefore given by the shear angle :
dy/dz=z/G = yztan P I G (2)
The shear modulus G may be approximated as
varying with the square root of the effective
confining pressure p’, Hardin and Dmevich (1972),
such that G = hldz . Substituting and integrating
over the wall height H gives an expression for the
wall top deflection in terms of the shear modulus at
depth H ( G z = ~= Gb) and the lateral acceleration
field.
3.2 Elastic wall free field defection, yw
Applying a uniform lateral force field khg while the
soil exerts unchanging normal stresses enables the
wall top deflection to be readily calculated. For
simplicity, let the cantilever wall have uniform
bending stiffness along its length, given by E1 = E,
D3/12. The wall top deflection is then :
y, = 3ywH4tanP/2E,D2 (4)
where y, is the unit weight of the all, D the thickness
and E, the Young’s Modulus.
3.3 Interaction correction
Both the magnitude and profiles of deflection
calculated for soil and wall free-field are different. If
a tensile stress increment, equivalent to a destressing
of the soil-wall interface is applied between the soil
and the wall to marry the deflections at the top, an
approximate solution can be found.
Let the tensile stress increment (ie. destressing) be
proportional to depth in the soil, oe = & yz. The
corresponding wall movement is then :
ywe= - 0.4 & yH5/ E, D3 (5)
In the soil, such a stress decrement allows a 45”
triangle of fill to deform in simple shear. The shear
stress increment mobilised on 45” lines would be :
which equals half the decrement of lateral stress, and
hence :
To find a solution, assume temporarily that the shear
modulus varies linearly with depth, agreeing at mid-
depth with the Hardin and Dmevich solution above.
So G = h2 z, where h2 = h, d2/H . The soil
deflection at the surface is then given by :
3.4 Relative stiffness
The relative magnitudes of the deflection corrections
ywe and Yse are an indication of the relative stiffness
of the wall and the soil during elastic vibrations. A
simplified expression may be readily obtained in
terms of Gb, where Gb = hi dH
For conventional flexible cantilevers, this relation
indicates that the soil may be up to twenty times
‘stiffer’ than the wall. This reinforces the concept of
a destressing between soil and wall during that half
of the cycle when the D’Alembert forces act
outwards from the wall.
3.5 Compatibility
Compatibility between the soil and the cantilever is
crudely satisfied if the backfill remains in contact
with the wall at the top. Hence
substituting and solving for & gives :
where Ci is an interaction parameter, given by :
951
The tensile stress increment oewas defined above as
being proportional to &. From equation (1 l), the
stress increment is also therefore proportional to the
lateral acceleration field and to the interaction
parameter Ci, describing the relative mass and
stiffness of wall and soil.
It is worth considering the significance of the
interaction parameter in more detail. Clearly it may
be positive or negative, depending on the flexibility
of a particular wall. For infinitely stiff walls, the
parameter tends to a negative limit of about -3.77 .
Although there is no theoretical upper limit, for
walls of high mass but low stiffness simple
calculations for a variety of unpropped cantilever
walls indicate that the parameter Ci is usually less
than 0.5 . A sheet pile wall, for example, which has
a finite mass but low stiffness may yield a value of
about 0.3, whereas a reinforced concrete cantilever
with a higher stiffness to mass ratio may yield a
value of about Ci = 0 . In dynamic soil-structure
interaction, then, the interaction parameter Ci
provides a quantitative measure of the relative
soillwall mass and stiffness.
3.6 Elastic deflections
Assuming that Ci remains unchanged with time it is
then simple to calculate the corrected wall top
deflection.
This equation provides an estimate of deflection
within an elastic region. For a rigid wall, for
example, y = 0, as would be expected. Once
yielding starts to occur on some plane within the
backfill, however, permanent plastic deflections set
in.
4 ELASTIC STRESS STATE
Figure 3 shows the initial and subsequent change in
state for a soil element following the application of a
lateral force field. In this example, the element
remains within the elastic region in stress space.
Using s, t and (Gh)e to denote the average, shear and
elastic horizontal stresses respectively, then it may
be shown that :
and
((Th)e = s - {t2- (yztan ’>O.’ (14)
The magnitude of the stress decrement or increment
between soil and wall depends on the computed
value of the interaction parameter Ci,
Figure 2 Elastic Mohr circle construction
In s, t space, therefore, there are a range of elastic
stress paths from any initial point depending on the
value of Ci. Figures 3 and 4 show a variety of stress
paths for positive and negative increments Of kh.
Figure 3 Stress paths in t,s space for +k,,
Figure 4 Stress paths in t,s space for - kh
952
5 PLASTIC STRESS STATE
Yielding starts to occur on a plane within the
backfill once the Mohr circle in Figure 2 touches the
$,a, line. At this instant, t = s sin $,a, . During
hrther increases in k,,, a new expression is required
for s, as the expanding Mohr’s circle is now
constrained to remain touching the Coulomb line, as
shown in Figure 5 :
Figure 5 Plastic Mohr circle construction
The positive and negative signs refer to the ‘active’
and ‘passive’ Mohr’s circles respectively. Assuming
that on unloading a similar mechanism is followed
to the initial loading, with unchanged elastic moduli,
then horizontal stresses become jacked into the
backfill following a period of yielding. The in-situ
vertical stress remains unchanged after the event,
and therefore the lateral earth pressure coefficient K
is increased. The end point in t, s space must lie on
a line at 45” down from the start point. Figure 6
shows the effect of elastic loading, plastic yielding
and elastic unloading for a flexible wall (Ci = 0.2, K,
= 0.4) caused by a full cycle of acceleration, Figure
7.
Figure 6 Cycle of lateral acceleration

Figure 7 Cycle of acceleration, amplitude kl, = 0.5
6 PLASTIC DEFORMATIONS
Implicit thus far in the analysis as been the
assumption that the dynamic pressure distribution
can be approximated as triangular. Evidence
this has been Presented, and
Steedman (1985)* From the
construction of Figure 5 , the horizontal stresses
acting On the plane Of the may be
deduced :
Figure 8 Normal stress on the wall during full cycle
of loading, showing one period of yielding
The effects of the full cycle of loading shown in
Figures 6 and 7 on the normal stress acting on the
wall can then be plotted, as shown in Figure 8. The
shape and location of the yield surface, defined in
this example by $ = 45”, is independent of the
stiffness of the wall. However, where the stress path
953
strikes the yield surface depends on the initial
condition and the interaction parameter Ci. Note that
for this ‘flexible’ wall, on the negative cycle of kh,
the stress path is heading towards a yield condition
with a value of K still less than 1, indicating yielding
in an ‘active’ condition, although on different planes
in the soil to the condition reached during the
positive half of the cycle.
Using the standard expressions for static loading of a
cantilever, an expression for the wall top deflection
may easily be reached. To this must be added a
deflection due to wall inertia, which also exerts a
lateral load on the wall. The total deflection is
therefore :
y = 0.4yKwH5 / E wD3 + 3ywH4tan p / 2EwD2 (17)
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ANALYSIS
Elastic behaviour has been shown to be dependent
on an interaction parameter related to stiffness and
inertia. The acceleration for a particular soil-
wall system depends not only on the interaction
parameter but also on the initial stress state, as
defined by the lateral earth pressure coefficient J&,.
As shown in Figures 6 and 8, the rotation of the
principal stress directions caused by the increasing
shear stresses can lead to yield on ‘active’ planes in
the soil, regardless of the direction of the
acceleration field, at least for flexible walls in a near
active condition. Careful consideration must be
given to the use of limit state solutions such as
Mononobe-Okabe under conditions where soil-
structure interaction is likely.
2.5
0.5
I I I I I
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
kh
Figure 9 Yield surfaces as a function of omax
A system of yield surfaces can be plotted as a
function of the peak angle of internal shearing
resistance $,a, as shown in Figure 9. General
instability is predicted when tan $max = kh ie. for $,a,
= 45”, instability occurs for kh = k 1. In Figure 10,
the normal stress acting on the wall varies as elastic
stress paths lead from an initial condition defined by
= 0.3 towards the yield surface. A soil-wall
system is defined uniquely by its interaction
parameter Ci. Figure 11 shows the effect on Ci, .of a
range of values of soil base shear modulus and wall
thickness. For this example, H = 15m, y, = 24
kN/m3, y = 20 kN/m3, E, = 28 x 106 kN/m2. (The
wall thickness is used here as a measure of stiffness
because it also defines the wall inertia, for a given
wall unit weight.)
Figure 10 Horizontal stress as a function of kh
Figure 11 Interaction parameter as function of soil
and wall stiffness
1 Wall unit weight I y,
There are a number of interesting implications of the
analysis. Firstly, the terms ‘active’ and ‘passive’ are
of no use in describing the yielding events. A
positive acceleration pulse might provoke yielding
on ‘active’ or ‘passive’ planes, depending on the
relative soil-wall stiffness. In fact, the model
predicts that yielding occurs on successive different
planes as a further increment in lateral acceleration
provokes a further rotation of principal stresses.
Yielding may start on planes oriented at more than
45” to the horizontal and proceed through to planes
oriented at less than 45” to the horizontal.
954
Secondly, high lateral residual stresses may become
jacked in following cycles of acceleration on a
backfill with initially low KO. Similarly, backfill
compacted to high values of K, behind rigid walls,
for instance, may lose much of that lateral stress
during yielding.
Thirdly, it should be emphasised that the principal
stress directions are rotating continuously during
shaking. In certain circumstances it is possible for
principal stresses to rotate through more than 180”
although in general this would not be the case.
8 COMPARISON WITH DATA
The model was used to analyse the data from
dynamic centrifuge model tests of a fixed base
aluminium alloy cantilever wall of uniform
thickness, retaining dry sand. At 80g in-situ stresses
exist in the model identical to those behind a 14m
high prototype wall. Successive episodes of base
shaking provoked displacements of the wall
outwards from the backfill.
Data and predictions for the first three earthquakes
are presented here. Base acceleration for the three
earthquakes is shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12 Earthquake 1, average peak kh = 0.18
(top), E’quake 2, kh = 0.25 (middle), E’quake 3, kh =
0.27 (bottom), base input acceleration; fundamental
frequency 80 Hz (model), 1 Hz (prototype)
I 2220 kN/m’
Soil unit weight y 1368 kN/m”
Wall height H 0.175 m
Wall thickness 0.00935 m
145000 kN/m
Table 1 Specifications for model test RSS.30
Table 1 gives the key parameters for the model. The
wall top deflection, measured and predicted, is
shown in Figures 13, 14, 15.
 calculated following the approach above. Permanent
displacements and elastic vibrations are both
predicted with good accuracy in the time domain,
even after three earthquake events.

The stress histories in Figures 16, 17 and 18 show

the development of high lateral stresses jacked in
behind the wall which prevents subsequent
permanent deformation unless accelerations exceed
past maxima.
Figure 13 Displacement time history, earthquake 1

Figure 14 Displacement time history, earthquake 2

Figure 16 Stress path behind wall, earthquake 1

Figure 15 Displacement time history, earthquake 3

Examining the measured wall displacement records

qualitatively there are several points to note. Firstly,
although the shaking consisted of ten pulses of
roughly similar magnitude, the wall is observed to
undergo most of its permanent displacement in the
first few cycles, and in a manner not proportional to
the amplitude of the cycle.

Earthquake 3, although in amplitude almost exactly

equal to earthquake 2, caused virtually no permanent
outward deflection. There was, however, ‘elastic’
vibration about a mean value of a similar magnitude
to the cyclic vibration in earthquake 2.

Computing a value for the interaction constant Ci as

above for this soil-wall system gives a value of Ci =
0.2, a flexible system. Fully active earth pressures
were therefore assumed to have developed in the
backfill before the start of shaking. Using the raw
base acceleration time history as an input enables the
wall top displacements and stress paths to be Figure 17 Stress path behind wall, earthquake 2

955

Figure 18 Stress path behind wall, earthquake 3
9 CONCLUSIONS
1. Stress history is seen to be crucial to the
prediction of the dynamic behaviour of
cantilever walls.
2. Simple elasto-plastic mechanisms prove capable
of quite accurate and detailed prediction of time-
varying displacements.
3. The relative stiffness of soil and wall may be
described using elastic theory and is then of
great significance in the prediction of subsequent
behaviour. The model addresses the full range
of cantilever wall stiffnesses from flexible to
rigid.
4. The terms ‘active’ and ‘passive’ are irrelevant to
the dynamic cantilever wall problem due to the
continuous rotation of principal stress directions
during shaking.
5. Whereas the limiting ‘active, dynamic earth
pressure on a wall may be approximated by the
Mononobe-Okabe solution, -the concept of a
limiting ‘passive’ pressure is less clear, as soil-
structure interaction is shown to significantly
affect the nature of the normal stress on the soil-
wall interface.
956
6. Locked in lateral (residual) stresses following
yielding of a flexible soil-wall system are seen to
be explained by following the dynamic stress
history of the event.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work described in this paper arose from studies
carried out at Cambridge University. The author
acknowledges the valuable input of Dr M D Bolton
in the completion of this analysis.
REFERENCES
Bolton M D and Steedman R S (1982) Centrifugal
testing of microconcrete retaining walls subjected to
base shaking, Proc. Conf. Soil Dynamics and
Earthquake Engng, Southampton, Balkema, pp 3 11-
329
Bolton M D and Steedman R S (1 985) Modelling the
seismic resistance of retaining structures, Proc. XI
Int. Conf. Soil Mech. Fndn. Engng, San Francisco,
4, Balkema, pp 1845-1848.
Ebeling R M and Morrison E E (1992) The seismic
design of waterfront structures, Tech. Report ITL-
92-1 1, USAE, Waterways Experiment Station,
Vicksburg, MS.
Hardin B 0 and Drnevich V P (1 972) Shear modulus
and damping in soils: design equations and curves,
Proc. ASCE, JSMF Divn., 98, SM7.
Mononobe N and Matsuo H (1929) On the
determination of earth pressure during earthquakes,
Proc. World Engng. Congress, 9, pp 177-185.
Okabe S (1924) General theory of earth pressure, J.
Japan Civil Engng. Soc. 12 (1).
Seed H B and Whitman R V (1970) Design of earth
retaining structures for dynamic loads, ASCE Spec.
Conf. Lateral stresses in the ground and design of
earth retaining structures, Cornell, pp 103-147.
Steedman R S (1984) Modelling the behaviour of
retaining walls in earthquakes, Cambridge
University, PhD Thesis.
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Performance of pile foundations in laterally spreading soils

Kohji Tokimatsu
Tokyo Institute of Technology,Japan

ABSTRACT: The field performance of various pile foundations that experienced lateral ground
spreading during past earthquakes is summarized. It is shown that: (1) damage concentrated near
the top and bottom of the liquefied layer of non-ductile piles, leading to the tilt of their
superstructures in many cases; (2) the piles within a building near the waterfront show different
failure modes in the direction perpendicular to the waterfront, while those away from the waterfront
show similar deformation patterns; ( 3 ) pile foundations enclosed by cement mixing walls,
diaphragm walls, and cement column walls did not suffer any vital damage; and (4) the earth
pressures acting on rigid foundations from non-liquefied crusts overlying laterally spreading soils
may be as large as the passive ones, whereas those acting on deformable foundations appear
considerably smaller. A pseudo-static analysis is conducted for well-documented case histories of
pile foundations to estimate the scaling factors for p-y springs of laterally spreading soils. The
analytical results show that both the coefficient of the horizontal subgrade reaction of piles and the
maximum reaction force of laterally-spreading soils are 0.05-0.2 times those of non-liquefied soils.

INTRODUCTION The object of this study is to investigate the

effects of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading on
Extensive soil liquefaction that occurred in the failure and deformation modes of piles, in an effort
Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake of January 17 of 1995 for improving aseismic design of pile foundations
damaged various structures in the reclaimed land and their remedial measures against lateral ground
areas along the coastline of Kobe. Particularly, spreading. For this purpose, the failure and
many of the quay walls in these areas moved up to deformation modes of the piles that experienced
several meters towards the sea due to liquefaction of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading in the past
their foundation soils andor back-fills. This earthquakes are summarized, with emphasis placed
induced large horizontal ground movements as well on those observed during the 1995 Kobe earthquake.
as differential ground settlements near the
waterfront. As a result, many supported on piles
settled andor tilted without little damage to their
superstructures (Photo 1). Similar damage patterns
were also observed even in the liquefied level
ground far away from the waterfront.
The field investigation conducted after the quake
suggests that the piles of those buildings might have
been damaged not only by the inertia force from the
superstructure but also by the kinematic force
arising from permanent ground movement. This in
turns suggests that the effects of liquefaction-
induced ground movements on piles should be
properly taken into account in foundation design.
However, little is known concerning the actual
failure and deformation patterns of those piles, and Photo 1 Typical damage pattern of building
their relation to ground displacements. subjected to lateral ground spreading (Building A)

957
 Photo 2 Borehole camera survey after excavation
A pseudo-static analysis is then conducted for well-
documented case histories of pile foundations from
the Kobe earthquake to estimate scaling factors for
p-y springs of laterally spreading soils.
FAILURE AND DEFORMATION MODES OF
PILE FOUNDATIONS IN LATERALLY
SPREADING GROUND
Detailed Field Investigations after 1995 Hyogoken-
Nambu Earthquake
Many field investigations were performed on pile
foundations that experienced liquefaction-induced
ground movements during the Kobe earthquake [e.g.,
Kansai Branch of Architectural Institute Japan (AIJ),
1996; AIJ et al., 1998; BTL Committee, 19981. In
addition to the excavation and examination of pile
heads, several methods were specially invented and
used in those investigations, which enable one to
estimate the failure and deformation modes of piles.
Borehole camera observation (Photo 2) identified
damage portion and severity for precast hollow piles
(Oh-oka et al., 1996) and for cast-in-place concrete
piles cored vertically. Inclinometer surveys (Photo
3 ) provided data to estimate deformed shapes with
depth of precast hollow piles (Shamoto et al., 1996).
Aerial photographic surveys delineated the
distributions of permanent ground displacement
around the investigated areas. The results of the
above investigations indicate that the spatial
variations and damage patterns of piles within a
building are somewhat different depending on its
location.
Damage Patterns near the Waterfront
The main findings from the field investigations near
958
Photo 3
Inclinometer
the waterfront are summarized as (Tokimatsu and
Asaka, 1998; Tokimatsu, 1998):
1) Damage concentrated near the pile head, or the
top andor the bottom of the liquefied layer (Figs.
1(a>-1(4>.
2) Damage was not limited to PC and PHC piles but
extended to some S piles (JASPP, 1996) and
cast-in-place concrete piles (Tokimatsu et al,
1996).
3) The damage to PC and PHC piles often resulted
in a large tilt of the superstructure, whereas the
damage to S and CC piles rarely led to similar
consequences.
4) A cast-in-place concrete pile foundation that
carried only a small load was also damaged and
displaced horizontally by as much as 1 m
(Kuwabara and Yoneda, 1998).
5) Damage to pile caps and foundation beams often
preceded or accompanied the damage to S and
CC piles.
6) The piles within a building near the waterfront
showed different failure and deformation modes
Fig. 1 'l'ypical damage pattern of building
subjected to lateral spreading

Fig. 2 Typical failure and deformation modes
of pile foundations due to lateral spreading
in the direction perpendicular to the shoreline as
shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(d) (Tokimatsu et al.,
1998). In such a case, when facing the span
side of the building with the sea on the left, the
seaside pile cap rotated clockwise around its
longitudinal axis, whereas the land-side pile cap
rotated counterclockwise (Oh-oka et al., 1997).
7) While a passive earth thrust was reportedly
created on the upstream side of structures with
rigid foundations (Berrill et al., 1997), an active
state was created with large ground settlement on
the same side of structures with deformable
foundations (Tokimatsu et al., 1996).
8) Cast-in-place concrete piles surrounded by deep
mixing walls as well as steel pipe piles driven in
the ground treated by sand compaction piles did
not suffer any serious damage (Fig. l(f); BTI,
Committee, 1998). Moderate to severe damage
to their superstructures was, however, observed
in these cases.
9) Cast-in-place concrete piles surrounded by
cement column walls or continuous diaphragm
walls did not suffer any serious damage (BTL
Committee, 1998). The permanent horizontal
displacements of bridge piers founded on
diaphragm walls were negligibly small, while
those of bridge piers founded on piles or caissons
were as large as a half of the permanent ground
displacements nearby (Yokoyama et al., 1997).
Damage Patterns away ji-om the Waterji-ont
Even in the liquefied level ground far away from the
waterfront, permanent horizontal ground
displacements did occur and damage pile
foundations during several past earthquakes. The
damage patterns of those cases are summarized
below (Tokimatsu and Asaka, 1998; Tokimatsu,
1998):
1) Damage also concentrated near the pile head, or
959
the top and the bottom of the liquefied layer.
Damage to piles near the pile head or the bottom
of a thin non-liquefied crust often resulted in
tilts of buildings with high aspect ratios.
Damage to piles did not necessarily lead to tilts
of buildings particularly with thick non-liquefied
crusts (Fig. l(c); BTL Committee, 1998).
Unlike the foundations near the waterfront, the
failure and deformation modes of piles within a
building were very similar to each other, as
shown in Figs. 2(c) and 2(e).
Damage concentrated on PC and PHC piles, but
no extensive damage to S and CC piles was
reported. PHC piles without any vertical load
also suffered extensive damage near the bottom
of the liquefied layer (Fig. l(e); Horikoshi and
Ohtsu, 1996).
An 11-story building that was supported on
40cm diam reinforced concrete piles driven at
spaces of 1.1 m survived without any damage
and settlement, despite 2 m of horizontal ground
displacements nearby (Yoshimi, 1990). In this
case, the ground surface on the upstream side of
the building heaved by about 1 m (Hamada and
O’Rourke, 1992).
Lessons Learnt ji-om Field Observations
The above findings confirm that, in addition to
horizontal forces and overturning moments imposed
on pile heads from superstructures, kinematic forces
induced by dynamic and permanent ground
displacements of liquefied and laterally spreading
soils had significant impact on pile damage. In
particular, the damage to piles without vertical loads
confirms significant effects of ground movements.
The difference in failure and deformation modes
of piles within a building near the waterfront as
shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(d) probably reflects rapid
changes in horizontal ground displacement. In
addition, Fig. 2 suggests that the effect of lateral
ground movement on foundation damage is more
serious in the span direction than in the longitudinal
direction. This indicates that to place the
longitudinal direction of the building perpendicular
to the shoreline is effective for mitigating damage
due to lateral ground movement near the waterfront.
The difference in damage to piles of different
type indicates that to use ductile piles or rigid
foundations is also effective for mitigating damage
resulting from lateral ground movement.
Conversely, however, the inertial forces acting on
the superstructures and foundations during shaking
would be higher for rigid or treated foundations than
for deformable or untreated foundations. Besides,
the earth pressure acting on the upstream side the
building from laterally spreading soils would
Fig. 3 Schematic figure showing earth pressures
acting on foundations from laterally spreading soils
increase with increasing the rigidity of the
foundation as shown in Fig. 3 . The effects of these
factors should be properly taken into account.
PSUEDO-STAIC ANALYSIS FOR PILE
FOUNDATIONS
One of the key issues in the design of foundations in
laterally spreading soils is to quantifl the forces
arising from ground displacement, defined as p-y
relations. Thus, such p-y relations are estimated
based on well-documented case histories in the
Kobe earthquake.
SimpliJied Design Method considering Inertial and
Kinematic Forces Acting on Piles
Fig. 4 schematically illustrates the soil-pile-structure
interaction in laterally spreading soils. Prior to the
development of pore water pressure, only the inertia
force from the superstructure may dominate (Phase
I). With the development of pore pressure during
shaking, the cyclic shear strain in the deposit
increases, producing large cyclic ground
displacements. In this phase, not only the inertial
force but also the kinematic forces resulting from
the cyclic ground displacements come to play
important roles (Phase 11). Towards the end of
shaking, residual components of shear strain may
accumulate, resulting in permanent horizontal
ground displacements. In this phase, the intensity
of ground shaking may be negligibly small. As a
result, the kinematic forces due to permanent ground
displacements may have a dominant effect on pile
Fig. 4 Schematic figures showing soil-pile-structure interaction in laterally spreading soil
960
Fig. 5 Analytical model of soil-pile-structure
system
performance (Phase 111), particularly near which
quay walls failed or moved seaward.
The above discussions and previous studies
indicate that piles in laterally spreading soils would
experience most severe loading condition in either
Phase I, I1 or 111; however, the final failure and
deformation modes would be controlled by the
loading condition in Phase 111. Thus, only the
failure and deformation modes in Phase I11 will be
discussed hereafter.
Fig. 5 schematically shows an analytical model
for the soil-pile-structure interaction in laterally
spreading ground in Phase I11 in which a group of
piles connected with a foundation beam is subjected
to lateral ground spreading. A simplified pseudo-
static design method using p-y curves for pile
foundations is extended and used. The basic
equation may be expressed as:
EI(d4y/dz4)=k,B{ f,,(z)-y3
in which E and I are Young’s modulus and moment
of inertia of pile, y is horizontal displacement of pile,
z is depth, k,, is coefficient of horizontal subgrade
reaction, B is pile diameter, and fiS(z)is a permanent
ground displacement profile with depth near the
pile.
To calculate stress and deformation of piles, the
characteristics of non-linear p-y springs and the
spatial variation of lateral ground displacement must
be defined, together with the moment-curvature (M-
@)relation of the pile that defines the non-linear
flexural rigidity of the pile, i.e., EI= MY@.

Fig 6 Analytical model for p-y spring
Definition ofp-y Springs
The p-y relations of soil under non-liquefied and
liquefied states may be modeled as shown in Fig. 6.
The coefficient of subgrade reaction of pile and the
maximum reaction force of non-liquefied soils may
be defined as (AIJ, 1988; JRA, 1997):
in which N is SPT N-value, B is pile diameter, K,>is
the coefficient of Rankine’s passive earth pressure,
and o va is the initial effective vertical stress. The
degradation of k,, with increasing displacement may
be expressed as:
in which y, has to be equal to Pyo/kh0.
The coefficient of subgrade reaction of pile and
the maximum reaction pressure for laterally
spreading soils are defined as:
in which o is the total vertical stress, and cy , a ’,
and /?are scaling factors for laterally spreading
soils.
The maximum earth pressure acting on the
embedded part of the building may be given by:
in which K may be assumed, based on the field
observations and Fig. 3, to be the coefficient of
passive earth pressure if the ground pushes the
foundation or to be the coefficient of active earth
pressure if the ground moves away from the
foundation.
961
Permanent Ground Displacement near Waterpont
When lateral spreading occurs near the waterfront,
the permanent horizontal ground displacement
generally decreases towards inland with a maximum
value at the waterfront. The affected distance of
such lateral spreading from the waterfront, L, for a
level ground with a liquefied layer of a constant
thickness, H, may be given by (Tokimatsu and
Asaka, 1998; Tokimatsu et al., 1998):
-
L/H =(25 1OO)Do/H (8)
in which Do is the permanent horizontal ground
displacement at the waterfront and is defined as:
in which D, is the displacement of the quay wall
and D,, is the maximum possible permanent
ground surface displacement of the liquefied soil,
estimated by the procedure such as proposed by
Tokimatsu and Asaka (1998).
The horizontal ground displacement at distance
x from the waterfront, D(x), is expressed in a
normalized form as shown in Fig. 7 and defined as
(Shamoto et al., 1998):
in which D,, is the permanent horizontal
displacement of the level ground far away from the
waterfront and may be assumed to be zero or
approximately equal to the maximum possible
cyclic ground surface displacement defined by
Tokimatsu and Asaka (1 998).
The permanent ground displacement profile with
depth at distance x of a laterally spreading deposit,
fis(z,x),may be approximated as :
Fig. 7 Relation of horizontal ground
displacement with distance from waterfront
Forz>z,
fiS(z,x)= D(X)COS( 7~ (z- Z, )/2H) (12)
= D(x)( 1-(z- z, )/H) (13)
in which z is depth below the ground surface, and z,
is depth of the groundwater table or the top of the
liquefied layer. Thus, once knowing Do, the
horizontal and vertical distributions of ground
displacement may be approximately estimated.
BACK-CACLULATED SCALING FACTORS
FOR P-Y SPRINGS IN LATERALLY
SPREADING SOILS
The remaining unknown values in the above
analysis are the scaling factors for p-y springs.
Thus, those values are estimated for the case
histories of Buildings A and B in the 1995 Kobe
earthquake (Tokimatsu et al., 1998).
Building A was situated 6 meters from the quay
wall on a reclaimed land. The building of three
stories was supported on hollow prestressed
concrete piles 400 mm in diameter and about 20
meters long. A loose fill 8-m thick comprising of
gravelly sands liquefied and spread seawards in the
1995 Kobe earthquake. Consequently, the building
inclined by 3 degrees towards the sea without any
structural damage. Fig. 8 shows the deformation
pattern of the pile foundation in the span direction,
which looks like that shown in Fig. 2(a).
Fig. 9 Deformation modes of piles of Building B
962
Building B was located at about 100 m away
from both the northern and western waterfronts of a
reclaimed island. This building of two stories was
supported on steel pipe piles 406 mm in diameter
and about 27 meters long. A fill about 15-m thick
comprising of gravelly sands liquefied and spread
seawards in the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Fig. 9
shows the deformation mode of the pile foundation
in the span direction (Sakate et al., 1997), which
looks like that shown in Fig. 2(c).
Figs. 10 and 11 show the effects of a and p on
the deformation modes of both seaside and land-side
piles in Buildings A and B (Tokimatsu and Niwano,
1998). It seems that a = 0.05-0.2 and p = 0.05-0.2
are appropriate for accounting for the variation in
deformation mode of piles within a building. The
a-values of 0.05-0.2 approximately correspond to
@'-values of 0.25-1.O, which are consistent with the
results of other studies (e.g., JRA, 1997).
The appropriateness of the above result is
examined for a building that was under construction
and experienced lateral spreading in the 1995
Fig. 10 Effects of a and p on deformation
modes of piles of Building A
Fig. 11 Effects of a a n d p on deformation
modes ofpiles OfBuilding B

Fig. 12 Observed and computed vector angles
of pile head inclination of pile foundation
subjected to lateral spreading (computed values
are indicated in circles)
Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake (Kuwabara and
Yoneda, 1998). Since this building carried only a
small vertical load, the major force acting on the
foundation was the kinematic force arising from
ground movements.
The building, 7 by 2 spans and 4 1.8 m long in
the east-west direction and 16.1 m wide in the north-
south direction was located on a reclaimed land,
with coastlines about 25 m east and 90 m south of
the building. It was supported on cast-in-place
concrete piles 47-49m long, having diameters of
1.2-1.7 m. The ground to a depth of 15-16 m was
reclaimed with weathered granite soils that were
supposed to have liquefied. As a result, the
foundation was displaced southeastwards by about 1
m and the pile heads within the building were
inclined in different directions as shown in Fig. 12.
It seems that the deformation modes of the
foundation in the span and longitudinal directions
look like those shown in Figs. 2(c) and 2(d),
respectively .
The stress and deformation in the piles are
calculated for both the N-S and E-W directions of
the building, which yields the vector angles of the
pile head inclinations. It is assumed that the
horizontal ground surface displacements on both
sides of the building are 125 cm and 40 cm in the E-
W direction and 75 cm and 60 cm in the N-S
direction, with a = 0.1 and p = 0.1. The computed
results are also shown in the circles in Fig. 13.
The computed result shows that, while the
seaside and land-side piles inclined towards the
opposite directions in the E-W direction, both the
seaside and land-side piles inclined similarly toward
the sea in the N-S direction. They are reasonably
consistent with the field observations, indicating the
assumed values of a and p are appropriate.
963
CONCLUSIONS
The field performance of the pile foundations that
experienced liquefaction-induced lateral spreading
during past earthquakes have been compiled and
summarized. A simple p-y analysis was conducted
to estimate scaling factors for p-y curves of laterally
spreading soils. The field observation together
with the analytical results leads to the following
conclusions:
1) Damage tends to occur in non-ductile piles and
at the interface between liquefied and non-
liquefied layers.
2) The piles of a building near the waterfront show
different failure modes in the direction
perpendicular to the waterfront, while those
away from the waterfront show similar
deformation patterns.
3) Pile foundations enclosed by cement mixing
walls, diaphragm walls, and cement column
walls successfully resisted lateral ground
spreading.
4) The earth pressures acting on rigid foundations
from non-liquefied crust overlying liquefied soils
may be as large as the passive ones, whereas
those acting on deformable foundations appears
considerably smaller.
5 ) The analytical results show that both the
coefficient of the horizontal subgrade reaction of
piles and the maximum reaction force of
laterally-spreading soils are 0.05-0.2 times those
of non-liquefied soils.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The study described herein was made possible
through the post-earthquake field investigation and
their compilation conducted by the Committee on
Building Foundation Technology against
Liquefaction and Lateral Spreading (BTL), Japan
Association for Building Research Promotion.
Professor Fumio Kuwabara, Nippon Institute of
Technology, kindly provided the information
concerning the case history of damaged cast-in-
place concrete piles used in this paper.
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Japan National Conf. on Geotechnical
Engineering, Vol. 1, pp. 929-930 (in Japanese).
Satake, K., Oh-oka, H., and Tokimatsu, K. (1997):
Investigation of earthquake-induced damage to
steel pipe pile foundation, Proc., 32nd Japan
National Conf. on Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.
1,pp. 927-928 (in Japanese).
Shamoto, Y., Sato, M., Futaki, M., and Shimazu, S.
(1 996): A site investigation of post-liquefaction
lateral displacement of pile foundation in
reclaimed land, Tsuchi-to-Kiso, JSG, Vol. 44, No.
3, pp. 25-27 (in Japanese).
Shamoto, Zhang, J.-M. and Tokimatsu: Methods for
predicting residual post-liquefaction ground
settlement and lateral spreading, Soils and
Foundations, Vol. 38, Special Issue, pp. 69-83,
1998.

964
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Seismic soil-pile-structureinteraction in soft clay

Chstina J.Curras, Ross W. Boulanger, Bruce L. Kutter & Daniel W.Wilson

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, Calg, USA

ABSTRACT: A dynamic beam on a nonlinear Winkler foundation (BNWF) model for analyzing seismic soil-
pile-structure interaction was evaluated against the results of a series of dynamic centrifuge model tests. Three
different structures supported by piles, including a 3x3 group, in soft clay overlying dense sand were
subjected to nine different earthquake events. Representative examples of recorded and calculated behavior
are presented.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 CENTRIFUGE EXPERIMENTS

Methods of analyzing seismic soil-pile-structure Tests were performed using the large servo-
interaction have included two- and three- hydraulic shaking table on the 9-m radius centrifuge
dimensional modeling of the pile and soil continuum at UC Davis (Kutter et al. 1994). Models were
using finite element or finite difference methods, tested in a Flexible Shear Beam (FSB) container at a
dynamic beam on a nonlinear Winkler foundation centrifugal acceleration of 30 g. All results presented
(BNWF) methods (Fig. 1), and simplified two-step herein are in prototype units unless otherwise stated.
methods that uncouple the superstructure and The soil profile, structural model, and
foundation portions of the analysis. Dynamic BNWF instrumentation are illustrated in Fig. 2. The lower
methods are considerably less complex than soil layer was fine, uniformly graded Nevada sand
modeling the pile and soil as a continuum, and yet (C,=1.5, Dso=0.15 mm) at a relative density (DJ of
offer several potential advantages over the about 75-80%. The upper soil layer was 6 m of
simplified sub-structuring methods when dealing reconstituted Bay Mud (LL-88, PIz48) placed as a
with soft soil conditions. The reliability of any of
these analysis methods under soft-soil conditions has
not been fully evaluated because the available case
histories and physical model studies are limited in
number and detail.
This paper describes an evaluation of dynamic
BNWF analyses against the results of a series of
dynamic centrifuge model tests of pile-supported
structures in a profile of very soft clay overlying
dense sand. Calculated and recorded responses of
three structures, two supported by single piles and
one supported by a 3x3 pile group, are compared for
nine earthquake events with peak base accelerations
ranging from 0.02 to 0.7g. The results provide an
evaluation of the analysis procedure’s ability to
reliably capture soil-pile-structure interaction effects
on different structures over a wide range of shaking
intensities and earthquake motions. Figure 1. Schematic of Dynamic BNWF Model.

965
slurry (water content = 140%) in four equal layers,
with each layer consolidated under an applied
vertical stress prior to placement of overlying layers.
The two single-pile-supported systems (SPl ,
SP2) consisted of a superstructure mass attached to
an extension of the pile. SPl had a superstructure
mass of 49.1 Mg centered 3.81 m above the ground
surface, and SP2 had a superstructure mass of 45.1
Mg centered 7.32 m above the ground surface. The
pile group (PG33) consisted of nine piles in a 3x3
grouping spaced at 4 diameters on center with a
2.3-m thick cap. PG33 had a superstructure mass of
468 Mg centered 10.7 m above the pile cap. All
piles were approximately equivalent to a 0.67-m
diameter steel pipe pile with a 19-mm wall
thickness. Piles were installed at 1 g (prior to
spinning the centrifuge), and remained elastic during
all earthquake events.
Two centrifuge model configurations were each
shaken with several simulated earthquake events. Figure 2. Schematic of Layout and Instrumentation
Each event was a scaled version of a record prepared
by filtering and integrating strong motion records
from Port Island in the Kobe Earthquake or Santa 4 DYNAMIC ANALYSES
Cruz in the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Each
earthquake event was separated by sufficient time
for dissipation of any shaking-induced excess pore 4.I Nonlinear p - y Element
pressures. Test details and all time histories are A nonlinear p-y element was developed and
available in data reports (e.g., Wilson et al. 1997). implemented into an FE program for this study. The
The undrained shear strength (c,) of the Bay nonlinear p-y behavior is conceptualized as
Mud layer versus depth was measured using a small consisting of elastic (ye), plastic (yp), and gap (yg)
torvane immediately after the centrifuge stopped components in series. Details of the p-y elements are
spinning. These strengths were found to be in Boulanger et al. (1999).
consistent with a normalized shear strength of C,/CT~~’ The backbone of the p-y curves for the Bay Mud
= 0.35 OCRo.* with the overconsolidation ratio was based on Matlock’s (1970) recommendations
(OCR) being slightly greater than one due to for soft clay. Gapping behavior was modeled similar
earthquake induced consolidation. The static c, was to the procedure of Matlock et al. (1978). The ratio
increased by 20% to obtain a c, for seismic loading of maximum drag force (once a gap has formed) to
based on our judgment of the various factors the ultimate resistance of the p-y element was taken
involved (e.g., loading rate, cyclic degradation). as 0.3 for the analyses presented herein.
The backbone of the p-y curves for the lower
3 FREE-FIELD SITE RESPONSE ANALYSES sand layer was based on American Petroleum
Institute (API 1993) recommendations for sand, with
Free field site response analyses were performed modifications for the increase in stiffness with depth
using the I-D equivalent linear site response and the effect of the overlying soft clay.
program SHAKE91 (Schnabel et al. 1972, Idriss and Lateral soil resistance against the pile cap was
Sun 1991). Maximum shear modulus (Gmm) and the also modeled using p-y elements. Ultimate capacity
modulus reduction (G/Gma) and damping (p) versus was estimated using the c, data described earlier and
shear strain (y) relationships were selected using allowing for passive pressure on the front of the pile
typical design assumptions. For the clay, the G/G,, cap, active pressure on the back, and skin friction on
curve at large strains was modified to limit the peak both sides. Lateral stiffness and gapping behavior
shear stress to the seismic c, value (i.e., were selected based on our judgment of several
possible approaches.
~peak=ypeakG, giving GIG,, = Cu/Gmaype&). The
Radiation damping was modeled by a dashpot in
mass of the container rings was distributed over the
parallel with the elastic (p-ye) component, with the
soil profile by increasing the soil unit weights in the
dashpot coefficient approximating elastic theory
analyses.

966
 Figure 3. Recorded Accelerations in Soil for
Santa Cruz Base Motion of amax=O.12g.
solutions (Gazetas and Dobry 1984). This dashpot
arrangement is termed “series hysteretic/viscous
damping” since hysteretic damping from the plastic
p-yp component is in series with the viscous
damping on the elastic p-ye component. This
arrangement is preferred over having the dashpot in
parallel with the entire nonlinear p-y element
(“parallel hysteretic/viscous damping”) because a
parallel arrangement can result in excessive dashpot
forces when the p-y element is loaded into the
highly nonlinear range (Wang et al. 1998).
4.2 Nonlinear t-z and q-z Elements
Nonlinear t-z elements for skin friction on the pile
were conceptualized as consisting of elastic and
plastic components in series. Nonlinear q-z elements
for point resistance were conceptualized as
consisting of elastic, plastic, and gap components in
series. The q-z element allowed for different
capacities in compression and uplift. The capacities
and stiffnesses of the t-z and q-z elements were
estimated using typical design procedures. Radiation
damping was modeled by a dashpot in parallel with
the elastic component of these elements, as
recommended by Randolph (1991).
4.3 Finite Element Analyses
The dynamic BNWF analyses were performed using
the FE platform GeoFEAP (Bray et al. 1995) with
the added elements described above. The models of
the single pile structures had 15 beam elements
967
Figure 4. Calculated Accelerations in Soil for
Santa Cruz Base Motion of amax=O. 12g.
below ground with each node connected to a p-y
element. The pile group was modeled as a single
row of three piles, perpendicular to the direction of
shaking, with the appropriate tributary masses,
column stiffness, and soil resistances. Each pile
node below ground was connected to a horizontal p-
y element as well as a vertical t-z element. The p-y
element strengths were modified from those used for
the single piles by a p-multiplier to account for
group efficiency effects. The nodes at the pile tips
also had q-z elements. The pile cap was modeled as
a rigid frame connected to p-y elements, and the
piles were fixed into its base.
Horizontal displacement time histories from the
SHAKE91 analyses were input to the free field ends
of the p-y elements. The solution technique involved
Newton-Raphson iteration with a line search, and
the Newmark method with ~ 0 . and 6 p=0.3025.
5 TYPICAL SET OF RECORDED AND
CALCULATED RESPONSES
A typical set of centrifuge and analysis results are
presented in Figures 3 to 7 for SPl and PG33 for a
Santa Cruz motion with a maximum base
acceleration of 0.12 g. Recorded and calculated
accelerations for four depths in the soil profile are
shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and the corresponding
acceleration response spectra (ARS) are shown in
Fig. 5. These results show amplification of the base
motion up through the soil profile. For this event,
Figure 5. ARS (5% damping) in Soil for Santa Cruz
Base Motion of amax=O.12g.
calculated motions in the clay layer overpredict the
recorded motions, particularly in the shorter period
(higher frequency) range.
Recorded and calculated accelerations and ARS
are shown for the SPI superstructure in Fig. 6, and
for PG33's superstructure and pile cap in Fig. 7. The
calculated superstructure responses for both SP 1 and
PG33 are in good agreement with recorded
responses, while the pile cap motion for PG33 is
overpredicted. This overprediction of the pile cap
response can be attributed to the site response
calculations having overpredicted the site response
at short periods (coinciding with a response mode
for the pile cap) while being in better agreement
with recorded site response at longer periods
(coinciding with the range of superstructure
"fundamental" periods). Reasonably good agreement
was also obtained between calculated and recorded
superstructure displacements, pile cap displacements
(rocking and lateral), and pile loads (bending
moments and axial forces).
These centrifuge and analysis results illustrate
the type of experimental data obtained, the general
features of the soil profile and structural responses,
and the analysis method's ability to reasonably
reproduce those responses for this one shaking
event.
6 FURTHER COMPARISONS OF RECORDED
AND CALCULATED RESPONSES
Recorded and calculated responses for the soil
profile and structural models SPI, SP2, and PG33
were compared for the nine earthquake events. All
analyses used one set of input parameters selected
using current engineering procedures. The results of
968
Figure 6. Accelerations and ARS (5% damping) for
SP1 Superstructure During Santa Cruz Base Motion
of amax=O.12g.
these comparisons provided an evaluation of the
method's ability to reliably capture soil-pile-
structure interaction effects over a range of
earthquake motions of different intensities and
frequency characteristics.
For example, the nonlinear response of SP1 is
illustrated in Fig. 8, showing the ARS for the
superstructure during four of the Kobe shaking
events. The equivalent "fundamental" period of this
structural model increased from about 1.O second
under the smallest shaking level to about 2.0 second
under the strongest shaking level. In addition,
calculated and recorded peak bending moment
distributions showed the depth to maximum moment
increasing with increasing loading level as expected.
Parameter studies showed that the sensitivity of
the calculated structural response to individual
parameters varied for each shaking event,
illustrating the complexity of the interaction between
the free-field motions and the soil-pile-structure
system. These results served as a reminder that
conservative parameter selection for a static analysis
is not always conservative for dynamic analyses.
The parameter studies also showed that the primary
source of differences between recorded and
calculated responses had originated from the site
response calculations, which is not surprising given
Figure 7. Accelerations and ARS (5% damping) for PG33 Superstructure and Pile Cap During Santa
Cruz Base Motion of amax=O. 12g.

the known limitations in modeling the soft clay and
strong shaking conditions of these tests with an
equivalent linear soil model. Nonetheless, the
overall agreement between recorded and calculated
responses was reasonably good for the range of
conditions covered by these tests.
results of this study show that the dynamic BNWF
analysis method can be an effective design tool for
seismic soil-pile-structure interaction problems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The California Department of Transportation

7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS (CALTRANS) supported this research under
contract 65V495. C. Curras was supported by a
A dynamic BNWF analysis method was evaluated National Science Foundation Graduate Research
against a set of centrifuge model tests involving pile-
supported structures in a profile of soft clay (6-m
thick) overlying dense sand. A total of nine
earthquake shaking events on three model
configurations, including five scaled Kobe motions
(amax= 0.02 to 0.7 g at the base) and four scaled
Santa Cruz motions (amax= 0.04 to 0.6 g at the base)
were analyzed. A baseline set of analysis parameters
was selected using current engineering procedures.
Representative examples of recorded and calculated
responses were presented.
Reasonable agreement was obtained between the
dynamic BNWF analyses and the centrifuge model
data over the full range of shaking intensities and Figure 8. Superstructure ARS for SP1 During
earthquake motions covered in this study. The Kobe Base Motions of amax=0.02-0.6g.

969
Fellowship. This support does not necessarily
represent endorsement by the State or Federal
government. Abbas Abghari of CALTRANS
provided valuable suggestions and comments
throughout this study.
REFERENCES
Earthquake Spectra, EERI, Oakland, CA, 14(2):
377-396.
Wilson, D. W., R. W. Boulanger, & B. L. Kutter
1997. Soil-pile-superstructure interaction at soft
or liquefiable soil sites - Centrifuge data report
for Csp4. Report UCD/CGMDR-97/05, Ctr. for
Geotech. Modeling, Univ. of California, Davis.

American Petroleum Institute 1993. Recommended

practice for planning, designing and constructing
fixed offshore platforms. API Recommended
Practice 2A (RP 2A).
Boulanger, R. W., C. J. Curras, B. L. Kutter, D. W.
Wilson, & A. Abghari 1999. Seismic soil-pile-
structure interaction experiments and analyses.
Accepted, ASCE J. of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering.
Bray, J. D., R. D. Espinoza, K. Soga, & R. Taylor
1995. GeoFEAP - Geotechnical finite element
analysis program.” Dept. Civil & Environmental
Engineering, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Gazetas, G. & R. Dobry 1984. Simple radiation
damping model for piles and footings. Journal of
Engineering Mechanics, llO(6): 937-956.
Idriss, I. M., & J. Sun 1991. User’s manual for
SHAKE91. Center for Geotechnical Modeling,
University of California, Davis, CA.
Kutter, B. L., I. M. Idriss, T. Kohnke, J. Lakeland,
X. S. Li, W. Sluis, X. Zeng, R. Tauscher, Y.
Goto, & I. Kubodera 1994. Design of a large
earthquake simulator at UC Davis.” Centrifuge
94, Balkema, 169-175.
Matlock, H., S. H. C. Foo, & L. M. Bryant 1978.
Simulation of lateral pile behavior under
earthquake motion. Proc., ASCE Specialty
Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Soil
Dynamics, Pasadena, CA, 600-619.
Matlock, H. 1970. Correlations for design of
laterally loaded piles in soft clay. Proceedings,
2nd Annual Ofisshore Technology Conference,
Houston, Texas, OTC 1204.
Randolph, M. K. 1991. Analysis of the dynamics of
pile driving. Chapter in Developments in Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering: Vol. 4
- Advanced Geotechnical Analyses, Elsevier,
223-27 1.
Schnabel, P. B., J. Lysmer, & H. B. Seed 1972.
SHAKE: a computer program for earthquake
response analysis of horizontally layered sites.
UCBEERC-72/12, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley.
Wang, S., B. L. Kutter, J. M. Chacko, D. W. Wilson,
R. W. Boulanger, & A. Abghari 1998. Nonlinear
seismic soil-pile-structure interaction.

970
Underground and buried systems:
- Theme lecture

- General report

- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Responses of large-diameter buried pipes to earthquakes

J. I? Bardet
Civil Engineering Department, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif:, USA
C.A. Davis
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Calif:,USA

ABSTRACT: This paper reviews the field observations and analyses on 61 corrugated metal pipes (CMP)
shaken by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. These CMPs, which include 29 small diameter (below 107 cm)
CMPs and 32 large diameter (above 107 cm) CMPs, are located within a 10 km' area encompassing the Van
Norman Complex in the Northern San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. Ground motions were
extensively recorded within the study area during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. During the earthquake 28
of the small diameter CMPs performed well while the 32 large diameter CMPs had performances ranging
from no damage to complete collapse. The investigation was initially prompted by the collapse of the 2.4-m
diameter drain line of the Lower San Fernando Dam (LSFD). A detailed investigation revealed that this par-
ticular failure could not be attributed solely to either large ground accelerations, or liquefaction of hydraulic
fills. Additional field investigations identified ground strains as the main cause of damage to large-diameter
CMPs. Based on the 32 large-diameter CMPs data set, the factors controlling CMPs performance were identi-
fied and a simplified pseudo-static method of analysis was proposed for evaluating the response of large di-
ameter flexible underground pipes to earthquakes. Peak ground velocity was found to be a more reliable pa-
rameter for analyzing pipe damage than peak ground acceleration. These analysis results are useful for the
seismic design and strengthening of flexible buried conduits.

1. INTRODUCTION gitudinal failures for small-diameter underground

pipes have been recorded and studied extensively
Until recently large-diameter underground struc-
for transient ground motion (e.g., Ariman et al.,
tures were thought to be relatively safe during
1981; O'Rourke and Hmadi, 1988;) and permanent
earthquakes, with the exceptions of fault crossings
ground deformations (e.g., O'Rourke and Hamada.
and areas with landslide potential near the portals of
1992; O'Rourke and O'Rourke, 1995; and Tawfik
tunnels (e.g., Burridge et al, 1989). The 1995
and ORourke, 1985). Ground strains induced by
Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake raised serious
earthquakes have also been studied extensively in
concerns about the safety of underground facilities
seismology (e.g., Bouchon and Aki, 1982; Lee and
when it damaged the Daikai Subway Station (Iida et
Trifunac; 1985, 1987; Smith et al., 1982; and Trifu-
al., 1996), and revealed the vulnerability of under-
nac and Lee, 1996). Surface strains have been indi-
ground structures to near-field earthquakes. A re-
rectly measured from recordings in pipes, tunnels
lated, but less publicized, example of the failure of a
and underground structures (e.g., Nakamura et al.,
buried structure took place during the 1994
1981). Differential motions and average strains
Northridge Earthquake at the Lower San Fernando
have been computed from specialized arrays (e.g.,
Dam (LSFD) in the Los Angeles Department of
Arakawa et al., 1985; Bycroft, 1983; Iwamoto et al.,
Water and Power's (LADWP) Van Norman Com-
1988; and Smith et al., 1982). A simplified proce-
plex, in the northern San Fernando Valley in South-
dure for analysis of maximum strains in the soil was
ern California. In this event, 76 meters of 2.4-m di-
proposed by Newmark (1967) and Newmark and
ameter buried pipe were crushed, and 23 meters
Rosenblueth (197 l), and applied by several investi-
deformed (Davis and Bardet, 1998).
gators (e.g., Kuesel, 1969; and Tamura, 1976).
Youd and Beckman (1996) pointed out that the
The impacts of seismic ground strains on engineer-
transverse failure of large-diameter conduits is still
ing structures have mainly been studied for hori-
not well understood because they have rarely been
zontally elongated structures (e.g., pipelines) which
observed during past earthquakes. In contrast, lon-

973
are sensitive to differential motions (e.g., Christian,
1970; Iwamoto et al., 1984; Iwamoto et al., 1988;
Japan Road Association, 1992, O'Rourke and Cas-
tro, 1980; O'Rourke et al., 1984; Sawada et al.,
1999; Tsuchida and Kurata, 1976; Yeh, 1974).
However, the effects of ground strains have not yet
fully been investigated for the transverse response
of large-diameters flexible conduits.
This paper summarizes the results of field investi-
gations on 61 corrugated metal pipes (CMP) shaken
by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. These investi-
gations were prompted by the collapse of the LSFD
drain line after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and
by the scarcity of case histories and methods of
analysis on the response of large-diameter flexible
conduits to strong near-field earthquakes. Based on
these case histories, a simplified strain-based analy-
sis is proposed to identify the parameters control-
ling the seismic performance of CMPs and is com-
pared with the acceleration-based analysis of Davis
Figure 1. Drain line in Lower San Fernando Dam: (a) General view; (b) Close view showing crack patterns
and sand boils observed after 1994 Northridge earthquake.
974
and Bardet (1998). These case studies and the com-
panion analysis are intended to help engineers to
improve methods for designing new buried struc-
tures and strengthening existing ones.
2. CASE STUDY OF COLLAPSE OF LSFD
DRAIN LINE
Figures 1 and 2 show a plan and profile of the drain
line of the LSFD, which is the large-diameter buried
pipe under consideration.
2. I . Drain line characteristics
The 116-m long drain line is made of 17 segments,
which are numbered 1 to 17 in Fig. 2. Each segment
is 7.3 m long, except for the shorter segments 1 and
2. Each segment is made of 2.4-m diameter, unen-
cased, corrugated metal pipe. Segment 1 connects to
a 2.6-m diameter reinforced concrete tunnel.
Figure 2. Longitudinal profile of LSFD drain line along section AA' of Fig. 1.
The 2.4-m nominal inside diameter, 8 gauge (0.43
cm thick), galvanized, corrugated metal pipe was
fabricated according to ASTM A 444 specifications.
The base metal had a minimum yield strength of
230 MPa and tensile strength of 3 10 MPa (ASTM A
446). The corrugations had a pitch of 6.8 cm and
depth of I .3 cm (ASTM A 760). The pipe segments
were joined by butting them together and wrapping
a metal strap around them. The joints were secured
tightly but were not sealed with rubber gaskets. The
drain line, which is inclined 0.312% to the south,
maintains a relatively constant flow of water
throughout the year, and is the only outlet to empty
the storm basin. The drain line was constructed in
1973, after the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake ex-
tensively damaged the LSFD (e.g., Seed et al.,
1973). The upstream face of this hydraulic fill em-
bankment underwent a massive liquefaction induced
slide. Following the 1971 earthquake, the LSFD
was removed from service, and reconstructed to
serve as a storm water detention basin. Its upstream
slope was rebuilt and its outlet lines were modified
to release water from the detention basin.
2.2. Soil characteristics
The geologic and soil cross-section parallel to the
drain line was obtained by logging the northern and
eastern slopes (1.5H to 1V) of the excavation,
which was dug seven months after the 1994 earth-
quake to expose the drain line, and by projecting
these observations onto a vertical plane. The drain
line was constructed through seven different geo-
logic units and fill materials. Pipe segments 1 to 6
were founded on alluvial soil, while the other seg-
ments were founded on soft sedimentary rock
(mainly sandstone and siltstone) hereafter referred
975
to as bedrock. Segments 1 to 6 were located in hy-
draulic fill slide debris, segments 7 to 9 in alluvium,
and segments 10 to 17 in bedrock. In 1973, the drain
line was placed in the natural ground, which was cut
to fit the pipe curvature. The pipe construction was
carefully supervised and inspected by LADWP en-
gineers (LADWP, 1975). The 5.5-mwide trench
was backfilled with compacted sand bedding and
overlain by compacted trench fill material. In 1975,
the trench was covered by an additional embank-
ment fill, the thickness of which varies from 1.5-m
on segment 16 to 7.3-m on segment 1. The sand-
bedding, trench and embankment fills were placed
under controlled conditions. The trench and em-
bankment fills were laid in 20-cm lifts and rolled to
a minimum relative compaction of 92%. Direct
shear tests were performed on the compacted em-
bankment fill during reconstruction of the upstream
slope (LADWP, 1975). The trench and embankment
fills have similar material properties. The ground-
water elevations along the pipe vary with the em-
bedding materials, and become higher in the hy-
draulic fill and alluvium. Based on these field ob-
servations, it is concluded that during the 1994
Northridge earthquake pipe segments 1 through 6
were submerged below the groundwater surface and
water along the remaining segments was near the
crown, saturating most of the sand bedding materi-
als.
2.3. Collapse and deformation of drain line
Figure 3 shows a photograph of the drain line after
the 1994 Northridge Earthquake: 76 meters col-
lapsed laterally, and 23 meters deformed substan-
tially.

Figure 3. View looking south at the collapsed LSFD
drain line after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The excavations that unveiled the pipe were care-
fully supervised, and the digging operations were
performed with extreme caution to avoid any addi-
tional damage to the pipe. In other words, the pipe
deformation reported below resulted from earth-
quake damage, not from digging operations. The
deformed sections of Fig. 4 were carefully meas-
ured over the entire length of the pipe, and were
sketched within a 8% accuracy. The accuracy level
was estimated by comparing the measured perime-
ters of the deformed and initial sections, and by as-
suming that the circumference did not stretch but
remain equal to nD,where D is the initial pipe di-
ameter.
As shown in Fig. 4, the pipe segments, which have
similar characteristics, deformed quite differently.
Lateral collapse was the most common failure. The
lateral deformations were the largest on segments 7
to 12, and the vertical deformation the largest on
segments 1, 2, 11, and 12. The amplitude of lateral
deformation ranges from over 60 cm for segment 13
to negligible in segments 16 and 17. Surprisingly,
segment 6 did not deform, while adjacent segments
completely failed. One end of segment 7 failed and
the other end was not even deformed. Segments 11
and 12 deformed in complex ways. The ends of
segment 1 collapsed and folded in opposite direc-
tions. Segment 12 had a 0.9-m long vertical tear,
976
one end crushed laterally and folded over, and the
other end deformed much less. As shown in Fig. 4,
there were vertical tears in segments 2, 5, 7 , and 12,
which were less than 1 m long. These tears occurred
at the transitions between different deformation
patterns.
The segments did not systematically deform con-
tinuously across their joint connections. They de-
formed differently at some joints (e.g., 5:6 and
10:1 l), and similarly at other joints, (e.g., 6:7 and
8:9). The largest difference was between segments
1 1 and 12, which folded over in opposite directions.
In contrast to the upper parts of segments, which
were completely crushed for most segments, the
lower parts of all segments did not deform, and left
about a 30-cm spacing for water to flow through.
2.4. Ground motion andjeld observations at LSFD
As described by Bardet and Davis (1996a), the in-
tensity of the near-field ground motions of the 1994
Northridge earthquake .varied spatially and direc-
tionally in the vicinity of the drain line. Figure 1
shows the location of the strong motion instruments
closest to the drain line. Station 1 is located at the
Rinaldi Receiving Station 500 m south and Station
2 is located at the Los Angeles Dam abutment 900
m north of the drain line. Figures 5a and 5b show
the traces of horizontal accelerations at Stations 1
and 2, respectively, in the longitudinal and trans-
verse directions of the pipe axis. Figures 5c and 5d
show the traces of the same accelerations, but pro-
jected in the vertical plane perpendicular to the
drain line. The peak ground acceleration (PGA),
which is represented with a square symbol in Figs.
5a and 5b, characterizes the maximum amplitude of
horizontal accelerations at Station 1 and 2.
The PGA is oriented nearly along the pipe longitu-
dinal axis, and its amplitude is 0.90 g at Station 1
and 0.48 g at Station 2. In comparison, the horizon-
tal PGAs in the transverse direction are 0.49 g and
0.35 g for Stations 1 and 2, respectively. The accel-
erations transverse to the drain line have a maxi-
mum value a equal to 0.91 g at Station 1 and 0.39 g
at Station 2, which are represented with a circle
symbol in Figs. 5c and 5d. The spatial and direc-
tional variation of the near-field ground motion in
the Van Norman Complex during the 1994
Northridge earthquake makes it difficult to select a
specific value of maximum acceleration for a dy-
namic analysis of the drain line. However, it can be
concluded that the maximum acceleration a applied
to the drain line was between 0.39 g and 0.91 g.
Figure 1 shows contours of the ground surface de-
formation, which were observed above the drain
line after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. As de-
Figure 4. Deformed shapes of various segments of drain line (circle represents approximate pre-earthquake
shape).
scribed in Bardet and Davis (1996b), the recon-
structed upstream berm of the LSFD moved later-
ally in the north east direction, which caused sand
boils and ground cracks to form. This motion was
caused by the liquefaction of the underlying hy-
draulic fill slide debris (Bardet and Davis, 1996b).
As shown in Fig. 1, there is a sand boil only 24 m
east of the pipe, which indicates that the hydraulic
fill liquefied at this location. Segments 1 to 6 were
therefore located next to a liquefied area, and par-
tially buried under 12 m of compacted fill and liq-
uefied hydraulic fill debris. As shown in Figs. 1 and
2, there was a 30-m long subsidence above pipe
segments 7 to 12. The subsidence was the largest
above segment 12, where it formed as a sinkhole.
The subsidence occurred above a trench that was
excavated in bedrock and non liquefiable alluvium
(Seed et al., 1973) and mainly resulted from the
pipe failure. Therefore, the liquefaction of the hy-
draulic fill was not the only reason for the collapse
of the drain line.
977
3. STUDY OF OTHER NEARBY CMPS
The collapse of the LSFD drain line prompted the
investigation of 60 other CMPs located within a 10
km’ area encompassing the Los Angeles Depart-
ment of Water and Power’s (LADWP) Van Norman
Complex (VNC). The VNC is a critical lifeline fa-
cility, which provides water and power to the City
of Los Angeles. It is also one of the closest sites to
the 1994 ruptured fault surface (Bardet and Davis,
1996a).
The CMPs were arbitrarily subdivided into two
categories: 29 small diameter (below 107 cm) and
32 large diameter (above 107 cm). They were in-
spected intermittently from 1994 through 1997, de-
pending on accessibility. All small CMP were cir-
cular. Only one small CMP was damaged during the
Northridge earthquake, as a result of corrosion.
Therefore our observations imply that the current
methods of analysis using static loads (e.g.
AASHTO, 1992) provides an adequate factor of
safety for small CMP to sustain strong seismic

Figure 5. Traces of horizontal and transverse ground
accelerations recorded at Rinaldi Receiving Station
(Station 1) and Los Angeles Dam Abutment (Sta-
tion 2): (a) Horizontal acceleration at Station 1; (b)
Horizontal acceleration at Station 2; (c) Accelera-
tion transverse to drain line at Station 1 ; (d) Accel-
eration transverse to drain line at Station 2. Orien-
tation of transverse acceleration is 102" Azimuth,
and that of longitudinal acceleration is 12" Azimuth.
ground motion. Hereafter, only the 32 large- di-
ameter CMPs will be examined.
The span distribution for the large-diameter CMPs
under study range from 107 cm to 478 cm. The
pipes are identified with a number (i.e., Pipe 5).
When the pipe characteristics change along their
length, additional letters are used to identify pipe
segments (e.g. Pipe 5E and 5W). CMPs were di-
vided into five subsets - circular, elliptical, circular
arch, pipe arch, and underpass - according to their
cross-sectional shape (AASHTO, 1992). The C'MP
characteristics were obtained from field inspections
and measurements, and supplemented with design
and construction drawings when those were avail-
able. All of the pipes were made of galvanized steel
and except for Pipes 5, 6, and 26, all were fabri-
cated in accordance with ASTM A 444. The drain-
age slopes were less than 10% on all pipes except
for some portions of Pipes 3, 26, and 27, which had
40%, 15%, and 23% slopes, respectively. Corrosion
damage was only observable in Pipe 26; therefore,
corrosion was not a factor controlling the perform-
ance of the large-diameter pipes under study. All
pipes were backfilled with soil, except for Pipes 15
and 16, which were encased in concrete.
Foundation materials were determined from local
geological descriptions from the LADWP and geo-
logical maps (Dibblee, 1991). Alluvium consists of
978
sand, silt, or clay mixtures. Bedrock mainly consists
of weak sedimentary sandstone and siltstone rocks
of various formations. The average shear wave ve-
locities in the upper 30 m were estimated at each
pipe location from measurements compiled in
Bardet and Davis (1996a, 1996c) and Gibbs et al.
(1997). Groundwater levels were noted only with
respect to elevation of the pipe invert during the
1994 Northridge earthquake. Groundwater eleva-
tions vary with rainfalls, and the exact levels for all
pipe locations was not known during the 1994
Northridge earthquake. In this study, it was suffi-
cient to only determine whether the pipes were
above or below the water table.
3. I . Transient ground motions during the
Northridge Earthquake
Nineteen instruments in the VNC recorded the 1994
Northridge earthquake main shock. As described by
Bardet and Davis (1996a), the intensity of the near-
field ground motions varied spatially and direction-
ally around the VNC. The VNC is located above the
northern end, and right in line with the slip direction
of the fau!t that ruptured in the 1994 Northridge
earthquake. As a result, it was subjected to strong
near-source pulses (Bardet and Davis, 1996a). As
pointed out by Somerville and Graves (1993), the
intensity of near-field shaking depends on the
structure location and orientation with respect to the
direction of fault rupture. As shown in Fig. 5, the
recorded horizontal ground motion was generally
strongest in the N-S direction (direction of slip), and
varied largely with azimuth. Similarly. the motions
varied with directions i n the vertical plane. This
implies that the pipes in the present study were
subjected to various intensity of shaking depending
on their orientation. The longitudinal, transverse,
and vertical axes of the strong motion recordings
are denoted x/, x2, and x3, respectively. The xI- and
x2-axes are both horizontal, with positive orientation
in the northern and western directions, respectively.
The positive x3-axis is pointing upward. In this co-
ordinate system, the components of accelerations
and velocities are a, and v, ( i = I , 2, 3).
Table 1 summarizes the peak ground accelerations
and velocities in the x12-planeand along the xs-axis.
The ground motions parallel to the longitudinal axes
of individual pipes were calculated by rotating ac-
celerations and velocities from the xl-axes to the
x '/-axis. The vertical component of ground velocity
was practically negligible. The range of peak
ground acceleration and velocity was estimated for
each pipe from the recordings at the closest stations
and those with the most similar soil conditions. Sta-
tions 1 to 7 recorded ground motions on a variety of
soil conditions. Stations 2, 3, and 7 were located on
Table 1. Peak Ground accelerations and velocities recorded at the Van Norman Complex during the 1994
Northridge earthquake.
Shear wave Peak ground acceleration (9) Peak ground velocity ( c d s )
velocity C,
AzimuthOi2
Station Location Foundation (dS) P@I ~ ~ pga3
a 2 pgai2 Azimuth%2 P P I pgv2 pgv3
N-S E-W up (degree) N-S E-W up pgviz (degree)
1 Rinaldi Receiving Station Alluvium 350 0 82 0 57 0 8.5 090 25 -162 -94 -42 184 209
2 Los Angeles Dam Abutment Bedrock 650 0.48 0.35 0.32 0.48 90 -86 -51 26 86 182
Jensen Filtration Plant
3 Generator Building Bedrock 600 0.71 0.82 0.83 1.08 311 -84 72 -27 87 164
4 Administratin building AIIuvEIII 425 -0.43 0.60 -0.39 0.63 109 -108 96 35 109 169
Sylmar Converter Station
5 Valve group 7 free-field Alluvium 300 0.80 -061 0.64 0.91 331 -129 80 34 130 190
6 Valve group 1-6 basement Alluvium 250 0.60 -0.35 -0.53 0.60 0 -116 -90 -38 128 207
7 Sylmar Converter Station East FF Bedrock 500 0.77 0.47 -0.38 0.84 25 -11 1 -67 -24 116 199

bedrock, Stations 1 and 5 on relatively firm alluvial rated due to beam-type bending caused by founda-
soils, and Stations 4 and 6 on weak soils which ex- tion and embankment defc.rmations. However the
hibited nonlinear response during the 1994 concrete surrounding these pipes remained intact.
Northridge earthquake (Cultrera, et al., 1998). Table and largely contributed to their good performance.
1 shows a wide range of peak accelerations and ve- The pipes that could not be accessed or thoroughly
locities over short distances, even for similar soil inspected were considered to be undamaged based
conditions. This variation renders difficult the se- on the absence of (1) reported damage from local
lection of a particular ground motion recordlng for highway officials (Youd and Beckman, 1996) and
analyzing a pipe. Therefore, all analyses were car- (2) surface deformations above these pipes. How-
ried out with the range of ground motions shown in ever, the lack of reported or surficial evidence is not
Table 1. conclusive evidence for the absence of damage. For
3.2. CMP performance during the northridge example, damage to some Pipes was not discovered
earthquake for over a year after the 1994 earthquake.
Figure 6 summarizes the seismic performance for
the 32 large CMPs under study. Most pipes showed
signs of either transient or permanent deflections.
The effects of transient motions were mainly no-
ticeable at pipe joints where the ends of loosely
connected segments came temporarily into contact
or bolted connections had slipped during the earth-
quake shaking. These transient deformations were
clearly identifiable by markings in the pipe coating.
In addition to transient deformations, a few pipes
sustained permanent deformations. In some cases
pipe segments impacted each other with enough
force to leave small local deformations while the
cross-sectional shapes of others were significantly
distorted. Since there were no pre-earthquake meas-
urements made on any CMPs, it was difficult to
determine whether small transverse distortions pre- Figure 6. Distribution of observed performance of
existed or resulted from the earthquake. Conse- CMPs in the viciity of the Van Norma Complex
quently, small deformations that left the pipe struc- during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
turally intact are not reported in Fig. 6. As shown in
Fig. 6, six CMPs (i.e., 1, 4, 5 , 14, 22, and 26) un-
derwent five forms of damage and significant AP-
4. ANALYSIS
formation after the 1994 Northridge e~dhc;:zi*\e.
Prior to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Pipes I , 4, Detailed site investigations were performed with the
5, and 14 were in good operating condition, while goal of identifying parameters influencing the seis-
Pipe 22 had deformed vertically and Pipe 26 was mic response of large diameter CMPs.
corroded. Pipe 22 had a deflected shape similar to 4.1. Causes of damage
pipes embedded in poorly compacted soils (Moser, Five potential factors of damage to CMPs were not
1990). The joints of Pipes 15 and 16 partially sepa- observed on the 32 large diameter CMP data set: (1)

979
fault displacement; (2) pipe foundation failure; (3)
standard manufacturing methods; (4) standard con-
struction methods, and; (5) drainage slope. There
was no evidence of fault movement or soil founda-
tion failure that could have lead to CMP damage.
Manufacturing and construction factors were ruled
out as damage causes because all the pipes, except
for Pipes 5W, 6W, 22, and 26, were manufactured
and constructed to similar standards (e.g. AASHTO,
1992; ASTM A 760 and A 798); this was verified in
detail for Pipes 1 to 4 (Davis and Bardet, 1996b).
For the range of pipe inclination considered, there
was no indication that the pipe drainage slope af-
fected CMP performance.
Three other factors were identified as particular
sources of damage to Pipes 14, 22, and 26, respec-
tively: (1) permanent ground deformation; (2) set-
tlement of poorly compacted embedding soils (con-
struction method not meeting current standards),
and; (3) corrosion. In contrast, causes of damage to
Pipes 1, 4,and 5 were not readily apparent from the
field investigations.
Additional factors controlling CMP performance
were identified as follows: (1) ground movement
intensity; (2) orientation of pipe relative to ground
motion direction; (3) pore pressure buildup within
the embedding soils; (4) stiffness reduction of em-
bedding soils; (5) soil-pipe relative stiffness; (6)
cross-sectional shape; (7) depth of burial and pre-
earthquake static hoop stress; (8) joint and seam
connections; and (9) combination of longitudinal
and lateral deformations. The most significant fac-
tors were difficult to identify based on the field in-
vestigations alone. Some factors may have com-
bined on some pipes, and acted separately with dif-
ferent intensity on others. For example, Davis and
Bardet (1998) concluded that axial deformation did
not influence the buckling of Pipe 1. On the other
hand, field investigations indicate that the damage
to Pipes 4 and 5 may have been influenced by the
combination of longitudinal and transverse loads.
Field measurements alone were unable to show
whether the transverse deformations at Pipes 4 and
5 resulted from the direct application of axial forces
or from the initiation of a transverse buckling mode.
Timoshenko and Woinowsky-Krieger, ( 1970) noted
that an analytical solution for axial deformations in
CMP is difficult to obtain and generally can not be
readily applied in solving practical problems as
those described herein. In view of the problem
complexity, simplified analyses for transverse
buckling of circular flexible pipe were developed to
identify the relative importance of different pa-
rameters. This report focuses on transverse defor-
980
mations leaving the effects of longitudinal defor-
mations for further study.
4.2. Static analysis
The examination of the CMPs stability under static
gravity loading alone is helpful not only for under-
standing the pre-earthquake conditions but also for
formulating the seismic analysis. The static analysis
consists of: (1) evaluating the pipe load and calcu-
lating the resulting maximum hoop force N, then (2)
examining if the pipe can resist that load by com-
paring N with the critical hoop force Ncr. The factor
of safety FS against failure is:
where E, is the applied hoop strain,
E,, = N , , / A E , is the critical hoop strain at buck-
ling, A is the cross-sectional area of the pipe shell,
and Ep is the pipe Young's modulus. Both E, and E,,
are defined with respect to the undeformed area A .
The maximum hoop force N is (Moser, 1990):
c
where F,, is the vertical resultant force acting on the
top of pipe. The vertical and horizontal pipe strains,
E" and &h, are determined from:
F
V Fh
E, =--- and ch = ___ (3)
2AE, 2AEp
where Fh is the horizontal resultant force acting on
the pipe. The maximum hoop force in a flexible
buried conduit is difficult to determine due to vari-
ous factors including trench geometry, compaction
effects, variation of soil properties around the pipe,
soi I-pipe interaction, effect of sloping ground, and
arching effects. Approximate methods such as the
limit equilibrium method of Marston (Spangler and
Handy, 1982; Moser, 1990) or the elastic closed
form solution of Burns and Richard (1964) give a
first order approximation of the hoop force in the
pipe. These methods can be used to calculate the
load applied to the pipe in terms of a dimensionless
arching factor p:
(4)
where p is the soil density, g the acceleration of
gravity, H the depth of fill over the pipe, and D the
pipe diameter. As recommended by Moser (1990), p
is assumed equal to 1. However, ,8 may be slightly
higher or lower than 1 for flexible conduits, de-
pending on the method of analysis and assumptions
made.
The critical hoop force for buckling is determined
from an elastic continuum model for the soil around
the pipe (Moore, 1989):
/ .-. \ %
Ncr = 0.66( Epl)' [4J
1 - U;
where I is the pipe moment of inertia, E,Tthe soil
Young's modulus, andv, the soil Poisson ratio. In
this analysis Ep E,, and v, were taken as 200 GPa,
12.4 MPa, and 0.3, respectively, for all the pipes. E,
varies slightly from pipe to pipe but was assumed to
be the same for all pipes for direct comparison pur-
pose. This is a reasonable assumption in view of the
similarities in pipe construction (e.g. AASHTO,
1992; ASTM A 798). For standard sections, the
values of A and I were obtained from ASTM A 796.
The static factors of safety FS against buckling for
all 32 large-diameter pipes FS is greater than 2. FS
is very large for some shallow pipes and even ex-
ceeds 100 in some cases. These large values are ex-
pected because our calculations only account for the
fill overburden, and neglect the surcharges and traf-
fic loads which were used in the original design of
these pipes. In conclusion, all CMPs were stable
under static soil loads.
3.3. Strain-based analysis
The proposed analysis consists of determining the
changes in applied hoop force N and critical hoop
force N,, relative to static conditions, which are
generated by seismic ground movement. The change
in hoop force results from the seismic shear and
compressional strains, whereas the reduction in N,,
originate from modulus reduction and porepressure
increases in the soil around the pipe during shaking.
Figure 7. Diagrams for strain-based analysis: (a)
static forces applied to buried pipes; and (b) shear
and vertical strain induced by ground movements.
As shown in Fig. 7, the strain state within the
square soil element ABCD surrounding the pipe is
assumed uniform. The strain can originate from
transient or permanent ground movements, but due
981
to the limited influence of permanent movement
coupled with the lack of permanent ground strain
measurements in the vicinity of the CMPs, this
analysis was developed in terms of transient ground
motions. The transient shear strain y is evaluated as
follows:
v2
Y = r
L, s
where v2 is the horizontal particle velocity trans-
verse to the pipe and C,,. is the average shear wave
velocity in soil element ABCD. The transient verti-
cal strain &vd is:
U.
(7)
where C, is the compression wave velocity and v3
the vertical particle velocity. The transient horizon-
tal strain &hd is assumed to be negligible. When there
is no slippage at the soil-pipe interface, the strains
in the pipe coincide with those in the surrounding
soil. Therefore, y and E,d can be superimposed
with E, and Eh. Using the Mohr representation of
strain (e.g., Bardet, 1997), one can determine the
direction for which the shear strain y is zero and the
normal strain is maximum (i.e., E = E,J. This case
corresponds to the maximum principal strain:
E,, =+(E, +E,, +Eh)+
Because the pipes are flexible, v3 << v2, and C, >>
C,, one may assume E, = &h and &,d << y. Therefore
Eq. 8 becomes:
c
E, = ~
' inax
-E,
- +-Y max (9)
2AE, 2
where F,,,,is the maximum normal applied force
and ymax is the peak ground shear strain in Eq. 6.
When the pipe fails under dynamic loads, F,, is
equal to 2nl",,., where Ndcr is the critical hoop force
under dynamic conditions, which can be related to
its static counterpart Ncr through the dimensionless
coefficient X.
from which:
E,, = X E , FS
After introducing the critical shear strainy, at the
onset of failure, Eqs. 9 and 1 1 give the following
relation:

Equation 12 defines the critical ground strain yc re-
quired to fail a pipe having a static hoop strain E,
and static safety factor FS. The strain ratio y / E ,
increases linearly with X a n d FS. X c a n be evalu-
ated in terms of soil moduli by noting that the criti-
cal hoop force N,, is proportional to Young's
modulus. Xcan also be related to the ratio of excess
pore pressure by assuming that Young's modulus is
proportional to the square root of mean effective
stress. Therefore Xcan be expressed as follows:
velocity in the horizontal plane. As shown in Table
1, pgv2 varies with azimuth while pgvl2 occurs at a
particular angle 012. The use of pgv2 results in a
good correlation with the field performance,
whereas the use of pgv12 indicates that most all the
pipes had to buckle. 012 varied across the VNC by
as much as 45 degrees, which can significantly ef-
fect the analysis results. For example, a 10 degree
variation of O I 2 , such as that between Stations 5 and
7, could reduce the results of Pipes 17W and 18W
by 21%, which is enough to lower the points (FS,
y / E , ) in Fig. 8a near the X = 1 line.

where E is the soil Young's modulus during cyclic

strain loading and E, is the static Young's modulus
used in Eq. 5 , cr '0 is the vertical effective stress, and
Au is the pore water pressure generated during cy-
clic loading. Equation 13 assumes the Poisson7s
ratio of the embedding soils is the same under static
and dynamic loading conditions.
4.4. Analysis of all CMPs
Figure 8a shows the minimum strain ratio required
to cause buckling for values of X ranging from 1 to
0.2. Figure 8a also shows the range of strain ratios
calculated for each pipe from Eqs. 3 and 6 with the
range ofpgvl values shown in Table 1. For a given
value of X, the pipe is stable wheq the point (FS,
y c / & , ) is below the straight line defined in Eq. 12,
and unstable above that line. Figure 8a predicts the
buckling of Pipes 1s and 4 during the 1994
Northridge earthquake, without the need for a re-
duction in buckling strength (i.e., X = 2). In addi- Figure 8. Results of strain-based analysis for large-
tion, with a slight reduction in buckling strength diameter pipes for p = 1 and shear strain calculated
(i.e. X = 0.8 to 0.9), Fig. 8a predicts the buckling of using (a) transverse peak ground velocity @ g v 2 ) ;
Pipes 1N and 5W. At the same time, Fig. 8a indi- and (b) horizontal peak ground velocity @gv,~).
cates that Pipes 2, 3, 17E, 18E, 19, 2 1, and 3 1 were Symbol keys: solid = no observed damage; hollow =
observed damage.
to buckle during the earthquake. Variation between
actual and predicted performance is understandable
4.5. Analysis of Pipe 2
considering that the conditions for each pipe are
Figure 9 shows the range of strain ratios for each
expected to vary somewhat from that used in the
individual segment of Pipe 1. The pipe segments,
analysis. Changes in stiffness of the underlying and
which are numbered from 1 to 16, undergo changes
embedding soils can provide significant changes in
in static loads due to the change in fill depth above
the results of Fig. 8a. In addition. the analysis is
Pipe 1 (Davis and Bardet, 1998). As shown in Fig.
sensitive to the orientation of the pipe with respect
9, it is possible to conclude that segments 1 to 6
to the direction of fault rupture. This directional
effect is clearly demonstrated by comparing the failed for X = 2 during the Northridge earthquake.
buckling analysis results of Figs. 8a and 8b. In Fig. For other segments to fail, only a slight reduction in
8a, yc was determined from pgv2, the peak velocity E was necessary during dynamic loading (i.e., 0.8 <
oriented transverse to the pipe, whereas in Fig. 8b, X < 2). This reduction may have been caused by the
ypegk was caiculated from pgv12, the peak ground
buildup of pore pressure in the embedding material,

982
without the need for complete liquefaction (i.e., X =
0) or by the modulus degradation with strain of un-
saturated embedding soils. Figure 9 implies that the
strain-based analysis can be applied to not only
pipes as a whole, but also individual segments along
the pipe length.
The strain-based analysis indicates that the large
transient velocities recorded in the VNC damaged
Pipes 1, 4, and 5, and that permanent ground strains
were not necessary for damage to occur. Combining
these results with Pipe 14, it is concluded that the
main cause of damage to large diameter CMP is
large ground strain, either transient or permanent.
0 5 10
Static FS against buckling
Figure 9. Results of strain-based analysis for 16
separate segments of LSFD drain line (Pipe 1).
3.6. Comparison with acceleration-based analysis
Davis and Bardet (1998) previously analyzed the
transverse buckling of Pipe 1 using a pseudo-static
force method based on peak ground acceleration.
This method, which was initially developed to un-
derstand the performance of Pipe 1 alone, is re-
examined for the 32 large-diameter CMP data set.
The critical acceleration a, required to buckle a pipe
is evaluated in terms of the static factor of safety
FS, arching factor ,B, and dimensionless coefficient
X a s follows (Davis and Bardet, 1998):
g
;
= J q ( x F s- 1)
5- (14)
The coefficient X is defined in Eq. 13. The critical
peak ground acceleration a, increases linearly with
FS and X; and nonlinearly depends on p. A pipe
having a static FS value becomes unstable if pga32
exceeds a,. Figure 10 shows the values of a, re-
quired for buckling at p = 1 and X ranging from 1 to
0.1. For a given value of p and X; a pipe is stable
when the point (FS, a,) is below the straight line
defined in Eq. 14, and unstable above it.
983
Figure 10 also represents the results of the accel-
eration-based analysis for the large CMP, previ-
ously analyzed using the strain-based method. The I
values of FS are identical to those in Fig. 8.'The
range of acceleration a,, which is represented by
vertical bars in Fig. 10, is calculated based on the
range of peak ground accelerations pga32 in Table 1.
Figure 10 implies that Pipe 1 could have failed
during the 1994 Northridge earthquake with a small
reduction in the stiffness of the embedding soil,
which could have resulted from partial pore pres-
sure buildup without a complete liquefaction.
Figure 10. Results of acceleration-based analysis for
large-diameter pipes. Symbol keys: solid = no ob-
served damage; hollow = observed damage.
This analysis conclusion is in agreement with the
detailed field observations in Davis and Bardet
(1997). However, Fig. 10 also implies that no pipe
could have failed during the Northridge earthquake
without a reduction in coefficient X , which is not in
agreement with all the field observations. Figure 10
can only explain the observed buckling of Pipes lN,
4, and 5 by a reduction in Xduring dynamic loading
(i.e., X< I ) . Indeed Xmust be less than 0.1 for Pipe
4 to fail, which implies the almost complete loss of
soil stiffness that is associated with soil liquefac-
tion. However, liquefaction did not occur for Pipe 4
since there was no water around Pipe 4.It is there-
fore concluded that the acceleration-based analysis
may not be adequate for analyzing all types of
flexible pipes under various conditions, and that the
peak ground velocity used in the strain-based analy-
sis (i.e., Eq. 12) provides a more reliable prediction
of pipe performance.
5. DISCUSSION
This study provides data and analysis useful for un-
derstanding the damage to buried flexible pipes
during earthquakes. However this investigation only
applies to the failure of pipes due to ground move-
ment, and makes no attempt to calculate the ampli-
tude of pipe deformation. The lack of soil properties
and measurements of pipe geometry prior to the
1994 Northridge earthquake precludes more de-
tailed analyses.
The strain-based analysis presented herein is con-
servative because it assumes no slippage at the soil-
pipe interface, and therefore overestimates hoop
forces. Interface slippage could reduce the forces
within the pipe.
This investigation has identified a number of areas
in need of further research including: ( 1 ) axial de-
formation of pipes with flexible connections; (2)
dynamic soil-pipe interaction and buckling; (3) the
effects of soil-pipe interface; (5) better documenta-
tion of pre-earthquake pipe conditions; and (5) the
effects of pore pressure increases.
6. CONCLUSION
The seismic performance of underground corru-
gated metal pipes (CMP) have been investigated
based on the observed responses of 61 CMPs to the
1994 Northridge earthquake. These case studies
demonstrate that 28 small diameter CMPs all per-
formed well during the earthquake (corrosion being
the only damaging factor to 1 small CMP), but that
32 large diameter flexible buried pipes responded
differently to strong ground motions. These case
studies also point out that significant CMP damage
can occur but still be unobservable at the ground
surface, emphasizing the need for post-earthquake
inspections of critical pipes. Based on these case
studies, the factors controlling the seismic perform-
ance of CMPs were identified and framed in a sim-
plified strain-based pseudo-static analysis. The
comparison of the strain-based analysis with the
previously proposed acceleration-based analysis
(Davis and Bardet, 1998) suggests that peak ground
velocity is a more reliable index of CMP damage
than peak ground acceleration. The strain-based
analysis is capable of explaining the observed per-
formance of 32 large diameter CMPs during the
1994 Northridge earthquake, and can be used for
the design of new pipes and strengthening of exist-
ing pipes subjected to transient or permanent
ground movements.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
C. Zadorian and T. Kilmer, City of Los Angeles
Department of Public Works and J. Payfer and E.
Limon, Department of Sanitation, provided infor-
984
mation on Pipe 26. Paul Scantlin and Phi1 cahr of
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
assisted in some field inspections. The authors ac-
knowledge the contributions of the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power. The authors thank
J. Chen for preparing figures.
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Bycroft, G. N. 1980. Soil-foundation interaction and
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Guidelines for the Seismic Design of Oil and
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Cultrera, G., D. M. Boore, W. B. Joyner, and C. M.
Dietel. 1998. Nonlinear Soil Response in the
Vicinity of the Van Norman Complex Follow-
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Davis, C. A. and Bardet, J. P. 1995. Seismic Per-
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Davis, C.A. and Bardet, J.P. 1996a. Performance of
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Davis, C.A. and Bardet, J.P. 1996b. Performance of
Four Corrugated Metal Pipes during the 1994
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Design of Lifeline Facilities and Countermea-
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press.
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Iida, H., Hiroto, T., Yoshida, N. and Iwafuji, M.
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Iwamoto, T., Yamamura, Y. and Miyamoto, H.
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kyo-Kyoto, Vol. VII, 35-40.
Japan Road Association. 1992. Design and Execu-
tion standards of underground parking lots (in
Japanese).
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subways. J. Struct. Div., ASCE, 95, 1213-31.
Lee, V. W. and Trifunac, M. D. 1987. Rocking
strong earthquake acceleration, Int. J. Soil Dy-
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Flexible Tubes - A review of Theory and Ex-
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ASCE, Vol. 115, NO. 3,340-358.
Moser, A.P., 1990. Buried Pipe Design. McGraw
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Nakamura, M., Katayama, T. , and Kubo, K. 1981.
Quantitative analysis of observed seismic
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Propagation and Dynam. Properties of Earth
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15, 31 1-319.

986
 EarthquakeGeotechnicalEngineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Underground and buried structures

Nozomu Yoshida
Engineering Research Institute, Sat0 Kogyo Company Limited, Tokyo,Japan

ABSTRACT: Research on the behavior or design of the underground structure subjected to earthquake load
are summarized for the "Underground and Buried Structure" session at the 2nd International Conference on
Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. Six papers are submitted, which include shaking table test, centrifugal
test, and theoretical approach.

1 INTRODUCTION tunnels. On the other hand, the latter wave is more

Underground structures are surrounded by soils,
therefore, unlike the superstructures, they cannot
behave independently from the subsoil; their
behavior is strongly controlled by the behavior of
the surrounding ground. Considering this situation,
positive aseismic design has not been conducted in
practice. Earthquake load sometimes was not
considered in the design. It is also true that damage
to large scaled underground structures caused by
earthquake was seldom reported. During the 1995
Hyogoken-nambu (Kobe) earthquake, however,
underground structures were significantly damaged.
This indicates that consideration of earthquake load
is important even in the underground structures.
2 DAMAGE TO UNDERGROUND
STRUCTURES CAUSED BY EARTHQUAKE
2.1 Earthquake load
Figure 1 schematically shows earthquake waves
from the fault to the site we are interested or we are
going to make structures. If fault arrives at the
ground surface, the underground structure will be
damaged. It is, however, a rare case. Generally,
structures are damaged due to ground shaking.
Earthquake wave that is produced at the fault
propagates the site passing the seismic bedrock,
engineering seismic base layer and surface ground.
The waves are classified into horizontally travelling
wave such as surface waves and obliquely
propagating body waves, and vertically traveling
body waves. The former wave is more critical to the
underground lineral structures such as pipelines and
critical for the vertically lineral structures. It also
affects the large scaled underground structures.
Since the mechanism of collapse is different
depending on the structural type as well as wave
type, it is important to distinguish the waves in the
earthquake resistant design of the underground
structures. This is different from the design of the
superstructure in which wave incident to the
structure is of great interest.
2.2 Damage during the Kobe earthquake
Various kind of underground structures were
damaged during the 1995 Hyogoken-nambu (Kobe)
earthquake. Typical damages are reviewed in order
to make the important factors for the earthquake
resistant design clear.
Figure 2 shows damage to subway structures
during the 1995 Kobe earthquake, in which many
damages are reported. Damage to the Daikai subway
station is the most significant; several columns
completely collapsed as shown in Figure 3.
Earthquake load was not considered in the design of
the structure. Relative displacement of the ground
between the upper and lower slab is the main reason
of the collapse (Yoshida et al., 1997).
Figure 1 Path of earthquake wave from fault to interested site
(Yoshida and Iai, 1998)

987

Figure 2 Damage to subway during the 1995 Kobe earthquake
Figure 3 Collapse of Daikai subway station
Figure 4 Peeled segments
Damage to the common duct is reported small;
there was no structural damage (ECRHED (Editorial
Committee for the Report on the Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake Disaster), 1998b). Damage to the
telephone tunnel is also small; there is no damage by
which the function of tunnel is lost.
An underground transmission line under
construction was damaged. Cover concrete separates
at the corner (Figure 4). Cracks with 0.3 to 0.5 mm
wide were observed at several many places
(ECRHED, 1998b).
988
Figure 5 Damage to shield tunnel shaft attachment
C r a c k in longitudinal direction
Crack in circular direction
Figure 6 Schematic figure showing the damage to secondary
lining of shield sewers.
Figure 7 Crack in the secondary lining of shield sewer.
A relatively large damage occurred in the
communication tunnel. As shown in Figure 5 , shield
tunnel penetrated into the vertical shaft attachment.
Large crack appeared at the attaching point, and
cover concrete separated. Communication line,
however, was not damaged (ECRHED, 1998b).
Damage to sewage shield tunnel occurred at
many place. Figures 6 and 7 are typical pattern of
damage. Cracks run in the longitudinal direction in
the secondary lining. Damage near the entrance was
also observed (ECRHED, 1998b).
Foundation pile of structures were damaged
severely at many places (ECRHED, 1998a). They
were caused by various reasons. Failure of
foundation ground, inertia force of the
superstructure, large ground displacement due to
liquefaction and liquefaction-induced flow, and
. 2.3 Typical damage pattern
laige ground displacement of soft layer due to strong
nonlinear behavior are typical reasons. Figure 8
shows an example of the pile damage at the pile top.
Figure 9 shows examples of pile damage in the
middle of pile. As seen in the figure, cracks were
significant at the boundary between two layers.
Figure 8 Damage to pile head
Figure 9 Crack in the middle of pile (Note. two figures show
damage of different structures)
Figure 10 Typical pattern of damage to underground structure
989
The typical pattern of damage to shield tunnels is
summarized in Figure 10 (modified from Koizumi,
1996). There are at least two different types of
damage patterns. Firstly, damage is easy to occur at
the intersections between two different structures or
at the place where structure is discontinuous.
Secondly, damage occurs at the boundary between
two layers, especially the case when stiffness of two
layers are different. On the other hand, damage to
underground structure is small when it exists in the
homogeneous ground. Of course, structural damage
can occur even in the homogeneous ground when
the ground deformation is large. Existence of soft
soil or onset of liquefaction is an example of the
damage of this kind.
Same kind of discussion can be made on the
foundation pile as seen in the previous section. In
addition, liquefaction-induced flow brought many
pile damage in the waterfront area.
3 BRIEF REVIEW OF PRESENTED PAPER
3.1 Design spectra of the seismic deformation
method defined on ground surface
Seismic design of superstructures is conducted under
the earthquake load specified on the ground surface.
On the other hand, seismic deformation method
(SDM) is employed in the design specification of the
underground structures such as pipeline and multi-
service tunnels in Japan. In the design based on
SDM, vertical distribution of horizontal ground
displacement is required, which is frequently given
as
2
U ( z ) = -sv q cos-m z
n2 2H
The authors pointed out that this method is difficult
to understand because it uses response velocity
spectrum S , on the interface between the surface
layer and seismic base layer and T, is natural period
of the surface layer. Namely, it is impossible to
obtain the spectrum applicable to different site
conditions; seismic design force is not consistent
between superstructure in which load is specified on
the ground surface and underground structure in
which load is specified on the engineering seismic
base layer; ground motion is not defined below the
seismic base layer. In order to obtain consistent
design load, they develop a method to define the
ground displacement starting from the acceleration
response spectrum on the ground surface.
The maximum displacement at the ground surface
is expressed in terms of the acceleration response
spectrum as
and displacement under the ground is given by
(3)
where D&) is normalized horizontal displacement.
They assume DH(z)to be a quarter of sinusoidal
wave,
Ja
DH(z)= cos - (4)
2H
3.2 Stochastic analysis of underground structures
subject to earthquake loading
The authors consider the earthquake load as random
event. Therefore, they described that the seismic
design of the underground structures should be
considered as a random field or a random process.
They start the design in calculating the impulse
response function h(t) at the interested location of
the underground structures by commonly used FEM
code.
Nonstationary Gaussian process assumption of
the earthquake excitation gives earthquake load to be
expressed
Y ( t )= ~'IA(t,w)e-'"dF,(o)
-m
where A(t,u) is a deterministic function of time t.
Through the mathematical treatment, they derived
the following equation
R,,,, = r cr
where R,, denotes peak response of the structure
and r is the peak response factor which can be
computed by assuming the random process such as
Poisson distribution or Malkov distribution.
990
They apply this method to a simple underground
structure and discussed the effect of various factors
such as soil type, lining thickness, embedment and
deposit thickness. They also discussed the difference
between stationary and nonstationary responses.
3.3 Dynamic behavior of a foundation-soil-
artificial block system
This paper does not consider earthquake load, but
consider soil vibrations in general sense. Buildings
are vibrated by various sources such as machine
foundations and vibration and drop hammers. These
vibrations first reach the foundation and causes soil
vibration, then they reach the neighboring
foundation.
In order to simulate this process, the authors
conducted centrifuge model test (30 g) using the
model container shown in Figure 11. The vibration
is given by falling the weight at the top of the
container and accelerations are measured at the
foundation on the ground surface and artificial block
under the foundation. The tests are conducted
changing the depth to the artificial block. It is shown
that artificial block beneath the foundation affect the
dynamic response of the foundation, and resonance
frequency of the foundation is affected by the depth
to the artificial block.
Figure 11 Cross section of model container
3.4 Designing tunnel linings upon seismic effects
The effect of the surrounding ground during
earthquake to the tunnel structures are considered to
be two types of load shown in Figure 12. The first
load comes from longitudinal wave and latter from
shear wave. The most critical section is obtained by
solving the equation
(7)
where superscript indicates load type, and a is an
angle indicating the circular location of the point.
Figure 12 Earthquake load considering the design of tunnel lining.

The authors conducted case study calculations on

the tunnel with 3.35 meters inner diameter and
describe the effectiveness of the method.

3.5 Seismic resistance and design of shield tunnel

lining with a new internal lining
This paper deals with the new technique of lining
called F-lining which means flexible lining
compared with the conventional R-lining (rigid
lining). The idea is shown in Figure 13 with
comparison with conventional R-lining; F-lining
uses FRPM (fiber reinforced plastic mortar) pipe to
make the lining Static load test Figure 13 Comparison of two linings used in the centrifuge
demonstrates that F-lining is much flexible. test
Centrifuge test was also conducted, in which F-
lining produced ten times larger strains indicating
the flexible nature of the F-lining. Design procedure
for F-lining system is then proposed. In this design
method, however, earthquake load is not taken into
account, which is curious.

3.6 Experimental study on the effects of vertical

shaking on the behavior of underground
pipelines
This paper deals with float-up of underground
pipeline when soil liquefaction occurred. Models
shown in Figure 14 are tested on the shaking table.
Model 1 is a bare ground, Model 2 is original model,
and Models 3 to 5 are improved by crashed rocks.
Both horizontal and vertical sinusoidal waves are
applied as earthquake load.
Figure 15 shows time history of the pipe
floatation. Pipe without remedial measures floated
up to the ground whereas those in the improved
ground did not float up to the ground during the
excitation; Model 5 float up after the shaking. It is
shown that the amount of float up depends on the
types of remedial measures. The velocity of float up Figure 14 Soil models for shaking table test.
increases more than twice when vertical excitation is

991
applied in addition to the horizontal wave, therefore
important to be considered. They also pointed out
that crushed rock contained by geogrid put on the
upper part of the pipe is effective.

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Underground structures were shown to be

significantly damaged during the 1995 Kobe
earthquake. The damage are concentrated on the
places where there are discontinuous in the structure
or in the ground. This as well as many researches on
the damaged underground structures indicate that
main cause of the damage to the underground
structure is the ground deformation. In other word,
Figure 15 Time histories of float up
underground structure does not exist in the
homogeneous infinite region. Boundary condition
should be considered in evaluating the behavior of
the underground structures.
REFERENCES
The deformation of the ground should be
evaluated relevantly for the rational earthquake Editorial Committee for the Report on the Hanshin-Awaji
resistant design of the underground structures. The Earthquake Disaster, Damage to building foundation,
interaction between the structure and surrounding Report on the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster,
soil should also be taken into account. This kind of Maruzen, 1998a
treatment, however, is different from the design of Editorial Committee for the Report on the Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake Disaster 1998b. Damage to Civil Engineering
the conventional underground structures in which Structures, Report on the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
effect acting on the structure is given by force or Disaster, Maruzen, 1998b
pressure under static loading. If earthquake load is Koizumi, A. 1996. Earthquake resistant design of shield,
given as force or pressure, interactive effect between Report in shield tunnel research committee
soil and structure cannot be taken into account, and Yoshida, N., Nakamura, S., Suetomi, I. and Esaki, J. 1997.
boundary condition is not clearly defined. Validation of analytical procedure on Daikai Subway
Station damaged during the 1995 Hyogoken-nanbu
Seismic deformation method has come to be used earthquake, Seismic Behavior of Ground and Geotechnical
in the practical design of the underground structures Structures, Balkema: 381-388
under earthquake. This method has been used in the Yoshida, N.and Iai, S. 1998, Nonlinear site response and its
design of pile in order to consider the effect of the evaluation and prediction, Proc. 2nd International
ground deformation. It is noted that soil-structure Symposium on the Effect of Surface Geology on Seismic
Motion, Yokosuka,Japan: 71-90
interaction is not taken into account in this method;
behavior of soil affect the behavior of pile but not
vice versa. It may, however, be justified because pile
is flexible, therefore the behavior may be
predominantly controlled by the ground
deformation. Actually, there are researches that
justify this method for pile by simulating the
earthquake damage.
This, however, may not justify the use of seismic
deformation method in relatively large or stiff
structures because the behavior of the structure may
affect the behavior of surrounding soil. The research
on the effectiveness of the seismic deformation
method to simulate the actual behavior of the large
scaled underground structure during earthquake
seems to be very small. Research on the seismic
deformation method or any other method that can
simulate the behavior of the underground structure
considering the soil-structure interaction is
encouraged.

992
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, SGco e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Dynamic analysis of tunnel-shaft-soil systems using FEM and A”

M. l? Romo, S.R.Garcia & J. Merlos
Institute of Engineering, National University of Mexico, Mexico

ABSTRACT: The dynamic response of tunnel-shaft-soil systems may be accomplished by means of 3-D finite
element analyses. The interaction effects on the motions that act on the tunnel and shaft and those of the free
field may be evaluated using well establishe FE procedures. However, use of these techniques require large
amounts of computational resources. With the purpose of searching for new alternatives, in an ongoing
research, the application of artificial intelligence to solve these complex problem is being explored. In this
paper, the technique of artificial neural networks is shown that this procedure based on knowledge-based
information maybe a suitable alternative to solve earthquake geotechnical problems.

1. INTRODUCTION connection. Furthermore, this situation is worsened

Construction of tunnels in the Metropolitan area of
the Federal District is a continuous task due to the
needs of massive transportation and provision of a
sewerage system to minimize flooding during rainy
seasons. After several decades of excavating tunnels
and shafts within the soft clays, some efficient
techniques have evolved and nowadays the
procedures to build these structures are dominated to
the point that shafts of 15 to 25 m in diameter and 25
to 30 m deep may be excavated with fair ease.
Shafts-excavation procedures are based on the
concept of “flotation”. This method has proven to be
efficient and low-risk. A detailed description of this
excavation procedure is given elsewhere (Auvinet
and Romo, 1998). Tunneling is carried out generally
using pressurized slurry shields and in some
instances earth balance pressure shields. With both
procedures, excavations up to 20 m per day in 5 to 6
m diameter tunnels may be accomplished.
Although the construction of these structures in
Mexico City clays posses a difficult problem to
engineers, the critical conditions for the tunnel-shaft
system is well after its construction has been
completed. On one hand, after some time the shaft
has the tendency to emerge from the soil due to the
overcompensation. At the same time, the water
withdrawal from deep aquifers produce a general
subsidence of the clay by consolidation of the deeper
clay strata, inducing a downward movement of the
tunnel, that coupled with the upward movement of
the shaft imposes severe stress conditions at their
by the occurrence of severe shaking loadings. Since
the time stress variation is not known, the design of
these structural connections are based mainly on
conservative consideration.
In this paper it is presented the main results of an
ongoing research aimed to evaluate the effects of the
complex loading history on the tunnel-shaft
interaction. Herein, only the potential effects of
seismic loading are discussed throughout some 3-D
finite element analyses. In view of the large amount
of resources that are needed to carry out these type
of numerical studies, it was explored to use an
emerging technology based on knowledge-based
modeling. From the results obtained by the finite
element method, artificial neural networks (ANNs)
are designed to reproduce and predict the response
of the tunnel-shaft-soil system. The results that the
ANNs yield are encouraging and seem to provide an
alternative to study complex problems in
geotechnical engineering.
2. THREE DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT
ANALYSES
The tunnel-shaft-soil system was modeled by means
of the mesh shown in fig 1, where 724 elements and
1070 nodes were used. The input motion used in the
analyses is representative of the ground movements
induced at different locations in the firm deposits of
the hill zone by the September 19, 1985 earthquake.
The corresponding spectrum is shown in fig 2. The

993
control point was considered at the base of the
model. The response of the system was computed
considering, at this stage, the input component in the
y direction. In the future, similar analyses will be
performed using two horizontal orthogonal
excitations.
Fig 1. Finite element mash
I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Period m seconds
Fig 2. Input motion
To show the effects of the dynamic tunnel-shaft-
soil system on the free field ground motions, the
response spectra computed at three different points
on the ground surface of the model are depicted in
fig 3. It may be observed that the free field motions
are significantly attenuated by the presence of the
underground structures. Maximum ground
accelerations are decreased on the order of 50%, and
the peak spectral acceleration is attenuated by a
factor of about 2.5. Also, the predominant frequency
of the soil deposit is increased by the tunnel-shaft
system. On the other hand, the motions along the
shaft rim are similar, which is a result of the high
stiffness of the shaft lining. This is an indication of
the major changes that the free field motions may
undergo when underground constructions are built.
Thus, in the design of this type of structures this
994
aspect of ground motion changes should be given
due consideration. It would seem that the excitations
that should be used when analyzing tunnel-shaft
systems are appreciably different to those of the free
field.
07
ou nr;
6
g- 0 5
Q
3 04
-8
03
;
a
02
v, 01
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Period, m seconds
Fig 3 .Effect of tunnel-shaft-soil interaction
This paper is not intended to show the results of
an exhaustive parametric study (which is underway),
but the potential importance of the presence of a
shaft and a tunnel on the free field motions.
3. ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS (A")
Neural computing is an information processing
technology which developed from research to make
computer that could imitate the way people learned.
The field initially grew from 1930's ideas about how
biological systems work, particularly the human
brain.
Today neural network systems are being used in
business, government and academic research
because of their ability to model data quickly and to
produce better results than other traditional data
analysis techniques.
At their most basic level, neural networks are
simply a new way of analyzing data. The
revolutionary aspect of these systems is their ability
to learn complex patterns and trends in data. Neural
networks are made up of neurons and behave much
like the human brain, and as people they apply
knowledge from past experience to new problems.
Neural networks acquire this knowledge by training
on a set of data. Once the ANN has been trained and
validated, the model may be applied to data it has
not seen previously for prediction, classification,
time series analysis or data segmentation.
The most basic idea behind a neural network is
that it is built of many nodes, also called neurons or
processing elements. Each node is a very simple unit
which takes many inputs simultaneously and sums
them up. Each node produces a response dependent

Fig 4. Artificial Neural Network Architecture
on the level of inputs received. If the sum of the
inputs is low, the response is low. The response
triggers an activation function which might add
weight to high value patterns and ignore low value
patterns.
The elementary processing elements, nodes, are
arranged in layers where every node in one layer is
connected to every node in the next. The
connections are assigned weights that adjust the
importance of an input as it is passed to the next
node. The weights can be thought of as a scaling
factor for the inputs as they are passed from one
node to the next. (They make some inputs more
important than others.) By changing the weights in
Fig 5.Training process of the Artificial neural network
995
response to target patterns, the system learns which
combinations of inputs are most important and
reflects them appropriately. Although there are many
approaches to neural network processing, they all
have in common simple processing units arranged in
layers. In this study the backpropagation procedure
was used (Hertz et al, 1991).
3.1 Architecture of the ANNs: Training and
prediction
The purpose of designing networks is to develop
procedures to study (predict) the response of the
shaft-tunnel-soil system. To this end several types of
architecture were proposed and, with the data
developed through finite element analysis, each of
them was trained to verify the stability of the
network to be used later in the prediction mode.
Once the training was completed, the architecture
that gave the highest correlation (i.e. the output of
the ANN was closer to the output given by the finite
element) was used to predict the results of
complementary analysis not included in the learning
process.
The ANN architecture that predicts the
acceleration response spectra at the ground elevation
and around the shaft rim, is depicted in fig 4. It
includes an input layer with 52 input units, two
hidden layers with 40 and 15 neurons, respectively
and one output layer with ten output units. A secant
activation function was used, 600 training patterns
were employed and the initial weights were
randomly generated. The learning rates varied within
the 0.001-0.3 range and 80,000 epochs were needed.
Fig 6. Predictive mode of the Artificial neural network
The results of the learning process an those of the
finite element are depicted in fig 5. It may be
observed that they coincide almost perfectly. The
correlation coefficient was 0.99. Once the ANN was
trained, it was used to predict the FEM results not
seen by the network during the training process. The
comparison among ANN predictions and “actual”
finite element results are included in fig 6, where it
may be seen that the ANN forecasts with high
degree of approximation the “actual” values. In fact,
the maximum absolute error was 0.017.
CONCLUSIONS
One drawback of, probably, all Construction
Codes around world is that they do not provide
guidelines to consider the possible changes in
ground motions due to the construction of large
buried structures (or superficial buildings for the
sanie token), when designing new structures nearby
or evaluating the effects that construction of
underground structures might induce in the seismic
environment of existing buildings. In most of the
Codes, response spectra are specified as
representative of the free field ground motions to
which the building will be subjected to. Some
include simple procedures to account for the site
effects and soils-structure interaction. But in all
Codes, the building is assumed isolated and with
unchangeable environmental conditions.
The present research is aimed at evaluating the
potential effects of tunnel-shaft systems on the free
field ground motions, and develop simple
996
procedures to modify the design response spectra
specified in the Federal District Construction Code.
To this end, three dimensional finite element
analyses for different geometric and soil conditions,
as well as input motions are being carried out. In this
paper the preliminary results are presented and
discussed.
In view of the high cost of the 3-D computations,
an alternative procedure based on artificial
intelligence is considered. To this end, artificial
neural networks were developed to predict the
dynamic response of the complex tunnel-shaft-soil
systems. The results included here are just a small
sample of what can be achieved with ANNs. The
results indicate that it is possible to develop an
architecture capable of reproducing and predicting
the behavior of complex systems.
Since the most difficult task of this neural
procedure is to develop the right ANN, once this is
accomplished, it may be used with ease to study the
problem on hand under other environmental and
geometric conditions.
The high connectivity of the networks means that
errors in a few terms will probably be
inconsequential. This tells us that these systems can
be expected to be robust and its performance will
degrade gracefully in the presence of noise or errors.
In the brain itself cells die all the time without
affecting the function, and this robustness of the
biological neural networks has probably been
essential to the evolution of intelligence.
REFERENCES

Auvinet G and Romo M P (1998), “Deep

excavations in Mexico City soft clays”, Big Digs
Around the World, Geotechnical Special
Publication, Number 86, pp 2 1 1-229
Hertz J, Krogh A and Palmes R G, (1991),
“Introduction to the theory of neural
computation”, Lecture Notes, Volume I, Santa Fe
Institute, Addison Wesley Publishing Company
Romo M P, Garcia S R and Merlos J (1999),
“Knowledge-based modeling of dynamic shaft-
tunnel-soil interaction”, Internal report, Institute
of Engineering, April, 1999 (in Spanish)

997
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 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering,S&coe Pinto (ed.)0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, lS5N 90 5809 1 16 3

Design and technologies for improvement of tunnels in seismic areas

N. N.Fotieva
Department of Materials Mechanics, Tula State University,Russia

ABSTRACT: The tunnelling technology and design methods having been applied in Russia for improvement
of tunnels constructed in seismic areas are described in the paper presented.

1 INTRODUCTION bearing capacity. The main feature of that technique

In spite of widespread opinion that the Earthquake
influence is not dangerous for underground struc-
tures there are many examples of tunnel linings
damage and failure due to seismic effects. Those
cases having taken place in USA, Japan, Chile,
Alaska, former Soviet Union etc. have been de-
scribed in scientific literature for example in the
book by Dorman (1 986). The observation data show
that underground structures including tunnels of a
great depth may be damaged as a result of Earth-
quake. That is why problems connected with a de-
fence of tunnels located in seismic areas are very
important to avoid of human sacrifices and a huge
financial joss. This aim may be reached by creation
of new underground structures possessing the high
strength against seismic effects on the base of design
methods taking into account possible static and
seismic loads in their most unfavourable combina-
tions, improvement of the rock mass properties by
grouting and development of new technologies of
the lining erection.
There is a considerable experience in that field in
Russia where the regions of a high seismic activity
occupy a large part of the territory. The method of
tunnel construction being applied in Russia is de-
scribed in the paper presented.
The method allows to open a tunnel cross-section
as a whole in an unstable rock mass. The temporary
arch-concrete support is installed in a tunnel face
area directly after the latter has been advanced. The
permanent concrete lining is erected at a certain dis-
tance from the tunnel face forming together with the
temporary one a double-layer structure of a high
is loading the temporary support at an early age of
concrete hardening during the tunnel being driven.
It allows to design the temporary support in such a
way as to completely take upon itself the load caused
by the rock’s own weight. If the rock mass around
the tunnel is not watered and not subjected to creep
the permanent lining undergoes only seismic effects.
2 TUNNELLING TECHNOLOGY
New tunnelling technology was developed and ap-
plied at construction of tunnels of the Baikal-Amur
railway on the North shore of the Baikal Lake ( Rec-
ommendations... 1992, Bulychev et al. 1997,
Bezrodny 1998). The dou‘uie-track railway tunnel
was driving by blasting technique in jointed and
faulted rocks consisting preferably of granite. The
major process included blast opening drilling on a
web from 1.25 m up to 2.5 m by “Furukawa” or
“Tamrock” drilling rigs, blasting, moving rocks by
underground hauliers, installation of metal arches in
the face area with distance 1 m between them, site
welding of shuttering and placement (with consoli-
dation) of concrete. Full-scale measurements also
were included in the tunnelling method.
The temporary arch-concrete support consisting
of metal arches supporting a shuttering and a rather
thin layer of concrete ( from 10 cm up to 20 cm) are
installed in the face area of the tunnel. The concrete
is hardening during the tunnel face being advanced.
The permanent concrete lining being the second in-
ternal layer is erected at the about 200 m distance
from the tunnei face. Previously the internal surface

999
of the temporary lining is covered by anti-adhesive
hydrophobic material such as a suspension of clay
solution. Due to that only compressive loads are (3)
transferred on the lining from the rock mass. It is
necessary to avoid tensile loads on the permanent
lining appearing at the Earthquakes.
where A , = 0.4, a = 1,
The metal arches may be removed before erecting
the internal layer or remained in the second layer as
the rigid reinforcement on the base of full-scale
measurements results (Recommendations...1992). (4)

3 INVESTIGATIONS

The tunnelling method is grounded by the mathe-

matical modelling of all the steps of the tunnel driv-
ing and the lining erection (Fotieva & Bulychev
1987, Fotieva et al. 1992, Bulychev et al. 1997).
The temporary support erected in the vicinity of
the tunnel face is loaded with the face fk-ther ad-
vance at an early age of concrete and has the possi-
bility to undergo deformations accompanied by si-
multaneous hardening and creepage processes. In
this connection the dependencies of concrete me-
chanical characteristics (limit strength, deformation
modulus and kernel of creep) on the concrete age
have been investigated.
According to the results of concrete samples
testing the following dependence (Bulychev et al.
1997) of the E ( T ) deformation modulus on the 'I:
concrete age has been obtained
The relationships obtained have been applied at
the temporary support design the order of which is
described below.
The full-scale measurements were also realised
during the tunnel construction. Vertical displace-
ments of the top point and convergence of the walls
of temporary support measured every 5 m following
the tunnel face advancing were applied for a control
of the support stress state and its strength.
4 THE DESIGN METHODS
4.1 Designing the temporary support on the action
of the rock's own weight

In accordance with the technology described the

where z = concrete age (days), temporary lining stress stab:. caused by the rock's
own weight was determined.
E = 4.25 .104 MPa, a,= 0.258, a, = 0.627, The design scheme is shown in Figure 1.

PI =0.0063 days-', p2 =0.1965 days-'.

The compressive strength is calculated by for-

mula

where R ( T )=strength of concrete of the 'I: age,

R,, = strength of concrete of 28 days age.
The creep kernel is expresses by the relationship

Figure 1 The design scheme

1000
Here the S , ring of an arbitrary shape limited by
L , , L , outlines and simulating a temporary sup-
port has been made from a material characterised by
the E , deformation modulus and the v, Pois-
son's ratio and undergoes deformation together with
the So medium simulating the rock mass and pos-
sessing the E , , v, characteristics, i.e. conditions
of displacements and complete stresses vectors con-
tinuity are satisfied on the L , contact line. The L ,
internal outline is free from loads.
There is an initial stress state in the So medium
caused by the action of gravitational forces:
(5)
where y =rock unit weight, H =tunnel depth,
h = lateral pressure coefficient in an intact rock,
a; = correcting multiplier introduced for an ap-
proximate registration of an influence of the 1, dis-
tance between the lining being constructed and the
tunnel face determined by the empirical formula (
Instruction ..., 1983):
a ; =exp(-1.310 l R )
in which R = average radius of the opening.
For determining the temporary support stress state
taking into account the basic features of the tunnel
construction technology described above the analytic
solution of the elasticity theory plane contact prob-
lem shown in Figure 1 is being applied. That solu-
tion has been obtained by Fotieva (1974) with the
application of the complex variable analytic func-
tions theory, the apparatus of conform mappings and
complex series ( Muskhelishvili, 1966).
As the concrete deformation and strength charac-
teristics change with the time due to simultaneous
processes of hardening and creep the (T, stresses
appearing in the support at the moment of the N -th
web are evaluated by summing up the o(') stress
values obtained in the shares of the y H a ; ( i.e. at
the y H a ; = 1) from a series of solutions of the
contact problem formulated above at assigning the
E{') support material deformation modules corre-
sponding the moments of every i -th web, multiplied
by yH(a;-, - a ; ) accordingly, i.e.
1001
where a*.
J
( j = i-1, i; i=1, ..., N ) arethemulti-
pliers evaluated by formula similar to (6) depending
on the distance of the support section being designed
till the tunnel face at the moment of every i -th web.
Internal forces in support sections and displace-
ments of its points have similarly evaluated.
For determining the values of the El(') concrete
deformation modules at the corresponding time mo-
ments taking into account the simultaneous harden-
ing and creep processes the method offered in the
paper by Silvestrov, Bezrodniy et al. (1982) is ap-
plied.
4.2 The temporary support design on the base of
full scale measurements
Data of full-scale measurements of displacements of
a temporary concrete support confirmed in general
the design results obtained by the method described.
However the support stress-strain state depends to a
great extent on the value of the h lateral pressure
coefficient in an intact rock mass which is as a rule
evaluated approximately by the Academian Dinnik's
formula. That is why in order to judge of the real h
coefficient and to evaluate of real stresses and
forces in the support the special technique giving
the possibility to estimate the h value applying the
full-scale measurement data of vertical displace-
ments of the arch upper poii?t and converging of the
lateral walls points at a different height from the foot
of the opening has been applied.
The technique is based on the solution of the in-
verse problem (Figure 1) consisting in determining
such a h coefficient at which displacements at any
time moment determined analytically approach the
measured ones as near as possible in the sense of the
least quadratic deviation. The solution of the inverse
problem taking into account the concrete hardening
and creep has been obtained in the paper by Fotieva
& Bulychev (1 987).
The further development of this part of investiga-
tions is supported by the Russian Fundamental Re-
search Foundation.
Figure 2. Schemes for designing double-layer tunnel lining upon the action of a long arbitrary directed longi-
tudinal wave (a) and shear wave (b).
4.3 Designing the temporary support and the per-
manent tunnel lining upon seismic effects
For designing the double-layer tunnel lining upon
seismic effects (the tunnel is located in the seismic
area characterised by the 9 grade on the MSK scale
of the Earthquakes intensity) the general approach
proposed by Fotieva (1980) included in the
“Instruction...” (1 982) has been applied.
According to that approach the design consists in
the determination of the most unfavourable
lining stress state at different combinations and any
directions of long longitudinal and shear waves
propagating in the plane of the tunnel cross-section.
With this aim the two plane elasticity theory
quasi-static contact problems are analysed ( Figure 2
a, b).
Here the infinite S o medium simulating the rock
mass is characterised by the E, deformation
modulus and the vo Poisson ratio. The ring layers
of the A ( j = 1,2) thickness the materials of
which have the E j ( j =: 1,2) deformation modules
and the v ( j = 1,2) Poisson’s ratios simulate the
temporary support and the permanent tunnel lining
correspondingly.
The ring layers and the medium undergo defor-
mation together, that is conditions of continuity of
stresses and displacements vectors are fulfilled on
the L ( j = 0,l) contact lines. The L , internal
outline is free from loads.
In the first problem ( Figure 1, a ) the S o me-
dium is subjected upon infinity to a double-axis
1002
compression with non-equal components directed
under an arbitrary a angle to the co-ordinates axis
simulating the action of a long arbitrary directed
longitudinal wave in the compression phase. In the
second problem ( Figure 1, b ) the So medium is
subjected to a pure shear upon infinity simulating the
action of a long arbitrary directed shear wave.
The stresses on the infinity are expressed by for-
mulae:
where A =coefficient corresponding to the Earth-
quake intensity, k , = coefficient taking admissible
damages into account, c1, c2 = speeds of longitudi-
nal and shear waves spreading, To =prevailing pe-
riod of the rock particles oscillations.
From the solution of the described problems
(Figure2, a, b) the and U(’) stresses (here the
0 symbol signifies all components of stress ten-
sor ), appearing in the lining layers due to the action
of long longitudinal and shear waves falling at an a
arbitrary angle are determined.
Further, the sum and the difference of general
expressions for C J ~ and
) or) normal tangential
stresses characterising the lining layers stress state
caused by mutual actions of longitudinal and shear
waves passing simultaneously ( the worst case ) in
every point of the L,, L , internal outlines of the

Figure 3. Shape and sizes of the lining cross-section.
layers are investigated on the extreme relatively the
a angle of the waves falling.
With this aim the following equations are solved
(9)
and for every point such a combination of waves and
such an angle of their falling at which normal tan-
gential stresses in the points considered are maximal
Figure 4. Diagrams of the most unfavourable stresses and forces in the temporary support.
Figure 5. Diagrams of the most unfavourable stresses and forces in the permanent lining.
1003
by their absolute are determined. It allows the enve-
lope diagrams of normal tangential stresses on the
L I ,L , internal outlines to be obtained analytically.
The stresses upon the external layers outlines,
the N longitudinal forces and the M bending
moments in every normal section of layers are de-
termined at such a combination and such a direction
of waves at which the o0 normal tangential stress
on the internal outline of that section has a maximal
absolute value.
The stresses and forces obtained that way are
assumed to have the signs “plus” and “minus” and
summed up with stresses and forces appearing due to
other acting loads in their most unfavourable combi-
nations. After that a sections strength test upon com-
pression and tension is made.
If the lining is not anchored to the massif and is
designed with an allowance of fissure forming (it
applies to the lining considered) we assume that the
tensile normal loads are not transferred upon the
lining. In this case the action of longitudinal waves
in the tension phase is not to be taken into account
and the design is made on the base of two different
envelope diagrams of normal tangential stresses,
obtained using the maximal absolute values of the
compressive (negative). stresses and the tensile
bositive) ones, called forth by mutual actions of
shear waves and longitudinal waves in the compres-
sion phase.
Taking the technology applied into account the
determination of maximal possible compressive
normal tangential stresses in the temporary support
was carried out considering it as a part of a double-
layer lining, but at the determination of maximal
possible tensile stresses the temporary support was
considered as an independent structure i.e. without
presence of the internal layer in the design scheme
shown in Figure 2. The permanent lining is analysed
as a second layer of a double-layer structure not un-
dergoing the action of longitudinal waves in the ten-
sile phase.
5 EXAMPLES OF THE DESIGN
The shape and sizes of the double-layer lining cross-
section are shown in Figure 3.
Examples of the temporary support design upon
the action of the rock’s own weight including the
results obtained on the base of full-scale measure-
ments are represented in papers by Fotieva & Buly-
chev (1 992), Bulychev et al. (1 997).
The results of designing the temporary concrete
support and the permanent lining upon seismic ef-
fects are given below.
The design is fulfilled at the following input data:
E , = 2700 M P a , v, = 0.3, E, = 29000 MPa,
v1 = 0.2, y = 0.029 MN / m3, A = 0.4, k , = 0.25,
To = 0.5 S.
The designed diagrams of maximal compressive
and tensile or normal tangential stresses on a
temporary support cross-section internal outline and
corresponding them M bending moments and N
longitudinal forces are given in Figure 4 a, b by dot-
ted and dash lines correspondingly. Diagrams of the
same stresses and forces in the permanent tunnel
lining are shown in Figure 5 a, b.
REFERENCES
Bezrodny, K.P. 1998. Seismic danger of construc-
tion and exploitation of the North-Muy tunnel and
ways of its overcoming. Proceedings of the Con-
ference on seismic strength of transport struc-
tures in difJicult geological conditions: 169-181.
Moscow: A 0 TSNIIS.
1004
Bulychev, N.S. & N.N.Fotieva et al. 1997. Mod- ern
tunnelling technology and theory of lining design.
Proceedings of Int. Symposium on Rock Support:
49-59. Lillehammer: Norway.
Dorman, I.Ya. 1986. Seismic strength of transport
tunnels. Moscow: Transport.
Fotieva, N.N. 1974. Design of non-circular cross-
section tunnel linings. Moscow: Stroyizdat.
Fotieva, N.N. 1980. Design of underground
structures support in seismically active regions.
Moscow: Nedra.
Fotieva, N.N. & N.S.Bulychev 1987. Inverse prob-
lem of design of temporary concrete lining with
the aid of measured displacements. Proc.
Int. Congress on Rock Mechanics. Montreal:
Canada.
Fotieva, N.N. & N.S.Bulychev et al. 1992. Design of
temporary support forming later on an element of
permanent tunnel lining. Proc. of the Int. Con-
gress towards in tunnelling, Acapulco: 257-26 1.
Rotterdam: Balkema.
Instruction on account seismic effects at the design
of mine transport tunnels. 1982. Moscow: VPTI-
transstroy .
Instruction to designing mining workings and
linings calculation .1983. Moscow: Stroyizdat.
Muskhelishvili, N.I. 1966. Some basic problems
of mathematical elasticity theory. Moscow:
Nauka.
Recommendation of design and construction of tun-
nels applying the arch-concrete support consid-
ered as a part of a permanent lining. 1992. Mos-
cow: Central Institute of transport construction.
Silvestrov, S.N. & K.P.Bezrodny et al. 1982. Inves-
tigation of the rock massif interaction with con-
crete support charged at an early age. Proc. of the
11 USSR Conference on problems of underground
structures mechanics ”. Tula: Tula Polytechnical
Institute.
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, Sic0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 116 3

Super-dense real-time disaster mitigation system

Yoshihisa Shimizu, Kenichi Koganemaru & Wataru Nakayarna
Centerfor Disaster Management and Supply Control, Tokyo Gas Company Limited, Japan
Susumu Yasuda
Department of Civil Engineering, TokyoDenki University, Saitama, Japan

ABSTRACT: In order to achieve a more sophisticated real-time system of disaster mitigation, Tokyo Gas
Co., Ltd., commenced preparation of what will be the world's most extensive ultra-high-density real-time
seismic motion monitoring and disaster mitigation system in January 1998. Known as "SUPREME," the
system employs the New SI (spectrum intensity) sensor and a district regulator remote surveillance system
installed at about 3,600 locations in its supply area, which measures about 3,100 square kilometers. The
New SI sensors utilize ultra-small acceleration pickups made with micromachining technology as well as
central processing units (CPUs) and random access memory (RAM)units, and constitute a new kind of
seismometer that is both high-performance and low-cost. They are capable of measuring SI and ground
acceleration, recording six earthquake wave-form acceleration trends on three (XYZ) axes, detecting
liquefaction based on knowledge of the changes in acceleration waves, and control of regulators by means
of settings for SI or acceleration. Tokyo Gas intends to harness the system for high-precision estimates of
damage and detection of liquefaction in real time, and for investigation of seismic shaking amplication at
various points based on wave-forms for small and medium earthquakes.

KEYWORDS Hanshin-Awajishima area of Japan. It resulted in

unprecedented damage, especially in the city of
New SI sensor, Real-time, Earthquake monitoring, Kobe, and subsequently became known as the
Damage estimation, Liquefaction Judgment, "Great Hanshin Earthquake." As shown in Table
SIGNAL, SUPREME 1, it also caused considerable damage to city gas
supply facilities, and particularly low-pressure
pipelines. The results reconfirmed the immensity
1. INTRODUCTION of the threat posed by earthquakes and also
underscored the importance of emergency response
Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. supplies gas to customers in systems for gas supply facilities in the event of an
metropolitan Tokyo area -- one of the world's most earthquake.
densely populated urban areas, and a major center
of political, cultural and economic activity. We Table 1. Damage to gas facilities in the Great
regard it as part of our responsibility to society as a Hanshin Earthquake
gas supplier to assure safety even in the event of a
major earthquake. Such preparations have long Item Details
been an important concern of Tokyo Gas, and a 1. Damage to Medium-pressure pipelines
pipelines 106 cases of leakage
range of hardware and software solutions is in place, Low-pressure pipelines
including both the hardware of gas supply facilities 26,459 cases of leakage
and the software such as regulations or manuals 2 . Number of cases of About 860,000
supply suspension
relating to emergency response and efficiency of 3. Number of days
restoration work. required for 85 days
complete
On 17 January 1995, an earthquake with a resumption
magnitude of 7.2 occurred directly under the

1005
 The Great Hanshin Earthquake provided
graphic proof of how difficult it is to gather
information on damage immediately after an
earthquake, in spite of the crucial importance of
obtaining such information. As a means of
resolving this difficulty, systems for real-time
estimation of earthquake damage are being planned
or constructed by several agencies. To the same
end, Tokyo Gas launched development of the
Seismic Information Gathering & Network Alert
System2) (SIGNAL) in 1986 and put it into
operation in June 1994, about six months prior to
the Great Hanshin Earthquake. With a view to
achieving a higher level of safety in the event of
major earthquakes, it began constructing another
system in January 1998 for SUPer-dense REal-time
Monitoring of Earthquakes (SUPREME). Based
on installation of roughly 3,600 new seismometers
(New SI sensors) over its supply area of roughly
3,100 square kilometers, the new system will
feature the most intensive seismic monitoring of
any in the world.
2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW SI
SENSORS
Micro-machining technology has made possible the
adoption of ultra small acceleration pickups
(manufactured by Sumitomo Precision Products
Co., Ltd.), and the availability of low-cost, high
performance CPU and RAM devices have resulted
in the joint development together with Yamatake
Co., Ltd. of a New SI sensor (see figure l), which
features high precision and high performance at a
low price. The features are as follows:
Figure 1. New SI sensor
1006
2.1 Both control and measurement functions, and
accommodation of telemeter equipment
The New SI sensors employ a voltageless relay
contact point output for regulator shutoff, analog
output of SI values and acceleration data for
measurement, and an alarm (contact point output)
for liquefaction. The analog output is of a highly
general-purpose nature; it has an operational range
of 4 - 20 mA to accommodate various kinds of
telemeter equipment.
The sensors are capable of measuring
acceleration from plus 2,000 Gal to minus 2,000
Gal, and with a precision of less than plus or minus
5 percent. Moreover, the setting for issuance of
alerts can be changed (in addition, the SI and
acceleration settings can be selected as desired).
2.2 Wave-form data storage
The New SI sensors are also equipped for storage of
the earthquake wave-form data to permit their use
in the formulation of disaster mitigation
countermeasures and in related research. The data
are stored on an internal memory together with
header information for items such as six earthquake
wave-forms on the X, Y, and Z axes, (listed
beginning with the highest SI value) and the dates
of occurrence. The sensors have a recording data
sampling time of 1/1OOth of a second, a resolution
of 1/8th of a Gal, and a wave-form recording
duration of 50 seconds (from plus to minus 25
seconds) per seismic wave, centered around the
wave with the highest SI value. Figure 2 shows
the acceleration wave-form data actually stored for
an earthquake which struck in the southern part of
Ibaraki prefecture on 14 January 1998.
Figure 2. Seismic data, 1998/1/14 (Konan,
Minato ward)
2.3 Liquefaction judgment of Japan Earthquake (Aomori, Hachirogata, and the
Tsugaru Bridge), the Great Hanshin Earthquake
Data on ground liquefaction are extremely (Amagasaki, Kobe harbor, Port Island, and the East
important for estimating damage. Conventionally, Kobe Bridge), Superstition Hill (Wildlife), and the
the acquisition of such data has required large-scale Niigata Earthquake (Kawagishi-cho). Use of this
boring. The New SI sensors make a judgment on newly developed measurement technique will
the presence or absence of liquefaction from the enable determination of liquefaction in real time
changes in the acceleration wave-forms, and with an accuracy approaching 100 percent.
therefore make it extremely simple to apprehend
ground liquefaction. As shown in Figure 3, the
wave-form period for Port Island, where ground
liquefaction occurred in the Great Hanshin
Earthquake, is clearly longer than that for the Kobe
Marine Meteorological Station.
The New SI sensors judge that ground
liquefaction has occurred when the four conditions
shown below have been met in respect of
acceleration (A max), SI value, estimated
displacement (D; 2S12/A m a ~ ) ~ and) , estimated
period (T), based on the change in seismic wave-
form. The estimated period is equated with the
time interval as defined by zero-cross, i.e., the time
required for the wave-form trend measured by the
sensor to cross the zero line.

(I) Amax > 100 gal Figure 4. Results of liquefaction judgment

(11) SI value > 20 kine
(111) D > 10 cm
(IV) T > 2 sec 3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW REAL-
TIME DISASTER MITIGATION SYSTEM
Recorded at Port Island (where severe liquefaction occurred) (SUPREME)

3.1 Outline of the new real-time disaster

mitigation system (SUPREME)

Since the Great Hanshin Earthquake, numerous

Figure 3. Seismic wave-forms for the Great
Hanshin Earthquake
Figure 4 shows the results of the analysis of
wave-forms and liquefaction judgment in the case
of 70 past earthquakes. Among these 70
earthquakes, those which actually caused
liquefaction were as follows (with areas of
liquefaction noted in parentheses): the Central Sea
agencies have constructed systems for high-density
monitoring of seismic motion and real-time damage
estimation. Tokyo Gas is already operating the
Seismic Information Gathering & Network Alert
System (SIGNAL) based on installation of
seismometers at 331 locations (see Figure 5). To
raise the level of safety from disasters even higher,
it embarked on construction of what will be the
world's most extensive system for super-dense real-
time monitoring of earthquakes (SUPREME)
through installation of about 3,600 seismometers
(New SI sensors) over its supply area, which
measures about 3,100 square kilometers, beginning
in January 1998. Figure 6 shows the distribution
when all of the New SI sensors have been installed.

1007

Figure 5 . SI sensors in SIGNAL
Figure 6. New SI sensors in SUPREME
Figure 7 shows the structure of the new real-
time disaster mitigation system. Tokyo Gas is
currently taking the opportunity presented by
replacement of the former SI regulator shutoff
sensors to install the New SI sensors and district
regulator remote monitoring system (DCX) in about
3,600 district regulators. The linkage of this
equipment with the command center through
communications circuits will enable observation,
and remote monitoring at the center, of various
control items at the roughly 3,600 points in the
supply area of roughly 3,100 square kilometers (for
Figure 7. Composition of SUPREME
1008
an average of one point every 0.9 square
kilometers). These items include the SI value,
PGA, pressure, regulator shut-off status, and
liquefaction alert data.
Approach to system utilization
The SI values, which are measured in ultra high
density, and the GIS, which includes
information on gas pipelines, soil and
geography of the gas supply area, are used to
make highly accurate estimations of the
damage caused by an earthquake.
Analysis of the yearly wave-form data on small
and medium earthquakes in combination with
GIS data will make it possible to determine the
seismic shaking amplication at each of the
roughly 3,600 points. Such information can
be reflected in zoning plans and assist
optimization of the setting of values for
automatic shutoff of district regulators.
In the event of a major earthquake, the system
will not only automatically shut off the district
regulators but also enable the command center
to confirm the operation of the shutoff
equipment. This will contribute to a more
prompt and sure response to emergency
situations.
It is possible to monitor the gas pressure during
critical events at approximately 3,600 points.
Losses in gas pressure during an earthquake are
indications of potential damage, and can be
used to make early estimates of the extent of
damage. Not only can realtime estimates of
damage to major facilities be. made, but a
system is now being developed for the swift
and accurate detection of actual damage.
Detailed, realtime detection of liquefaction
allows highly accurate estimates of damage,
and the rapid execution of emergency measures
Release of seismic data
Data fiom 31 of the major points in the SIGNAL
earthquake monitoring network are transmitted to
Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) and other mass media
organs as well as public administrative institutions
such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Beginning in September 1996, it was decided to
release data from all 331 SIGNAL points through
Internet within a very short time after occurrence in
the case of earthquakes with a magnitude of 3 or
more, in order to contribute to emergency response
and research by numerous institutions (see Table 2).
In addition, Tokyo Gas is promoting the sharing of
data and research results with governmental bodies
that are taking active approaches to real-time
disaster mitigation. The transmission of data from
the 331 SIGNAL points to the Yokoharna
municipal government beginning in 1998 is a part
of this policy,
Table 2. Release of SIGNAL data through
Internet
from disasters even higher, Tokyo Gas began
construction of a new SUPREME system for
disaster mitigation based on installation of roughly
3,600 New SI sensors and a DCX system for remote
monitoring of district regulators in January 1998.
It is hoped that the future will bring a sharing
of seismic and geophysical data obtained from the
systems of Tokyo Gas (i.e., the SUPREME disaster
mitigation system and SIGNAL) and the systems of
other agencies, the promotion of related research by
numerous institutions, and a sharing of the research
results by all concerned.

+ Objective
* Promotion of research for disaster mitigation
through sharing of seismic data
* Active use for initial mobilization
+ Items of data release (for earthquakes
occurring withm the service area and having a
magmtude of at least 3 )
* Earthquake name, time of occurrence, and
epicenter
0 Location of the seisinometer (name of
location, latitude, and longtude)
0 SI value and maximum acceleration
+ u R L
littp//www.toyko-gas .co,jp
Posted at the bottom of the Tokyo Gas web
site
REFERENCES
"Gas Industry Earthquake Countermeasures Study
Report" (supervised by the Agency of Natural
Resources and Energy), p. 7 - 11, 1996.
Shimizu, Y. "Soki Jishinji Higai Suitei Shisutemu
- SIGNAL" (SIGNAL - An Early Earthquake
Damage Estimation System). Keisoku to
Seigyo (Measurement and Control), Vol. 38, pp.
41 -44, 1997.
I. Towhata, I., Park, J.K., Orense, R.P. and Kano, H.
"Use of Spectrum Intensity for Immediate
Detection of Subsoil Liquefaction", Soils and
Foundations, vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 29 - 44.

The new SUPREME real-time disaster

mitigation system will record wave-form data (six
earthquake wave-forms on three axes, listed from
the highest SI value) for small and medium
earthquakes at some 3,600 points. Earthquake
wave-forms entail an immense load of data which
cannot be collected in real time. However, the
company plans to release data stored by CD-ROM
once a year.

4. CONCLUSION

Real-time disaster mitigation came to the fore in the

aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and
systems for real-time monitoring of seismic motion
and damage estimation have since been installed or
planned by many agencies. In SIGNAL, Tokyo
Gas constructed one of the first systems of this type,
and was commended for its foresight with selection
for the 1996 Award for Civil Engineering and
Development given by the Japan Society of Civil
Engineering. In order to raise the level of safety

1009
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Liquefaction
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Liquefaction and deformation of silty and fine-grained soils

T. L.Youd
Brigham Young University,Provo, Utah, USA
S. D.Gilstrap
GeomatrixIncorporated, San Francisco, CaliJ:,USA

ABSTRACT: The evaluation of hazards associated with liquefaction of silty and other fine-grained soils is an
important consideration for many engineering projects. Over the past few years important progress has been
made on this issue. The objective of this paper is to review and evaluate standard practice and recent
developments relative to liquefaction resistance and ground deformation potential for silty and fine-grained soils.
Findings from the study are as follows: (1) The SPT and CPT criteria presented in this report predict the
occurrence and nonoccurrence of liquefaction with high reliability. (2) The Chinese criteria as listed in Table
1 are reliable for predicting liquefaction of fine grained sediments and are generally conservative. (3) Sensitive
soils subject to loss of strength during seismic shaking typically have clay contents and liquid limits that exceed
the Chinese criteria as listed in Table 1. The criteria in Table 3 may be used as screens for sensitive soils. (4)
The post-liquefaction or residual strength of loose silty sediments is commonly less than that of sands.
Moderately dense silts at shallow depths are generally dilative, making them generally more resistant to ground
deformation than cleaner sands.

1 INTRODUCTION investigators projects a line vertically from the

The evaluation of hazards associated with liquefaction
of silty and other fine-grained soils is an important
consideration for many engineering projects. Two
papers submitted to this conference address this issue
(Das and Puri, 1999; Koester, et al., 1999). Over the
past few years important progress has been made on
this issue. The objective of this paper is to review and
evaluate standard practice and recent developments
relative to liquefaction resistance and ground
deformation potential for silty and fine-grained soils.
corrected blow count, (N,)60, plotted on the abscissa to
the appropriate fines content curve, interpolating
where necessary, and then horizontally to the cyclic
stress ratio ordinate. The value on the cyclic stress
ratio ordinate is the cyclic resistance ratio, CRR, s, or
the stress ratio required to cause liquefaction for a
magnitude 7.5 earthquake. The safety factor, FS,
against liquefaction is defined as the ratio of CRR, to
the cyclic stress ratio generated by the earthquake
(CSR), multiplied by the appropriate magnitude
scaling factor (MSF) (Youd and Idriss, 1997).

2 STANDARD PENETRATION TEST (SPT)
The simplified procedure, as developed by Seed and
Idriss (1971, 1982) and modified by Seed and his
colleagues over the years, incorporates empirical
curves to account for the influence of fines content on
liquefaction resistance. Curves for 5, 15 and 35
percent fines, as published by Seed et al. (1985), are
plotted on Figure 1. The procedure for evaluating
liquefaction resistance suggested by these
FS = (CRR,,, /CSR)MSF
This widely used procedure was reevaluated at a 1996
workshop sponsored by the National Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) where 20
experts from the US, Canada, and Japan updated the
state of the art for liquefaction resistance assessment
(Youd and Idriss, 1997). One consensus was that the
simplified base curve (curve for <5 percent fines) is
approximated by the following equation:

1013
 FC is the fines content measured from laboratory
gradation tests on retrieved soil samples. Back
calculation of CRR curves as a function of fines
content and (N& for magnitude 7.5 earthquakes from
these equations yields a 35 percent fines curve that
closely matches the original 35 percent curve. Curves
for fines contents between 5 and 35 percent, however,
lie to the right of the corresponding curves on the
original plot. The new curve for 15 percent is noted
on Figure 1. The NCEER workshop participants
recommend that the adjusted fines content curves,
although more conservative, should be used in routine
engineering practice. A primary advantage of the new
curves is that they can be easily programmed into a
spread sheet or other computational aids for ease of
application.

The SPT criteria have been validated by field

experience for sandy and silty soils.

Table 1 Criteria for liquefaction of fine-grained soils

Figure 1. Simplified base curve for calculation of
(modified from Seed and Idriss. 1982)
CRR,, from SPT data (modified from Seed et al.,
1985, and Youd and Idriss, 1987). Criteria for liquefaction of fine grained soils (all
three criteria must be met for a soil to be liquefiable)

+ Clay fraction (percent finer than 0.005 m m ) < 15%

a + cx + e x 2 + gx3 + Liquid limit (LL) < 35%
CRR,,, = (2)
1 + bx + d x 2 + f i 3 + h x 4

where CRR,, is the cyclic resistance ratio for

magnitude 7.5 earthquakes, x = (N1)60cs, a = 0.048,
b = -0.1248, c = -0.00472 1, d = 0.009578,
e = 0.0006136, f = -0.0003285, g = -1.673E-05, and
h = 3.714E-06. This equation is valid for (N,)60less
than 30. Soils with (N1)60cs greater than 30 are too
dense or cemented to be liquefiable. (N1)60cs is
determined from the following equations.
where a and p are coefficients determined as follows:
3 CHINESE CRITERIA
Field and laboratory experience show that plastic or
clay-rich soils are generally immune to liquefaction,
although under certain conditions they may be
sensitive. Seed and Idriss (1982) formulated criteria
defining limits of liquefiable fine grained soils using
data reported by Chinese investigators following the
1976 Tangshan earthquake. These criteria, commonly
termed the “Chinese criteria,’’ are summarized in
Table 1:

These criteria have been used routinely in practice

M.=O FC<5 (44 since their introduction in 1982. We tested the
M. = expE1.76 - (190/FC’)] 5 I FC I 35 (4b) Chinese criteria against clay content, liquid limit, and
M. = 5.0 FCB3.5 (4c) moisture content data reported from 19 US sites
where liquefaction was or was not observed following
p=1 FC I 5 (54 strong earthquakes (Gilstrap and Youd, 1998). Only
p = [0.99 + (FC’.5/1000)] 5 I FC I 35 (5b) data from layers with low penetration, indicative of
p = 1.2 FC>35 (5c) possible low liquefaction resistance, were used in
these evaluations. The data listed in Table 2 shows

1014
numbers of soil samples from layers that did or did Table 2. Summary of clay content data from
not liquefy as a function of measured clay content liquefaction case history sites (modified from Gilstrap
(percent finer than five microns). Out of the 186
reported values, all but two clay contents were in
agreement with the 15 percent clay content criterion.
The Kornbloom Road Site, Imperial Valley,
California, provided a diagnostic evaluation of the 1iquefied not liquefy
criterion. At that site, silt boils erupted from silt
deposits with clay contents less than 15 percent (13
soil samples), but did not erupt from parallel silt 1 5-10
deposits with measured clay contents between 15 and
23 percent (4 soil samples). Thus the 15-percent clay-
content criterion proved correct for this site, and a
generally reliable indicator based on data from all 19
sites.

The liquid limit criterion was evaluated from

Atterberg limit data reported from 41 samples taken
from the 19 sites evaluated. All samples with liquid
limits greater than 35 percent were from layers that
did not liquefy. All of these samples also had clay
contents greater than 15 percent, however. Thus the
liquid limit criterion of 35 listed in Table I was
confirmed by these data, but not independently of the
clay content criterion. These findings indicate that a
liquid limit of 35 percent is conservative and possibly
could be lowered to 30 percent. Comparisons
between the Casagrande liquid limit procedures,
commonly used in the US, and the fall-cone tests,
commonly used in China, indicate conclude that US
liquid limits are consistently about two percentage
points less than Chinese liquid limits (Koester et al.,
1999) . Thus the 35 percent criterion in Table 1
appears conservative and could possibly be replaced
with a liquid limit of 30 percent.
The converse of the above relationship is not true; that
is, plastic silts with clay contents less than 15 percent
may have liquid limits greater than 35 percent. By the
criterion listed in Table 1, plastic silts with liquid
limits greater than 35 are nonliquefiable. Although
several silts were sampled at the sites we investigated,
no plastic silts were encountered. Data on
liquefaction resistance of plastic silts are also sparse
in published reports. This lack of data indicates that
liquefaction of plastic silts has rarely occurred, and
that the liquid limit criterion of 35 percent is probably
conservative for these soils as well.
The moisture content criterion (MC < 0.9 LL) also
appears to be conservative. For the 19 US sites we
evaluated, liquefactioneffects were not observed from
sediments with a moisture content less than 0.9 times
the liquid limit. None of the reported liquid limits,
however, were less than 29 percent and all were from
sediments with clay contents were greater than 15
percent as noted above. Several samples were
characterized by moisture contents greater than the
liquid limit; these samples, however, were classed as
nonliquefiable by the clay content and liquid limit
criteria.
4 SENSITIVE SOILS
Sensitive soils do not conform to the Chinese Criteria
listed in Table 1 (Mitchell, 1993), including sensitive
soils that have lost strength during earthquakes. For
example, during the 1964 Alaska earthquake (M, =
9.2) five large landslides developed within urban
areas of Anchorage, causing severe damage to
commercial and residential facilities. Although
liquefaction of sand lenses may have had some
influence, the failure zones formed primarily within
sensitive facies of the Bootlegger Cove formation.
Measured sensitivities from the most vulnerable parts
of the Bootlegger Cove formation ranged from 6 to
26, liquid limits ranged from 27% to 39%, moisture
contents ranged from 27% to 37%, and clay contents
(percent finer than 2p) ranged from 18% to 58%.
Nearly all highly sensitive soils classifed as low-
plasticity clay (CL) (Mitchell et al., 1973).
Based on the above data and information from other
sensitive sites, Youd (1 998) suggests the simple
criteria listed in Table 3 for sensitive clays. These

1015
Table 3 Criteria for sensitive clays susceptible to
seismically-induced strength loss
Criteria for Sensitive Clays Susceptible to
Seismically-Induced Strength Loss

Soil types CL or ML
Sensitivity > 4
Liquidity index > 0.6
Moisture content > 0.9 times the liquid limit
Penetration resistance (N,),,, < 5 or qciN< 1 Mpa
In an area where sensitive soil could develop

criteria are consistent with properties of soils that

have lost strength during historic earthquakes.

5 CONE PENETRATION TESTS (CPT)

Although not as commonly used as SPT, the cone FIGURE 2 Curve for calculation of CRR, from CPT
penetration test (CPT) is becoming a major tool in Data (after Robertson and Wride, 1997)
liquefaction resistance evaluations. The superior
capability of the CPT to profile stratigraphic layering
makes the CPT particularly advantageous for site
reconnaissance investigations. Criteria have been
developed for calculating liquefaction resistance
(CRR) directly from CPT data (Robertson and Wride,
1997). These criteria may be applied in practice
provided adequate samples are retrieved, preferably
using SPT procedures, to verify soil types and
liquefaction resistances assigned.

The chart potted in Figure 2 is recommended by the

NCEER workshop for determining liquefaction
resistance for clean sands. That chart shows CSR
plotted against corrected and normalized CPT
resistance, qc]N,from sites where liquefaction effects
were or were not observed after past earthquakes. A
CRR curve separates regions of the plot with data
indicative of liquefaction from regions with data
indicative of nonliquefaction. This chart is valid for
magnitude 7.5 earthquakes and clean, sandy materials.
Dashed curves, showing approximate shear strain
potential, y r , as a function of qclN, are also drawn on
the figure to emphasize the fact that cyclic shear strain
and ground deformation potential at liquefiable sites
decreases as penetration resistance increases.

The CUrve Plotted in Figwe 2 may be approximated by Figure 3. CPT-Based Soil Behavior Type Chart with
the following equations (Robertson and Wide, 1997): added data from sediments at Youd and Gilstrap
(1 998) sites with low penetration resistances
(modified from Robertson, 1990)

1016
where (qclN)csis the equivalent clean-sand cone
penetration resistance normalized to one atmosphere
of pressure (approximately 100 kPa). For (qc&
>160 the soil is too dense to be liquefiable.
Procedures for correcting penetration measurements
in silty sands to clean-sand values are based on
normalized tip resistance, Q, and frictional resistance,
F (Robertson and Wride, 1997). Figure 3 is a plot of
CPT soil types as a function of Q and F. Boundaries
between CPT soil types 2 through 7 were
approximated as concentric circles by Jeffries and
Davies (1993). They defined the radius of such
circles as the soil behavior type index, I,, which can
be calculated from the following equation:

I,= [(3.47 - log Q)? + (1.22 + Log F)']'.' (7)

where

and
Figure 4. Percentages of soil samples that classified as
F = [f,/(q, - o,,)] x 100% (9) clayey by Chinese criteria with F values in the ranges
shown (after Gilstrap and Youd, 1998).
qc and f, are measured tip and friction resistances,
respectively, and Pa is 100 kPa (approximately
atmospheric pressure). The soil-type chart in Figure
Kc = 1.0 I, I 1.64 (1 1)
3 was developed using an exponent, n, of 1.O, which
is the appropriate value for clayey type soils. For
K, = -0.403 1: + 5.581 IC3 - 21.63 IC2+ 33.75 I,
clean sands, however, an exponential value of 0.5 is - 17.88
more appropriate, and a value intermediate between
0.5 and 1.0 would be appropriate for silts and silty With appropriate values for I, and K,, Equation 4.19
sands. is used to calculate (qc,Jcs and that value then
substituted into Equation 6 to calculate CRR,,. To
To correct the normalized penetration resistance, qclN, adjust CRR to magnitudes smaller or larger than 7.5,
of silty sands to an equivalent clean sand value, CRR,,, is multiplied by an appropriate magnitude
(9,I N)cs, for use in liquefaction resistance calculations,
scaling factor.
the following relationships are applied:
Gilstrap and Youd (1998) tested the validity of the
(qclN)cs = KcqlcN ('O) Robertson and Wride CPT procedure, as outlined
above against liquefaction behavior using 146 CPT
where K, is a correction factor for grain soundings at 19 sites investigated. These sites were
characteristics. K, is defined by the following
equations (Robertson and Wride, 1997):

1017
selected based on the occurrence of liquefaction in
silty sediments. Based on the occurrence or
nonoccurrence of surface effects of liquefaction,
liquefaction was predicted with 89 percent accuracy
and nonoccurrence of liquefaction was predicted with
an accuracy of 86 percent. Given the variability of
natural sediments, these percentages indicate that the
CPT procedure performs well for silty sediments.
Robertson and Wride (1997) suggest that soils with I,
greater than 2.6 are generally to clay rich or too plastic
to liquefy. To test this limit, we compared calculated
I, values with clay contents and liquid limits from soil
samples taken from bore holes drilled parallel to CPT
soundings at the 19 sites investigated. Comparisons
were not made where soils were highly variable or
thinly layered. Approximately 6,500 data points were
compiled in the data set. For this evaluation, the soil
samples were classified as clayey or non-clayey using
the Chinese criteria listed in Table 1 or from listed
soil classifications of CH, MH, or SC. The percent of
samples listed as clayey as a function of I, are plotted
on Figure 4. For the 19 sites, more than 93 percent of
samples with a calculated I, greater than 2.60 classify
as clayey by the Chinese criteria. Twenty-five percent
to 50 percent Soils with an I, between 2.36 and 2.60
were classified as clayey. Less than 10 percent of
samples characterized by I, less than 2.36 classify as
clayey. These results indicate that I, is a generally
reliable index for identifying clayey soils.
Nevertheless, adequate samples should be taken at
each site evaluated to verify soil types and the
applicability of the I, criterion.
Several sites we investigated contained materials with
very low penetration resistance ((N1)60 less than 5
blows per 300 mm or qlcN less than 1 Mpa). By the
definition of the CPT classification criteria plotted on
Figure 3, all soils with qlcNless than 1 Mpa classify as
clayey. Materials with these low penetration values at
the sites we investigated, however, encompassed a
variety of materials including highly liquefiable,
nonplastic silty sands at the Heber Road site (Imperial
Valley, California), nonliquefiable soft, plastic San
Francisco Bay clays, and highly sensitive Bootlegger
Cove soils beneath the Turnagain Heights landslide
that failed during the 1964 Alaska earthquake. (The
low penetration soils at the Heber Road site are
among those that were classified as clayey by the k =
2.60 criterion, when in fact they were non-clayey.)
Thus the CPT procedure for evaluating liquefaction
resistance of fine grained soils is unreliable for
sediments with qlcNless than 1 MPa. Samples are
1018
required from all such low penetration materials to
determine soil type, liquefiabilty, and sensitivity.
6 DEFORMATION OF FINE GRAINED SOILS
Loose or normally consolidated silts generally have
lower post-liquefaction or residual strength than
coarser grained soils such as sands and sandy silts. For
example several investigators have determined post-
liquefaction shear strengths in terms of S,/a’,, ratios.
From vane shear tests on three tailings dams in Chile,
Castro and Tronscoso (1 989) determined S/a’,, ratios
(constants) of 0.07 to 0.11. Tests on sands and silty
sands by other investigators (Vasquez-Herrera et al.,
1990; Baziiar et al., 1992; Ishihara, 1993; Byrne et al.,
1993) yield S,la’,, ratios ranging from 0.1 to 0.2.
Because of their low residual strengths, saturated
loose silts, as found in tailings dams, loess deposits,
etc., are prone to catastrophic flow failure during
earthquake shaking.
The curves and procedure published by Seed and
Harder (1990) suggest an increase of residual strength
with increasing fines or silt content. This procedure
requires addition of one to five blow counts to the
calculated (N1)60 to account for the influence of fines,
for fines contents ranging from 10 to 75 percent. The
blow count is then used with a chart they prepared to
estimate residual strength. The added blow counts,
however, likely compensate for reduced penetration
resistance rather than increased residual strength.
Alluvial silts generally are laid down in a moderately
dense state and, at shallow depths, are dilative.
Because of the tendency to dilate during shear,
alluvial silts appear to be more resistant to
deformation than cleaner sands. This behavior is
demonstrated in laboratory tests on specimens with
high silt contents. For example, cyclic triaxial tests by
Singh (1 994) show that pore pressures generally build
up slowly in silt specimens and do not reach a the
condition where strains occur with little shear
resistance as typically occurs in sands. Rather, silts
tend to develop cyclic strains at lower levels of pore
pressure than sands, but with much smaller strains at
higher levels of pore pressure. From this behavior,
one would expect that strains or deformations in the
field would be smaller for silty deposits than for sands
which liquefy.
Another evidence of the enhanced resistance of silty
soils to deformation is embodied in the empirical
multiple linear regression (MLR) equations of Bartlett
and Youd (1995). The equation for gently sloping
ground is listed below:
LOG DH = - 15.7870 + 1.1782 M - 0.9275 LOG R
- 0.0133 R + 0.4293 LOG S + 0.3483 LOG TI5
+ 4.5270 LOG (100 - Fl5) - 0.9224 D5015
where DH is predicted lateral displacement, M is
earthquake magnitude, R is map distance from the
energy source to the site, S is ground slope in percent,
TI, is the cumulative thickness, in meters, of
liquefiable sediment with an (N,)60 less than 15, F15
is the average fines content in layer T,,, and D50,, is
the average mean grain size in layer T,,. Bartlett and
Youd derived an equation with similar form for
estimating lateral spread displacement toward a free
face, such as an incised river channel. The point to be
made here is that the coefficient in front of the (100-
FIS)term is relatively large and negative, indicating
that all else being equal, predicted lateral
displacement decreases markedly with increasing
fines content. Thus lateral spread or ground
deformation hazard is usually less at sites underlain
by silty sands than at sites underlain by cleaner sands.
7 CONCLUSIONS
1. The SPT and CPT criteria presented in this report
predict the occurrence and nonoccurrence of
liquefaction with high reliability.
2. The Chinese criteria as listed in Table 1 are reliable
for predicting liquefaction of fine grained sediments
and are generally conservative.
3. Sensitive soils subject to loss of strength during
seismic shaking typically have clay contents and
liquid limits that exceed the Chinese criteria as listed
in Table I . The criteria in Table 3 may be used as
screens for sensitive soils.
4. The post-liquefaction or residual strength of loose
silty sediments is commonly less than that of sands.
Moderately dense silts at shallow depths are generally
dilative, making them more resistant to ground
deformation than cleaner sands.
REFERENCES
Bartlett, S.F. and Youd, T.L., 1995, “Empirical
prediction of liquefaction-induced lateral spread,”
1019
Jour. of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Vol.
121, NO. 4, p. 316-329.
Baziar, M.H., Dobry, R., and Elgamel, A.W.M., 1992,
“Engineering evaluation of permanent ground
deformations due to seismically-induced
liquefaction,” National Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research, Buffalo, New York,
Technical Report NCEER-92-0007.
Byrne, P.M., Imrie, A.S., and Morgernstern, N.R.,
1993, Results and implications of seismic response
studies - Duncan Dam,” Proc., 46‘h Annual
Canadian Geotechnical Conf., Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, p 27 1-281.
Castro, G., and Troncoso, J., 1989, “Effects of 1989
Chilean earthquake on three tailings dams,” Proc.,
51h Chilean Conference on Seismology and
Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile.
Das, B.M. and P u i , V.K., 1999, “Liquefactionof silty
soils,” Proc., 2”d Int. Conf. on Earthquake
Geotechnical Engineering, Balkema Publishers, in
press.
Gilstrap, S.D., and Youd, T.L., 1998, “CPT based
liquefaction resistance analyses evaluated using
case histories,” Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Brigham Young
University, Technical Report CEG-98-01, 304 p.
Ishihara, K., 1993, “Liquefaction and flow failure
during earthquakes,” Geotechnique, V. 43, No. 3,
p. 351-415.
Jefferies, M.G. and Davies, M.P., 1993, “Useof CPTu
to estimate equivalent SPT N60,” ASTM
Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 17, No.4, p.
458-567.
Koester, J., Prerlea, V., and Prakash, S., 1999, “How
liquefiable are cohesive soils?” Proc., 2”dInt. Conf.
on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Balkema
Publishers, in press.
Mitchell, J.K., 1993, Fundamentals of Soil Behavior,
2nd Ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 437 p.
Mitchell, J.K., Houston, W.N., and Yamane, G.,
1973, “Sensitivity and geotechnical properties of
Bootlegger Cove clay,” The Great Alaska Earth-
quake of 1964--Engineering,National Academy of
Sciences, Washington, D.C., p. 157-178.
Robertson, P.K., 1990, “Soil classification using
CPT,” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 27,
NO. 1,p. 151-158.
Robertson, P.K. and Wride, C.E., 1997, “Cyclic
liquefaction and its evaluation based on the SPT
and CPT,” Proc., NCEER Workshop on Evaluation
of Liquefaction Resistance of Soils, National
Center for Earthquake Engineering, Buffalo, NY,
Technical Report NCEER-97-0022, p. 41-88.
Seed, H.B., and Idriss, I.M., 1971, “Simplified
procedure for evaluating soil liquefaction
potential,” Journal of the Soil Mechanics and
Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. 97, No. SM9,
p. 1249-1273.
Seed, H. B. and Idriss, I. M., 1982, Ground Motions
and Soil Liquefaction During Earthquakes,
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute,
Oakland, Calif., 134 p.
Seed, H.B., Tokimatsu, K., Harder, L.F. and Chung,
R.F., 1985, “Influence of SPT procedures in soil
liquefaction resistance evaluations,” Jour. of the
Geotechnical Engineering Div., ASCE, Vol. 11 1,
NO. 12, p. 1425-1445.
Seed, R.B. and Harder, L.F., 1990, “SPT based
analysis of cyclic pore pressure generation and
undrained residual strength,” Proc., H. Bolton Seed
Memorial Symposium, BiTech Publishers, Ltd.,
Vancouver, B.C., Vol2, p. 351-376.
Singh, S., 1994, “Liquefaction characteristics of silts,”
Ground Failures Under Seismic Conditions, ASCE
Geotechnical Publication No. 44, p. 106- 1 16.
Vasquez-Herrera, A., Dobry, R., and Baziar, M.H.,
1990, “Re-evaluation of liquefaction triggering and
flow sliding in the Lower San Fernando Dam
during the 1971 earthquake,” 41h U.S. National
Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, p. 783-792.
Youd, T.L., 1998, Screening Guide for Rapid
Assessment of Liquefaction Hazard at Highway
Bridge Sites, Multidisciplinary Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research Technical
Report MCEER-98-0005, 58 p.
Youd, T.L., and Idriss, I.M., eds, 1997, Proceedings
of the NCEER Workshop on Evaluation of
Liquefaction Resistance of Soils, National Center
for Earthquake Engineering Research Technical
Report NCEER-97-0022,276 p.

1020
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Estimation of minimum undrained shear strength for flow liquefaction using

the CPT
F?K. Robertson
University of Alberta, Edmonton,Alb., Canada

ABSTRACT: Sensitive clays, metastable silts and very loose sands can strain soften following earthquake
loading resulting in possible instability. This instability is often referred to as flow liquefaction. The
minimum undrained shear strength is an important parameter in a stability analysis for soils than can strain
soften during undrained shear. However, the estimation of this minimum undrained shear strength is often
difficult, especially for sandy soils. Research has shown that the undrained shear strength of soils is usually
a function of direction of loading, with compression loading often stronger than simple shear and triaxial
extension. For many conditions in practice simple shear often represents the average direction of loading. A
method is proposed to estimate the minimum undrained shear strength of soils in simple shear using the
CPT.

1 INTRODUCTION the undrained shear strength of interest will be

Sensitive clays, metastable silts and very loose
sands can strain soften following earthquake
loading resulting in possible instability. This
instability is often referred to as flow liquefaction.
Several case histories exist where slopes have failed
and flowed due to the strain softening response of
the soils. In general, flow liquefaction failures are
not common; however, when they occur, they can
take place rapidly with little warning and are often
catastrophic. Hence, design against flow
liquefaction should be carried out cautiously.
If a soil is strain softening in undrained shear,
flow liquefaction is possible if the soil can be
triggered to collapse and if the gravitational shear
stresses are larger than the resulting minimum
undrained shear strength. The trigger can be either
monotonic or cyclic. Whether a slope or soil
structure will fail and slide will depend on the
relative amount of strain softening soil to strain
hardening soil within the structure, the brittleness of
the strain softening soil, the geometry of the ground
and drainage conditions.
The minimum undrained shear strength (Su(min))
is defined as the minimum strength after undrained
strain softening occurs and can be an important
parameter in any stability analysis for soils that can
strain soften during undrained shear. In this study,
referred to as the minimum strength following strain
softening, so as not to confuse the value with the
residual strength of some clays associated with
particle rearrangement following very large strain.
In some clays, the undrained shear strength can drop
to very low values due to slippage between clay
platelets. In this study, the focus is primarily on
sandy and silty soils in which strain softening can
occur due to the loose arrangement of particles
resulting in a structural collapse of the grain
structure and resulting high pore pressures leading to
strain softening and low undrained shear strength.
This response in sandy soils is referred to as flow
liquefaction.
The objective of this paper is to describe a new
screening technique to estimate the minimum
undrained shear strength using the Cone Penetration
Test (CPT). The new technique builds upon existing
CPT methods for clean sands and extends them to
silty sands, silts and some clays.
2 MINIMUM UNDRAINED SHEAR STRENGTH
2.1 Direction of loading
Research has shown that the undrained shear
strength of most soils is a function of direction of
loading (e.g. Bjermm, 1972). In general, the

1021
undrained shear strength in triaxial compression
(s,,Tc) is larger than that in simple shear (suss) which
is larger than that in triaxial extension ( s ~ T E ) ; i.e. S ~ T C
> suss > S ~ T E . The appropriate value of the
undrained shear strength for a given project will be a
function of the geometry and resulting direction of
loading. Case histories indicate that the undrained
shear strength in simple shear loading can often
represent the average undrained shear strength for
most projects (Bjerrum, 1972; Yoshimine et al.,
1998). Hence, the undrained shear strength in
simple shear loading is often the key parameter,
although all projects should be evaluated based on
their actual geometry.
2.2 Stress normalization
For normally consolidated clays, the undrained
shear strength increases approximately linearly with
increasing vertical effective stress and hence, it is
common to define the undrained strength in terms
of an undrained strength ratio, su/~lvo.For normally
consolidated clays, this undrained strength ratio is
approximately constant, depending on soil
plasticity, direction of loading and soil density. For
simple shear loading, the undrained strength ratio
for normally consolidated clay is typically between
su/~lvo = 0.2 and 0.3.
For granular soils, Stark and Mesri (1992)
suggested linking the Standard Penetration Test
(SPT) (N1)60 with the minimum undrained strength
ratio, Su(min)/Olvo.' Yoshimine et al.. (1998) presented
a review of laboratory test results on Toyoura sand
and showed that, for loose Toyoura sand at a
constant relative density over a low stress range
(oov0 < 300 kPa), the minimum undrained strength
ratio in simple shear loading is approximately
constant. Hence, it appears appropriate to link a
measure of relative density in loose sand with a
constant value of undrained strength ratio.
However, this link may not hold for denser sands
and at higher stress levels. Hence, caution should
be used when applying this type of relationship
when granular soils are under a vertical effective
stress greater than about 300 kPa.
2.3 Brittleness
The possibility of instability in undrained shear is
also linked to the brittleness or sensitivity of the
soil. Recent laboratory testing on sands has shown
a link between the brittleness and the minimum
undrained shear strength ratio (Yoshimine et al.
1998). When the minimum undrained strength ratio
decreases below about 0.3 the brittleness increases.
1022
When the undrained strength ratio is less than about
0.1 the brittleness is usually high.
3 EXISTING METHODS FOR ESTIMATING
UNDRAINED SHEAR STRENGTH
There are many methods for estimating the
minimum undrained shear strength of soils from in-
situ tests. The existing methods tend to be limited to
either clay or sand, but are rarely for both soil types.
The following is a brief review of the methods
available.
The field vane test is often used to measure both
the peak and minimum undrained shear strength in
clay soils. Wroth (1984) showed that the field vane
undrained shear strength is close to that in simple
shear. The CPT has been used to estimate the peak
and minimum undrained shear strength of clay soils
through empirical correlations. Typically, the peak
undrained shear strength is estimated using:
where:
qt is the total cone penetration resistance
corrected for unequal end area effects
ov0 is the total overburden stress
Nkt is an empirical cone factor.
Typically the cone factor, Nkt, that links the CPT to
the field vane or simple shear undrained shear
strength is between 10 and 20, with an average of
about 15 (Lunne et al., 1997).
The minimum (residual) undrained shear
strength (Su(min)) in clays is often assumed to be
equal to the CPT sleeve friction, f,, since the clay is
almost fully remolded as it passes the friction sleeve.
Hence, clay sensitivity can be estimated from the
CPT using:
s u ( p e W - (4 t - OVO
Sensitivity, St = --
SU(ni") f s . Nk,
The normalized friction ratio suggested by
Robertson (1990) is defined as:
F=[- fs I x 100in percent (3)
(91 - C"0)
Hence, clay sensitivity can be estimated from the
CPT using:
 100
s, = ___
c (4)
hT
I'. 1 Y kt
With Nkt typically between 10 to 20, this becomes:
s, =-10
F
5
to -
F
In clean sands, the minimum undrained shear
strength is often estimated using empirical
correlations with penetration resistance from the
Standard Penetration Test (SPT). The most
commonly used correlations are those proposed by
Seed and Harder (1990) and Stark and Mesri
(1992). These correlations were based on case
histories where instability occurred and the average
minimum undrained shear strength was back
calculated. A recent re-evaluation of these case
histories (Wride et al., 1998) has questioned the
validity of the proposed correlations, especially for
(NI160 > 10.
Yoshimine et al. (1998) suggested correlations
between the minimum undrained shear strength
values in triaxial compression, simple shear and
triaxial extension and the normalized cone
penetration resistance, qtl, for clean sands. The
normalized cone resistance was defined as:
where:
Pal is atmospheric pressure in the same units
as qt
Pa2 is atmospheric pressure in the same units
as the vertical effective stress, dv0
n is a stress exponent, typically equal to 0.5
for clean sands.
The correlations were initially based on high quality
laboratory results on both reconstituted and
undisturbed samples. However, the correlations
were evaluated using three case histories of flow
liquefaction failures in essentially clean sands
where CPT data were available. Yoshimine et al.
(1998) found that the case histories agreed well with
the laboratory data in simple shear, as shown in
Figure 1. The data from Yoshimine et al. (1998)
suggests that the critical normalized cone resistance
in clean sand above which strain softening in simple
shear is unlikely is about 60. The data used to
compile Figure 1 were based primarily on sub-
rounded to sub-angular quartz sands for which the
vertical effective stress was less than about 300 kPa.
Ishihara (1993) proposed a similar relationship
1023
between normalized CPT and minimum undrained
shear strength based on other case histories in sands.
4 PROPOSED CPT SCREENING METHOD
A new method to estimate the minimum undrained
shear strength will be described that builds upon
existing methods. If a CPT based method is to be
applied over a wide range of soil types, the data
must be normalized to correct for effective
overburden stress in such a way to fit most soils. In
the following sections, first a new method of stress
normalization is proposed and then the new
CPT-based method of estimating minimum
undrained shear strength is described.
4.1 Stress normalization of CPT data
There has been much discussion in the literature
about the correct normalization of CPT penetration
resistance. Wroth (1984) suggested a linear
normalization for the interpretation of undrained
shear strength in clays, as follows:
(7)
Extensive field experience and theoretical work
(Lunne et al., 1997) has shown that this
normalization works very well in clay soils to link
cone resistance to undrained shear strength ratio,
su/ cfv0 (see Equation 1).
Baldi et al. (1982), suggested a non-linear
normalization to link relative density to CPT
penetration resistance using the normalized
resistance given in Equation (6) using a stress
exponent n = 0.5. In most cases, the cone resistance,
qt, is much larger than the total overburden stress,
ovo,and hence, (qt - ova) is approximately equal to
qt. However, to be consistent, it is recommended to
use the following general relationship:
Where n = stress exponent
Pal is a reference pressure in the same units
as qt and ov0
Pa2 is a reference pressure in the same units
as dv0
As stated above, Wroth (1984) showed that a linear
normalization (n = 1.0) should be used for clays.
The linear normalization for clays is effective
because clays typically have a steep critical state
line in void ratio - log mean normal effective stress
space (e - log p'), where the slope of the critical
state line (h) is often around 0.4. For sands, the
critical (steady) state line is typically flatter in e -
log p' space with a slope (h)often around 0.04 or
less. For clean rounded quartz sands, the critical
(steady) state line can become almost flat in e-log p'
space over the low stress range (i.e. h close to zero).
Ishihara (1993) showed that the steady state line for
Toyoura sand curves from being essentially flat at
low stresses to very steep at very high stresses.
Hence, at low stresses, the steady state line is
essentially at a constant value of void ratio. At high
stresses, grain crushing occurs and the steady state
line becomes similar to that of some clays.
When the slope of the critical (steady) state line
is flat in e - log p' space, the state line becomes a
constant value of void ratio (e) and, hence, is
analogous to constant relative density. Hence,
when the state line becomes very flat, the stress
normalization should approach that used for relative
density; i.e. n = 0.5. Therefore, a stress exponent of
n = 0.5 should be appropriate for dean quartz sands
in the low stress range (olv0 < 200 kPa). In the high
stress range where the state line becomes very steep
the stress exponent should approach that used for
clay, i.e. n = 1.0.
Recently, Robertson and Wride (1998)
suggested a simple technique to apply a variable
normalization, using a soil behavior index (I,) to
perform variable stress normalization, where:
= k(3.47 - logQ)* + (logF + 1.22)'J
(9)
The CPT soil behaviour type chart by Robertson
(1990), uses a normalized cone penetration
resistance (Q) based on a simple linear stress
exponent of n = 1.0. The procedure using n = 1.0
was recommended by Robertson and Wride (1998)
for soil classification in clay type soils when I, >
2.6. However, in sandy soils when L 5 2.6,
Robertson and Wride (1998) recommended that data
being plotted on the chart be modified by using n =
0.5.
The simplified normalization suggested by
Robertson and Wride (1998) is easy to apply but
produces a somewhat discontinuous variation of the
stress exponent, n. To produce a smoother variation
of the stress exponent the following modified
method is recommended.
Assume an initial stress exponent n = 1.0 and
calculate Q and F and then L. Then:
1024
If I,< 1.64 n = 0.5
If I,> 3.30 n = 1.0
If 1.64 < L < 3.30 n = (L-1.64) 0.3 + 0.5 (10)
Iterate until the change in the stress exponent, An <
0.01. When the in-situ vertical effective stress (o',,)
exceeds 300 kPa assume n = 1.0 for all soils.
In clean sands, the normalized cone resistance,
Q, suggested by Robertson and Wride (1998) is
essentially the same as the normalized cone
resistance, qtl, used by Yoshimine et al. (1997),
since typically qt >> ovain clean sands. A variable
normalization, using a stress exponent (n) as a
function of L,allows a transition from clean sands at
low stresses (n = 0.5) to clays (n = 1.0) using CPT
data.
The method described by Equation 10 is
recommended for stress normalization of CPT
results and is used in developing the new CPT-based
method of estimating minimum undrained shear
strength described in the next section.
4.2 Representative Values
When evaluating the potential for either cyclic or
flow liquefaction, there is little guidance given on
what value of penetration resistance can be taken as
representative of the deposit, In the SPT based
method for cyclic liquefaction suggested by Seed et
al. (1985) and updated by the NCEER Workshop
(1997), generally the average SPT (N1)60 value was
taken from the case histories to develop the method.
Similarly, Seed and Harder (1990) and Stark and
Mesri (1992) generally used average values from
case histories to develop the relationship between
(N1)60 and minimum undrained shear strength. Fear
and McRoberts (1995) argued that the minimum
value of (N1)bO would be more appropriate. In
general, if all values of the measured penetration
resistance are used with a relationship that was
based on average values, the resulting design will
generally be somewhat conservative. A
disadvantage of defining a criteria based on
minimum values is the, uncertainty that the
measured values represent the minimum. In
practice, a lower bound relationship is often applied
to all measured penetration resistance values.
Recently Popescue et al. (1997) suggested that the
20-percentile value would be appropriate as the
representative value for liquefaction. The 20-
percentile value is defined as the value at which 20
percent of the measured values are smaller (i.e. 80
percent are larger). In the authors' opinion, the 20-
percentile value is likely the more representative
value for any given deposit for the evaluation of
liquefaction potential.
4.3 Minimum undrained shear strength: Cohesive
soils
For insensitive normally consolidated clays, the
peak undrained shear strength ratio can be estimated
from the CPT using:
As outlined earlier, for insensitive, normally
consolidated clays, the peak undrained shear
strength ratio in simple shear is between 0.2 to 0.3.
Hence, assuming Nkt between 10 and 20, the
normalized cone penetration resistance, Q, in
normally consolidated insensitive clays is around
2 to 6. Combining an average Su(p&)/dv = 0.25 and
an average Nkt of 15 gives Q = 3.75. The
normalized friction ratio, F, in insensitive normally
consolidated clays is typically between 5 and
10 percent (see Equation 5). As the sensitivity (S,)
of the clay increases, the sleeve friction decreases
and hence, friction ratio decreases. Using the CPT
soil behaviour type chart suggested by Robertson
(1990) and the link between minimum undrained
shear strength and CPT sleeve friction (Equations 2
and 5), it is possible to plot contours of minimum
undrained shear strength ratio in simple shear,
Su(min)ss/dvo , on the soil behaviour chart in Zones 2,
3 and 4, as shown in Figure 2. These contours are
approximate, but provide a guide to a possible
relationship between minimum undrained shear
strength ratio in simple shear and CPT data for
normally consolidated clays. In overconsolidated
clays, the normalized cone resistance and friction
ratio tend to increase with increasing OCR, which
can offset any tendency for friction ratio to decrease
with increasing soil sensitivity.
4.4 Minimum undrained shear strength.
Cohesionless soils
Using the relationship for clean sands suggested by
Yoshimine et al. (1998), it is possible to identify the
approximate location of contours of minimum
undrained shear strength (Su(min)ss/Glvo ) in simple
shear for clean sands (Zone 6) on the CPT soil
behaviour chart, as shown in Figure 2. It is clear
from Figure 2 that any contours of undrained shear
strength ratio should vary from those for the clean
sand to those for clay.
It is also possible to develop complete contours
of minimum undrained shear strength for each
direction of loading based on the results from
Yoshimine et al. (1998). However, in this study, the
1025
focus is on the value of the minimum undrained
shear strength in simple shear. The following
describes how to extend the relationship suggested
by Yoshimine et al. (1998) for clean sands to silty
sands, silts and possibly clays.
Robertson and Wride (1998) suggested a method
for correcting normalized cone resistance to an
equivalent clean sand value, (Q)cs,using a correction
factor &, where & is a function of grain
characteristics estimated using the soil behavior type
index, L.
where
if L 5 1.64 & = 1.0
if L > 1.64 & = -0.403 L4 + 5.581 L3
- 21.63 L2 + 33.75 I, - 17.88
Robertson and Wride (1998) suggested that CPT
data that plot in the region defined by 1.64 < I, <
2.36 and F < 0.5% should be assumed to indicate a
loose clean sand and hence, & should be set equal
to 1.0.
The correction factor, &, is approximate since
the CPT responds to many factors, such as soil
plasticity, fines content, mineralogy, soil sensitivity,
age and stress history. However, in general, these
same factors influence both the resistance to cyclic
loading (Robertson and Wride, 1997) and the
undrained shear strength ratio in a similar manner.
By combining the relationship between
normalized cone resistance and minimum undrained
shear strength in simple shear for clean sands,
suggested by Yoshimine et al. (1998), with the
correction factor, &, it is possible to develop
contours of undrained strength ratio on the CPT soil
behaviour type chart. The resulting contours are
shown in Figure 3. The resulting contours fit the
general location of values for sands and clays
shown in Figure 2.
The resulting contours shown in Figure 3 are
approximate and apply primarily to young,
normally consolidated, uncemented soils. Sandy
soils with angular grains and aged soils would likely
have higher strengths. Soils that have a minimum
undrained shear strength ratio in simple shear of
around 0.30 or higher are generally not brittle.
Soils that have a minimum undrained shear strength
ratio of around 0.10 or less are often highly brittle
(Yoshimine et al. 1998). Hence, the contour of
Su(min)/Gtvo = 0.10 represents the approximate
boundary between soils that can show significant
Figure 1. Minimum undrained shear strength ratio for clean sand as a function of CPT cone resistance
(After Yoshimine et al;. 1998)
strain softening in undrained simple shear and soils
that are general not strain softening.
5 SUMMARY
A proposed screening method has been described to
estimate the minimum undrained shear strength of
soils from the CPT. The minimum undrained shear
strength is defined as the minimum shear strength
following undrained strain softening. Research has
clearly shown that the undrained shear strength of
soils is usually a function of direction of loading,
with undrained shear strengths in compression
loading often being higher than those in simple
shear and triaxial extension. The resulting average
minimum undrained shear strength is therefore a
function of the slope geometry. Although all
projects should be evaluated based on their actual
geometry, often the average undrained shear
strength is close to that in simple shear loading.
The proposed screening technique uses a
variable normalization of CPT data based on soil
type and in-situ vertical effective stress. The
proposed normalization is modified from the
method proposed by Robertson and Wride (1997)
and makes use of a soil behaviour index (IJ. The
proposed screening method builds upon the
1026
technique proposed by Yoshimine et al. (1998) in
which normalized cone resistance was linked to the
minimum undrained shear strength ratio for clean
sands. The relationship proposed by Yoshimine
et al. (1998) was based on laboratory test results on
rounded sands as well as case histories of flow
liquefaction failures in essentially clean sands.
Yoshimine et al., (1998) suggested that the
undrained shear strength in simple shear is often a
reasonable average value for most slope geometries
in sands, which was consistent with the observations
made by Bjerrum (1972) for slopes and
embankments in clays.
By combining the results from Yoshimine et al.
(1998) and the CPT based approach suggested by
Robertson and Wride (1997) contours of minimum
undrained shear strength ratio on the CPT soil
behaviour chart by Robertson ( 1990) were
developed. The resulting contours (shown in Figure
3) are approximate and apply primarily to young,
normally consolidated, uncemented soils.
Sands that have angular grains may have a
minimum undrained strength ratio higher than
predicted using the suggested CPT chart. Aged soils
(age > 1,000 years) may also be somewhat stronger.
For high risk projects, the proposed CPT method
provides a useful screening technique to identify
potentially critical zones. For low risk projects, the
Figure 2. Approximate contours of minimum
unstrained shear strength ratio in
simple shear for clays and sands
shown on the normalized CPT soil
behaviour type chart proposed by
Robertson ( 1990).
proposed CPT method will generally provide a
conservative estimate of the minimum undrained
shear strength ratio in simple shear loading. The
proposed relationship conservatively estimates the
minimum undrained shear strength ratio in simple
shear for a soil structure which contains extensive
amounts of loose soils with impeded drainage, such
as thick deposits of loose interbedded sands and
silts. In soil structures where drainage and
consolidation of the liquefied layer can occur during
and immediately after the earthquake, higher values
of undrained shear strength will likely exist. Such
conditions may exist in a thin deposit with free
drainage to the ground surface or a deposit
interbedded with extensive pervious gravel layers.
1027
Figure 3. Recommended contours for
estimating minimum undrained shear
strength ratio in simple shear using
the CPT.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the
contributions from C. E. Wride.
REFERENCES
Baldi, G., et al. 1982. Design parameters for sands
from CPT. Proceedings 2nd European
Symposium on Penetration Testing. Amsterdam.
2,425-432.
Bjerrum, L., 1972, Embankments on soft ground.
Proceedings of Specialty Conference on
Performance of Earth and Earth-supported
structures, Lafayette, Indiana, 2: 1-54.
fshihara, K., 1993. Liquefaction and flow failure
during earthquakes. 33rd Rankine Lecture,
 Geotechnique, 43(3): 349-415.
Lunne, T., Robertson, P.K. and Powell, J., 1997.
Cone Penetration Testing in Geotechnical
Practice. S & F SPON (Routledge) Publishers.
Popescu, R., Prevost, J.H., and Deodatis, G., 1997.
Effects od spacial variability on soil
liquefaction: some design recommendations.
Geotechnique, 47(5): 1019-1036
Robertson, P.K., 1990. Soil Classification using the
CPT. Canadian Geotechnical Journal.
27( 1),151-158.
Robertson, P.K. and Wride, C.E., 1998. Evaluating
Cyclic Liquefaction potential using the Cone
Penetration Test. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal. 35(3), 442-459
Seed H.B. and Harder, L.F., 1990. SPT-based
analysis of cyclic pore pressure generation and
undrained shear strength. Proceedings of the H.
Bolton Seed Memorial Symposium, Vol. 2, pp.
35 1-376.
Stark, T.D., and Mesri, G.M., 1992. Undrained
shear strength of liquefied sands for stability
analysis. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering.
ASCE, 118 (1 1): 1727-1747
Yoshimine, M., Robertson, P.K., and Wride, C.E.,
1998, Undrained shear strength of clean sands,
Accepted for publication in the Canadian
Geotechnical Journal.
Wroth, C.P., 1984. The interpretation of in-situ tests.
24'h Rankine Lecture, Geotechnique, 34(4), 449-
489
Wride, C.E., McRoberts, E.C. and Robertson, P.K.,
1998. Reconsideration of Case Histories for
Estimating Undrained Shear strength in Sandy
soils. Accepted for publication in the Canadian
Geotechnical Journal.

1028
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineer~ng,S&co e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Constitutive modeling of cyclic mobility and implications for site response

S.L. Kramer & PArduino
University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA

ABSTRACT: Signlficant advances have been made in understanding the response of liquefiable soils to cyclic
loading in recent years. These advances have led to improved techniques for modeling of the mechanics of these
soils. Recent constitutive models allow consideration of phase transformation behavior, an aspect of liquefiable soil
behavior that has been observed in laboratory and, more recently, field records. However, the practical significance
of such phenomena for typical geotechnical earthquake engineering problems has been questioned by a number of
practitioners. T h ~ paper
s presents a brief review of soil liquefaction and constitutive modehg techniques to
investigate the practical significance of phase transformation behavior. Analyses using models that do and do not
represent phase transformation behavior indicate that it’s effect is important, from the standpoint of both site
response and permanent deformations. The response, however. is sensitive to details of model development and
calibration and the reliabihty of a priori predictions has not been estabhhed.

1 INTRODUCTION

Liquefaction is one of the most important and most

difficult problems in contemporary geotechcal
engineering practice. While tremendous advances have
been made in understanding and modeling the
mechanics of soil liquefaction. the most commonly used
procedures for liquefaction hazard evaluation are
empirically based. The extent to which empirical
procedures reflect many aspects of the known
mechanics of liquefiable soil behavior is unknown. As a
result, many practitioners question the need for explicit
consideration of certain aspects of liquefiable soil
behavior. This paper considers one of these aspects -
the phase transformation behavior associated with
cyclic mobility.

2 LIQUEFACTION AND CYCLIC MOBILITY

The basic concepts of soil liquefaction are well

established and understood by most practicing
geotechnical engineers. Undrained cyclic loading in
loose saturated so& produces excess porewater
pressure that reduces effective stresses and,
consequently, the stiffness and strength of the soil.
Laboratory tests have shown that the stress-strain and
stress path behavior of such soils can he complex,
reflecting the complex mechanics of granular media.
Figure I . (a) Stress-strain and (b) stress path behavior of cyclic
simple shear specimen from VELACS project (File css6007.dat
obtained from http://rccg03.usc.ed~L/velac~.
One clement of the mechanics of liquefiable soil
that has reccived increasing attention in recent years is

1029
phase transformation bchavior (Ishhara. 197.5). While
phase transformation behavior has becn observed in the
laboratory lor many years. clear evidence of its
existence in the field has only more recently become
avdable (Elgamal et al., 1998). Phase transformation
involves the passage from contractive to dilative (and
vice versa) states during cyclic loading. At the point of
phase transformation, the incremental volumetric strain
is zero; laboratory testing indicates that this condition
appears to occur at an (approximately) constant stress
ratio somewhat lower than that associated with fahre.
The transition from contractive to dilative behavior
causes the effective stress, and hence the s t f i e s s , of
the soil to increase at higher strain levels under
undrained conditions, a behavior that can be seen in the
final cycles of the cyclic simple shear test shown in
Figure 1.
Prediction of the response of liquefiable sites is
important for evaluation of input motions to structures
founded upon them, estimation of post-earthquake
settlement, and evaluation of permanent deformations.
Such analyses are frequently conducted assuming one-
dimensional wave propagation. Currently, two
approaches to modeling the stress-strain behavior of the
soil are commonly employed - cyclic nonlinear stress-
strain models and constitutive models.
3 CYCLIC NONLINEAR STRESS-STRAJN
MODELS
Cyclic nonlinear stress-strain models employ backbone
curves and unloading-reloading models to represent
nonlinear, inelastic stress-strain behavior. Nonlinear
backbone curves may follow some simple functional
form (e.g. hyperbolic, Ramberg-Osgood, etc.) or may
be more general. Unloading-reloading models typically
involve sets of “rules” that may be relatively simple
(e.g. Cundall-Pyke) or complex (e.g. extended Masing).
Representation of liquefaction behavior with cyclic
nonlinear models also requires a pore pressure model.
By relating pore pressure development to response,
cyclic nonlinear models typically model the softening
effect of liquefaction by degrading the backbone curve
as pore pressures increase.
A number of pore pressure models have been
proposed (e.g. Martin et al., 1975; Nemat-Nasser and
Shokooh, 1979); Finn and Bhatia, 1981). All relate
pore pressure generation to some measure of stress-
strain history, and do so in ways that produce steadily
increasing pore pressures. As a result, the pore
1030
pressures predicted by such models do not decrease
(neglecting dissipation by diffusion) - they remain
constant or increase within each loading cycle and from
one cycle to the next. In cyclic nonlinear stress-strain
models, computed pore pressures are used to degrade,
or soften, backbone curves resulting in a soil stiffness
that steadily decreases with increasing strain. A pore
pressure model based on a modified version of the
energy model of Nemat-Nasser and Shokooh (1979)
has been implemented into a one-dimensional, nonlinear
site response analysis program, WAVE (Home, 1996).
The backbone curve is softened in proportion to the
square root of effective stress, and pore pressure
development is limited to a value that produces a
specified residual strength at large strain levels.
Because phase transformation behavior is not explicitly
modeled, the extremely high pore pressure ratios
representative of initial liquefaction are not reproduced.
4 CONSTITUTIVE MODELS
A number of constitutive models (Prevost, 1985; Iai,
1991; Parra, 1996) are capable of modehg phase
transformation behavior under cyclic loading
conditions. Modeling of phase transformation behavior
requires particular attention to the flow rule. Under
monotonically increasing loading, the flow rule must
constrain incremental volumetric strains to being
contractive below the phase transformation line and
dilative above. At the phase transformation line, the
incremental volumetric strain must vanish, i.e. the phase
transformation line must correspond to a zero volume
change condition. Under undrained conditions, this
constraint ensures that the effective stress path is
vertical at the phase transformation h e . Under cyclic
loading conditions , the incremental volumetric strains
also depend on the direction of the stress increment.
The flow rule must allow the degree of contraction or
dilation to vary with effective confining pressure; above
the phase transformation line, dilative response has also
been observed to be related to some measure of
cumulative plastic deformation.
Such models have been used to explain details
of observed site response in liquefiable s o h . Elgamal
et al. (1996), for example, computed the response of an
array at the Port of Kobe in the 1995 Hyogo Ken
Nambu earthquake. As illustrated in Figure 3, the
model captures the basic phase transformation behavior
observed in the interpreted stress paths and stress-strain
behavior .
 AWV is a double-deck, reinforced concrete structure
that runs along the waterfront of Seattle. Washington.
The area surrounding the current alignment of the
AWV was originally within the waters of Elliot Bay
prior to reclamation by the placement of hydraulic fill in
the early part of this century. At the location of the
subject profile, compacted fill extends to the
groundwater level at a depth of 3 m below which a 6 m
thick layer of loose saturated sand ((N&o = 10) extends
to the top of the underlying glacial till. Thrs profile was
analyzed for two conditions: (1) a level-ground
condition in which shear stresses are zero on planes
parallel to the (horizontal) ground surface, and (2)
sloping ground conditions in which static stresses exist
on planes parallel to the (inclined) ground surface. An
analysis of the Alaskan Way Viaduct profile using the
simplified method indicates that liquefaction at the
bottom of the loose, saturated hydraulic fill should take
place at peak input motion accelerations of
approximately 0.1 lg.

The response of the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Figure 3. Interpreted (from recordings) and computed stress- profile was computed for three input motions - the
strain and stress path behavior at Port Island. 1965 Seattle earthquake motion scaled to peak
accelerations of 0.lg (Motion l), 0.2g (Motion 2), and
A simple constitutive model for one-dimensional 0.3g (Motion 3). The intermediate of these is shown in
site response analysis has been developed at the Figure 4. It should be noted that the strongest part of
University of Washington (Arduino et al., 1999). The the motion is between approximately 5 and 12 sec.
model represents the known nonlinear behavior of
liqueiiable sands, and the co ntr active/dilative response
associated with cyclic mobdity. This constitutive model
has also been implemented into the site response
program, WAVE.

5 EFFECTS OF MODELING ON SITE RESPONSE

To investigate the significance of phase transformation

behavior on site response, a series of one-dimensional
site response analyses were performed using the
energy-based model and the new constitutive model in
WAVE. The energy-based model predicts nonlinear,
inelastic behavior with softening due to monotonically Figure 4. 1965 Seattle earthquake input motion (scaled to amax=
increasing pore pressures; it is not capable of modeling 0.2g (a) time history of acceleration, and (b) Husid plot.
phase transformation behavior and it will not allow
effective stresses to drop to zero. The new constitutive Energy Model
model also predicts nonlmear, inelastic behavior but
does so with a model that accounts for phase Nemat-Nasser and Shokooh (1979) showed that pore
transformation behavior. AU other aspects of the pressure generation could be related to dissipated
analyses were identical. energy. By m o d w g the Nemat-Nasser and Shokooh
equations so that a limiting porewater pressure is
A soil profde taken from the alignment of the
Alaskan Way Viaduct (AWV) was analyzed. The

1031
approached asymptotically (instead of abruptly). the
incremental porewater pressure can be expressed as

where crvo is the initial vertical effective stress, ru is the

porewater pressure ratio, ru,l is the limiting porewater
pressure ratio, e, is the initial void ratio, emin is the
minimum void ratio, and a, b, c, and v are empirical
constants. The constants were selected to approximate
anticipated rates of porewater pressure generation for Figure 6. Computed suess-main response to Motion 2 at bottom
the saturated hydraulic fill and an estimated mininium of liquefiable layer (gm depth) using energy model.
residual strength of 4 kPa.

The generation of excess pore pressure

predicted by the energy model is shown for all three
input motions in Figure 5. As would be expected, pore
pressures are generated quickly in the loose, saturated
sand, particularly with the stronger input motions. The
excess pore pressures reach their maximum values after
approximately 9 sec or more, so the profde is subjected
to relatively strong shalung before effective stress
values drop to low levels. As illustrated in Figure 6,
nonhear response with backbone curve degradation
does take place but, due to the inability of the energy
model to reach very low effective stresses, is not
pronounced. As a result, the computed spectra (Figure Figure 7. Computed ground surface response spectra using
7) show signficant, though de-amplified with increasing energy model.
input motion amplitude, motions at the ground surface.
accumulate permanent strain in a preferential direction.
In the field, t h behavior leads to lateral spreading.
The effects of initial shear stress were simulated in
WAVE by “tilting” the soil profde to simulate gentle
inhite slopes. The computed permanent displacements
(obtained by subtracting the computed displacements
for the level ground case) are shown in Figure 8. These
displacements increase with increasing ground slope; at
higher ground slopes, substantial displacements are
computed after the strongest part of the input motion
(i.e. after about 12-15 sec) when the effective stress is
low.

Constitutive Model

Figure 5. Time histories of computed porewater pressure at
bottom of‘liquefiable layer (9m depth) using energy model.
When subjected to a sustained static shear
stress, elements of soil undergoing cyclic mobGty
The constitutive model implemented into WAVE allows
representation of nonhear response consistent with a
predetermined modulus reduction curve, and was
cahbrated to produce behavior consistent with that
observed for typical sands in the field. Using the

1032
Figure 8. Computed displacements for ground surface slopes of
l",3 O , and 5 O using energy model.
Figure 9. Time histories of computed porewater pressure at
bottom of liquefiable layer (9m depth) using constitutive model.
Figure 10. Computed stress-strain response to Motion 2 at bottom
of liquefiable layer (9m depth) using constitutive model.
properties associated with = 10 for the loose,
saturated sand (at depths of 3-9 m), initial liquefaction
was achieved for Motion 1. To achieve consistency
with the results of the simplified analysis and to enable
1033
Figure 11. Computed ground surface response spectra using
constitutive model.
better comparisons with the energy model, properties
consistent with (N1)60= 13 were used for the analyses
with the constitutive model.
The generation of excess pore pressure
predicted by the constitutive model is shown in Figure
9. The pore pressure response for Motion 1, in which
initial liquefaction was not quite reached, was s m d a r to
that predicted by the energy model. Initial liquefaction
was induced very quickly by the stronger input motions,
however, producing phase transformation behavior with
dilation-induced stlffening as shown in Figure 10.
~i~~~~ 10 also shows the low stfiess that
develops at low strain levels during cyclic mob&ty;
these low stiffnesses tend to "isolate" the overlying soil
from strong shakmg. Thls effect is mamfested in the
ground surface response spectra of Figure 11, in which
the computed surface motions for the cases in which
initial liquefaction developed were relatively low.
The inclusion of initial shear stresses with the
constitutive model produced results that appear
reasonable up to the point of initial liquefaction, but
inconsistent thereafter (Figure 12). Because the
occurrence of initial liquefaction produces conditions of
near-zero stiffness during the strongest part of the input
motion, the resulting displacements are sensitive to the
nature of the motions at and after the time of initial
liquefaction.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The effects of phase transformation behavior, in whch
effective stresses quickly approach zero and then
exhbit alternating periods of softening and staening,
have a strong influence on site response and on
 Iai, S. (1991). “A strain space multiple mechanism
model for cyclic behavior of sand and its application,”
Earthquake Engineering Research Note No. 43, Port
and Harbour Research Institute, Ministry of Transport,
Japan.

Ishihara, K. (1985). “Stabhty of natural deposits during

earthquakes, ” Proc., I I I h Int. Conf Soil Mech. Found.
Eng., 1, 321-376.

Martin, G.R., Finn, W.D.L., and Seed, H.B. (1975).

“Fundamentals of liquefaction under cyclic loading, ” J.
Geot. Eng. Div., lol(GT5), 423-438.

Nemat-Nasser, S. and Shokooh, A. (1979). ”A urdied

Figure 12. Computed displacements for ground surface slopes of
l”,3 O , and 5 using constitutive model.
permanent deformations. The development of new
constitutive models capable of representing phase
transformation behavior is leading to improved
understanding of the behavior of liquefiable soils.
These models also Illustrate, however, the significant
sensitivity of computed response to detalls of soil
behavior that may be dfiicult, if not impossible, to
characterize in practice. Further research on
characterization of liquefiable soil behavior and
evaluation of the reliabhty of computed response is
warranted.
approach to denslfication and liquefaction of
cohesionless sand in cyclic shearing,” Can. Geot. J.,
16(4), 649-678.
Parra, E. (1996). “Numerical modeling of liquefaction
and lateral ground deformation including cyclic mobllity
and dilation response in soil systems, ” Ph.D. Thesis,
Department of Civil Engineering, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York.
Prevost, J.H. (1985). ”A simple plasticity theory for
frictional cohesionless soils,” Soil Dyn. Eq. Eng.,
4( 1),9- 17.

REFERENCES

Arduino, P., Kramer, S.L., Baska, D.A., and Li, P.

(1999). “A practical constitutive model for one-
dimensional analysis of liquefiable soils,” in preparation.

Elgamal, A.W., Zeghal, M., and Parra, E. (1996).

”Liquefaction of reclaimed island in Kobe, Japan,” J.
Geot. Eng., ASCE, 122( I), 39-49.

Elgamal, A.-W., Dobry, R., Parra, E., and Yang, Z.

(1998). “Soil dilation and shear deformations during
liquefaction,” Proceedings, 4’hZnt. C o n . on Case Hist.
In Geot. Eng., St. Louis, Missouri.

Finn, W.D.L. and Bhatia, S. (1981). “Prediction of

seismic pore-water pressures,” Proc., Int. Con5 on
Soil Mech. and Found. Eng., Rotterdam, The
Netherlands, (3), pp. 201-206.

Home, J.C. ( 1999). “Effects of liquefaction-induced

lateral spreading on pile foundations,” Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle, 37 1 pp.

1034
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Soil liquefaction in Peru

J. E. Alva-Hurtado
CISMID, National Universityof Engineering, Lima, Peru

ABSTRACT: A brief review of soil liquefaction and maximum seismic intensities that occurred in Peru
since the XVI th century is presented. Two cases of recent earthquakes that induced soil liquefaction will be
described: the May 3 1, 1970 Chimbote event on the peruvian coast and the May 29, 1990 and April 4, 1991
earthquakes in the northern peruvian jungle.

INTRODUCTION of damage irrespective of the cause: ground shalung,

The main purpose of this paper is to present the
information available on the occurrence of soil
liquefaction in Peru, a southamerican country
located on the pacific coast, one of the most active
seismic regions in the world. Seismic activity in this
region is mainly caused by the subduction of the
Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, but
there is also contineqtal fault activity.
Several researchers have compiled hstorical
information about the most important seismic events
that occurred in Peru from the XVI th century to the
present time (Silgado, 1978). In tlus presentation
two cases of relatively recent earthquakes that
induced soil liquefaction will be presented: the May
3 1, 1970 Chimbote event, on the peruvian coast and
the May 29, 1990 and April 4, 1991 earthquakes in
the Alto Mayo region in the Peruvian Orient.
OBSERVED SEISMIC INTENSITIES AND
SOIL LIQUEFACTION
A map of maximum seismic intensities observed
(MM) in Peru was presented by Alva Hurtado et a1
(1984). The map was based upon thirty isoseismal
maps of recent earthquakes and point intensities of
historical earthquakes. The map represents the level
liquefaction, landslides triggered by earthquakes or
others. This map was prepared as part of a regional
project supported by CERESIS. (Regional Center for
Seismology in South America).
The map indicates high seismic activity on the
peruvian coast due to the subduction of the Nazca
plate underneath the South American Plate;
moderate seismic activity can be noted in the
Subandean Zone located in the northeastern jungle,
east of the Andes mountain. Intensities up to X were
observed on the coast of Peru in large zones whereas
in the subandean zone the attenuation is higher with
high intensities were noted in specific sites. Figure
No1 presents the Distribution of Maximum Seismic
Intensities Observed in Peru.
A review of historical information of soil
liquefaction in Peru was undertaken by Alva
Hurtado (1983). Evidence of liquefaction such as
developing mud and sand boils, violent expulsion of
water from the ground, presence of intense craking
and differential subsidence due to seismic events
was taken into consideration. A map of Peru
showing differences between real and probable
liquefaction areas found in the literature was
compiled and is presented in Figure No 2.
Twenty seven cases of soil liquefaction in Peru
were determined. The phenomena occurred on the
coast, the hlghlands and the northen jungle. On the

1035
FIGURE N"1 DlSTFUBUTlON OF MAXIMUM SEISMICINTENSlTlES OBSERVED IN PERU

1036
FIGURE No2 SOIL LIQUEFACTION AREAS IN PERU

1037
coast soil liquefaction is more generalized because
of hugher seismicity and the existance of more
population in this part of Peru. There is a
correspondance between higher intensities and soil
liquefaction occurrance in Peru. Examples of
earthquakes that produced soil liquefaction in the
desertic coast and the jungle and their effects will be
described in this paper.
SOIL LIQUEFACTION CAUSED BY 1970
EARTHQUAKE
One of the best documented cases of soil
liquefaction in Peru is the one relevant to the May
3 1, 1970 earthquake in Chimbote. The city is located
about 400 kilometers north of Lima, the capital of
Peru. On May 3 1, 1970 an earthquake of magnitude
Ms=7.8 and focal depth of 45 kilometers occurred
50 km offshore west of Chimbote. A strong motion
record of the earthquake was obtained in Lima, with
a maximum horizontal acceleration of 0.11 g. No
record was obtained at Chimbote. Maximum
intensity of IX in the Modified Mercalli Scale was
observed. A brief summary of liquefaction effects in
Chimbote during the May 31, 1970 earthquake is
presented.
Ericksen et a1 (1970) and Plafker et a1 (1971)
indicated that in Casma, Puerto Casma and near the
coast of Chimbote, lateral spreading of the ground
caused by liquefaction of deltaic and beach deposits
was produced. Cracks that affected structures were
observed on the ground. Chimbote’s central zone
(Casco Urbano) was evidently an area of soil
liquefaction and of differential compaction. In
Chimbote, Casma and along the Panamerican
Highway ground subsidence due to liquefaction, was
noticed on the surface.
Cluff (1971) reported ground failure in Chimbote
because of saturated and loose beach deposits. Sand
volcanoes and water ejection were observed in
several areas where the water level was near the
surface. Berg and Husid (1973) verified the
occurrence of soil liquefaction in the foundation of
the Mundo Mejor school in Chimbote.
Carrillo (1970) reported settlement of accesses to
almost all of the bridges in the Panamerican
Highway and subsidence of the Chimbote Port
Terminal. He also presented evidence of saturated
sand liquefaction at Elias Aguirre street in Chimbote.
1038
Morimoto et a1 (1971) described soil liquefaction in
Chimbote and presented a distribution map of
ground cracks and sand volcanoes (Figure No 3). In
the backswamps and lowlands in alluvial deposit,
general liquefaction was developed with cracks due
to differential compaction of soil deposits. In
alluvial deposits, subsurface liquefaction developed,
generating cracks with sand volcanoes and damage
to wells.
Alva-Hurtado and Parra (1997) presented an
assessment of soil liquefaction potential for the city
of Chimbote, based on a comprehensive soil
exploration program and the evaluation method of
TC-4. A good comparison of liquefaction potentid
sites with the soil effects produced by the 1970
earthquake was obtained.
GROUND EFFECTS CAUSED BY 1990 AND
1991 EARTHQUAKES
On May 29, 1990 and April 4, 1991, two moderate
earthquakes occurred in the northeastern region of
Peru. Despite their relatively low magnitudes, the
severity of the damage was high because of the
existing type of construction and soil conditions in
the populated areas. The region is located in North
Eastern Peru, with hgh precipitation and
temperature. Sedimentary rocks fiom the Jurassic to
Cretaceous Periods are found in the nearby
mountains and Quaternary materials in the Alto
Mayo river valley. Quaternary deposits are
composed of alluvial, colluvial, fluvial and residual
soils. Moyobamba and Rioja are the most important
cities in the area. The region is crossed by the Mayo
river, whose banks are composed of liquefiable sand
deposits. The following earthquake ground effects
have been reported: soil liquefaction, instability and
soil erosion in the slopes, differential settlements,
soil amplification and landslides within the
epicentral area. The soil liquefaction effects in
Moyobamba city are described. (Alva-Hurtado et al,
1992).
The type of faulting in the area corresponds to folds
and high angle thrust faults that form imbricated
systems. These faults have less dip with depth;
producing a thrust and fold belt structure. Several of
these faults have visible traces and evidence of
recent activity. Valley scarps can be seen to the west
of the Alto Mayo, as well as longitudinal valleys and
 FIGURE No4 GROUND EFFECTS IN MOYOBAMBA CITY BY MAY 29,1990
AND APRIL 4,1991 EARTHQUAKES

displaced morphological units, typical of active
transcurrent faults. Also, to the north and south of
Moyobamba, rectilinear scarps can be seen that
could correspond to active normal faults (Martinez
and Machare, 1991).
The city of Moyobamba was originally built on a
stable plateau constituted by residual soils. The
slopes around the city have erosion problems. The
lowlands in Moyobamba, such as Tahuishco,
Shango and h g u e have soft quaternary soils. The

1040
geotechnical types of damage are briefly reported,
such as: ground cracking, soil liquefaction, soil
amplification and landslides.
Ground Cracking.- Tension cracks were observed
in 1) the crest of the slopes of the Moyobamba
plateau, associated with soil liquefaction and lateral
spreading, 2) the highways, as tension zones that
could developed future landslides and slumps, 3) the
soft soils in the Mayo river banks.
Soil Liquefaction.- Soil liquefaction occurred in
Port of Tahuishco in Moyobamba. Lateral spreading
developed in the school of Tahuishco in 1991 with
cracks 10 cm wide and 50 cm deep. One classroom
floor was destroyed. In 1990 the phenomenom did
not reach the school building, but did occur in the
school yard; sand volcanoes also appeared in the
school yard. During both earthquakes, segments of
the highway between Moyobamba and Tahuishco
were damaged.
In Azunge, located in the lowlands of Moyobamba,
ground cracks and lateral spreading developed.
Cracks 100 m long and 40 cm wide with depths of 1
m were reported. Most of the houses on the slope
collapsed. The sewage pumping station and sewage
disposal pipes failed. All tapial houses and some
masonry houses on soft ground collapsed. In
Shango, tapial houses collapsed. Cracks 80 m long
and 20 cm scarps were observed. On Miraflores
street, the cracks were 30 m long and 30 cm deep.
During the 1990 earthquake soil liquefaction was
reported in El Chorro and Molino Valencia in Rioja,
also in Segunda Jerusalen-Azunguillo, Negro river
and La Conquista.
Figure No 4 presents the earthquake ground effects
in the city of Moyobamba. The subsoil in the lower
parts of the city, such as Tahuishco, Azungue and
Shango consists of fine sands and silty sands with
low relative densities and high water level. The soil
in the slopes is constituted mainly by clayey and
silty sands with medium densities and relatively low
water table, whereas the ground in the elevated part
of the city (plateau) consists of clays and clayey
sands of medium to low bearing capacities and deep
water table. Seismic intensities in the lower part
where two degrees higher than in the elevated part of
the city of Moyobamba.
1041
CONCLUSIONS
There is hlgh seismic activity on the Peruvian coast
due to the subduction of the Nazca plate underneath
the South American plate and moderate seismic
activity in the subandean zone located east of the
Andes mountain.
Soil liquefaction has occurred on the coast,
highlands and subandean zone in Peru. Most cases
were registered on the coast because of higher
seismicity and more population.
There is a correspondance between hgh intensities
areas in Peru and soil liquefaction ocurrence. Two
cases were presented one on the coast and the other
in the north east of Peru.
REFERENCES
Alva-Hurtado J.E. (1983), “Brief History of Soil
Liquefaction in Peru”, IV Nacional Conference on
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Lima,
Peru. (Spanish).
Alva-Hurtado J.E., Meneses J.F. and Guzman V.
(1984). “Distribution of Maximum Seismic
Intensities Observed in Peru”, V National
Conference on Civil Engineering, Tacna, Peru.
(Spanish).
Alva-Hurtado J.E., Meneses J.F., Chang L., Lara
J.L. and Nishimura T. (1992), “Ground Effects
Caused by the Alto Mayo Earthquakes in Peru”,
Tenth World Conference in Earthquake Engineering,
Madnd, Balkema, pp. 141-145.
Alva-Hurtado J.E. and Parra D. (1997),
“Liquefaction Potential Map for Chimbote, Peru”,
Seismic Behavior of Ground and Geotechnical
Structures, Sec0 e Pinto (ed), Balkema, pp 25-31.
Berg G.V. and Husid R. (1973), “Structural
Behavior in the 1970 - Peru Earthquake”, 5~ World
Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Rome, Italy.
Carrillo Gil A. (1970), “Some Estimations of Soil
Behavior during Ancash Earthquake”, II National
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering, Lima-Peru. (Spanish).
Cluff L.S. (1971), “Peni Earthquake of May 31,
1970; Engineering Geology Observations”, Bulletin
of the Seismological Society of America, Vol61, No
3, pp. 5 11-534.

Ericksen G.E., Plafker G. and Fernandez-Concha J.

(1970), “Preliminary Report on the Geological
Events Associated with the May 31, 1970 Peru
Earthquake”, U. S. Geologcal Survey Circular 639.

Martinez J.M. and Machare J. (1991). “The Alto

Mayo, Peru Earthquake of April 5, 1991”. Technical
Report for CERESIS-UNESCO, Lima, Peru.
(Spanish).

Morimoto R., Koizumi Y., Matsuda T., Hakuno M.

and Yamaguchi I. (1971), “Seismic Microzoning of
Chimbote Area, Peru”, Overseas Technical
Cooperation Agency, Government of Japan, March.

Plafker G., Ericksen G.E. and Fernhndez-Concha J.

(1971), “Geological Aspects of the May 31, 1970,
Peru Earthquake”, Bulletin of the Seismological
Society of America, Vol61, No 33, pp. 543-578.

Silgado E. (1978), “History of the Most Important

Earthquakes that Occurred in Peru ( 15 13-1974)”,
Institute of Geology and Mining, Journal No 3,
Series C, Lima, Peru. (Spanish).

1042
Slopes and embankments
- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 7 16 3

Effect of subsurface liquefaction on stability of embankment resting upon

surface
1.Towhata & T. Mizutani
University of Tokyo,Japan

ABSTRACT: The present paper is concerned with liquefaction-induced subsidence of embankment. Shaking-
table model tests demonstrated that an embedded sheet pile wall is able to mitigate the subsidence. Another
series of tests showed that liquefied sand behaves similar to viscous liquid. Finally, an analytical method of
prediction of ground deformation was developed which can deal with failure of an embankment during
earthquakes and subsoil liquefaction

1 INTRODUCTION which tends to increase in the recent times, is safely

Review of damages of structures caused by past
earthquakes demonstrates significant differences due
to type of composing materials. Those structures
made of concrete and steel such as bridges and
buildings are able to resist strong motion. The higher
strength of the composing materials helps improve
the structural resistance so that design seismic force,
resisted. On the other hand, the extent of damage, if
it should occur, is so substantial that restoration
takes months and even more than one year. In
contrast, earth structures such as road embankments
and river dikes have limited resistance against
earthquakes inainly due to the low material strength
of composing soil. Fig.1 illustrates an example of
eartliquake-induced damage of river dike during the
1993 Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake. Although
the body of the dike appears to have had sufficient
resistance against the seismic inertia force. this
damage still occurred because the subsoil
liquefaction induced the overall subsidence of this
dike. Earth structures cannot survive failure and loss
of bearing capacity in its foundation. F i g 2 similarly
Fig.3 Tentatively repaired road embankment after
1993 Noto-Hanto-Oki earthquake.

illustrates a failure of a road embankment which was

placed on peaty subsoil. This subsoil induced large
deformation of the overlying embankment during
the 1994 Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake.
The high vulnerability of earth structures to
earthquake effects does not necessarily prevent their
use in seismically active areas. It is important that
restoration of embankment is much easier that steel
and concrete structures. For example, a tentative
restoration takes only days or weeks. Fig.3 shows a
road embankment which was restored within 24
hours after its failure. It has been, therefore, allowed
in practice that design of river dikes does not take
into account seismic effects. What has been more
important is that seismic damage of dike, if any,
should be restored quickly within, for example, two Fig.4 Empirical relationship between earthquake-
weeks before any flooding ceines. induced subsidence and original height of river
One of the lessons learned from the 1995 Kobe dikes.
earthquake is that seismic design of river dike is
necessarily near the river mouth where the protected
ground elevation is lower than the level of the high in the past one century. Fig.4 shows that the
water tide. If the ground surface is thus low, a total maximum possible subsidence does not exceed 75%
failure of a dike directly leads to flooding at the time of the original height. It appears, therefore, that no
of high tide which occurs two times a day. The idea counter measure is needed in a dike if the remaining
of restoration within two weeks does not work 25% of the original height is still high enough to
properly in this situation. On the other hand, it is not prevent flooding.
necessary at all to have dikes completely resistant
against earthquakes. A limited subsidence of a dike
is allowable as long as the reduced height of a dike 2 REVIEW OF SUBMITTED PAPERS
still lies above the water table of a river. Accordingly,
it is desired to 1) determine allowable magnitude of This section is devoted to review of papers which
seismic deformation of a dike, 2 ) to develop a were submitted to this conference and are concerned
practical measure which can reduce the extent of with seismic behavior of embankment and slope.
deformation during an expected earthquake. and 3) The first author found after review that interest in
to predict the magnitude of reduced deformation prediction of residual deformation of eai-th structures
without itsing unacceptably expensive site is increasing. This situation is reasonable because
investigation and laboratory tests. Ministry of the significance of seismic damage of structures are
Construction (1 996) conducted an overall study on mostly governed by the magnitude of residual
the subsidence of river dikes caused hy earthquakes

1046
deformation; time history of acceleration and excess
pore water pressure are less important.
When liquefaction is eliminated, there are three
types of predictive measures. The first one is a rigid
block analogy resting on a frictional floor (Newmark,
1965). Wartman, J. et al. (1999) examined this
analogy by running model tests on clay in which a
slip plane developed as assumed by the theory.
Troncoso et al. (1999) demonstrated the importance
of prediction of minor subsidence of an earth fill
dam whose concrete surface lining cannot remain
intact after minor subsidence. It is noteworthy, on
the other hand, that rigid block approach caimot
calculate soil straiiddeforniation which is important
in lifeline problems. Furthermore, it is not yet clear
what kind of strength should be employed, drained
or uiidrained strength, cyclic strength, or anything
else.
The second type employs the conventional factor
of safety combined with quasi-static seismic inertia
force. Wahab and Heckel (1999) calculated the yield
seismic coefficient at which the factor of safety is
unity. They then carried out dynamic analysis on a
sliding block to reveal a correlation between the
residual displacement and the employed seismic
coefficient normalized by the yield coefficient.
Nova-Roessig and Sitar (1 999) performed
centrifugal model tests in order to develop a similar
correlation. This approach is practically useful since
it requires only conventionally-available soil data. It
is probably possible to improve reliability by
assembling many case history records. Be noted that
this approach does not take into account the effects
of duration time of shaking. When the concerned
earthquake is of a short epicentral distance and an
intermediate magnitude, the shaking is probably
strong but the duration time is short (Chiara, 1999);
making the induced damage much smaller than the
second type of prediction infers.
The third type of prediction uses nonlinear finite
element analysis. Wakai and Ugai (1999) as well as
Iai et al. (1999) belongs to this category. The same
approach is applicable to liquefaction-induced
ground deformation as well. Due to such difficulties
as need for detailed constitutive model and large-
deformation formulation, however, more simplified
approach is important. Sasaki et al. (1999)
developed a single-degree-of-freedom model of
liquefaction-induced subsidence of embankment by
examining in detail the behavior of model
embankment observed in shaking table tests.
Sakenii (1999) compared observation in
centrifugal model tests with his numerical prediction.
An important role played by centrifugal tests is the
assessment of soil-structure interaction which has
been out of scope of constitutive models of soil.
Madabhushi ( 1 999) studied the validity of
Westergaard formula on hydrodynamic action on
1047
dam body. Since experimental work has not been
done extensively in this field, more experimental
attention is encouraged. In contrast, Koseki et al.
(1999) used real earthquake damages of
underground walls in order to assess the magnitude
of earth pressure during strong earthquake shaking.
Last but not least, the target of soil dynamic study
is extending to such new material as waste (Sec0 e
Pinto et al., 1999; Ratlije & Bray, 1999). Much is not
known about dynamic stress-strain and strength
characteristics of this material, despite that a
possible failure of waste fill causes significant
problems in surrounding environment. Hence, more
experimental efforts are desired
3 PRINCIPLES IN DEFORMATION-BASED
SEISMIC DESIGN OF DIKES AND
EMBANKMENTS
The magnitude of design earthquake is going to be
made stronger due to experiences in 1990's. Since
the dynamic strength of soil is limited, as mentioned
before, the future seismic design of earth structures
such as embankment and dike will resort to a
concept of allowable deformation in place of
requiring factor of safety greater than unity.
The first problem to be solved for development of
defonnation-based design is a determination of a
suitable allowable seismic deformation. At present,
it seems that the magnitude of allowable
deformation depends of the following factors;
1) effects on human life,
2) costs of restoration either after complete failure
of after allowable deformation,
3) time needed for restoration. and
4) effects on social/economic activities in the
coiiceined region caused by pending of function
of a structure.
Methodology to determine the allowable
deformation by using these factors, however, is not
clear and, therefore, studies in this direction is
strongly expected.
Prediction of a residual deformation induced by a
design earthquake is a second important issue. This
section puts special emphasis on liquefaction
problems which appears to generate the most
significant distortion of embankments and dikes than
other causes of displacement. In addition to the
preceding section which showed three kinds of
calculations, the present section discusses the
importance of site investigation. Design of important
and expensive facilities such as ports and thermal
power plants allows detailed soil investigation, if
necessary. In-situ tests on modulus and strength of
soil as well as laboratory tests on undisturbed soil
samples help carry out nonlinear finite element
analyses so that residual deformation is assessed. In
Fig.5 Failed shape of the Yodo river dike
(photograph by Fudo Construction.)
Fk.6 Geological Cross section a h 2 Channel of
Yodo River.
contrast, construction of road embankment and river
dike does not allow detailed soil investigation.
Prediction has to be run with limited data obtained
by such conventional investigations as SPT and CPT
among others. Hence, something other than
nonlinear finite element analysis is needed. It is
consequently reasonable that the type of suitable
analysis varies with the type of facilities to be
constructed.
Simila points can be made of measures that
mitigate the earthquake-induced deformation. When
the concerned structure is an important and
expensive one, the best measure is the soil
improvement which prevents liquefaction. Since
ordinary embankments and river dikes, which are
tens of kilometers in length, do not allow expensive
measures to be taken over the whole length from
economical reasons. something less costly is desired.
It is then considered acceptable that a less expensive
measure allows minor distortion of a structure to
occur during strong earthquakes. Therefore. a quick
restoration is important especially in river dikes
whose function is not affected by limited subsidence
(Fig. 1).
1048
Fig.7 Comparison between extent of subsidence of
Yodo river dike and geotechnical conditions.
4 BRIEF DISCUSSION ON FAILURE OF YODO
RIVER DIKE IN 1995
Collapse of the Yodo River dike during the 1995
Kobe earthquake was explained by Towhata and
Matsuo (1996). Fig.5 shows the shape of this
embaidunent after the earthquake. The occurrence of
subsoil liquefaction was evidenced by boiled sand
which was detected at the foot of the fill. Discussioii
on the failure of this dike leads to a proposal of
desired mitigation measures.
Figure 6 illustrates the geological cross section
along the channel of the Yodo River. Located near
the sea. the damaged Yodo River dike was underlain
by an alluvial said, including an artificial fill near
the coast. The thickness of the alluvial material is
approximately 10 meters. Since the soils below this
sandy layer are clay and pleistocene ones which are
unlikely to liquefy, it is reasonable to state that the
observed liquefaction (Fig.5) occurred only in the
alluvial sandy layer.
Figure 7 compares the extent of the subsidence of
the dike with such characteristics as local soil
conditions and the configuration of the dike. The
most significant damage occurred in the area called
Torishima, probably because the surface soil in this
area was made of recent reclaimed sand. It is not yet
known why the areas of artificial fill and deltaic
deposits did not suffer damage, despite that such soil
conditions often led to liquefaction during past
earthquakes.
The satisfactory behavior of the river dike in the
areas other than Torishima may be attributed. at
least partially. to the configuration of the dike.
Firstly. the undamaged dikes had a fill. called berm.
attached to the river side. The weight of the berm
improved the slope stability of the dike.
Fig.8 Tested model ground.
Fig.9 Effects of sheet pile walls on subsidence of
embankment.
Secondly, the undamaged dike had an embedded
sheet pile wall that were intended to prevent seepage
flow of water into the foundation. Since this wall
was longer than 10 meters in the undamaged areas.
its bottom probably reached the unliquefiable clayey
layer lying below the 10-meter-thick alluvial sandy
layer (Fig.6). The fixed boundary condition of a ~vall.
therefore, helped the sheet pile wall resist effectively
the lateral flow failure of the liquefied sand.
Although the Torishima dike had a similar sheet pile
wall as well, its length was shorter than 10 meters
and was insufficient to reach the unliquefiable layer.
'I'hus. the lateral flo~vof' subsoil and the conscquent
subsidence of thc dike in Torishima area \\as
substantial.
5 SHAKING TABLE TESTS ON SUBSIDENCE
OF EMBANKMENT REINFORCED BY
EMBEDDED SHEET PILE WALLS
5.1 iwethod of sliuking tulde test
Figure 8 illustrates the tested model ground. The size
of container was 2m in width. 0.4m in depth. and
O.6m in height. Both the liquefiable layer and the
dense layer were made of Toyoura sand (p,=2.648.
e,,,,,=O.974. e,,,,,,=0.605).The relative density of the
dense layer was 80%. The liquefiable layer was very
1049
Fig.10 Effects of thickness of liquefiable layer on
subsidence of embankment.
Fig. 11 Effects of intensity of input acceleration on
subsidence of embankment.
loose with 20% of the relative density, to satisfy the
similarity of stress-strain relationship between soil
in-situ and in model ground, taking into account that
model ground the confining pressure is smaller than
in-situ situation. I hc model embanhment bias macfc
of gralely crust (D,,)=-35mm). and the steel net of'
fine meshes M as placed at the bottom of' the
embankment to prc\ ent the g r a ~el sink f r e e l ~~ n t o
liquefiable subsoi 1.
The sheet pile model \ \ a s made of' an aluminum
plate with 2nim of thickness. The bottoin tip of the
sheet pile model was fixed to the container. Strain
gages were placed on both sides of the sheet pile
wall at each 5CIn height, to monitor the bending
moment of it.
The input excitation was sinusoidal with lOHz of
frequency and 20 seconds of duration. The direction
of the input acceleration was perpendicular to the
sheet pile walls.
The behavior of the model ground during testing
was observed through the transparent side wall of
container. To observe the deformation of the
liquefied ground. the grid of colored Toyoura sand
was made in the model ground.
 Thickness of liquefiable layer 40cm
Input acceleration 250gal
without sheet pile wall
0 5 $0 15 20 25
Time (sec)
Fig.12 Effects of variation of relative density of
liquefiable layer on subsidence of embankment..
Fig. 13 Ultimate deformation of model ground
without sheet pile wall.
Fig. 14 Ultimate deformation of model ground with
sheet pile walls.
5.2 Experimental results
(1) Subsidence of the embankment
Subsidence measured at the crest of embankment did
not suit the study because it included the effects of
deformation of the model embankment itself. As an
alternative, time histories of subsidence observed at
the bottom of the embankment are shown in Figures
9- 12. Accordingly, the deformation of embankment
itself was out of scope in this study. Figures 9-11
indicate that the subsidence of the embankment was
mitigated by sheet pile walls irrespective of the
1
50
Fig.15 Ultimate deformation of model ground with
fixed walls.
thickness of a liquefikd subsoil and the intensity of
shaking. Moreover, it was also found that the
variation of the relative density from 20% to 0% of
liquefiable layer did not affect seriously the
subsidence of the embankment (Fig.12).
(2) Lateral flow in the liquefied subsoil
Figures 13-15 illustrate the ultimate deformation of
the model ground. In Fig.13, it is clear that lateral
flow occurred in the liquefied subsoil. This part of
sand under the embankment moved outwards and
caused subsidence of the embankment. Moreover, it
is noteworthy that the ground surface around the
foot of slope of the embankment moved towards the
center of container. This means that the embankment
pulled the surface soil inward during subsidence.
By comparing Figures 13 without sheet pile wall
and 14 with sheet pile walls, it can be said that the
sheet pile wall reduced the lateral flow of liquefied
ground. In case of Fig.14 with sheet pile walls, it
was observed that the liquefied soil boiled at the foot
of the slope of embankment, probably increasing
subsidence.
When no wall was installed, the lateral
displacement observed in Fig. 15 with 0% of relative
density of liquefiable layer was slightly smaller than
in Fig.13 with 20% of relative density of liquefiable
layer.
(3) Excess pore water pressure
Figures 16 shows the time histories of excess pore
water pressure observed in the liquefiable subsoil at
20cm under the bottom of the embankment. In the
earliest phase of shaking, pore pressure generation
was greater when no sheet pile was employed (E08);
greater than in E14 test with sheet pile walls. This is
because the sheet pile wall prevented shear
deformation of sand. and. therefore. pore pressure
rise was reduced. However, after sufficient time of
shaking, the excess pore water pressure accumulated
eventualIy to the same extent as in test case without
sheet pile wall.
Figure 17 also shows the time histories of excess
pore water pressure. In test case E18, the sheet pile
model was fixed perfectly to the container, and the
1050
 18
E14 (with sheet pile walls)
Thickness of liquefiable layer 40cm
25 3 35 4 45
Time (sec)
Fig.16 Effects of sheet pile walls on excess pore
water pressure.
E18 (with fixed walls)
"y-E14 (with sheet pile walls) 1
E08 (without sheet pile wall)
Thickness of liquefiable layer 40cm
Input acceleration 250gal
0 5
2 25 3 35 4 45
Time (sec)
Fig.17 Effect of the rigidity of sheet pile walls on
excess pore water pressure.
lateral displacement in the liquefied subsoil was
prevented substantially. The maximum the excess
pore water pressure observed at 20cm below the
bottom of embankment with fixed walls (El 8), was
higher than those observed in case E08 without sheet
pile wall and case E14 with deforinable sheet pile
walls. And in this case E18, the subsidence of the
embankment was smaller than in other two cases
E08 (without sheet pile wall) and E l 4 (with sheet
pile wall) as shown in Fig.18. Moreover, the
increnient of excess pore water pressure in case El 8
with fixed walls just after the onset of input
excitation was lower than the pressure without a
sheet pile wall. These findings are probably related
to the confining effects of limited movement of
walls.
(4) Acceleration in liquefied layer
Figure 19 shows the time histories of acceleration
observed at 20cm below the bottom of embankment.
At first, there was not difference between the
acceleration measured in case E08 without sheet pile
wall and in case E14 with sheet pile walls.
Acceleration suddenly reduced when it reached
around lOOgal of amplitude in case E08. In case E14,
E14 (with sheet pile walls)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
5
Time (sec)
Fig.18 Effects of the rigidity of sheet pile walls on
subsidence of the embankment.
I E08 (without sheet pile wail) I
2 25 3 35 4
5 Time (sec)
Fig. 1 9 Time histories of acceleration in liquefied
subsoil.
in contrast, acceleration continued to increase to
15Ogal. The sudden decrease of acceleration is
attributed to liquefaction and loss of rigidity of sand.
The greater accerelation in E14 shows that
liquefaction phenomenon was mitigated by the sheet
pile walls. After sudden decrease, the records of
acceleration became almost similar in case E08
without sheet pile wall and in case E14 wit11 sheet
pile walls.
6 RATE-DEPENDENT NATURE OF LIQUEFIED
SAND UNDERGOING LARGE
DEFORMATION
This section is going to present the nature of
liquefied sand as observed in laboratory tests. The
present topic is important in development of
prediction of ground deformation induced by subsoil
1iquefaction.
6.1 Pulling pipe in liquefied sand
In the first series of investigation, shaking table tests
were conducted in order to study the mechanical
behavior of liquefied sand undergoing large
1051
 model tests was taken. Fig.20 illustrates a model
container in which liquefiable loose sand was
deposited and shaken. After liquefaction, an
embedded model of pipe was pulled laterally and its
displacement was recorded together with the drag
force required for the pipe motion. The recorded
time histories of drag force and pipe displacement
stand respectively for the overall stress and strain in
liquefied sand, respectively. Toyoura sand was
employed for the model tests.
The model test is able to investigate the behavior
of liquefied sand undergoing strong shaking effects,

---- 40 -- +
Unit crn
Direclion 01 shaking

Fig.20 Model container for shaking table tests.

and, in this regard, is more suitable to the present
study than triaxial and other laboratory devices.
Fig21 is indicative of the variation of drag force and
the excess pore water pressure. The high void ratio
of 1.05 prior to shaking was eniployed because the
unrealistically dilatant behavior of sand under low
ollerburden pressure in 1 -g model tests was avoided
for by this significantly low density of sand. The
figure indicates that the drag force was extremsl>
small during shaking. Furthermore, the excess pore
water pressure maintained the highest value during
shaking, showing that the state of liquefaction M as
fully attained. After the end of shaking. in contrast.
the drag force started to increase with the motion of
the pipe, while decreasing suddenly upon reversal of

100

"E
5 50

f o
ffl
L
c

ffl -50

j n
-100' " " 1 I ' ' ' 1 1 ' " 1 ' " ' _I
-0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10
Shear strain K h ( in decimal )

Fig21 Variation of drag force and excess pore water

pressure around pipe during and after end of strong
shaking.
r--
Cyclic undrained Iorsion shear
lesl on Toyoura sand
Trnax=60.6 kPa
Crc'z294 kPa
lsolropic consolidolion

deformation as may occur upon flow failure of -0 OL

Y i n decimal
0 00
Shear strain
0 04 0

liquefied subsoil. Since conventional apparatuses

such as triaxial and torsion shear devices are not able Undrained torsion shear tests of loose
to generate very large strain. an alternative idea of Toyoura sand.

1052
Table 1 Apparent viscosity of liqueiied Toyoura effective stress and shear rigidity did not develop
sand. during strong shaking, it seems that liquefied sand is
more vulnerable to flow failure and large
deformation than in the post-shaking stage. This
Void ratio Relative Apparent point has not been taken into account to date by
prior to density viscosity studies on residual or steady-state strength of sand
shaking ("/I (kPa sec) by means of inonotonic undrained loading.
Figure 23 manifests the variation of drag force
0.86 +3 0 1.OO-2.16" and pore pressure in a test in which an embedded
0.95 6 0.45 pipe was pulled laterally after liquefaction occurred
0.98 -2 0.69 and shaking was ceased. The drag force increased
1.05 -20 0.48-0.66 continuously while the pore pressure decreased.
I .05 -20 0.07-0.16" More detailed examination of data indicates that the
1.10 -30 0.10-0.37 drag force increased by 4 kPa quickly when the pipe
started to move but pore pressure was still high.
*: data during shaking Thus. the present stud) obtained two kinds of drag
force at the state of liquefaction; one during shaking
and the other after the end of shaking.
Figure 24 sunmarizes the observed drag i'orce
during liquefaction and indicates that the force
h
increases with the velocity of the motion of the pipe.
Z
v This rate dependency is one of the classic topics of
a
l
fluid mechanics and it is possible to back-calculate
Subgrade reaction
at 100% liquefac-
the (apparent) viscosity of liquefied sand. Since it is
not yet certain whether or not liquefied sand is a
viscous material, the calculated viscosity should be
-2
called apparent. Table 1 shows the viscosity thus
10.75 11.00 11.25 obtained. Be noted that data of very loose sand is
T i me (second)
included therein. An interesting feature is that the
51.91 I 1 I I I I I I I I
apparent viscosity thus obtained is significantly
greater than that of water. At 20 degrees C, pure
water without vortex has viscosity of 0.000001 kPa
pressure at the top
sec. In a turbulent state, in contrast, water has a
1.7
10.75 11.00 11.25
range of viscosity around 0.01 kPa sec. which is not
.&.

Time (second) too far from those values in Table 1.

Fig.23 Pulling of pile after end of shaking.
the motion. At the same time. the pore pressure
record demonstrates decreasing. and the pressure
quickly came back to the state of complete
liquefaction upon reversal. This finding is related to
the effects of dilatancy of sand induced by large
deformation.
Figure 22 reveals results of undrained torsion
shear tests of loose Toyoura sand. It is evident that
the stress-strain and the excess-pore-pressure
diagrams after the onset of liquefaction are very
similar to the drag force vs. displacement and pore
pressure change in Fig.21. Since the increase of
shear stress and decrease of pore pressure after onset
of liquefactim in undrained tests are induced by
dilatancy (tendency to expand in volume) of sand, it
seems reasonable that the observed changes of drag
force and pore pressure are related to dilatancy as
well. Accordingly, the constant values of drag force
and pore pressure during the shaking suggest that
dilatancy effects were substantially reduced. Since
The idealization of liquefied sand as viscous
liquid is not a familiar one. It, however, has not only
experimental verification as above but support fi-on1
experiences during past earthquakes. Fig4
manifested that the maximum subsidence of river
dikes is approximately 75y0 of the height. This fact
is understood by the idea i n Fig.25 where liqwiied
subsoil is idealized as v\scous liquid with its unil
\?:eight equal to 20 kN/rn'. while a dike is niodeled
by a block at the surface with its unit weight being
typically 15 kN/m3. In the worst situation, as
intended in Fig.4, the subsidence is ceased at a state
in which the gravity force acting on the dike is
balanced by the buoyancy. The gravity force per unit
area of cross section is given by 15 X (height of dike)
and the buoyancy force is expressed by 20 X
(subsidence of dike). At equilibrium, accordingly,
maximum possible subsidence
= (1 5/20) X (height of dike) (1)
as suggested by Fig.4.
The real subsidence is not always equal to the
maximum possible one as discussed above. This is

1053
 i n sand is not clearly detined. Undrained torsion
Drag force between moving pipe shear tests in the present section overcomes this
and liquefied Toyoura sand problem, although the magnitude of generated strain
is limited and shear tests cannot be conducted when
strong shaking is going on.
Loose Toyoura sand was isotropicall)
consolidated under 100 kPa and was subjected to
undrained shear with strain amplitude of 4%. When
the effective stress became sufficiently small (less
than 2% of the initial stress), a nionotonic undrained
shear was started with different rates of strain.
,' A
Figure 26 reveals that the effective stress was
A held small during the nionotonic phase of loading
A ,I' Toyoura sand until strain (y) exceeded 10%. In the meantime,
,I'

-1
A
e=0-86 shear stress (z) increased gradually, similar to linear
elasticity. This soil behavior seems equivalent to
what was discussed in the previous section. The
values of modulus, dzldy, was plotted in Fig.27
against the rate of strain. There seems to be a limited
extent of rate dependency in the modulus. It is,
however, not so substantial as observed in Fig.24 in
which drag force increased linearly with rate of pipe
OO 10 2 displacement. The cause of different extent of rate
Velocity of pipe ( m d s )
dependency between model tests and undrained
shear tests is still unknown and seems to be a good
Fig.24 Variation of drag force during liquefaction topic of study.
with velocity of pipe.

Y =15 k N / d
n

Subsidence

Liquefied sand :
Y = ~ Om/m3

Fig.25 Simple inodel of dike resting on liquefied

subsoil. Fig.26 Monotonic undrained shear of liquefied sand.

particularly true when the duration of strong shaking

is short and the state of viscous liquid is terminated Torsional shear tesl
0

within a short time. Therefore, it is necessary to 60 -

assess, for more realistic prediction of subsidence,
a
the duration of strong shaking by analyzing many Y -
earthquake motion records. Okada et al. (1999)
considered that the state of strong shaking and flow . -
t
-0
40-

of ground starts at the moment of the maximum

acceleration and ends when the amplitude of shaking 30j
becomes less than 50 gal. The derived correlation
between duration time and earthquake magnitude
appears to be useful.
0.1 1 10 )O

6.2 Torsion shear rate of strain [%/sec]

One of the shortcomings of the model tests in the Fig.27 Effects of rate of strain on undrained modulus
previous section is that the state of stress and strain of liquefied sand.

1054
7 THEORY FOR PREDICTION OF SUBSIDENCE
OF EMBANKMENT
Authors have been developing analytical inethods of
prediction of large deformation of liquefied subsoil
(Towhata et al., 1999). It is going to be applied to
subsidence of embanknient in this section. The
proposed method requires a limited number of data
which is available from standard penetration tests or
else and conventional liquefaction investigation.
Suppose that the thickness of liquefied layer is
known separately by using SPT-N data etc. To
reduce the computational load, the lateral
displacement, U, in liquefied subsoil is modeled by a
sinusoidal function (Fig.28) of which the amplitude
F(x) is unknown. Note that “F“stands for the lateral
displacement at the surface. The vertical
displacement, w, is derived froni “U” by imposing a
constant volume condition;
which is valid for undrained deformation. When
consolidation settlement is interested in, it can be
calculated separately and added to “w” in Eq.2.
Integration of Eq.2 gives the vertical displacement
as a function of “F” Sasaki et al. (1 992) revealed that
a surface dry layer of soil, if any, nioves together
with the liquefied subsoil. Hence, both horizontal
and vertical displacements in the surface layer and
the subsoil are expressed bq F(x). The value of “F“
after large deformation is derived by the principle of’
iiiiniinum potential energy; a search is made of F(x)
that minimizes the energy. The time history of F(x)
Change of
surface elevation
Fig.28 Idealization of displacement,
1055
is calculated by solving the Lagrangean equation of
motion.
Tlie mitigative effects of sheet pile wall are taken
into account by considering it as an elastic beam
with bending stiffness of EpIp. For details, see Kogai
et al. (1998). When its distortion is designated by
p(z), the strain energy of a wall is derived by
integrating EpIp(d2p/dz’)2/2 from the bottom to the
top of a wall. This energy is combined with the
potential energy of surrounding soil and facilitates
the calculation of displacement.
The interaction between a sheet pile wall and soil
is accounted for by volume consistency;
which means that volume flux of liquefied sand
(left-hand side) is equal to the volume of void
opened by lateral deflection of a wall.
8 EXAMPLE ANALYSIS ON SUBSIDENCE OF
EMBANKMENT
Tlie section presents two examples of calculation
which were conducted by using the theory in the
previous section. The first example concerns with a
collapse of Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu river dike during
the 1993 Hokkaido-Nansei-Oki earthquake. The data
required for the analysis consists of configuration of
ground, thickness of liquefied layer, unit weight of
soil, and the elasticity modulus of dike and surface
unliquefied crust. All of them are available from
conventional liquefaction site investigation: no need
for laboratory tests on undisturbed specimens. When
tension occurs, moreover, the elastic modulus is
reduced to zero and its precise measurement is not
necessary.
Figure 29 illustrates the distorted configuration of
the dike after 30 seconds of flow (duration of strong
motion as assessed by the earthquake magnitude).
Calculalion ol liquelac Iton-Induced delormollon
/bysu-loshlDeiru R w e r No I 1 L- orayioGiop<-]
Cnlculaled
Landside
U
Om
..- ._..
. ... .~ .... I
50m
~ -1
Riverside
..__.
.
. _ . ~ _ ~ _ ^
190m
Fig.29 Analysis on subsidence of Shiribeshi-
Toshibetsu river dike.
 10
Yodo River Dike, east. 1.4 krn deforniation because the limited strength of soil will
Center of not be enough to resist the increasing intensity of
-
E
E Later01
river channel
design earthquake. This is particularly important
Y

C C
when liquefaction is of major concern. The idea
c suggests that practical prediction of liquefaction-
~ = 2 2 Liquefied
~
5 -E ___
-.-
sand
induced deformation as well as mitigation measures
w
is very important. To facilitate development of
...... J

1
I
-1 c
I I

0 10 20
I

30 40 400 prediction, model tests were carried out to show that

Horizontal distance (m) liquefied sand behaves similar to viscous liquid. It
10 Calculation on effects of insufficieni
was also shown by model tests that underground
length of a sheet pile wall on sheet pile wall is promising as a mitigation measure
h

E
v
maximum possible displacement of deformation. With these in mind, practically
c
K
EpIp=35300kN m2/m simple method of prediction of deformation was
Subsidence
---0--- at top of dike proposed. This method requires field data which is
$ --A-- Lateral displacement of easily available without running laboratory tests on
-8 surface crust near sheet
,P’

.-$ 5 pile wall undisturbed soil samples. The prediction on two

U river dikes appear to be reasonable.
-
a
a
.-
In
Measured subsidence -0 .//
0
Cl
10 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

.sz o 2b 1 With
;
fixed bottom of sheet pile wall

.i ; i, & 6 ;
Model tests on embedded sheet pile wall was carried
out in cooperation with Nippon Steel Company.
D (m) Torsion shear tests on rate dependency of liquefied
0.0 0.5 1.o sand were carried out by students of the University
D/H of Tokyo, Mr. J.Shimokawa and Miss. A.Yoshikawa.
Assistance as mentioned above are deeply
Fig.30 Analysis on subsidence of Yodo river dike. appreciated by the authors.

The distortion here was substantial since no sheet REFERENCES

pile wall or other mitigative measure was
implemented. The calculated rate of flow was Ciniara, R.C. 1999. Near field earthquake synthesis,
controlled by critical damping ratio equal to 8 which Proc. 2nd Int. Conf Earthq. Geotech. Engrg.
stands for the viscosity of liquefied sand. The overall Iai, S. et al. 1999. Earthquake response analysis of a
agreement between observation and calculation high embankment on a existing hill slope, Proc.
seems reasonable. 2nd Int. Con$ Enrthq. Geotech. Engrg.
The second example calculation was made of Kogai, Y. et al. 1998. Use of embedded walls for
Yodo river dike in Fig.5. Since the sheet pile wall mitigation of liquefaction-induced displacement
was not long enough to penetrate into the stable base in slopes and embankments, submitted to Soil
layer, a substantial distortion occurred. By Found.
designating by “D” the spacing between the bottom Koseki, J. et al. 1999. Seismic behavior of
of the wall and the base, Fig.30 was obtained. It is Shimagami station and Seibu sewage treatment
shown that both subsidence of the dike and the plant, Proc. 2nd Int. Conf: Ecirthq. Geolech.
lateral displacement after sufficiently long time of Engrg.
flow (i.e., the maximum possible displacement) Madabhushi, S.P.G. 1990. Seismic behaviour of
increase as D decreases (shorter sheet pile wall). dams subjected to earthquake induced hydro-
Even when D=O, the displacement is still greater dynamic forces, Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. Ec~rfhq.
than those when the bottom of a wall is tight11 Geot ech Engrg
penetrated into the base layer (fixed boundary Ministry of Construction I 996. Report of Technical
condition). When “D” was set equal to the realistic Committee on Earthquake Resistance of River
value of 4 . h , the obtained lateral displacement at Structures.
the foot of the dike became close to the observation. Neumark, N.M. 1965. Effects of earthquakes on
dams and embankments. G‘eo/ech. 5(2). 137-1 60.
9 CONCLUSIONS Nova-Roessig, L. & N.Sitar 1999. Centrifuge model
studies of the seismic response of reinforced soil
slopes, Proc. 2nd Int. Con6 Emthq. Geotech.
It was supposed that seismic design of earth
structure should be based on the allowable Engrg.
Okada, S. et al. 1999. Prediction of liquefaction-

1056
 induced deformations of river embankments,
Proc. 2nd Int. Conf Eurthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Rathje, E.M. & J.D. Bray 1999. Two dimensional
seismic response of solid-waste landfills, Proc.
2nd Int. Con$ Eurthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Sakemi, T. 1999. Centrifugal study on seismic
behaviour of embankment, Proc. 2nd Inf. Con$
Earthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Sasaki, Y. et al. 1992. Mechanism of permanent
displacement of ground caused by seismic
liquefaction, Soil Found. 32(3) 79-96.
Sasaki, Y. et al. 1999. Model tests on a seismic
failure of an embankment due to soil liquefaction,
Proc. 2nd Int. Con$ Eurthq. Geotech. Engrg.
SCco e Pinto, P. et al. 1999. Seismic behaviour of
solid waste Grhdola landfill, Proc. 2nd Int. Con$
Eurthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Towhata, I. & 0. Matsuo 1996. Seismic damage
found in waterfront dikes and walls, Report on
Dnmccge Caused by the 1995 Great Hanshin
Eurthquuke, JSCE Committee Eartliq. Engrg,
125-133.
Towhata, I. et al. 1999. Mathematical principles in
prediction of lateral ground displacement induced
by seismic liquefaction, Soil Found. 39(2) 1- 19.
Troncoso, J.H. et al. 1999. Seismic design of lined
tailings dams, Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. Eurthy.
Geotech. Engrg.
Wahab, R.M. & G.B. Heckel 1999. Static stability,
pseudo-static seismic stability and defoimation
analysis of end slopes. Proc. 2nd Int. Conj.’
Earthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Wakai, A. & K. Ugai 1999. Evaluation of residual
displacement of slopes during earthquake based
on a siniple cyclic loading model, Proc. 2nd Int.
Conj.’Eurthq. Geotech. Engrg.
Wartman, J. et al. 1999. Laboratory evaluation of the
Newmark procedure for assessing seismically-
induced slope deformations, Proc. 2nd Int. Conf:
Eurthy. Geotech. Engrg.

1057
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, SBco e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 116 3

Slopes and embankments

Pedro Simiio S ~ C eOPinto
National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC),Lisboa, Faculty of Engineering, University
of Coimbra, Portugal

ABSTRACT: A summary of the topics covered by the papers presented to this session related with: (i) seismic
analysis of embankment dams (ii) seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills; (iii) seismic design of tailings dams; and
(iv) assessment of slopes and embankments failure during earthquakes, is given. The papers submitted for the
publication are reviewed and discussed. The future trends and some topics for discussion are presented.

1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 Seismic analysis of embankment dams

This General Report is presented in the following four
sections. In the first section a summary of the topics
covered by the papers presented in this session: (i)
seismic analysis of embankment dams (ii) seismic
behaviour of solid waste landfills; (iii) seismic design of
tailings dams; and (iv) assessment of slopes and
embankments failure during earthquakes is given. In the
second section a summary of each paper is presented
followed by general comments. The third section
presents some fbture trends and the final section address
some remarks and topics for discussion.
2 SuMR/IARY OF RELATED TOPICS
2.1 Introduction
In this section the seismic analysis of embankment dams,
the seismic behavior of solid waste landfills; the seismic
design of tailings dams and the assessment of failure of
slopes and embankments during earthquakes are
reviewed.
In dealing with this Part I remember:
"But before virtue the immortal gods set sweat
it is a long and steep path to him."
Hesiod
The primary factors to consider in seismic design of
dams are the regional geological setting and the seismic
history.
The regional geologic study should cover a 100 km
radius around dam site, but in several cases should be
extended to 300 km radius to incorporate any major
fault or some specific attenuation features.
The seismic history data should cover as a minimum
a 100 km radius and should include the tectonic
province of dam site and all significant faults within a
300 km radius.
Two levels of seismicity are adopted for dam design:
Maximum Design Earthquake (MDE) and Operating
Basis Earthquake (OBE) depending of fault or tectonic
province. Also Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE)
is defined as an upper bound of expected magnitude or
as an upper bound of expected earthquake intensity. For
the definition of OBE a probabilistic approach is used
and for the definition of MCE both deterministic and
probabilistic approach can be used (ICOLD, 1989).
For the selection of seismic evaluation parameters it
is important the definition of risk classiication of the
dam. The structural components of potential risk of
dams depend on storage capacity, height of the dam,
evacuation requirements (number of persons) and
potential downstream damage.

1059
 The behaviour of embankment dams during an
earthquake can be analyzed by experimental methods,
mathematical methods and observation methods.
Experimental methods are used to test predictive
theories and to veIlrjl mathematical models. The most
common techniques are shaking table and centrifuge
models (Sko e Pinto, 1993).
Except for the existence of some difficulties to
simulate the failure process of embankments with the
law of similitude, there is a common dynamic
phenomenon observed in model tests and prototype
damS.
For the conventional pseudo-static analysis it is
important to estimate a seismic coefficient to evaluate
the seismic stability of the dam. It is assumed that the
embankment dam behaves as a rigid body and that the
accelerations will be uniform throughout the section and
equal at all times the ground accelerations (ICOLD,
1975).
In order to overcome the severe limitations of
pseudo-static analysis, a number of investigators
(Sarma, 1975, Makdisi and Seed, 1977 and Mineiro,
1975) have proposed simplified procedures for
estimating induced deformations following Newmark
(1965).model.
While these Simplified methods have given
reasonable answers in areas of relatively low to medium
seismicity, it is important to analyse the behaviour of
very large dams in zones where strong earthquakes have
occurred by more sophisticated methods in order to
obtain more reliable results.
The most widely used method of dynamic analysis
for embankment dams was proposed by Seed (1979).
The dynamic analyses can be conducted in terms of
total or effective stresses and considering elastic or
plastic behavior of the soil.
Several finite element computer programs assuming
an equivalent linear model in total stress have been
developed for 1D (Schanabel et al., 1972; Idriss and
Sun, 1991), 2D (Idriss et al., 1973; Hudson et. al.,
1994) and pseudo 3D (Lysmer et al., 1975).
The three different critical phases of computer
s o h a r e use in order to avoid dangerous mistakes are
justification, validation and quality assurance (ICOLD,
1994).
Since these models are essentially elastic the
permanent deformations cannot be computed, nonlinear
hysteretic models with pore water pressure generation
and dissipation have been developed using incremental
elastic or plasticity theory (Finnet al., 1995; Zienkiewicz
et al., 1999).
1060
Observation methods such as full scale natural and
man-made vibration tests accompanied by appropriate
geophysical measurements can provide vital information
regarding key material properties and dynamic
characteristics of eartWrockfX dams.
The monitoring scheme of a dam enables the
engineer to undertake actions to achieve good
maintenance and to avoid dam failure.
To obtain critical information regarding a dam's
behaviour during an earthquake it is necessary to install
seismic instrumentation in the region close to the dam
and on the dam.
2.3 Seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills
Considerable attention has been focussed for the last
decade on the seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills.
This behaviour has been analysed by experimental
methods or mathematical methods.
The principles for seismic design of solid waste
landfill are similar to those used in the design of
embankment dams. Both pseudo-static and
deformational analysis methods are used. However the
major difference is that the geosynthetic elements used
in the cover systems and bottom lining systems are
relatively less tolerant to the seismic induced permanent
displacements (Sec0 e Pinto, 1998).
A careful study of the behaviour of solid waste
landfills during earthquake occurrences provides a
valuable insight into earthquake-resistant design of solid
waste landfills.
The lessons learned from Loma Prieta earthquake
(1989) and Northridge earthquake (1994) have
provided important observational data related with the
seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills @ray et al.,
1998).
The general conclusions, which seem that well built
waste landfills can withstand moderate shaking with
peak accelerations up to at least 0.2g with no harmful
effects.
2.4 Seismic design of tailings dams
In the upstream construction method the dam is built up
by spigotting proceeding from a starter dam in the
upstream direction towards the setting pond, while in
the downstream method the sand dam is raised in a
downstream direction and the fine tailings are spigotted
off the upstream face of the dam (ICOLD, 1995a).
The centerline method represents a compromise
between the upstream and downstream method and
 offers the reduced fill volume advantages of the For the seismic design of earth-reinforced
upstream method while exhibiting much greater stabiity embankments a pseudostatic approach based on limit
(Sec0 e Pinto, 1996). equilibrium was presented by Cascone et al. (1 995).
The worst s i ~ t i o nof tailing dams is when Bathurst and Mar0 (1997) s ~ a r i z e the d use of
cohesionless earthfill is in loose and saturated state. finite daerence computer programs and particularly of
Liquefaction of these materials under earthquake FLAC code to andyse the seismic response of
loading causes severe loss of strength often leading to reinforced e m b ~ e n t s .
flow slides.
D o ~ t and r centerline
~ c ~ n s t ~ c t methods
io~
are preferred for earthquakeresistanttailing dams. The 3 PAPERREVIEW
analysis of performance of tailing dams has shown that
the most of the failed taihg dams were constructed by In order to provide some structurethe papers were
the upstream method. It is important to stress that classified in topics.
d o ~ s t rand ~ centerline methods oEer the The twelve papers in this session are class%ed and
opportunity to compact the fill, install internal drainage listed in Table 1.
systems and exercise better construction control during The papers are briefly summarized and their
foundation preparation and the placement of the f B conclusionsdiscussed in this section.
(ICOLD, 1995b). In dealing with these issues you should take into
The stability analysis is typically an effstive stress consideration that:
approach using a conventional method of slices “Out of my lean arid low ability
technique, i n c o ~ o r a t ~estimates
g of excess pore water I’ll lend you ~ o m h i r ~ g ~ ~ .
pressure generated by earthquake shaking. However
safety factors do not give a reliable value of permanent Madabhusi, S. presents a series of dynamic tests on
d e f o ~ a t ~ o nwhich
s control the behaviour of tailings model dams subjected to earthquake loading. This
dams during the occurrence of earthquakes. technique is used to investigate the effects of earthquake
The definition of the h i t of tolerable d~format~o~s i n d u d h y ~ o pressure d ~ on~dams. ~
plays an important role in the design of tailings dams. So The centrifiige tests were carried on a 10m beam
nonlinear effective analyses to estimate induced pore centrifuge with a bumpy road system and the container
water pressures are very important, as they are capable has end walls which simulate the defo~ationsof the
of predicting deformations and assessing the soil during the earthquakes and prevents any reflection
consequeaces of liq~efact~o~. of stress waves 6om the end walls and simulates the
length of the reservoir behind the dam w d . The
2.5 Assessment of slopes and embankment failure centrifkge tests were conducted in two stages: (I)
during earthquakes reservoir empty; (6) reservoir f3ed with water. Both
acceleration-time histories, as well as the pressure-time
For the slope stability analysis the ~ ~ h o d o l histories o~ were recorded.
proposed by TC4 (1999) is based in three levels The following conclusions were pointed out: (i)
depending on knowledge of seismic action and amplification of the ground motion was much higher
geotechnicd survey. when the reservoir was f U compared when the
The most rigorous approach (Grade-3) can use: the reservoir was empty; (U) the recorded hydro-dynamic
pseud~-~atic method or the permanent displacem~nt pressures closely followed the shape of the input
method based on the rigid block analogue of Newmark. motion; (6)the hydrodynamic pressures computed by
The use of GIS technology for a better definition of Westergaard approach were lower than the values given
the factors affecting the slope stability system for by the centrifkge tests.
mapping purposes is getting more popular (Faccioli, It is unfortunate that the author does not discuss the
1995). influence of the stiffhess of pine wood material on the
The monitoring system to characterize the behaviour obtained results.
of slopes during the seismic events includes wire
extensometers, electrid piezometers, geophones, Rathe, E. and Bray, J. investigate the adequacy of
accelerometers and inclinometers surveys. 1D analysis to predict accurately the acceleration-time
history along the slope and top deck of the landfill.
Comparing the results of the analyses performed by
SHAKE 91 and QUAD4M codes the authors have
concluded that : (I) the maximum seismic loading for
base sliding within a landfill can be estimated
conservatively with 1D analysis; (ii) the 1D analysis
underpredicts the surface maximum horizontal
acceleration (MHA) along the slope of a landfill by 10%
on average, and by as much as 40%; (iii) at the crest ID
analysis consistently underpredicts the MHA about
25%; (iv) along the deck the 1D analysis is only
moderately unconservative and the effect of base rock
topography is not captured with 1D analysis.
Also the 1D and 2D MHAs computed along the
surface of the landfill using the shear modulus and
damping curves for PI=€)clay and PI=30 clay have
shown that for P I 4 curves the MHAS are significantly
smaller than those computed with the PI=30 curves.
This paper presents a valuable contribution related
with the seismic response of landfills and the parametric

Table 1 - Submitted Papers to this Session

Authors Title of Paper Field of Summary of Content Approach Country

Application
Madabhusi, S . Seismic Behaviour of Generation of hydro- Centrifuge Tests. United
Dams Subjected to Dams dynamic pressures and Analytical Methods Kingdom
Earthquake Induced their effects on the
Hydro-Dynamic Forces dynamic response of the
dam
Rathe,E. and Two Dimensional Solid Waste 1D and 2D Analyses of 1D and 2D F.E.M. USA
Bray, J. Seismic Response of Landfills Landfills of different Analyses.
Solid - Waste Landfills Configurations
S&o e Pinto, Seismic Behaviour of Solid Waste Stability Analysis and Laboratoly and Portugal
P., Mendonca, Solid Waste Grilndola Landfills Amplification Analysis of Field Tests,
A., Vieira, A., Landfll Solid Waste Grindola Analytical
and Lopes, L. Landfill Methods,1 D F.E.M

Wahab, R. and Pseudo-Static Seismic Comparison between Analytical Methods, USA

Heckel, G. Stability and Embankments simplified and Bishop Pseudo-static and
deformation Analysis of and Janbu methods. Use Deformation
End Slopes of Makdsi and Seed Methods
Method and Hynes and
Franklin method to
predict deformations
Physical Model Tests Sl&ng table tests to Shaking Table USA
Wartman, J. and " Newmark-Type" Slopes examine the validity and
Seed, R., Bray, Analyses of Seismic applicability of the Analytical Methods
J. and Rathe, E. Slope Deformations and Newmark procedure
Displacements
Roessig L. N. Centrifuge Model C e n t f i g e tests to Centrifuge Tests USA
and Sitar N. Studies of the Seismic Slopes analyse the amplification
Response of Reinforced motions and mode of
Soil Slopes deformation of reinforced
soil slopes

Wakai, A. and Evaluation of Residual Slopes Centrifuge tests could be 2D dynamic FEM Japan
Ugai, K. Displacement of Slopes well simulated by 2D Ceritrifuge Tests
during Earthquake dynamic elasto-plastic
based on a Simple FEM
Cyclic Loading Model
Sasaki,Y., Model Tests on a Embankments Analysis of the Small scale tests Japan
Ohbayashi, J., SeismicFailure of an mechanism of the
Shgeyama, A. Embankment due to liquefaction induced Analytical analysis
and Ogata, Y. Soil Liquefaction deformation

1062
Table 1 - Submitted Papers to this Session

Title of Paper Field of Summary of Content Approach Country

Authors Application
Iai, S., Ichii, K. Earthquake Response Embankments Non linear analysis of an 2D Finite element Japan
and Sato, Analysis of a High embankment and analysis
Y.and Embankment on an comparison between
Kuwashlma, R. Existing Hill Slope computed accelerations
and seismic array records
Troncoso, J. H., Seismic Design of Lined Tailing dams Seismic design and 2D Finite element Chlle, USA
Krause, A. J. Tailing Dams construction of earth analysis
and Corser, dams with lined upstream
P.G. slope face

Koseki, J., Seismic Behavior of Pumping Lateral deformations of Simplified analysis Japan
Matsuo, 0.and Shimagami Pumping stations walls due soil liquefaction
Yoshizawa. T. Station and Seibu
Sewage Treatment Plant

Cimara, R. C. Near Field Earthquake Dams Fault ruptures Finite element Portugal
I I analysis

studies performed can be useful for pre-design of
landfills.
It is important to stress that the dynamic
characteristics of solid waste materials play an important
role on the seismic response of landfYl and this area
deserves more consideration.
S8co e Pinto, P., Mendonga, A., Vieira, A., and
Lopes, L. present the analysis of Grhdola landfill
located in zone A of Portugal seismic risk.
The geotechcal characteristics of foundation
materials were investigated by trenches and boreholes.
For the characterization of waste landfills materials
particle Size analyses, dry density tests and measurement
of shear wave velocity by crosshole and downhole
techniques were performed.
For the stability analysis pseudostatic analyses, as
well Makdisi-Seed method and Sarma method to
compute the displacements were used.
The seismic response was also investigated by a
computer finite element 1D program and the influence
of foundation geometry and for the seismic actions near
and far source were analysed.
The obtained results are in good agreement with the
results of back analyses to investigate the solid waste
landfill performance during recent earthquakes.
The authors stresses that the shear wave velocities
play an important role on the amplificationeffects.
Wahab, R. and Heckel, G. present a comparison of
static stability and pseudo-static seismic stability
analyses using the simplified Janbu and Bishop methods.
This study involved 51 select embankments with a
wide range of loading and surface soil conditions for end
slopes of bridges.
The authors have concluded that the simplified
Janbu and Bishop methods give approximately the same
results for the static and pseudo-static analyses.
However the simplified Bishop method generally
resulted in a slightly lower safety values from 8% to 2%,
than the simplifiedJanbu method.
The computation of permanent deformations, when
the safety factors were lower than 1, have shown that
the deformations based on Makdisi and Seed (1977)
method were larger than the values obtained by Hynes
and Franklin (1984).
The obtained results seem reasonable and are in
accordance with the past experience of similar results.
Wartman, J. Seed, R, Bray, J. and Rathe, E. have
conducted single-degree-of-freedom shaking table
based study to examine the validity and applicability
of the Newmark procedure.
The shaking table tests conducted in the first
phase have the purpose to assess the Newmark
procedure by considering shaking induced sliding of
both a rigid block and a deformable soil column on an
inclined plane.
The authors have concluded that the Newmark
rigid block assumption is generally accurate or
conservative when the excitation frequency is
significantly greater than the natural frequency of the
soil column and generally unconservative when the
excitation frequency is at or below the natural
frequency of the deformable soil column across the
range of frec,uencies tested.

1063
 The seismic induced displacements were
reasonable estimated using peak and residual soil
strengths in a Newmark analysis.
The single shear surface assumption may be a
significant oversimplification for slopes that do not
contain a single preferential shear surface.
It seems that the use of a two-degree-of-freedom
shaking table will provide more realistic results and
significant advancements about the accuracy of the
Newmark model.
Roessig L. N. and Sitar N. have conducted
centrihge tests to study the dynamic behavior of soil
slopes reinforced with geosynthetics.
The slopes were shaken with earthquakes having a
broad range of &equency content and duration,
including the Loma Prieta, Northridge and Kobe
earthquakes.
Accelerations were recorded at the metal base,
foundation layer and along the slope height. Also
deformations and vertical settlements were monitored.
The tests have shown that amplification effects
occur when the maximum acceleration is less that 0.4g
to 0.5g and the amplification occurs when the input
motion is stronger.
The results show that the seismic induced
deformations depend of the initial backfill density,
decreases with increasing reinforcement and is not
influenced by the length of the reinforcement.
Taking into consideration that the results do not
support the assumptions of traditional Innit equilibrium
methods the authors proposed a deformation design
method for the design of reinforced soil slopes under
seismic loading.
The results obtained by the authors appear to be
reasonable and should provide a guide for the persons
interested in this paper.
Wakai, A. and Ugai, K have conducted a series of
dynamic centrifuge tests of an embankment to evaluate
the residual displacement of the slope.
Also 2D dynamic elasto-plastic E M were
performed assuming hysteretic characteristics for the
soil based on curves of variation of shear modulus and
damping ratio with shear strain.
A comparison between time history acceleration and
displacements measured and computed has given good
agreement.
The general tendency on the residual deformation of
the system observed in the centrifuge tests is very close
to the FE results.
Also the effect of soil improvements was reasonable
evaluated by the analyses proposed in this study.
This study shows the advantages of centdkge tests
1064
to perform parameter studies in order to obtain a better
understanding of the dynamic behaviour of
embankments.
Details about the incorporation of soil improvements
in the model embankment and in the FE analyses are
welcomed.
Sasaki, Y., Ohbayashi, J., Shigeyama, A. and
Ogata, U. based on the seismic behaviour of several
dikes have proposed a correlation for the observed
settlements with the initial height of the dikes, in spite
of the different ground conditions, seismic intensities
and failure modes.
In order to predict the seismic behaviour of the
dikes after the shaking, model tests were performed to
investigate the development of pore pressures and final
settlements. The authors have concluded that the
settlements of an embankment depend of the thickness
of liquefied layer, the relative density of liquefiable and
the weight of the embankment on the liquefied layer.
Assuming that the liquefied layer beneath the
embankment could be treated as viscous fluid with 4000
to 5000 times viscosity than of water the analytical
solution developed has shown a good agreement
between the calculated settlements and the measured
settlements of the embankment.
The authors do not provide specific quantitative data
and soil conditions of the dikes to allow the reader to
interpret the case histories independently.
Iai, S., Ichii, K. and Sato, Y. and Kuwashima, R
have performed a dynamic analysis of a 65 m high
embankment to assess the behaviour during the 1993
Kushiro-Oki earthquake.
A non linear soil model based on a multiple simple
shear mechanism representing a hyperbolic stress-
strain relationship was considered.
In the embankment strong motion seismometers
and pore water pressure transducers were installed.
The computed displacementswere small about 10
cm or less, but the horizontal displacements were
overestimated, whereas the vertical displacements
were underestimated. The computed accelerations at
the toe and mid levels of the embankment were
consistent with the observed accelerations, but the
computed accelerations at the shoulder and the
ground surface were not matching with the observed
accelerations.
Comments of the authors related with the computed
horizontal displacements (overestimated) and the
vertical displacements (underestimated) versus the
features of the soil model are welcomed.
Troncoso, J. H., Krause, A. J. and Corser, P. 6.
present a paper on seismic design and construction of
earth dams with lined upstream slope face.
Based on observed behaviour of three tailing
dams the authors point that closer the predominant
period of the ground motions is to the natural period
of the dam the higher become the amplifications of
accelerationsthroughout the body of the dam.
The lining systems are intended to reduce the
potential for release or contaminate the environment
and the selection of a particular liner includes
hydraulic properties, durability, deformation
characteristics, strength characteristics and
transmissivitycharacteristics.
A seismic analysis of 106-m high Santa Juan
concrete face gravel dam, using QUAD 4 code, was
performed for a Chilean earthquake of 7.8 magnitude,
and the predicted settlements values were in good
agreement with the observed values.
The authors stressed the need of monitoring the
deformations of lined dams to evaluate the behaviour of
the geomembranes and the control of leak detection
systems and piezometric readings.
Well documented case histories to assess the
behaviour of geomembranes are welcomed.
Koseki, J., Matsuo, 0. and Yoshizawa, T. analyse
two sewage facilities.
For the Shimagami pumping station, due the
lateral flow of the liquefied layer the top of the soil
cement mixing wall deformed seawards. In the model
the wall was supported by linear Winkler springs
representing a horizontal subgrade reaction from non
liquefied soil layers below the liquefied sand layers.
The walls, left without connection to the building
supported by piles, suffered deformations.
For the Seibu sewage treatment plant the
diaphragm walls connected to the building supported
by piles had a large resistance against the lateral flow.
The lack of available information related with the
characterisation of Winkler springs makes difficult a
better interpretation of horizontal displacements.
CQmara, R C. presents a work on the synthesis of
near field earthquakes and on the modelling of
seismic sources.
It was considered a rectangular fault with rupture
length 30 Km and depth 20 km, and two applications:
(I) slip transverse and fault vertical; (ii) slip in the
direction of the small edge of rectangle and fault
making with the vertical a 45" angle.
Further seismic monitoring will be important to
calibrate the results obtained by this methodology.
1065
Any misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the
papers reviewed for this session is the responsibility of
the General Report and to those Authors whose papers
may be misrepresented, apologies are offered.
Comments regarding the papers have been expressed
fiom the perspective of stimulating lively discussions
during the session.
4-FUTURETREWS
The following topics that are in an initial state of
development and raise very real challenges will have a
great growth in a near hture.
In dealing with this subject we should always have in
mind that:
'Force without forecast is of little avail"
Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia no 1589.
4.1 Seismic analysis of embankment dams
The dynamic response analysis of embankment dams is a
very complex problem. First, dams are large
nonhomogeneous structures and the material is a multi-
phase solid-fluid medium. Second, the behaviour of the
soil skeleton is highly nodnear, anisotropic and
hysteretic. Finally, the interaction of the dam with its
boundaries including the underlying foundation and the
water in the reservoir hrther complicates the problem
(Sec0 e Pinto et al., 1995).
Current dynamic analyses of embankment dams use
total stresses and treat nonlinear behaviour by iterative
linear-elastic procedures. These analyses do not require
prohibitive time computer costs and are valid when pore
water pressures do not exceed 30% of the effective
overburden pressure. Since they are elastic methods they
cannot provide information on permanent displacements
and deformations, strong interest has developed in
nonlinear effective stress methods.
Despite the high computer costs of nonlinear
effective analyses they provide a very clear overall
picture of the dam response to the design earthquake as
well as helping the designer with all the details necessary
in zones of potential concern.
More experience in the application of these models
is necessary and, for their calibration, centrifuge models
seem very usehl.
4.2 Seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills
Dynarmc analyses of solid waste landfill use total
stresses and treat nonlinear behaviour by iterative linear-
elastic procedures.
As they can not provide information on permanent
displacements and deformations strong interest has
developed in nonhear effective stress methods.
Gain experience of application of these models
seems usefid. For their cahbration centrifbge models can
be useful.
Full scale natural and man-made vibration tests
accompanied by appropriate geophysical measurements
can provide vital information regarding key material
properties and dynamic characteristics of waste landfills
materials.
4.3Seismic design of tailings dams
The assessment of post-earthquake deformations and
the degree of remediation required to limit the
deformation to acceptable levels implies the use of codes
that adjust the shear strength of materials in localized
liquefied zones to the residual strength of the material. It
is also necessary to updates the dam geometry to
incorporate the progressive deformation developed due
to inertial and gravitational loading.
Due the complexity these analyses should only be
performed for large tailings dams where the
consequences of failure are dramatic for life losses or
environment.
4.4Assessment of slopes and embankment fdure
during earthquakes
For the computation of earthquake-induced
displacements in unstable natural slopes the use of
sliding mass modelled by an ensemble of rigid blocks
separated by joints with elastoplastic behaviour will be
implemented. This model takes into account the
topographic irregularities and a limited deformability of
the mass, entirely concentrated at the joints.
The use of nonlinear models considering the
interaction between the seepage of the fluid and the
deformation of the soil skeleton. Constituve laws
considering perfectly plastic models and critical state
models are getting more popular.
For the reinforced embankments with geosynthetics
it is important to investigate the dynamic shear
behaviour of geosynthetics and also the seismic response
by nonlinear models.
5 FINAL, RElMARKS AND TOPICS FOR
DISCUSSION
The papers presented in this session cover a wide range
of important topics in the design, construction, and
monitoring of slopes and earth dams under earthquakes.
They illustrate many of the impressive advances that
1066
have been made in the mentioned fields. Nevertheless,
we feel that several questions still remain without a
definitive answer.
Some questions that deserve fkrther discussion are
outlined below.
The purpose is to establish a systematic
communication between the authors and the delegates
of this Conference in order to create a dialogue between
everyone and to explore the interactions, the
developments and the structural conditions to fkrther
implement this subject and to live a thrilling adventure.
It seems that this is the best way to provoke a wide
discussion using open questions with the purpose of
creating new propositions and to contribute to the
advancement of the knowledge.
5.1 Seismic analysis of embankment dams
(i) The seismic response of dams has been analyzed
considering synchronous (in phase) oscillations to
provide the excitation. What is the influence of SH
waves impinging at the different angles in the vertical
plane of dam axis?
(ii) Are the hydrodynamic effects of the reservoir water
important on concrete face rockfill dams?
(iii) There is some controversy related with the criteria
to select the recurrence periods for MCE and OBE. Are
the ICOLD suggestions well accepted?
5.2 Seismic behaviour of solid waste landfills
(i) The assessment of the variation of shear velocities of
waste materials and particularly the use of spectral
analysis of surface waves (SAWS) procedure is
important.
(i) During the earthquakes sigruficant displacements can
occur at geosynthetic interfaces. For design purposes it
is important to calibrate the levels of displacements for
the seismic geosynthetic interfaces response.
5.3 Seismic design of tailings dams
(i) Post-liquefaction deformation analyses and
assessment of liners stability in order to prevent
ruptures.
(ii) The influence of tailing deposition practices on the
behaviour of geosynthetic lined tailing dams in seismic
zones.
5.4 Assessment of slopes and embankment failure
during earthquakes
i) Evaluation of residual strength due to the increase of
pore pressure;
ii) Monitoring plans implemented over a slope to
characterize the evolution of the main active
phenomenon.
5) Development of models that incorporate the
topographicirregularities and deformability of the mass,
concentrated at the joints.
It is desirable that the discussion will lead to the
following benefits:
- With the use of new laboratory and field techniques
a better evaluation of soil dynamic properties.
- Development of new criteria for the design of
embankment dams, solid waste landfills, tadings
dams and slopes and embankments under
earthquakes.
- A better support for the definition of monitoring
plans.
In dealing with this subject we should never forget the
memorable lines:
“ Does the road wins up-hill all the way?
Yes to the very end”
REFERENCES
Bray, J.D., Rathje, E.M., Augello, A.J. and Merry, S.M.
1998. Simplified seismic design procedures for
geosynthetic lined solid-waste landfills.
Geosynthetics International, Vo1.5, NOS. 1-2 ,pp.
203- 235.
Bathurst., R.J. and M a o , M.C., 1997. Review of
seismic design, analysis and performance of
geosynthetic reinforced walls, slopes and
embankments, Proc. of the International Symposium
on Earth Reinforcement, Keynote Lecture, V01.2,
pp.887-918, Fukuoka, JapqOchiai, H., Yasufuku,
N and Omine, K., editors, Bakema.
Cascone, E. Maugeri, M. and Motta, E. 1995 Seismic
design of earth-reinforced embankments, Proc. of the
First International Conference on Earthquake
Geotechnical Engineering, Tokyo, Vol. 2, pp. 1129-
1134.
Faccioli, E.1995 Induced hazards. Earthquake triggered
landslides. Proc. of the Fifth International Conference
on Seismic Zonation, Nice, Vol. 3, pp. 1908-193 1.
Finn, W.D.L., Ledbetter, R. H. and Marcuson, W.F.
1995. North American practice for evaluating the
seismic safety of embankment. Proc. of the First
International Conference on Earthquake
Geotechnical Engineering, Tokyo, Vol. 3, pp1227-
1252.
Hudson, M., Idriss, I. M., and Beikae, M. 1994
QUAD4M- A cornputer program to evaluate the
1067
seismic response of soil structures using finite
element procedures and incorporating a compliant
base, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, University
of California, Davis, CA,
Hynes, M.E. and Franklq A.G. 1984. Rationalizing the
seismic coefficient method. Mix.Paper G184- 13. Us
Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station,
Vicksburg, Mississippi.
ICOLD 1975 A Review of earthquake resistant design
of dams.Bulletin 27.
ICOLD 1989. Selecting seismic parameters for large
dams. Guidelines.Bulletin 72.
ICOLD 1994. Computer S0fIxvat-e for Dams.
Validation. Comments and proposals. Bulletin 94.
ICOLD 1995a Tailings Dams. Design of Drainage
Review and recommendations.Bulletin 97.
ICOLD 1995b Tailings Dams and Seismicity. Review
and recommendations.Bulletin 98.
Idriss, I.M., Lysmer, J., Hwang, R. and Seed, H.B.
Quad-4. 1973. A Computer program for evaluating
the seismic response of soil structures by variable
damping finite elements. Report no UCBEERC 73-
16, University of California, Berkeley.
Idriss, I.M. and Sun, J.L. 1992 User’s manual for
SHAKE91, Center for Geotechnical Modeling,
University of California, Davis, CA.
Lysmer, J., Udaka, T., Seed, H.B. and Hwang, R. 1974.
LUSH 2 - A computer program for complex
response analysis of soil-structure systems. Report
W UCBEERC 74-4. University of California,
Berkeley.
Makdisi, F.I. and Seed, H.B. 1977. A Simplified
procedure for estimating earthquake-induced
deformations in dams and embankments. Report W
EERC 79- 19. University of California, Berkeley.
Mineiro, A.J.C. 1975. Dynamic of brittle soils -
Applications to microzonation and design of earth
dams (in Portuguese). Ph.D. Thesis, Technical
University of Lisbon.
Newmark, N.M. 1965. Effects of earthquakes on dams
and embankments, Geotechnique, Vol. 15, W 2, pp.
139-160.
Sarma, S.K. 1975. Seismic stability of earth dams and
embankments. Geotechnique, Vol. 25, W 4, pp. 743-
-76 1.
Schnabel, P. B., Lysmer, J. and Seed, H.B. 1972
“Shake” A computer program for earthquake
response analysis of horizontally layered sites”.
Report W UCBEERC 72-12. University of
California, Berkeley.
Seco e Pinto, P.S 1993. Dynamic analysis of
embankment dams. Proceedings of the Seminar on
Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering, pp. 159-269. Edited by Pedro S. S h e
 Pinto. Published by A. Balkema.
S h e Pinto, P.S. 1996. Seismic analysis of
embankment and concrete dams. General Report.
International Symposium on Seismic and
Environmental Aspects of Dams DesigrS Chile.
S h e Pinto, P.S. 1998. Dynarmc analysis of solid
waste landfills and lining systems. Proceedings of the
Third International Congress on Environmental
Geotechnics, Lisboa, Vol. 3, pp. 1125-1159. Edited
by Pedro S. S h e Pinto. Published by A. Balkema.
S h e Pinto, P. S., Dakoulas, P. C. Harder, L.
Watanabe, H. and Chugk, A. 1995 Stability of slopes
and earth dams under earthquakes-General Report
Session VI.Proc. 3rd ICRAGEESD, St. Louis, Vol.
3, pp. 323 - 332. Edited by Shamsher Prakash.
Seed, H.B. 1979. Considerations in the earthquake-
resistant design of earth and rockfill dams,
Geotechnique, Vol. 29, W 3, pp. 215-263.
TC4 (Technical Committee for Earthquake
Geotechnical Engineering) 1999 Manual for
zonation on seismic geotechnical hazards (2nd
edition).
Zienkiewicz, O.C., Chan, A.H.C., Pastor, M.,
Schrefler, B. A. and Shiomi, T. 1999.
Computational Geomechanics, 383 pp., John
Wiley & Sons.

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 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, SBco e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1163

Assessment of residual strength for embankments

€? M. Byme & M. H. Beaty

University of British Columbia, Vancouver,B. C , Canada

ABSTRACT: The residual strength and the strain required to mobilize it are key parameters in the
assessment of post-liquefaction deformations. Several approaches for obtaining the residual strength are
discussed. Special attention is given to lessons learned from laboratory testing, particularly the effects of
fabric, anisotropy, and confining stress. The importance of drainage and the potential for mixing of layered
materials is also considered. A relationship is proposed between strength ratio and blowcount which is
supported by laboratory tests of undisturbed frozen samples and by field observations. Post-liquefaction
stiffness is discussed, and a method of deformation analysis is presented which incorporates this stiffness and
the residual strength in a rational way.

1 INTRODUCTION Casagrande and Castro addressed the residual

A number of embankment dams have suffered major
slope failures due to strength loss resulting from
liquefaction. Fort Peck dam in Wyoming failed
during construction in 1938 as a result of static
liquefaction (Casagrande 1975) and was the catalyst
for the early studies of residual strength begun by
Professor Casagrande and carried on by Dr. Castro.
The liquefaction-induced failures at Niigata and
Alaska in 1964 and the seismic failure of the Lower
San Fernando dam in 1971 instigated the studies by
Professor Seed and his co-workers into the
triggering of liquefaction during earthquakes. The
failure of a number of mine tailings dams in Chile in
1967 and the Mochikoshi dam in Japan in 1978
resulted in studies on processed sands.
A great deal of fundamental testing has been
carried out on granular materials to determine their
liquefaction characteristics. This has allowed a
framework of behaviour to be established. Back-
analysis of field case histories together with
centrifuge model tests have allowed design
approaches to be validated.
There are three basic concerns when dealing with
liquefaction at embankments sites:
1. will liquefaction be triggered in significant
zones of the embankment? and if so,
2. will the residual strength in those zones be
sufficient to prevent a flow slide? and if so,
3. will the displacements be tolerable?
Professor Seed and his co-workers mainly
addressed the triggering problem, whereas
strength problem. Much recent research involves
estimating the displacements that may occur due to
triggering when a flow slide is not predicted.
This paper is concerned with residual strength and
the strains to mobilize it. These two items have a
large influence on both the flow slide concern as
well as liquefaction-induced displacements.
2 OVERVIEW
The residual strength and stiffness following
liquefaction arises from the dilative behaviour of
liquefied sands and from the constraint of the pore
water. This constraint prevents or curtails volume
change during and shortly after the earthquake.
Residual strength is evaluated in several ways:
1. directly from testing of undisturbed samples,
2. indirectly from penetration resistance tied to
back analysis of field case histories, and
3. from a framework developed from laboratory
testing.
Regardless of the approach, it is helpful to have a
framework of behaviour based on laboratory testing.
A great deal of testing has been carried out in the
past 30 years. The results indicate that void ratio is a
key factor affecting shear strength for a given soil.
However, strength is not a unique function of void
ratio. Other factors such as fabric or grain
arrangement, initial effective stress, and loading path
also influence shear strength. Drainage and mixing
may also effect the strength.

1069
 I I I
I I I
c
I I
I I
I I (TI

Figure 1. Void ratio and effective stress states.

3 FRAMEWORK FOR RESIDUAL STRENGTH

Test data on sand indicate the major factor

controlling the residual strength, Sr, is the effective
stress on the failure plane at the time of failure, d r :

where O'r = o r - U; c r = total stress on failure plane;

U = pore pressure; and +Icv = constant volume
effective friction angle (usually about 33" for sand
regardless of loading path). While c r is generally
known at all times, the pore pressure depends mainly
on the drainage state. For the special case of no
drainage, d r also depends on void ratio and hence
void ratio is a major factor in the residual strength.
3.1 Critical state soil mechanics
The interplay of void ratio and effective stress is a
fundamental concept in critical state soil mechanics
as depicted in Figure 1. The upper bound represents
soil placed and loaded in its loosest possible state,
while the lower bound represents soil in its densest
possible state. As the soil is sheared it moves
towards the steady state, also called the critical or
failure state. This state may be unique or there may
be a steady state band depending on fabric and the
path followed to failure.
Assuming that a steady state line rather than a
band exists, then for any void ratio there is only a
single d r and, hence, a single residual strength. This
is depicted in Figure 2 for both a very loose and a
loose sample starting from an effective consolidation
pressure p' and having residual strengths (&)I and
(Sr)2. Sample 1 exhibits a quasi-steady state as well
as a steady state. The quasi-steady state gives a
lower bound on residual strength.
Critical state concepts have been used in clays and
sands for many years (Taylor 1948, Casagrande
1975, Roscoe et al. 1958, Castro 1969). They
represent a framework for evaluating the residual
undrained strength.
Shear Strain
Figure 2. Characteristic undrained response.
4 FACTORS AFFECTING Sr
Tests carried out by Y.P. Vaid and his students at the
University of British Columbia indicate several
important variables in evaluating the residual
strength of a given sand: fabric or type of
compaction, direction of loading, and the
combination of void ratio and initial effective
confining stress. Additional considerations for field
behaviour include drainage and the potential for
mixing. These effects are illustrated by considering
each separately.
4.1 Fabric
The effect of sample preparation is shown in Figure
3. Samples were prepared at essentially the same
void ratio using three different methods: moist
tamping (MT), air pluviation (AP), and water
pluviation (WP). Their residual strengths in simple
shear differ by an order of magnitude, with the MT
sample having the lowest strength and the WP the

1070
 Syncrude sand G
vc
= 200
MT ec = 0.767
0 I I I
0 5 10 15
Shear Strain, Y (%)
Figure 3. Effect of sample preparation on undrained
simple shear response (after Vaid & Sivathayalan
1999).
highest strength. The WP sample does not even
strain soften. In principle, the effect of fabric should
disappear at large strains. However, it is not clear
that it does, or the strains required may be very
large. These results indicate that shear strains of
15% are not enough to destroy the initial fabric.
Data presented by Vaid & Sivathayalan (1999)
show that samples prepared by WP are in close
agreement with undisturbed field samples. The
remainder of the data shown is for either undisturbed
samples or reconstituted samples formed by WP.
4.2 Stress path
The effect of stress path on undrained response of
loose Fraser River sand is shown in Figure 4. The
direction of the major principle stress during loading
was varied between a~r= 0" and 90", where ao = 0"
represents vertical loading (triaxial compression) and
. = 90" represents horizontal loading (triaxial
a
extension). Vertical loading is up to five times
stronger than horizontal loading at the same void
ratio. Simple shear corresponds to a0 = 45" and is
somewhat higher than horizontal loading.
Liquefaction failures commonly have a dominant
simple shear component in the failure mechanism
and, consequently, the simple shear strength is
considered pertinent.
In general, WP samples loaded in compression
tend to be dilative and have undrained strengths
equal to or greater than their drained strengths.
Samples loaded in extension are weakest and
samples loaded in simple shear are somewhat
stronger than those in extension.
Test results also show (Fig. 5) that residual
strength obtained during cyclic loading is essentially
the same as from monotonic or static loading, so the
residual strengths presented are appropriate for both
kPa 1 150 1 WP Fraser River sand
CY 200 kPa D,,= 30 %
ImC=
n =O
3 100
--.
CJ
n
bm
L - 30"; 0
3 50 45"; 0
2
0 2 4 6 8
&,-E3 ("A)
Figure 4. Effect of a, on undrained hollow cylinder
torsional response (after Vaid & Sivathayalan 1999).
Fraser River sand
0 Cyclic loading
Figure 5. Equivalence of static and cyclic undrained
strength (after Vaid & Sivathayalan 1999).
static and seismically induced liquefaction events.
4.3 Void ratio and confining stress
The effects of void ratio e and initial effective
confining stress O'VO are shown in Figure 6a. These
simple shear tests show that while residual strength
increases as the void ratio decreases, it is not a
unique function of void ratio. The strength is highly
dependent on the initial effective confining stress
and essentially increases linearly with stress. The
normalized strength, Sr/dvo, is shown in Figure 6b
and all data points plot in a fairly narrow band. This
suggests a unique relationship between strength ratio
and void ratio rather than strength as is usually
assumed in critical state soil mechanics. This
concept has been advocated by Stark & Mesri
(1992). It should be noted that most of the data in
Figure 6 are for quasi-steady state conditions.
Intuitively, critical state concepts seem correct.
An element sheared to large strain may be expected
1071
 100
Fraser River sand (WP)
0.3 I
1 Relative Density (%)
(b)
0.0 '
0.84
I I
0.88
I I
0.92
Void ratio, ec
Figure 6. Dependence of undrained strength on void
ratio and confining stress in simple shear (after Vaid
& Sivathayalan 1999).
to have its steady-state strength controlled only by
void ratio. But it is clear from testing that strains as
high as 30% are often insufficient to reach this state,
so the critical state approach may not be practical
from an engineering point of view.
4.4 Drainage
If the soil is undrained, the void ratio is fixed at its
pre-earthquake value which in turn largely controls
the strength. Undrained behaviour is usually
assumed, although this is not necessarily
conservative. It is possible that some zones may
expand to a looser state and a lower strength due to
local flow between loose and dense pockets.
Dilation associated with strain localization may also
induce local flow.
Granular soils deposited by man or nature tend to
be layered or laminated. Low permeability layers
may impede drainage causing a loose zone or
perhaps free water to form at the base of the layer.
4.5 Mixing
Large strains may cause mixing of layered soils,
which can greatly reduce the residual strength. A
uniform soil tends to have a higher void ratio than a
graded soil at the same relative density. When two
1072
Open symbols are undisturbed frozen samples.
Closed symbols are WP.
0.3
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
a Duncandam
,, JPitsand
Mildred Lake sand
Masseysand
+ Fraser River sand (WP)
-Bounds for Fraser River sand (Vaid 1998)
Figure 7. Strength ratio versus relative density
relatively uniform soils are mixed, without allowing
for volume change, the mix is now graded and will
have a lower residual strength than its individual
components (Byrne & Beaty 1998).
5 RESIDUAL STRENGTH RATIO, Sr/O'vo
5.1 Sr/dvo versus relative density
Simple shear test data is presented in terms of
residual strength ratio versus relative density, Dr, in
Figure 7. Strength ratio is seen to increase with
increasing relative density from a low of about 0.05
to 0.08 for Dr < 30%. This strength also depends on
the type of sand: Fraser River sand (including
Massey sand) shows consistently higher strengths
than Syncrude sand (J Pit and Mildred Lake sand) at
the same Dr.
5.2 Sr/dvo versus (NI)~o-cs
Undisturbed frozen samples have been recovered
and tested from a number of sites where penetration
testing was also performed. This allows a direct
relationship between strength ratio and normalized
penetration resistance corrected to clean sand
conditions, (N~)~o-cs, to be examined as shown in
Figure 8. Also shown in Figure 8 are residual
strengths estimated from case histories (Idriss 1998).
These have been converted to approximate strength
ratios by assuming the average vertical effective
stress was about 1 T/ft2. This approximation is not
unreasonable but does introduce some uncertainty.
 0.4 1

Mod. Seed & Harder (1990) / - / D

[Upper and Lower Bound] 0.5

0.3
g
Lr,

0
Lr,

s o
.e

0 -m
0
.$ 0.2
rn f
I
-0.5 0

0.1 I -1
0
Simple Shear

45
EXI

90
a, (")
0
Figure 9. Interpolation factor relating strength ratio
0 5 10 15 20
o\r 1 )60-cs
to .
a derived from hollow cylinder torsion tests.

Duncan dam (200,400,600 !@a)

J Pit sand
Mildred Lake sand
Massey sand
+ EQ-Induced Case Histories (Idriss, 1998)

Figure 8. Strength ratio versus (N1)60-cs

A future reevaluation of the case histories is
recommended.
The upper and lower bounds suggested by Seed &
Harder (1990) as well as a relationship proposed by
Idriss (1998) were also converted and shown. All
laboratory test data except the undisturbed tests from
Mildred Lake plot essentially within the Seed &
Harder bounds.
The Duncan dam data shows that while the
average (Ni)mCsincreased from 12 to 15.5 in the
field as the vertical effective stress increased from
200 kPa to 600 kPa, this did not result in an
increased residual strength ratio. This suggests there
may be a compensating confining stress or KT,
effect similar to that for triggering of liquefaction.
The compiled data does not permit a clear evaluation
of this effect, but suggests a correction similar to the
following:
KT, 1 - 0.3 x ( ( ~ ' v o/ P,J0.5- 1)
where Sr/dv0 is the strength ratio at any confining
stress, (Sr/dvO)lis the strength ratio at the reference
confining stress of 1 T/ft2, and P, is atmospheric
pressure in the selected units.
It appears that the line recommended by Idriss, as
modified, is appropriate for O'W = 1 T/ft2 and
represents the reference (Sdo'vo) 1 line. The
recommended residual strength ratio at a higher level
of confining stress may then obtained by using the
U
Figure 10. a, at points under slope.
reduction factor KT, .
The strength ratio obtained from the Idriss line in
Figure 8 is the strength appropriate for simple shear.
The strength in compression will be significantly
higher and the strength in extension lower. The
pattern of strength versus direction of loading, ao,
can be approximated using the interpolation factor
shown in Figure 9. This factor relates the strength
ratio at any . a to the strength ratio for the
compressive and simple shear directions:
The strength in compression is generally dilative
and a strength ratio not exceeding the drained value,
sin ~ C V ,is generally appropriate (0.5 to 0.6). The
(3) strength in extension could well be 1/3 or less of that
in compression. It is important when analyzing a
slope such as shown in Figure 10 that a strength
appropriate to the direction of loading be used.
6 POST LIQUEFACTION STRESS-STRAIN
A range of post liquefaction stress-strain response
from laboratory testing is shown in Figure 11. The

1073
 Residual o'3c=
0 CO
-I2 100
I D,,=40%
5
2
h
o- 50
,
b>
v
0 stress-strain response.
100
I D.-==
50
0 more for loose sand with (NI)~OC-S=
0 5
Axial strain, (%)
Figure 11. Range of post-liquefaction response
(after Vaid and Sivathayalan 1999).
data are for confining stresses in the range of 100
kPa to 1200 kPa; relative densities of 20%, 40% and
60%; and both compression and extension loading.
The direction of loading is very important with much
larger strains for extension loading. The response is
reasonably similar for relative densities of 40% and
60%, while a much softer response is observed for a
relative density of 20%. Figure 11 does not include
the initial response at very low stiffness, the length
of which is a function of the strain history.
After liquefaction is triggered, the soil stiffness
and strength is controlled by dilation as the stress
path climbs along the strength envelope in stress
space. A residual strength is reached if and when
dilation is supressed as the stress increases. Major
factors controlling the stiffness are governed by the
following relation:
where Gliq is the post-liquefaction stiffness, Be is the
elastic bulk modulus, and Dt is the ratio of the
plastic volumetric strain increment to the plastic
shear strain increment. This generally results in a
reduction of soil stiffness by a factor of about 100 to
1000, i.e. Gmax/Gliq = 100 to 1000.
For analysis purposes it is common to represent
the post-liquefaction stress-strain response as
bilinear (Fig. 12). The shear modulus Gliq is defined
by Sr and yr, the strain to mobilize the residual
Pre-Liquefaction
/A
I/ Post-Liquefaction
I
yr Shear Strain
Figure 12. Idealized pre- and post-liquefaction
strength. The data in Figure 11, together with
centrifuge data (Dobry 1998) and analyses (Beaty &
Byrne 1999) suggest that yr ranges between about
2% for denser sands with ( N ~ ) ~ o>- c15,
s to 6% or
5. These post
10
liquefaction curves which involve both the residual
strength and the strain to mobilize it can be used to
estimate liquefaction-induced displacements.
7 DISPLACEMENT ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
The state-of-practice for estimating liquefaction
response is usually a total stress approach:
1. Determine the zones that may be triggered to
liquefy from SHAKE or FLUSH analyses.
2. Use residual strengths in the liquefied zones
and evaluate the possibility of a flow slide from a
limit equilibrium approach.
3. If a flow slide is not predicted, use an
empirical approach such as Bartlett & Youd (1995)
or a mechanics-based approach to estimate
displacements.
When a mechanics-based approach is taken, a
simple method such as Newmark (1965) is generally
used. This considers the residual strength but not the
post-liquefaction stress-strain curves, as the method
assumes the soil to be rigid plastic.
Beaty and Byrne (1999) have proposed a
synthesized approach which combines the pre-
liquefaction, triggering, and post-liquefaction
response into a single analysis. A dynamic analysis
is carried out in which the specified earthquake
motion is applied at the base of the structure. The
time history of shear stress cycles is evaluated in
each element of the structure and cycles are
weighted in comparison to the stress pulse required
to cause liquefaction in 15 cycles. If and when
sufficient pulses occur in an element, that element
liquefies and is assigned post-liquefaction properties.
Each element may liquefy at a different time during
the shaking. As more elements liquefy the structure
softens, its response changes, and the displacements
1074
accumulate. A flow slide is predicted if sufficient
elements liquefy and their residual strength is not
adequate. The variation of residual strength with the
direction of loading is included. The procedure has
been applied to a number of case histories and the
predicted results are generally in good agreement
with field observations.
8 CONCLUSIONS
Conventional critical state soil mechanics suggests
that Sr,the residual or undrained strength at large
strain, is a function only of void ratio. Extensive
testing in the past 15 years suggests this is not so:
1. Soil fabric is vitally important and only
samples prepared by water pluviation appear to
simulate the behaviour of many undisturbed natural
soils. Samples prepared by moist tamping, a
commonly used approach, are not representative of
field behaviour.
2. Samples loaded in compression (major
principal stress in direction of deposition) are
generally dilative with an undrained strength greater
than their drained strength. Samples loaded in
extension generally have much lower strengths, and
samples loaded in simple shear are intermediate.
3. Tests on undisturbed frozen samples and water
pluviated samples show that S d d v o rather than Sr is
related to void ratio and relative density.
Undisturbed frozen samples have been recovered
and their Srldvo obtained directly fmm testing.
( N I ) ~ o .values
~ ~ were also obtained at these sites.
These results were compared with approximate
values of Sr/dv0 and ( N I ) ~ Oestimated
.~S from case
histories. The strength ratio fmm field and
laboratory testing are in reasonable agreement.
The residual strength versus (Nl)ao-er relationship
proposed by ldriss (1998) is considered appropriate
for confining stresses of about 1 T/A2. Laboratory
tests suggest that greater strengths are available at
higher confining stresses. However, there are
indications that strength does not increase linearly
with confining stress, and a reduction factor K :
, 71-83.
should be applied to estimates of Srlo'vo as
suggested in Equation 3. Future research is required
to verify this relationship. The strength so obtained
is considered suitable for loading in simple shear.
Significantly higher strengths can be used in zones
of compression loading, generally the drained
strength. while somewhat lower values should be
used in extension zones.
The comparison of laboratory and field data
indicate that obtaining the residual strength directly
from recovery and testing of undisturbed samples
should be pursued where practical.
The shear strains required to mobilize the residual
strength are generally in the range of 2% to 6% Or
more depending on the density of the material. The
1075
residual strengths and strains can be used in a
proposed liquefaction assessment procedure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The assistance of Siva Sivathayalan with several
figures is greatly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Bartlett, S.F., Youd, T.L. 1995. Empirical
prediction of liquefaction-induced lateral spread.
J. o/Geotech. Eng., ASCE, 121(4), 316-329.
Beaty, M.H. & Byme, P.M. 1999. Predicting
liquefaction displacements with application to field
experience. Proc. fh Canadian Conf on
Earthquake Engineering. In press.
Byme, P.M. & Beaty, M. 1998. Post-liquefaction
shear strength of granular soils: theoretical1
conceptual issues. Proc.. Workshop on post-
liquefaction shear strengfh o/ granular soils,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Casagrande, A. 1975. Liquefaction and cyclic
deformation of sands; a critical review. Proc. 5"
American Conf on Soil Mech. and Foundotion
Engineering, Buenos Aires, Vol5,79-133.
Castro, G. 1969. Liquefaction of sands. Ph.D.
Thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Dobry, R. & Abdoun, T. 1998. Post-triggering
response of liquefied sand in the free field and near
foundations. Geofech. Earfhquoke Engineering
and SoilDynamics III, ASCE, Vol. 1,270 - 300.
Idriss, I.M. 1998. Evaluation of liquefaction
potential, consequences and mitigation; an update.
Presentation notes, Vancouver Geotechnical
Society meeting, Vancouver B.C., Feb. 17, 1998.
Newmark, N.M. 1965. Effects of earthquakes on
dams and embankments. Geotechnique, June,
139-160.
Roscoe, K.H., Schoefield, A.N., & Wroth, C.P.
1958. On the yielding of soils. Geotechnique, 9,
Seed, R.B. & Harder, L.F. 1990. SPT-based
analysis of cyclic pore pressure generation and
undrained residual strength. H. Bolton Seed
Memorial Proceedings, Vol2., BiTech.
Stark, T.D. & Mesri, G. 1992. Undrained shear
strength of liquefied sands for stability analysis. J.
o/Geofech. Eng., ASCE, 118(11), 1727-1747.
Taylor, D.W. 1948. Fundamentals of soil
mechanics. I. Wiley and Sons, New York.
Vaid, Y.P. & Sivathayalan, S. 1999. Fundamental
factors affecting liquefaction susceptibility of
sands. Physics and Mechonics o/ Soil
Liquefaction. Proc. of inter. workshop, Baltimore,
Maryland, Sept. 10-11, 1998, A.A. Balkema.
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, %CO e Pinto (ed.)0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Seismic slope stability - The critical acceleration

Sarada K. Sarma
Civil Engineering Department, Imperial College, London, UK

Abstract
In this paper, the methods of determining the critical acceleration of a slip surface in a slope is discussed.
Also the role of critical acceleration in predicting the seismic displacement is discussed. A previously
published but unknown method of computing the critical acceleration is presented.

Introduction and ii) The limit analysis technique. These methods

Ever since the advent of the displacement criterion
for the design of slopes for earthquake loading
conditions, Newmark (1965), the critical
acceleration is becoming the dominant parameter in
the slope design. Critical acceleration is defined as
that acceleration which when applied to the slope
produces a state of incipient failure. This
acceleration is assumed to be constant over the slope
as if the slope is a rigid body and usually, the
acceleration refers to the horizontal component of
the acceleration. In the context of slope stability
analysis, the factor of safety is defined as the factor
by how much the available strength should be
reduced so that a state of incipient failure is reached.
The state of incipient failure is termed the limiting
equilibrium condition. Therefore, the two terms, the
critical acceleration and the factor of safety are both
representative of the available strength in some
sense. The critical acceleration relates to the load
factor while factor of safety relates to the strength
factor. Ultimately, both of them relate to the safety
of the slope and therefore one safety parameter can
be exchanged for the other, provided that other
parameters such as the geometry and strength
parameters remain the same.
Determination of critical acceleration
In the Soil Mechanics literature, there are many
methods that are available to determine the factor of
safety or the critical acceleration. These methods
may be classified as i) Limit equilibrium technique
are based on the assumption that soil behaves as a
rigid-perfectly plastic material- the material
transferring from rigid to the plastic state as soon as
the ultimate strength is reached. Under this limiting
condition a slip surface is formed and the mass
above the slip surface is ready to slide downhill. In
these methods, a possible slip surface is assumed. In
the limit equilibrium technique, a state of stress
along this surface is determined so that the free-body
above the slip surface can exist in equilibrium. This
state of stress, which is called the mobilised stress is
then compared with the available strength so that a
factor of safety can be determined. A factor of safety
greater than one implies that the mobilised stress is
less than the available and therefore safe while a
factor of safety less than one implies that the
mobilised stress is greater than the available and
therefore unsafe. A factor of safety equal to one
determines the state of incipient failure. There are
many methods available which uses this limit
equilibrium technique to determine the factor of
safety. For example, Fellenius (1936), Bishop
(1955), Janbu (1957), Morgenstern and Price (I 965),
Spencer (1967), Sarma (1973), Sarma( 1979), among
many others. The two methods developed by Sarma
determine the critical acceleration directly and the
factor of safety indirectly. The other methods
determine factor of safety directly and the critical
acceleration indirectly. These methods apply what is
known as the method of slices- in which the free
body is broken into many slices and by making
assumptions about the inter-slice forces, the
mobilised stresses are derived. Also, these methods

1077
uses vertical slices except for S m a (1 979) method.
The available strength is determined by using the
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Amongst these
methods, Fellenius method is called a simplified
method while the others are called rigorous methods.
Bishop and Janbu also provides simplified versions
of their methods. The simplified method is so called
because it does not satisfy the equilibrium conditions
rigorously while the rigorous methods do. These
methods are rigorous only within the context of the
equilibrium conditions but not rigorous so far as
stress determination is concerned. The compatibility
and continuity of stresses and displacement within
the slope are never considered. Bishop and Janbu
also provide simplified versions of their methods.
Bishop’s method uses circular arc as a possible slip
surface whilst the other methods use general slip
surfaces. Of the rigorous methods using general slip
surfaces, Janbu’s, Morgenstern & Price’s and Sarma
(I 973) methods are distinctly different methods
since they make distinctly different assumptions
regarding the inter-slice forces. Even though
Spencer’s technique of setting up the equations and
of solving them are completely different his
assumptions may be classified as a modified version
of the Morgenstern & Prices’s. In determining the
critical acceleration with the limit equilibrium
technique, the slip surface composed of an arc of a
logarithmic spiral provides a most convenient
solution, Prater (1979), Lighthall (1979). Due to the
property of the log-spiral, when moments are taken
about the centre of the spiral, the moments of the
normal stresses and the component of the shear
stress related to the normal stress disappears and the
solution for the critical acceleration becomes easy.
Lighthall’s solution differs from that of Prater in the
method of finding the minimum value of the critical
acceleration. Results fiom Lighthall’s work is
presented later. In the limit equilibrium technique,
the aim is to predict a normal stress distribution
along the slip surface from which the factor of safety
or the critical acceleration can be calculated. Later, a
simple method of calculating the critical acceleration
is presented which can also be used for deriving
factor of safety.
In the limit analysis method, there are two
approaches- the lower bound and the upper bound
approach. The two approaches are governed by
theorems. However, one can visualise the two
theorems in a practical way. The lower bound
theorem implies that if a state of stress can be found
with which the slope can survive (meaning that the
failure criterion is not violated any where in the
slope with the assumed stress), then it will survive.
1078
The upper bound theorem implies that if a kinematic
mechanism can be found by which the slope can fail
then it will fail. In the upper bound approach, the
equilibrium conditions are not checked while the
lower bound approach is based on equilibrium. The
true state of stress is anywhere between the two
bounds. In the slope stability analysis problems, the
lower bound approach is not convenient but the
upper bound approach with the associated flow rule
is very convenient. In the upper bound approach, a
failure mechanism is assumed similar to the assumed
slip surface of the limit equilibrium technique. The
work done by the external forces through a small
(virtual) displacement is equated to the work done
by the resisting forces. The use of the associated
flow rule cancels the work done by the normal
forces with the work done by the frictional part of
the shear forces, Chen (1975). Therefore the
knowledge of the normal forces along the slip
surface becomes non-essential. It is interesting to
find that the solution given by the Sarma (1979)
method using limit equilibrium technique and the
upper bound solution using associated flow rule
gives identical results. This is verified for a two-slice
problem. Note that Sarma (1979) method requires a
knowledge of the normal stress distribution while
the upper bound method does not. The reason for the
identical results is that in Sarma (1979) method, it is
assumed that the inter-slice surfaces are failure
surfaces.
In the context of slope stability analysis, it is of
interest to mention the method of characteristics.
The method characteristics is close to the lower
bound approach since it is based on the stress state
in the entire slope which is again at limiting
equilibrium. The method is based on the following
principle. If an element of soil at a point in the slope
is in a state of limiting equilibrium, then there exists
two failure lines through that point. These lines are
the conjugate failure lines. Sokolovski (1960)
defined two quantities 5 and q which depends on the
stress state and varies along these lines. Therefore,
starting from known boundary points where the
stress states are known, continuous lines can be
determined until these reach boundary points again
giving the required stress states at the boundary.
Alternatively, the geometry of the boundary may be
changed to satisfy a given boundary condition.
While this method is very suitable for determining
boundary loads such as in the bearing capacity or the
earth pressure problems, this is not so suitable for
determining critical acceleration or factor of safety
of slopes. In this method, the entire slope is in a state
of limiting equilibrium which is not necessarily the
state in a real slope.
Results
Prater (1979) and Lighthall (1979) described the
possible slip surface by a logarithmic spiral and
determined the critical acceleration for various
homogeneous slopes. Lighthall used effective stress
approach rather than the total stress approach while
Prater used only total stress approach. Even though,
the seismic loading condition is an undrained
situation, the effective stress is applicable provided
the pore water pressures can be predicted. The pore
pressure is represented by a ru parameter following
Bishop (1955). The pore water pressure U at a point
is expressed as a fraction of the overburden pressure
yh in this procedure so that u=ruyh. Leschchinsky
and San (1994) provided design charts in the form of
stability numbers which can be used to determine
the critical acceleration of slopes. Their method is
based on limit equilibrium technique but the critical
slip surface is found by using variational principles.
Prater's and Lighthall's results are identical for
identical geometry and material properties. Lighthall
presented his results in tabular forms for 5 different
slope gradients (tan p=1/1.5, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5) and
three different pore pressure parameter r,, (=O, 0.2,
0.4) values. The cohesion was given in the
dimensionless form of c'/yH and four different
values of c'lyH (=O, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1) were used. The
an le of internal friction 4' was varied from 10' to
i
40 in steps of 5'. In this paper, the tabular results
are translated into equation forms by curve fitting
and the constants of these equations are provided in
table 1. Because too many parameters are used, the
curve fitting results are exceptionally good. Note
that only horizontal accelerations were used and
there was no external water.
Table 1
ru c'/yH Pa 9a Fa qb rb
0
0.025 -7.2719 3.4739 2.2959 9.7347 0.8386
0.05 -6.8671 3.1763 1.679 8.1369 0.6444
0.1 -4.7764 1.6411 1.3844 6.6296 0.5272
0.2
0.025 -6.5929 3.1774 2.1229 9.3458 0.7807
0.05 -5.8664 2.5665 1.6102 7.9287 0.5898
0.1 -4.1681 1.3018 1.3069 6.6086 0.4742
0.4
0.025 -6.83 18 3.4838 1.8372 8.9259 0.6832
0.05 -4.9198 1.9128 1.5311 7.6775 0.526
0.1 -4.0763 1.3315 1.1502 6.5747 0.4098
For intermediate values of c'lyH and r,, values , the
critical acceleration values may be interpolated.
Extrapolation to values outside the chosen ones is
not recommended at this stage. Only toe-slip
surfaces are considered and therefore, for large
values of c and small slope angles, when slip
surfaces are likely to exit beyond the toe, there may
be small errors. For values of c/yH = 0.1 and r,,=O,
maximum error in k, of 0.008 is found for 5:l slope
with 4' = 15'. For other cases, the errors are small.
Figure 1: Definition of slope geometry.

Results for critical acceleration kg;

[See figure 1 for geometry of the slope]

k=4 0 + [c'~(yH)l.fc (1)

ko= (1-rU)tan(@'$) - ru tan p (2)
f, = a. tan 4' + b (3)
a = Pa tan2p + qa tan p + ra (4)
b = qb tan p + rb (5) Figure 2: Goodness of fit between observed
r,=u/yh k, (Lighthall's results) and the computed k,
U= pore pressure and yh= over burden pressure at a
from the curve fitting.
point

1079
Sliding block analysis
When the applied ground acceleration is bigger than
the critical, the factor of safety becomes less than
one temporarily and the mass will slide downhill.
Since the accelerations last for a very short duration,
the motion will stop after some time. The safety of
the slope is then assessed in terms of this
displacement. Newmark (1965) suggested the use of
the equivalent sliding block model to determine the
displacement of the sliding mass. In this model, the
mass of the sliding body (moving on a curved
surface) is placed on an equivalent plane surface so
that the same critical acceleration is obtained. Then
assuming that there is no change in the critical
acceleration during movement, the displacement is
computed by double integrating the equation of
motion of the sliding block. Newmark's model was
extended by Sarma (1975) to include the effect of
the cyclic pore water pressure. If the change of
critical acceleration can be predicted during
movement, then the change can be easily introduced
in a numerical model. The effect of change of
geometry of the slope during motion was included in
a two-block model by Ambraseys and Srbulov
(1995). A multi-block sliding model was introduced
by Stamatopoulos (1996). Work is presently in
progress at Imperial College to produce a multi-
block model to include the change of geometry and
also possible change of material properties during
motion. In this model, transfer of mass takes place
between blocks during motion from top towards the
bottom and extra mass that is introduced to the last
mass may drop off. There are several expressions
that can predict the displacements of the sliding
block, Sarma (1988):
where
4 = average angle of friction on the slip surface;
p = slope angle of the equivalent plane slip surface;
T = predominant period of the acceleration record;
k, = critical acceleration of the slip surface;
k,= peak acceleration of the record;
U = final displacement with the block sliding in
down-slope direction only;
g = acceleration due to gravity. The dimension of g
determines the dimension of U.
1080
An alternative expression is, Ambraseys & Menu
(1988)
Conclusion:
The critical acceleration of a slope is an important
parameter in deciding the seismic safety of a slope.
The factor of safety during an earthquake may drop
below one for a short duration but the effect of the
failure on the slope may be negligible. The sliding
block model is an ideal way to determine the
consequences of the failure. The multi-block model
may show a way to compute large displacements
when the change of geometry becomes an important
consideration.
Appendix:
A simple method of computing using limit
equilibrium technique.
As mentioned in the main text, limit equilibrium
technique is based on predicting the normal stress
distribution along the slip surface. The solution
therefore simplifies if the estimation of normal stress
(Tn is performed directly instead of through the inter-
slice forces. This solution was published in Sarma
(1979) and presented here again for easy reference.
Figure 3 shows a slope with a possible slip surface.
We assume that the normal stress distribution on the
slip surface can be expressed by
where q is a known function representing the
effective stress and h is an unknown constant to be
determined from the solution.
We assume that under the action of the total weight
W and the seismic load k,W and with the assumed
normal stress distribution, the slipped mass is in
limiting equilibrium. Assuming Mohr-Coulomb
failure criterion, we get the shear stress 7 as
 / /
..... ................................. ......................
Figure 3: Geometry of a slip surface in a slope and a
possible normal stress distribution.
Therefore, if there are no other external forces, we
can write the vertical and horizontal equilibrium of
the possible sliding mass as
j[o, + ZZ]&
dY = w
j[T -*I&d o = k,W
In equations (3) and (4), y (x) represents the slip
surface. If we assume that the slip surface is
composed of segments of straight line, then dy/dx =
tan a where a is the slope of the slip surface. If q
can be defined as an integrable function, the
equations (3) and (4) can be solved simultaneously
for 3L and k.The solution therefore depends on the
assumed function q. As in all limit equilibrium
methods, the results should be checked for
acceptability. It is found that the following
expression for q gives satisfactory results,
particularly when the slip surface is the one giving
the smallest critical acceleration.
cos qs
q = [($ - U) cos ~Y-CI (sin p + sin 41)]
1 + sin O, sin 4'
(5)
where p = 2 a - 4'
yh = overburden pressure at the point on the
slip surface
and U = pore water pressure at the same point.
In order to compare the present result with other
existing methods, it is essential to check the
acceptability and the acceptability of the solution
should determine the usefulness of the method.
........... ' Slip Surface
\
References:
Newmark N. (1965): Effects of earthquakes on dams
and embankments. Geotechnique, 15, 139-160.
(3) Fellenius W. (1936): Calculation of the stability of
earth dams. Transactions, 2nd Congress on Large
Dams, Washington DC, 4,445-459.
(4)
Bishop A.W. (1955): The use of slip circle in the
stability analysis of slopes. Geotechnique, 5 , 1, 7-17.
Janbu N. (1957): Earth pressures and bearing
capacity calculations by generalised procedure of
slices. Proc. 4' Int. Conf. Soil Mech. & Found.
Engineering, 2,207-2 12.
Morgenstern N.and Price V. (1965): The analysis of
the stability of general slip surfaces. Geotechnique,
15, 1,79-93.
Sarma S.K. (1973): StabiIity analysis of
embankments and slopes. Geotechnique, 23, 3, 423-
433.
Spencer E. (1967): A method of analysis of the
stability of embankments assuming parallel
interslice forces. Geotechnique, 17, 1, 11-26.
Sarma S.K. (1979a): esponse and stability of earth
dams during strong earthquakes. Misc. Paper GL-
79-13, Geotechnical Laboratory, US Army Corps of
Engineers Waterways Experiment Station,
Vicksburg, Miss. USA.
Sarma S.K. (1979b): Stability analysis of
embankments and slopes. Jour., GT Div., ASCE,
105, GT12, 1511-1524.
Prater E.G. (1 979): Yield acceleration for seismic
stability of slopes. Jour. GT Div., ASCE, 105, GT5,
682-687.
1081
Lighthall P. (1979): Dimensionless charts for
critical acceleration and static stability of earth
slopes. MSc Dissertation, Imperial College, Civil
Engineering Dept., Soil Mechanics & Engineering
Seismology Section, London SW7.

Chen W.F.(1975): Limit analysis and soil plasticity.

Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Sokolovski V. (1960): Statics of soil media.

Translator Jones & Schofield, London, Butterworths
Scientific.

Leschchinsky D. and San K. (1994): Pseudostatic

seismic stability of s1opes:Design charts. Jour., GT
Div., ASCE, 120,9, 1514-1532.

Sarma S.K. (1988): Seismic response and stability of

earth dams. Seismic risk assessment and design of
building structures, Ed. A. Koridze, Omega
Scientific, 143-160.

Ambraseys N. and Srbulov M. (1995): Earthquake

induced displacements of slopes. Soil Dynamics and
Earthquake Engineering, 14, 59-7 1.

Ambraseys N. and Menu J. (1988): Earthquake

induced ground displacements. Earthquake
Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 16, 7, 985-
1006.

Stamatopoulos C. (1996): Sliding system predicting

large permanent co-seismic movements of slopes.
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 25,
1075-1093.

1082
 EarthquakeGeotechnicalEngineering, Sic0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

A review of experimental studies of seismic behavior of reinforced soil

structures
Nicholas Sitar & Lili Nova-Roessig
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CaliJ':,USA

ABSTRACT: The seismic design of reinforced soil slopes and walls has received considerable increased
attention in recent years. Experimental studies have formed an essential basis for verifying the expected
performance of these structures. A review of published information shows a wealth of available experimental and
field data. In general, these data suggest that reinforced soil structures are quite flexible and deformable. More
importantly, they appear to be very resilient and do not tend to fail catastrophically even under the most extreme
conditions.

1. INTRODUCTION surfaces. In general, the range of tie lengths used in

The last decade has seen an ever-increasing use of
various types of reinforcements for the construction of
slopes, walls, and embankments in a variety of
applications. While the analysis of the stability and
performance of these structures is becoming quite
routine for static loading, there are no generally
accepted methods for seismic analysis and design.
Fortunately, so far the experience gathered in recent
earthquakes suggests that reinforced soil structures
tend to perform very well (Sitar et al., 1997).
However, given the relatively limited number of
structures which experienced seismic loading,
experimental studies are an essential element in
developing an adequate data base needed for the
rational development of seismic design methods. The
purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the
experimental data on seismic response of reinforced
soil structures.
Extensive experimental efforts have been made
over the last 20 years to verify and support the
assumptions of the various seismic design methods.
Dynamic loading has been simulated via tilting of
the model walls, blasting and shaking table
experiments, including 1-g shalung and dynamic
centrifuge tests. However, although many tests have
been performed, there is limited information on the
failure mode and magnitude of wall deformations
during seismic loading.
More importantly, some of the model structures
were constructed using reinforcements with
unusually low slip-friction angles or tensile
strengths, which necessitated longer tie lengths and
may have affected the location of the failure
the model tests (0.33H to 2.5H) was greater than that
typically used in practice (0.7H to 1H). Further,
some of the model components such as the
reinforcements or facing elements may have been
too stiff for prototype conditions. In fact, some tests
were even carried out without accounting for
similitude. Finally, model size may have had an
effect on the seismic response, since stress levels
may not coincide with prototype conditions, as in the
case of l-g shaking table tests. The various
published experimental studies and the basic details
of the testing programs are summarized in Table 1.
2. TILT UP TESTS
Vagneron and Adams (1972) performed the earliest
seismic studies of reinforced soil walls. A pseudo-
static force was applied by tilting the models, which
were 28 to 41 cm tall and reinforced with strips of
aluminum foil 1.4H long. Internal rupture and
pullout factors of safety were about 1.5 and 2.25,
respectively. Dry sand with relative density of 63%
and friction angle of 44" was used for the backfill
material. Yield accelerations on the order of 0.2g to
0.3g were computed for the model tests.
Interestingly, the Mononobe-Okabe analyses
consistently predicted higher values of failure
surface angles and lateral earth pressures than those
observed in the model tests. Nevertheless, test
results seemed to support theoretical predictions that
under seismic loading failure surfaces will be flatter
and lateral earth pressures will be greater.

1083
3.1-g SHAKING TABLE EXPERIMENTS
Shaking table experiments have been used extensively
to test the response of reinforced soil structures due to
seismic loading. While these tests are relatively easy
to perform, they pose some of the greatest challenges
in terms of properly scaling the necessary
relationships. In particular, under 1-g loading the
granular backfill will be invariably dilatant due to the
low confining stresses produced in typical small-scale
shaking table models. Similarly, the maximum
mobilized shear stress will not accurately model that
of a larger structure, since the shear strength of
granular soils is directly proportional to the confining
stress. Consequently, unless the properties of the
reinforcements and the magnitude of the input
motions are carefully scaled, the results of these types
of model tests are sometimes difficult to interpret even
qualitatively. For the purposes of the following
discussion the shaking table experiments are classified
as small-scale for models less than 1 m in height.
3.1 Small-Scale Shaking Table Models
In the early 1970's, Richardson and Lee (1974) ran a
series of shaking table tests on reinforced soil walls
with heights of 28 to 42 cm. The reinforcement
strips were made of mylar and aluminum foil with
rupture strengths of 4.5 and 0.5 kg, respectively.
Reinforcement lengths ranged from 0.6H to 2.2H.
The backfill consisted of dry sand with relative
density and friction angle of 63% and 44",
respectively. In experiments designed to fail by tie
rupture, failures were sudden and catastrophic, and
the failure surfaces were contained in the reinforced
zone. However, in tests designed to fail by tie
pullout, catastrophic failures did not occur and
failure was caused by excessive deformation. The
tests also showed that amplification of input motion
occured and that the reinforced soil walls responded
like elastic oscillators over a range of motions (at
small amplitudes) used in the tests.
In the late 1970's and early 1 9 8 0 ' ~Wolfe
~ et
al. (1978), Wolfe and Rea (1980), Rea and Wolfe
(1980), and Sommers and Wolfe (1984) conducted a
large series of shaking table tests using various input
motions, wall heights, tie lengths and reinforcement
materials. The backfill material consisted of dry
sand with a relative density of 80% and friction
angle of 35". The input motions included sinusoidal
horizontal and vertical waves, and recorded
earthquake records, which were modified ir_
accordance with similitude. They concluded that the
key factors affecting the yield acceleration and
seismic displacements are the static factor of safety,
1084
peak ground acceleration, and the frequency ratio.
Also, they suggested that vertical motions could
generally be disregarded in seismic design.
Nagel (1985) constructed eight 32-cm walls
reinforced with satin ribbon strips. The tests showed
that once movement initiated, the wall acceleration
did not remain constant with time as predicted by the
sliding block theory, although a sustainable
acceleration seemed to develop after continued
shaking. All the walls reportedly failed by pullout of
the reinforcement ties.
Shaking table and tilt up tests were performed by
Koseki et al. (1998) on 50-cm high walls, reinforced
with 3-mm wide strips of phosphor bronze. Dry
uniformly graded sand was used for the backfill.
The shaking table models were shaken with
sinusoidal motions at a frequency of 5 Hz, and the
tilt table models were performed at a rate of
1'/minute until significant displacements were
observed. Failure planes inclined at 40 to 70" were
observed although none of the reinforcements
ruptured. Overturning accompanied by simple shear
deformation of the reinforced backfill was reported
as the major failure mode. Analysis using ordinary
pseudo-static seismic stability methods under-
estimated the observed seismic stability of
reinforced soil walls.
3.2 Large-scale Shaking Table Models
The development of large capacity shaking tables
during the 1980's allowed the testing of larger-scale
models. Koga et al. (1988) and Koga and Washida
(1992) performed a series of tests on 1 to 1.8 meter
embankments constructed using back-to-back
reinforced soil slopes. They used sheets and strips of
various reinforcing materials such as geofabrics,
geonets and reinforcing bars. Some of the
reinforcements were anchored behind the slopes.
The reinforced backfill consisted of dry sand with a
friction angle of 33" and relative density of 50%.
Sinusoidal input motions with amplitudes of 0.1g to
0.8g were used to load the models. They observed
that: (1) the seismic resistance increases if a
reinforcing element of high tensile stiffness is used
to anchor the embankment; (2) the embankment
crest settles less as reinforcement spacing decreases;
and (3) deformations increase as the slope becomes
steeper.
Fairless (1989) conducted a set of six tests on
one-meter walls reinforced with sand-covered
aluminum strips. Both sinusoidal and recorded
earthquake input motions were used for the tests.
Base motion amplifications greater than three and a
decrease in base motion magnification as the base
acceleration approached the yield acceleration were lengths and reinforcement strength. However, most
noted. Failure was ductile and partially or totally notably, none of the models failed catastrophically in
Contained within the reinforced soil mass. any of the tests.
Sakaguchi et al. (1992) and Sakaguchi (1996) Sugimoto et al. (1994) performed a series of
performed a series of shaking table studies on walls shaking table studies on walls and slopes, 70 and
reinforced with tissue paper, nonwoven fabrics and 105 cm tall, and reinforced with tensar grid. Moist
grids. The models were 30 and 150 cm tall, and sand with a friction angle of 43" was used for the
shaken with a series of sinusoids with a frequency of backfill material and placed at a relative compaction
4 Hz and amplitudes ranging from 0.4 to 0.8g. The of 92%. Similarity laws were not rigorously
30-cm models were not designed according to followed. The models were shaken with sinusoidal
traditional similarity rules. The facing material motions with frequencies ranging from 5 to 40 Hz
consisted of lightweight foam blocks. Results with amplitudes of up to 0.6 g. A resonant response
showed that the stability of reinforced soil walls was found at about 17 to 20 Hz. The dynamic forces
increases with more reinforcements, longer tie in the reinforcements were found to be proportional
Table 1 Summary of Experimental Studies of Seismic Response of Reinforced Soil Walls and Slopes
Reference S ~ I GType Model Prototype Input Bacldill Reinf. Facing Reported
ture H a . H-m. L/H Motion Soil Matrl. Material Failure
Vagneron & tilt 3.4 1.3 tilting dry alum. curved contained, linear f.s.
28-41
Adams 1972 UP -4.9 -1.5 sand strip alum. (ruDture)
Richardson mylad curved (rupture)contained, linear
sinusoid dry
1974,75 -5.2 -2.2 sand alum,strip alum. fqductile (pullout)
Richardson
et al. 1977 scale
610 6.1 0.8 blasting i:ti steel strip panel
am-. outward tilt of 5.5%
Wolfeetal. 1978, W shake 31-61 3.7 0.5 sinusoid dry mylat/alum curved partly contained, ductile
80,84 (UCLA) dW table -7.1 -2.5 EQ sand stripkheet alum. (pullout); rigid, block-like
Chidaet al. 1982 W half 300 6 0.8 sinusoid sand
Nagel&
Elms 1985
shake
table
32 3.7 1 sinusoid :zd steel strip concr.panel

strip
thick
flat alum.
not taken to failure
(part1y)contained
(bi)linear, ductile
Casey
1988
Casey, et al.
centri.
dyn. 15 7.3 0.7
dyn.
EQ
wi:Tsh
,",:,d'
sand, wire mesh
fla:2tm.
thick
partly contained f.s.,
rigid, block-like
partly contained f.s.,
l 5 7.3 0.7 EQ loam
1991 centri. strip flat alum. rigid, block-like
Kogaet al. I dS shake steelbar,p wraparound some settlement,
100, 7.3 0.5 sinusoid dry
1988,91 dW table 180 -2.3 sand gdgwkxhle sandbag lateral movement
Fairless shake 7.6 0.7 sinusoid dry smkcakd thick partly contained, bilinear
1989 table -1 EQ sand alum.strip flat alum. f.s., ductile
Murata, et al. dS half 248 o.4 sinusoid dry grid gabion, vert & horiz settlement;
1992,94 dW scale EQ sand sheet concr. panel liquefaction of foundation
Sakaguchi W shake 30, n/a, .33 sinusoid dry paper, foam, ductile,
et al. 1992 S table 150 -33 sand m gn d block large movements
1996 W dyn. 15, 4.5, .33 sinusoid dry geotextile wraparound ductile,
S centri. 15 4.5 -1 sand geogrid block large movements
Sugimoto W shake 70, 6.3 sinusoid moist tensar ductile; large lateral/
sandbag
et al. 1994 S table 105 EQ sand sheet vertical movement
Bathurst et al.
1996
shake 102 6.1 0.7 sinusoid
S table
y:d weak
geogrid
'OnCrete
block
toppling/sliding of top
facing block
Koseki et al. tilthhk full height p t € y c o m k d / ~ k
50 0.4 sinusoid dry grid strip
1998 tab sand rigid facing overturning; no rupture
Matsuo et al.
1998
shake 100
table 140
OS4 sinusoid
-0.7
iyd geogrid
full height/ partly contained f.s.; no
woodpanel rupture
Howard dyn. 31 7.3 0.5 sinusoid dry barmat,riW thick blocklike-linear, uncon-
1999 dW centri. -1.4 EQ,step sand steelsznp flat alum. tained f.s. (1 model only)
Nova-Roessig S dS dyn. 15 7.3 0.7 sinusoid dry geotamlesheet, wraparound ductile, large lateral and
& Sitar 1998,99 dW centri. 38 -0.9 EQ,step sand gndstnps metal grid vertical movements
Note: f.s. - failure surface: W - reinforced soil wall (I-sided): S - reinforced soil slope ( 1 -sided) dW - reinforced soil wall (2-
sided embankment): dS - reinforced soil slope (2-sided embankment)

1085
to the acceleration amplitude, and the tie forces in cohesive backfill, increasing the relative density of
the lower layers increased significantly at amplitudes the granular backfill, and inclining the
greater than about 0.4g. Again, failure occurred in a reinforcements all had the effect of decreasing
ductile manner with significant vertical and observed deformations, as shown in Figure 1. Most
horizontal movements. significantly, they found that the yield accelerations
Bathurst et al. (1996) performed shaking table of the MSE systems were unconservatively smaller
studies on four 102-cm tall, reinforced segmental than those computed using a pseudo-static analysis.
walls. The walls were reinforced with five layers of
a weak geogrid and concrete blocks (10 cm wide
from toe to heel by 3.4 cm high) were used for the
facing. They found that the connections between the
reinforcement and the facing block were important
in limiting seismically-induced displacements near
the wall face.
Matsuo et al. (1998) performed shaking table
studies on four 100 cm high reinforced soil walls, one
140 cm high reinforced soil wall, and one 100 cm high
reinforced soil slope. The walls were reinforced
layers of geogrid 0.4H to 0.7H long, and the facings
were made of discrete or continuous wooden panels. Figure 1 Effect of Density, Tie Inclination and
Dry Toyoura sand was placed at a relative density of Cohesion on Displacements (after Casey et al, 1991)
60%. The models were shaken with sinusoidal
motions at a frequency of 5 Hz for 20 cycles. The Sakaguchi et al. (1992) and Sakaguchi (1996)
vertical walls with the discrete facings deformed performed a series of centrifuge tests on walls
outwardly with the maximum displacement located at reinforced with geogrids and nonwoven geotextiles.
the midheight. Although none of the reinforcements All of the walls were 15 cm tall and were built with
ruptured, large deformations were observed. Most dry sand compacted to a unit weight of 15 kN/m3.
importantly, however, their results showed that The models were subjected to sinusoidal loading.
increasing the reinforcement length fi-om 0.4H to 0.7H The more significant results, fi-om the point of view
reduced lateral displacements, and the inclined slope of seismic stability analysis, were their observations
deformed less than the vertical walls. that increasing the length and stifhess of the
reinforcements reduced seismically-induced
deformations up to a threshold value beyond which
4. DYNAMIC CENTRIFUGE MODELS there was no further benefit. A plot showing the
effect of reinforcement length is presented in Figure
In recent years, the use of centrifuges for 2. These results suggest that there is very little
geotechnical model testing has gained increasing benefit in extending the reinforcements beyond
popularity, as large capacity centrifuges became 0.7H, which is typical of static designs.
available. The important advantage of centrifuge
testing is that stress distribution can correctly be
scaled. On the other hand, the small scale of the
models puts a premium on high quality of model
construction and on reproducibility of experimental
procedures.
Casey (1988) and Casey et al. (1991) performed a
series of dynamic centrifuge tests on walls
reinforced with bar mats. The 15 cm models were
reinforced with horizontal and inclined wire screen,
and built with different relative densities of granular
backfill ranging from 32% to 95%. A mixture of
sand and loam was used to model cohesive backfill
in one experiment. The centrifuge testing was Figure 2 Effects of Reinforcement Length on
conducted at 50g. They found that the MSE system Seismically-Induced Displacements (after
was ductile and could experience large Sakaguchi, 1996)
deformations. As would be expected, the use of

1086
 Additionally, while the walls deformed significantly
under the applied loads they showed no signs of
impending catastrophic failures.
More recently, Howard (1 999) performed a series
of centrifuge tests on 31 cm walls. Dry sand was
used for the backfill material and was placed at a
relative density of 65%. The reinforcement strips
were made fiom steel mesh or ribbed metal bars and
lengths varied from 0.5H to 0.7H (the top 4 layers of
one wall had reinforcement length of 1.4H). The
walls shaken with a range of motions, including
scaled Santa Cruz and Kobe motions corrected for
similitude. At peak base accelerations less than
about 0.5 g, the base motions were found to be
amplified, and deamplification occurred at larger
base motions. The data also showed that by
increasing the length of the top layers, seismically-
induced displacements could be reduced. However,
even though the walls experienced base shaking of
up to 0.85 g (prototype), none of the walls failed
catastrophically. In general, the walls displaced
laterally (2- 1O%H cumulative) with maximum
deformations located around the mid-section of the
walls. In a test with the shortest reinforcements
(L=0.5H), a failure surface formed behind the
reinforced mass forming a graben wedge, suggesting
a significant lateral translation of the whole
structure.
Finally, Nova-Roessig and Sitar (1998) and
Nova-Roessig (1999) report the results of a series of
centrifuge experiments on geotextile-reinforced, 2V:
1H slopes and wire-mesh reinforced vertical walls,
constructed with dry sand backfill at relative
densities of 55% and 75%. All of the slopes were
designed to a true, static factor of safety of 1.5.
Reinforcement length was varied from 0.7 to 0.9 H.
Consistent with the other experimental observations
discussed here, they found that a catastrophic failure
of reinforced soil slopes by reinforcement rupture
does not occur even under extreme shaking
conditions. The most significant factors controlling
the deformation of the slopes were found to be
reinforcement stiffness and backfill density, with the
magnitude of deformations decreasing with
increasing stifhess and density, as should be
expected.
5. FULL-SCALE AND HALF-SCALE MODELS
The shear size and cost of full-scale or half-scale
models limits the opportunities for the performance
of such test, and case histories are typically used
instead. Nevertheless, a limited number of such tests
has been performed.
Richardson et al. (1977) built a full-scale wall
1087
with a height of 6.1 m. Steel strips were used to
reinforce the wall, and the backfill consisted of a
sandy gravel compacted to 65% relative density.
The wall was designed only for static conditions.
Dynamic loading was applied using explosives. The
test results showed that the tie forces were smaller
than those predicted from small-scale shaking table
tests. After undergoing 20 explosive tests with a
maximum horizontal base acceleration of 1.46 g, the
wall was left with a permanent 5.5% tilt.
Chida et al. (1982) performed shaking table tests
on 3 m walls reinforced with steel strips. The wall
was shaken on a vibrating table with sinusoidal
motions with frequencies between 2 and 7 Hz and
amplitudes of 0.1 to 0.4g. Amplification of the base
motion greater than three was observed. An even
distribution of dynamic force increments with depth
was observed in the reinforcements.
Finally, Murata et al. (1994) constructed a 2.5 m
embankment with gabions at each reinforcement
(geogrid) layer and continuous rigid facing on each
side. Two vertical walls were placed back to back
and tied together at three locations by the
reinforcements. The embankment was subjected to
various sinusoidal (2 and 3.4 Hz) and simulated
earthquake motions with maximum accelerations of
0.1 to 0.5 g and 0.5g, respectively. Test results
showed amplification of the base motion ranging
from 1.5 to 2 at the crest. The embankment did not
fail catastrophically, even when the lower soils
liquefied, and settlements of up to 3 cm were
observed at the crest of the embankment adjacent to
the facing.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The experimental data reviewed herein have shown
that reinforced soil walls can undergo some yielding
and still remain serviceable. The movement of the
walls or slopes tends to occur in small steps, similar
to Newmark’s sliding block theory. Both field and
experimental data consistently show the inherent
flexibility of reinforced soil walls and slopes under
dynamic loading. In fact, in most of the model
studies, the walls were able to maintain their
integrity even under repeated very severe seismic
shaking. Hence, the experimental data show that
deformations rather than limit equilibrium are the
limiting parameter and need to be considered in the
seismic design of these structures.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was performed at the University of
California, Berkeley as part of a research project
funded by the California Department of
Transportation, Award No. RTA-59A130-5.
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Earthquake Engrg., Vol. 7, pp. 273-280.
Richardson, G.N., Feger, D., Fong, A., and Lee,
K.L. (1977). “Seismic Testing of Reinforced
Earth Walls,” J. Geot. Engrg. Div. ASCE, Vol. 103,
No.GT1, pp. 1-17.
Richardson, G.N. and Lee, K.L. (1974). Response of
Model Reinforced Earth Walls to Seismic Loading
Conditions, Report to NSF, UCLA-Engrg. 74 12.
Sakaguchi, M. (1996). “A Study of the Seismic
Behavior of Geosynthetic Reinforced Walls in
Japan,” Geosynthetics Int., Vol. 3,No. 1, pp. 13-30.
Sakaguchi, M., Muramatsu, M., and Nagura, K.
(1992). “A Discussion on Reinforced Embank-
ment Structures Having High Earthquake Resis-
tance,” Proc. Int. Symp. on Earth Rein$ Practice,
Fukuoka, Japan, Vol. 1, pp. 287-292.
Sitar, N., Nova-Roessig, L., Ashford, S. and Stewart,
J.P. (1997). “Seismic Response of Steep Natural
Slopes, Structural Fills, and Reinforced Soil
Slopes and Walls,” Proc. 14‘” Int. Con$ on Soil
Mech. and Found. Engrg., pp. 341-350.
Sommers, S.A. and Wolfe, W.E. (1984). “Earth-
quake Induced Responses of Model Retaining
Walls,” Proc. 8“’ World Conf on Earthquake En-
gineering, Vol. 3, pp. 5 17-524.
Sugimoto, M., Ogawa, S. and Moriyama, M.
(1994). “Dynamic Characteristics of Reinforced
Embankments with Steep Slope by Shaking Model
Tests,” Recent Case Histories of Permanent
Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls, 11th
Seiken Symp., Tokyo, Japan, pp. 271-275.
Vagneron, J.J. and Adams, B.D. (1972). Pseudo Sta-
tic Studies: Response of Model Reinforced Earth
Walls to Seismic Loading Conditions, Report to
NSF, Project GI 38983, UCLA-Engrg. 7412.
Wolfe, W.E., Lee, K.L., Rea, D., and Yourman,
A.M. (1978). “The Effect of Vertical Motion on
the Seismic Stability of Reinforced Earth Walls,”
Proc. Symp. on Earth Reinforcement, ASCE,
Pittsburgh, PA, pp. 856-879.
Wolfe, W.E. and Rea, D. (1980). Earthquake
Induced Deformations in Reinforced Earth Walls,
Report to NSF, UCLA-ENG-8027.
Codes, standards and safety evaluation
- Theme lecture
- General report
- Panelist’s contributions
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, S&o e Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163

Codes, standards and seismic safety evaluation of earth structures

W. D. Liam Finn
Kagawa University,Takamatsu,Japan & Civil Engineering Department, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver,B. C , Canada

ABSTRACT: The seismic provisions of Eurocode 8 and UBC 1997 relating to seismic demand,
representation of ground motion, site amplification and seismic risk are reviewed against the background of
data from major earthquakes over the last ten years. The evolution of codes and standards in support of
performance-based seismic design is traced and some important trends are identified. Methods for seismic
safety evaluation of earth structures, especially embankment dams, which have evolved in the last decade are
also critically reviewed.

1 INTRODUCTION The study and interpretation of the huge volume

The primary objective of the seismic provisions in
building codes has been the protection of the lives
of building occupants by preventing the collapse of
the building. Life safety was also the motivating
factor in the development of standards controlling
the design of dams and other critical structures. The
huge losses sustained from earthquake damage
during the last decade, in particular from the
California earthquakes at Loma Prieta 1989 and
Northridge, Los Angeles 1994, and the Kobe
earthquake in Japan in 1995 have led to the concept
of perfonnance-based seismic design. Not only life
safety but also the damageability and reparability of
a building have become issues in seismic design.
Performance criteria have also become the
controlling factors in the design of remediation
measures for embankment dams with potentially
liquefiable soils in the embankment or foundation.
Performance is defined in terms of tolerable
displacements. Large savings in remediation costs
have been achieved by designing remediation
measures to limit displacements rather than to
achieve factors of safety typically in the range 1.2 to
1.3 (Finn, 1993, 1998a, 1998b).
Perfonnance-based design presents the major
challenge to engineers of how to estimate damage
and displacements reliably. The methods for
displacement analysis for both buildings and soil
structures are relatively new and still need
validation. Displacement analyses demand time
histories of motion which reflect properly the
seismic response characteristics of the structural
environment. Estimating these motions can still be
a complicated task.
of strong motion data accumulated in the last
decade has greatly clarified our understanding of
the variability of ground motions and the
seismological and geological parameters that
control the recorded response. Modern codes such
as Eurocode 8 (1 993) and UBC (1997) reflect these
developments up to their date of publication.
This review of codes and standards is limited to
issues of direct interest to geotechnical earthquake
engineers. Some of these issues are specification of
ground motions at a site, selection of design ground
motions, complex issues such as the effects on
ground motion of topography, deep basin edges,
and directivity of seismic waves, seismic lateral
pressures, liquefaction, safety standards for dams
and the seismic safety evaluation of existing
embankment dams, especially dams with liquefiable
soils in the dam or foundation.
There are two important publications which
provide an up-to-date critical evaluation of the state
of knowledge of theoretical and empirical
estimation of ground motions and the important
parameters that control seismic response that are
particularly helpful to geotechnical earthquake
engineers. These are a state-of-the-art paper by
Somerville (1998) on ground motions and the
JanuarylFebruary 1997 special issue of
Seismological Research Letters published by the
Seismological Society by America dealing with
attenuation relations for ground motions. These
reports form the basis for the general review of
ground motions in the next section.
As far as possible, all these topics will be
reviewed in the context of the relevant seismic
provisions of Eurocode 8 (1993) and UBC (1997)

1091
the national safety standards for dams proposed by
the Canadian Dam Safety Association (CDSA,
1995) and the more sophisticated levels of practice
for the seismic safety evaluation of embankment
dams (Finn, 1993, 1998a).
2 SEISMIC ACTION
2.1 Code Representation
The seismic action for code design is usually
specified by a response spectrum. The spectrum is
based on a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and
represents ground motion having a specified annual
probability of exceedance.
The trend in modem codes is to base design on
an equal hazard spectrum, that is, a spectrum that
has an equal probability of exceedance at all
periods. In Eurocode 8 the design spectrum (Fig. 1)
has a probability of exceedance of 10% in 50 years
corresponding to a probability of 1/475. This
spectrum is controlled by the design ground
acceleration as, the soil factor S, a damping
correction factor q , which has a value of 1 for 5%
viscous damping and PO which is the maximum
normalised spectral value. S,(T) is the elastic
spectral ordinate.
In W3C (1997) the annual probability of
exceedance is 2% in 50 years, or an annual
probability of 1/2475. The rationale for selecting a
target probability is not always evident. In the case
of UBC (1997) the probability was selected to
ensure that eastern USA would have adequate
protection against less frequent significant events in
a unified national building code. The previous
probability level of 10% in 50 years captured the
effect of larger events in the west where the
difference in magnitude between low and medium
range probability ground motion was not large.
However, in the eastern USA to include risk from
the larger earthquakes it was essential to adopt a
lower probability threshold of exceedance.
T=
,O T, T,
T (sec)
Fig. 1. Eurocode 8 design spectrum.
1092
The new Canadian code now under development
will also adopt the 2% in 50 years probability of
exceedance and for the same reasons. Lowering the
probability level increases the ground motions in
both the East and the West but will not lead to
significant changes in seismic design in the West.
Buildings in the West designed using the older
codes have been shown to have substantial
overstrength factors which up to now have been
ignored. Taking these into account, it is possible to
absorb without penalty a significant amount of the
extra seismic demand in the West due to the lower
probability design motions.
2.2 Review of Seismic Ground Motions
A major problem in determining equal hazard
spectra by probabilistic analysis is characterising
the variability in ground motions. Two types of
uncertainty in ground motion estimates have been
identified; aleatory uncertainty due to the random
nature of response to earthquakes and epistemic
uncertainty which is due to our lack of knowledge
of the processes linking a seismic event to a
resulting ground motion at a site. More research
and more data can reduce epistemic uncertainty, but
the aleatory uncertainty remains. At the practical
level, there are two important sources of variability
(Abrahamson and Youngs, 1992). One is the
variability of average ground motions from one
event to the next, and the other is the variability in
ground motions between sites equidistant from the
earthquake in a given event. Youngs et al. (1995)
found that for crustal earthquakes larger than M=6,
the event to event variability was insignificant
compared to the intra-event.
A key element in seismic hazard analysis is the
ground motion model or attenuation relation.
Variation of ground motion parameters about the
mean attenuated motions are usually assumed to be
log-nomially distributed. In the past, these
attenuation relationships were based on magnitude,
distance and site category. However, in the last
decade attenuation laws have been developed that
include other parameters which are now known to
be significant. These include the tectonic
environment, style of faulting and the effects of
topography, deep basin edges and rupture
directivity .
2.3 Tectonic Environment
Three main tectonic environments give significantly
different ground motion characteristics: shallow
crustal earthquakes in tectonically active regions,
shallow crustal earthquakes in tectonically stable
regions, and subduction zone earthquakes. These
distinctions are recognised and applied in practice
in North America and New Zealand, but ignored in
most other regions of the world including Japan
(Somerville, 1998). The new Canadian National
Building Code under development uses separate
attenuation relations in evaluating seismic hazard
for sites that are influenced by both subduction and
crustal earthquakes.
2.4 Style of Faulting
Ground motion data suggest that ground motions
depend, in a significant way, on the style of
faulting. Ground motions fiom reverse faulting
may be up to 20% greater than from strike slip
earthquakes, and those from normal faulting may be
up to 20% lower than those from strike slip
earthquakes. Somerville and Sat0 (1998) suggest
that these differences may be related to the rise time
of slip on the fault.
2.5 Near-Fault Ground Motions
Near fault ground motions are strongly affected by
directivity. Ground motions in Kobe, within 5 km
of the fault, showed a ratio of more than 2 to 1
between strike normal and strike parallel ground
motion components. The motions propagated along
the fault towards Kobe and there were strong
directivity effects. Forward directivity occurs when
both the rupture and the direction of slip on the fault
are towards the site. These conditions are usually
met in strike slip faulting. Forward directivity
increases the level of spectral response of the strike
normal component for periods longer than 0.5 s.
Backward directivity effects occur when the rupture
propagates away from the site and has the opposite
effect. In this case, the longer period motions have
lower amplitudes. The conditions for forward
directivity are also met in both reverse and normal
faulting. The rupture directivity effects from these
deep slip faults are produced at sites located around
the surface exposure of the fault. Somerville and
Graves (1996) developed modifications to empirical
ground motion attenuation relations to account for
the effects of directivity. They show empirical
response spectra for forward directivity for a M=7
earthquake at 5 km on soil (Fig. 2). These spectra
are generated by modifying the empirical median
and 84t” percentile response spectra predicted by
Abrahams and Silva, 1997.
The spectral effects of directivity have been
incorporated in the 1997 UBC by separate near-
source factors for the acceleration and velocity parts
of the code response spectium. Directivity effects
are taken into account in the design of retrofits for
the California Transportation Authority
(CALTRANS) toll bridges by using separate
response spectra with a strike normal and strike
parallel components to represent near-fault effects.
1093
Fig. 2. Response spectra for forward directivity
conditions for a M=7 earthquake at a distance of
5 km on soil. Response spectra are shown for strike-
normal, strike-parallel and average horizontal
components (Somerville, 1998).
Many building codes assume that the two
horizontal components are uncorrelated and
prescribe load combinations based on this
assumption. This assumption is clearly not valid for
near-fault ground motions.
2.6 Long Period Motions
Before force-balance accelerometers and digital
recording instruments became available, records of
long period motions were unreliable beyond about
2 s-3 s. In many codes, there has been considerable
uncertainty about how to extend the design
spectrum beyond about 2 s, and different empirical
relations have been adopted by different codes for
this region of the design spectrum. Recently,
Abrahams and Silva (1997) reprocessed strong
motions records to give the best definition of long
period motions and developed attenuation relations
with long period motions defined up to 5 s. These
data should provide a basis for evaluating the long
period segments of design spectra in current codes.
2.7 Topographic Erects
Strong ground motion recordings of the Northridge
mainshock and aftershocks at Tarzana provide the
best insight to date on the effects of surface
topography on strong ground motions. Bouchon
and Barker (1996) showed that topographic effects
can explain many features of the observed
amplification pattern, but that three-dimensional
geological structure beneath the hill may also be
responsible in part for the very large observed
amplification at the crest of the hill (Somerville,
1988).
Eurocode 8 in Annex A (informative) provides
some general recommendations for topographic
effects. For average slope angles less than about
15", topographic effects may be neglected. For
greater angles, the following guidelines are
applicable:
a) Isolated cliffs and slopes. A value of the soil
factor S 2 [1.2] should be used for sites near the
top edge.
b) Ridges with crest width significantly less than
the base width. A value S 2: [1.4] should be
used near the top of the slopes for average slope
angles > [30"], and S 2 [1.2] for smaller slope
angles.
c) Presence of a looser surface layer. In the
presence of a looser surface layer more than
[5] m thick, the smallest S value given in (a) and
(b) should be increased by at least [20%], in
accordance with 4.2.2. ( 5 ) Part 1-1 of Eurocode
8.
d) Spatial variation of amplification factor. The
value of S can be assumed to decrease as a
linear function of height above the base of the
cliff or ridge, and to become unity at the base.
2.8 Basin Edge Effects
Evidence from recorded strong motion data
indicates that ground motions may be large at the
edges of fault controlled basins. For example,
strong motion recordings in the Santa Monica area
from the 1994 Northridge earthquake are
characterised by large amplitudes and durations of
shaking. In this region, the basin edge geology is
controlled by the active strand of the westward
striking Santa Monica fault. Despite having similar
surface geology, sites to the north of the fault show
relatively modest amplitudes, whereas sites to the
south of the fault exhibit significantly larger
amplitudes, with a clear and immediate increase in
amplification occurring at the fault scarp. Graves et
al. (1998) used 2D and 3D finite difference ground
motion simulations to investigate the significance of
the basin-edge structure (Somerville, 1998).
Similar effects were noted in the Fraser Delta of
British Columbia during the 1966 Duvall
earthquake (Finn et al., 1998~). Depths to tertiary
bedrock in the Delta range from about 20 m to
700 m. Weak motion amplifications were greatest
at the edge of the delta.
3 SOIL EFFECTS
UBC (1997) and Eurocode 8 take site conditions
into account by defining a limited number of site
classes and associating an amplification factor with
1094
each category. Eurocode 8 uses three soil
categories:
3.1 Subsoil Class A
Rock or other geological formation characterised by
a shear wave velocity vs of at least 800 m/s,
including at most, 5 m of weaker material at the
surface.
Stiff deposits of sand, gravel or overconsolidated
clay, up to several tens of metres thick,
characterised by a gradual increase of the
mechanical properties with depth (and by v, values
of a least 400 m / s at a depth of 10 m).
3.2 Subsoil Class B
Deep deposits of medium-dense sand, gravel or
medium-stiff clays with thickness from several tens
to many hundreds of metres, characterised by
minimum values of vs increasing from 200 m / s at a
depth of 10 m, to 350 m/s at a depth of 50 m.
3.3 Subsoil Class C
Loose cohesionless soil deposits with or without
some soft cohesive layers, characterised by vs
values below 200 m/s in the uppermost 20 m.
Deposits with predominant soft-to-medium stiff
cohesive soils, characterised by vs values below
200 m/s in the uppermost 20 m.
The modifications to the basic design spectrum
in Fig. 1 for the different soil categories is
accomplished by shifting the defining periods TB,
Tc, and TD and assigning a value of 0.9 to S for
Subsoil Class C. The period adjustments are given
in Table 1. The spectra for the different sub-soil
classes are shown in Fig. 3.
Table 1. Values of the Parameters Describing the
Elastic Response Spectrum.
I Sub-Soil Class I
A B C
These spectra are very similar to those proposed
by Seed and Idriss (1982). The Eurocode site
factors rely primarily on soil description with some
limited application of shear wave velocity for
identification purposes. UBC (1997) uses more
sharply defined soil classes based on either the
average shear wave velocity in the top 30 or the

Fig. 3. Site dependent spectra for Eurocode 8 soil
categories.
average ( N I ) ~or~ the average undrained shear
strength for clays. The UBC (1997) soil profile
types are given in Table 2.
The UBC (1997) has different spectral
modification factors for the acceleration and
velocity parts of the spectrum, and these factors are
dependent on the intensity of shaking. These
factors are based on evaluation of data from past
earthquakes and extensive analyses.
The spectral modification factors in UBC (1997)
are equivalent to the amplification factors given in
Tables 3 and 4.
3.4 Selection of Ground Motions
Eurocode 8 includes many clauses describing how
appropriate ground motions may be selected for
time history analysis. Appropriate time histories are
essential for evaluating the performance of
buildings during an earthquake. When a building
enters the damage regime, the motion becomes
nonlinear and the theoretical basis for spectral
design using mode superposition is no longer
appropriate. It is currently fashionable to develop
spectrum compatible time histories. This
development entails the modification of a time
history so that its response spectrum matches within
a prescribed tolerance level, the target design
spectrum. In such matching it is important to retain
the phase characteristics of the selected ground
motion time history. Many of the techniques used
to develop compatible motions do not retain the
phase. Abrahamson (1993) has developed an
approach that does preserve the phasing of the
original record.
The response spectrum alone does not
adequately characterise near-fault ground motion.
This motion is usually characterised by a long
period pulse of strong motion of a fairly brief
duration rather than the stochastic process of long
duration that characterises more distant ground
1095
motions. Spectrum compatible motions will not
have this characteristic unless the basic motion
being modified to ensure compatibility has forward
directivity effects included.
Spectral compatible motions match the entire
spectrum within a prescribed tolerance. No real
earthquake ground motions will do this. It has been
common in the seismic design of critical structures
to select representative earthquakes in the near-
field, intermediate-field and far-field with a view to
exploring the full range of spectral response in the
structure. However, when spectral compatible
motions are used all periods are subjected to the full
design seismic action. Some designers (Naeim and
Lew, 1995) on the basis of nonlinear analysis of
structures have expressed the view that these
spectrum compatible motions should not be used for
damage assessment because they give exaggerated
estimates of displacement demand and energy input.
Appropriate representative recorded earthquake
motions are preferable.
In most existing attenuation relationships there is
no explicit recognition of directivity effects. These
effects tend to contribute to some of the substantial
deviations from the median ground motions. If the
probabilistic response spectrum is based on median
ground motions, then it likely represents average
directivity conditions. If the response is based on
the mean plus one standard deviation, then it
approximates forward directivity conditions and
many of the time histories used should have forward
directivity characteristics (Somerville, 1998).
One of the difficulties with designs based on
spectra is determining what are the appropriate
scenario earthquakes for selecting appropriate
recorded ground motions for nonlinear analyses or
for conducting liquefaction analyses. The
probabilistic response spectrum represents the
aggregated contribution of a range of earthquake
magnitudes on different faults and seismic zones at
various distances from the site, and also includes
the effect of random variability for a given
magnitude and distance. Appropriate earthquakes
can be determined using a procedure proposed by
McGuire (1995) which deaggregates the
contributions to the spectrum by magnitude,
distance and the parameter E that, for the
deaggregated magnitude and distance, defines the
number of standard deviations above or below the
median ground motion level that is required to
match the probabilistic spectrum.
3.5 Orientation of Near-Fault Time Histories
In the near-fault region, the horizontal ground
motion in the direction perpendicular to the fault
strike is significantly larger than the horizontal
component parallel to the fault strike at periods
longer than about 0.5 second. Since fault strike is
 Table 2. Soil Profile Types.

Average Soil Properties for top 100 ft (30,480 mm)

of Soil Profile
Soil Soil Profile NamdGeneric Shearwave I Standard Penetration I Undrained
Profile Description Velocity, Vs ft/s Test, N (for NCHfor Shear Strength,
Type ( d S > Cohesionless Soil Layers S, psf (kPa)
(blows/ft)
SA Hard rock > 5,000 (1,500)
--- ---
SB Rock 2.500 to 5,000
(760 to 1,500)
SC Very dense soil and soft rock 1,200 to 2,500 > 50 > 2,000 (100)
(360 to 760)
SD Stiff soil 600 to 1,200 15 to 50 1,000 to 2,000
(180 to 360) (50 to 100)
SE' Soft soil profile < 600 (180) < 15 < 1,000 (50)
SF

'Soil Profile Type SE also includes any soil profile with more than l o f t (3048 mm) of soft clay deJined as a
soil with a plasticity index, PI 20, w,,, 2 40 percent and s,, < 500 psf (24 kPa). The Plasticity Index, PA
and the moisture content, w,,,,,shall be determined in accordance with approved national standards.

Table 3. Fa as a Function of Site Class and usually well known close to major faults, it is
Earthquake Spectral Acceleration, S,, at 0.2 Second. straightforward to take the difference between the
strike normal and strike parallel components of
I Site I Spectral Response Acceleration motion into account in the evaluation of near-fault
Class at Short Periods ground motions, especially for base isolated
S,10.25 S,=0.5 1 Ss=0.75 Ss=l.OO S,il.25 buildings, bridges, dams, and other structures that
A 0.8 0.8 I 0.8 0.8 0.8 are particularly sensitive to long-period ground
B 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 motions. Consideration of these differences may be
c 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.0 especially important for the retrofit of existing
D 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.1 1.0 structures near active faults. For new structures, the
stronger ground motion in the strike normal
E 2.5 1.7 1.2 0.9 ( >'
direction could be accommodated by orienting the
F ( 1' ( 1' ( 1' ( 1' ( 1' structure with its long axis normal to the fault
N S : Use straight line interpolation for inter- (Somewille, 1998).
mediate values of s,.
'Site-spec@ geotechnical investigation and
dynamic site response analyses shall be performed. 3.6 Spatial Variation of Ground Motion
Foundations of long structures such as the
multiple supports of a bridge undergo different
Table 4. F, as a Function of Site Class and Spectral ground motions at each support. To properly
Acceleration, S, at 1 Second Period. evaluate the response of such structures, it is
necessary to vary the ground motions across the
Site Spectral Response Acceleration at Short foundation. Eurocode 8 has general clauses relating
Class Periods to spatial variation, but does not offer any guidance.
S,<0.25 I S,=0.5 I S,=0.75 I S,=l .OO I S,<1.25 There are two effects that need to be considered; the
wave passage effect and the lack of coherence
between the motions at the different locations. This
incoherence increases with increasing distance
between the supports and increases in the wave
frequencies.
F I ()' I ( ) I I 0' I 0' I Abrahamson et al. (1991) developed models of
spatial variation of ground motion from strong
&: Use straight line interpolation for inter-
mediate values of s,. motion data recorded in dense arrays. Abrahamson
'Site-spec@c geotechnical investigation and has developed methods for generating suites of time
dynamic site response analyses shall be performed. histories for different foundation locations with

1096
spatial incoherence that matches the prescribed
coherency model.
4 GEOTECHNICAL PROVISIONS
4.1 Liquefaction
Both VBC and Eurocode 8 offer recommendations
for evaluating liquefaction potential at a site. These
recommendations are essentially based on the
proposals of Seed and Idriss (1982). Procedures for
evaluating liquefaction were recently studied by a
committee appointed by the National Centre for
Earthquake Engineering Research at the University
of Buffalo. The objective was to review research
and field experience on liquefaction since 1985
when a similar committee reported on the state of
the art (NRC, 1985). The findings of the NCEER
committee may be found in a report edited by Youd
and Idriss (NCEER, 1997).
The code proposals, especially the Eurocode
proposals, differ in some aspects from these
recommendations. Eurocode 8 uses magnitude
correction factors which are based on the work of
Ambraseys (1988). These factors are significantly
higher than the factors recommended by Seed and
Idriss (1982). The NCEER committee reviewed the
magnitude correction factors and adopted new
factors that are somewhat less than Ambraseys but
more than the factors previously used. These
factors are given in Table 5 where they are
compared with Ambraseys’ factors. Ambraseys’
factors are based entirely on field data available up
to about 1986. The NCEER factors are based
substantially on laboratoiy data.
Table 5. Magnitude scaling factor values defined by
various investigators (after NCEER, 1997).
Seed & Idriss Ambraseys
Magnitude
Idriss NCEER (1988)
(1982) (1997)
1.19 1.44
7.0 1.08 1.19 1.30
7.5 1.00 1.00 1.oo
8.0 0.94 0.84 0.67
8.5 0.89 0.72 0.44
Another major change in the recommendations
of the NCEER committee is the adoption of the
Robertson and Fear (1 995) procedure for evaluating
liquefaction potential using the cone penetration
test. They developed a unified approach for
interpreting cone data for liquefaction assessment
1097
without direct determination of the fines content.
The procedure is based on a soil performance chart
which identifies response based on normalised cone
bearing resistance and normalised side friction.
By 1996, when the committee was active, the
volume of cone penetration data available for
analysis was sufficient to independently define the
critical stress ratio curve separating liquefaction
conditions from nonliquefaction conditions.
The NCEER committee also recommended a
liquefaction assessment chart based on shear wave
velocity. As shown in Fig. 4, this chart is radically
different from the chart advocated by Eurocode 8.
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
50 100 150 200 250
Normalised Shear Wave Velocity, VSI (m/s)
Fig. 4. Comparison of NCEER (1997) and
Eurocode 8 recommendations for evaluation of
liquefaction potential on the basis of wave velocity.
The chart proposed by Eurocode 8 is one that
was developed by Robertson et al. (1992). This
chart was based on limited data. A great deal of
data has become available since that time and has
lead to the very different recommendation by
NCEER (1997).
4.2 Seismic Pressures on Retaining Structures
Eurocode 8 gives recommendations for the
evaluation of dynamic pressures against retaining
structures which reflect current engineering
practice. For rigid structures, the simplified Wood
(1973) formula is recommended for estimating the
pressure. This formula assumes that the pressure
against the wall is the same as the static pressure
from the body forces corresponding to the design
acceleration applied horizontally.
Wu and Finn (1999) proposed an alternative
dynamic analysis model which gives pressures
within 5% of the exact modal solution proposed by
Wood (1973) for a wide range of all controlling
parameters and which converges very rapidly.
 Wu and Finn (1999) developed design charts for
determining the dynamic pressures against rigid
walls for three types of soil profile, namely;
uniform, linear, and parabolic variations of shear
modulus with depth. For the latter two cases, the
shear moduli G are assumed to vary from zero at the
ground surface to Gsoi, at the bottom of the soil
profile. For most analyses, a Poisson’s ratio of p =
0.4 and a damping ratio h = 10% were used. In order
to cover the many variations of soil stifhess from site
to site, and seismic motions from earthquake to
earthquake, 25 different shear modulus profiles were
selected, and 10 different accelerograms were used
for each shear modulus profile. Peak ground
accelerations ranged from as low as 0.03579 to as
high as 0.3488. The analyses were conducted
assuming visco-elastic response.
Peak dynamic thrusts are presented as hnctions of
the ratio of the predominant frequency of the
earthquake motions to the fundamental frequency of
the wall - soil system which is detemiined in the
course of analysis. An approximate method for
estimating this frequency is given in Wu and Finn
(1999).
In the presentation of the results, the computed
seismic lateral forces Qmaxare normalised by dividing
by pH2Amx,where p is the mass density, H is the
height of the wall, and A,,,, is the peak-ground
acceleration. Envelopes of lateral forces correspond-
ing to upper bound and 84% levels for a parabolic
variation in G are shown in Fig. 5 for L/H=5.0 and in
Fig. 6 for L/H = 1.5 where L is the width of the
backfill. These charts cover the cases of long and
relatively short backfills. These charts give design
forces at the upper end 84 percentile level for the
common case where the modulus varies parabolically
with depth. Wu and Finn (1999) should be consulted
for additional results including the effects of
variations in p and damping ratio and an approximate
method for including nonlinear effects. The charts
Fig. 5. Peak seismic thrusts for soil profiles with
parabolic variation in G (L/H = 5.0, h = 10%, p =
0.40) (after Wu and Finn, 1999).
1098
Fig. 6. Peak seismic thrusts for soil profiles with
parabolic variation in G (L/H = 1.5, h = 10%, p =
0.40) (after Wu and Finn, 1999).
given provide a reasonable basis for estimating the
dynamic pressures.
5 SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT FOR DAMS
Seismic risk analysis provides a rational basis for
the evaluation of dam safety during an earthquake.
It is a process by which the consequences of
exposure to a range of probabilistic seismic hazards
are determined. The consequences are most often
expressed in terms of both loss of life or economic
loss at various probabilities of exceedance.
Procedures for evaluating risk in geotechnical
engineering were described by Whitman (1984) in
the 17‘” Terzaghi Lecture. He stressed that most
engineering projects are quite complex, with
numerous interacting components and that more
than one path to failure needs to be considered. He
noted that engineers are “conditioned to provide
safe designs against specific criteria and relatively
few are prepared or inclined to think in terms of a
risk of failure”. This attitude is still a source of
significant resistance to the adoption of risk
assessment for dam safety evaluation.
An international workshop on ‘Risk-based dam
safety evaluations’ was held in Trondheim, Norway,
prior to the Hydropower’97 Conference to review
world wide experience and practice in risk
assessment. The international journal, Hydropower
and Dams, has presented a detailed two-part report
on the workshop, covering the current status of risk
assessments in the eleven countries represented at
the Workshop. The first report appeared in Volume
5, Issue 1, 1998, and the second report in Issue 2.
These reports are highly recommended for
information on the current state of risk assessment.
Risk analysis in the field of embankment dams is
relatively new in engineering practice and most
engineers do not have the knowledge or experience
for making decisions on the basis of risk
assessment. Risk assessment was adopted by the Table 6. Usual Minimum Criteria for Design Earth-
US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) in 1995 and the quakes (CDSA, 1995).
US Army Corps of Engineers in 1997. The
objective of USBR was “to ensure that structures do
not create unacceptable risks to public safety and I I Minimum Design Earthquake 1
welfare, property, the environment and cultural Consequence Probabilistically
resources”. The Canadian Standards Association Derived
has developed the general framework for risk istically
exceedance
management shown in Fig. 7. There are two main ~ability)
,. robabilit
structures in the framework, risk assessment and
~ ~

risk control, both of which form the basis for
decisions on risk management.
6 APPROACHES TO RISK ASSESSMENT
6.1 A Standards Approach to Risk
The simplest approach to introducing probabilistic
methods into the evaluation of dam safety is to
formulate safety guidelines in which the hazard to
the dam is defined probabilistically as a function of
the consequences of failure. The probability of the
failure is not evaluated. The dam safety guidelines
formulated by the Canadian Dam Safety
Association (CDSA, 1995), are a good example of
this approach. These guidelines have been adopted
nationally. The CDSA recommendations on
hazards specifications are outlined in Table 6 as a
function of three categories of consequences of
failure. The categories are defined in Table 7.
The procedure for safety analysis of dams, once
the seismic hazard is selected, follow conventional
deterministic procedures such as stability
calculations based on limit equilibrium and finite
element methods. For High Consequence dams in
moderate to high seismic zones, seismic response
and displacement analyses should be considered.
VeryHigh MCE 1o - ~
High 50% to 10-3to 1 0 - ~
I - I 100% MCE I I
I Low I -- I lo-Lto 10” I
For a dam site, MCE (maximum credible
earthquake) ground motions are the most severe
ground motions capable of being produced at the
site under the presently known or interpreted
tectonic framework.
MDE (maximum design earthquake) firm ground
accelerations and velocities can be taken as 50% to
100% of MCE values. For design purposes the
magnitude should remain the same as the MCE.
In the ‘High’ consequence catego y , the MDE is
based on the consequences of failure. For example,
if one incremental fatality would result from failure
an AEP (annual exceedance probabilityl of 10-3
could be acceptable, but for consequences
approaching those of a ‘Very High’ consequence
dam, design earthquakes approaching the MCE
would be required.
6.2 Formal Risk Assessment
Risk analysis is commonly used in many areas of
engineering practice, but it is, by no means, widely
embraced as yet for the seismic safety evaluation of
embankment dams. It is some interest to review the

analysis evaluation

Hazard

Fig. 7. Risk management framework proposed by Canadian Standards Association (after Hartford, 1997)

1099
Table 7. Consequence Classification of Dams ANCOLD released its Guideline G.12 on risk
(CDSA, 1995). assessment. Key elements of their guidelines,
which are representative of emerging practice, are
Potential Incremental given below (McDonald, 1997).
Consequences of Failure[a1 For new ‘dams, and the upgrading of existing
Consequence dams, ensure that the average risk of death of
Loss of Life Economic, Social, particular members of the public from dam
Environmental failure does not exceed 10-6per exposed person
Very High Large increase Excessive increase per annum. Do not subject any person being a
expectedlbl in social, economic member of the public to a risk greater than 10-5
and/or environ- per annum.
mental losses. For existing dams, individual risks up to 10
High Some increase Substantial times those for new dams could be tolerable,
expectedlbl increase in social, subject to application of the ALARP principle,
economic and/or that is, keep the risk as low as (reasonably)
environ-mental possible.
losses. Ensure that new dams, and dams being
Low No increase Low social, upgraded, satisfy the societal risk criterion given
expected economic and/or by the objective curve in Fig. 8.
environmental
losses.
Very Low No increase Small dams with IO3
minimal social,
economic and/or IO4
environmental
losses. Losses
IO5
generally limited to
the owner’s
property; damages 1o6
to other property
are acceptable to I 0’
societv.
I‘‘ Incremental to the impacts which would occur 1o8
during an earthquake but without failure of the
9
dam. The type of consequence (e.g., loss of life 10
or economic losses) with the highest rating, 1 10 100 1000 10000
determines which category is assigned to the N, fatalities due to dam failure
structure.
‘’I The loss-of-lfe criteria which separate the Fig. 8. ANCOLD societal risk criteria (adapted
‘High ’ and ‘VevyHigh ’ categories may be based from McDonald, 1997).
on risks which are acceptable or tolerable to
society, taken to be 0,001 lives per year for each
dam. Consistent with this tolerable societal risk, 0 Ensure that existing dams satisfy the societal
the minimum criteria for a ‘Very High’ risk criterion given by the upper curve of Fig. 8,
consequence dam (MCE) should result in an but carefully consider the ALARP principle.
annual probability offailure less than l/lOO,OOO. 0 Ensure that a dam complies with both individual
risk and societal risk criteria. In assessing
compliance with individual and societal risk
degree to which it is currently being accepted. First criteria, use a recognised methodology, such as
of all, not surprisingly, it has been adopted in only a the procedures set out by the Bureau of
few developed countries so far. In Europe, it is Reclamation (1 989) to estimate expected loss of
used mainly in Holland for flood protection dikes, life.
but for the rest of Europe, the situation in Austria is Note the crucial difference between formal risk
quite typical; there the evaluation of dam safety assessment and the standards approach. The
rests primarily on the opinions of highly regarded probabilities are now specified for the
experts. consequences, whereas in the standard approach,
The Australian National Committee on Large the emphasis is on the probability of the hazard.
Dams (ANCOLD) has been in the forefront in
promoting formal risk assessment. In 1994,

1100
6.3 Some Contentious Issues
Estimating the risk of loss of life is a contentious
issue. In particular, there is debate about whether it
should be expressed as expected losses per m u m
or losses associated with an actual event. Losses
per event are more likely to arouse social and
political opposition than expected values. In some
cases, even economic losses probably should be
considered on an event basis. Coping with losses
from catastrophic events like earthquakes is not like
dealing with losses from car accidents or life
insurance policies. Insurance companies when
considering earthquake losses do not usually
consider the expected losses. They are more
concerned with the conditional probabilities of loss.
Even the conditional probabilities are often ignored
by moving the largest earthquake closest to the
insured portfolio. The companies are very sensitive
to the threat that, if and when the earthquake occurs,
they may go broke because of having to meet all the
losses at once. These features of potentially
catastrophic events do not seem to be well
represented in conventional seismic risk procedures.
6.4 Framework for Risk Assessment
The framework for formal risk assessment defines
how to go from probabilistic specification of
seismic hazard to the determination of the
probabilities associated with different levels of
consequences. The form of the framework depends
on the potential failure modes of the dam. An
excellent example is provided in the paper by Lee et
al. (1998) in which they evaluated the probability of
different levels of post-liquefaction damage and
consequences for Keenleyside Dam in British
Columbia.
Of particular interest in this paper is the very
detailed event tree constructed as a framework for
the evaluation of the consequences of failure. There
is a long sequence of complex steps between the
specification of the seismic hazards and the
determination of the probabilities of different levels
of damage and associated consequences. The
development of an appropriate event tree is a
complex task requiring a wide range of skills and
considerable judgement. The event tree by itself,
even without the probability assessments, leads to a
much better understanding of the risk to the dam. It
can be useful in planning remedial measures or risk
management.
Whatever reservations one may have about the
probability of the various consequences derived
from a risk assessment analysis, it is clear that
constructing the event tree forces one to think in a
very detailed way about the process by which
failure develops in the dam, and therefore, it
contributes to a deep understanding of how the dam
1101
is likely to behave. This is a very positive benefit of
any well-conducted risk assessment study.
If one now considers how the consequences
might be mitigated, other events may need to be
taken into account. The consequences may be dealt
with in some situations by relying on evacuation of
those who might be affected downstream. For such
an evacuation to be effective, the consequences of
the earthquake in the downstream area on
transportation routes, on the communities at risk
and on communications, needs to be taken into
account. This would require an extension of the
event tree to cope with these other events which
impact the mitigation of the consequences. If
mitigation depends on lowering the reservoir level,
then the impact of the earthquake on procedures for
doing this need to be taken into account. Clearly,
the full range of risk assessment involves a very
comprehensive investigation on all consequences of
the earthquake, both directly on the dam itself, on
the operating environment of the dam and on the
region surrounding dam and reservoir. Full risk
assessment is a very expensive process and requires
a range of high level skills that is not widely
available yet.
7 SEISMIC SAFETY EVALUATION
One of the major challenges facing geotechnical
earthquake engineers is the seismic safety
evaluation of embankment dams when potentially
liquefiable soils are in the dam itself or in the
foundation. The evaluation procedure has to provide
answers to three important questions:
0 Will liquefaction be triggered?
What will be the consequences?
0 How can the consequences be mitigated?
The state of the art for evaluating the triggering of
liquefaction in potentially liquefiable soils is
defined by the report by NSF (1997).
7.1 Residual Strength
The consequences of liquefaction depend
primarily on the residual strength of liquefied soils,
and the strain required to reach that strength after
liquefaction. How to determine residual strength
and what factors control it are still controversial
matters. It has been considered that the residual
strength (steady-state strength) depended only on
the void ratio of the soil. Fabric and stress path
were not considered to have any influence, because
in the steady state all initial structure was assumed
to be eradicated. As far as practice is concerned,
this opinion is no longer tenable.
Research on residual strength and post-liquefaction
response of soils has been conducted at a number of
universities over the last ten years which has shown
that the residual strength as measured in laboratory
test equipment is a function of how the sample is
formed and the stress path (Vaid and Thomas, 1994;
Uthayakumar and Vaid, 1998; Yoshimine et al.,
1998).
Research has shown that if samples are
reconstituted by pluviation under water, the
behaviour of the reconstituted samples closely
approximates the behaviour of undisturbed samples
obtained by in-situ freezing (Vaid et al., 1998).
Therefore, this procedure is recommended when the
potentially liquefiable soils were deposited under
water or placed by hydraulic fill construction. The
use of moist tamping to reconstitute samples is
applicable to compacted materials placed in air.
The residual strength measured in simple shear
test is considerably less than that measured in
triaxial compression tests (Vaid and Sivathayalan,
1996). The strength in extension tests gives the
lowest strength of all. Some of the objections to
stress path effects have been based on the fact that it
is allegedly difficult to maintain sample uniformity
during extension tests using non-lubricated end
platens. Careful studies of void ratio distribution in
extension tests up to 9% strain have shown that the
initial uniformity of the sample is maintained. Tests
using lubricated end platens at strains up to 10%
showed similar behaviour. Irrespective of opinions
about the extension tests, the confirmation of stress
path effects by simple shear tests and by the wide
variety of stress paths possible in the hollow
cylinder torsional shear tests, seems to be
undeniable.
Some are of the opinion that since the effect of
all structure should have been erased by the time
steady-state conditions were reached, the strengths
in the laboratory must not represent true steady
state, but some intermediate condition in which
structure still plays a part. Castro (1997) maintains
that the steady state is reached after relatively small
strains. If a true steady state condition is not
achievable under laboratory test conditions, then it
is difficult to see how post-liquefaction strength can
be measured for any stress path at all.
Whether the strengths measured within the strain
capacity of existing geotechnical test equipment are
steady-state or not, these are the strengths that have
been used in design as an alternative to the Seed and
Harder (1990) correlation between the normalised
penetration resistance, (N1)60, and residual strength.
Hence, any variables that affect these strengths need
to be taken into account in evaluating the safety of
the dam.
Based on the research cited above, the
conclusion must be drawn that basing post-
liquefaction stability analysis on strengths measured
in compression tests is not conservative. Part of the
reason why the residual strengths found in Seed and
1102
Harder (1990) from the back-analysis of case
histories can be significantly lower than the
compression strengths is due to the stress path
effect. This is especially true in the case of Seed’s
work because he determined the strengths on the
final configuration of the dam. In the case of the
San Femando dam, the very flat final configuration
would suggest that the simple shear strength would
be the appropriate one to use for analysis which
would be less than the compression strength. The
issue surrounding residual strength and post-
liquefaction equilibrium are very complex and it is
not surprising that there is disagreement about the
effects about even the most fundamental
parameters. It is hoped that the report fi-om the NSF
workshop on residual strength O’JSF, 1997) will
make a significant contribution to resolving these
disagreements. Whatever happens at the academic
level, it is imperative for practice to come to grips
with the research findings of the last ten years and
to consider how the current state of practice should
be modified.
A major finding from research is the dependence
of the residual strength, S,., on effective pressure, p’.
This strength ratio, S,./p’, is a function of void ratio.
The dependence can be determined by testing
reconstituted samples at different void ratios. The
strength ratio in Fraser River sands is shown not to
be significantly affected by p’ over the pressure
range 50 kPa to 1200 kPa. The stress ratio should
be developed for different stress paths applicable to
the problem in the field. This procedure seems to
hold promise of giving reliable estimates of residual
strength for design (Vaid and Sivathayalan, 1996).
The following procedure for obtaining the
residual strength in practice is tentatively proposed.
1. Determine the dependence of the residual
strength ratio, S,/p‘, on void ratio by testing
reconstituted samples using appropriate stress
paths. Generally this will involve compression,
simple shear and extension tests.
2. The reconstituted samples should be formed by
pluviation in water, if the soils in-situ were
deposited under water or by hydraulic fill
construction.
3. Conduct the tests over the pressure range of
interest in the field.
4. Select the strength ratio at void ratios, relative
densities or densities representative of field
conditions.
The consequences of liquefaction are best
evaluated using large-strain large-displacement
analysis. These kinds of analysis have been used to
evaluate the extent and optimum location of
remediation measures in about 12 dams since 1989,
and have also been used to establish criteria for
prioritizing remediation measures for long linear
structures such as flood protection dikes. However,
the experience in conducting this kind of analysis is
still concentrated in a few hands. Further ACTEC. Dynamic analysis was conducted in the
development and refinement of the methods are effective stress nonlinear mode using the program
under way (Finn, 1998a). TARA-3 (Finn et al., 1986). The large strain post-
liquefaction deformations were calculated using the
program TARA-3FL (Finn and Yogendrakumar,
8 POST-LIQUEFACTION DISPLACEMENT 1989). This program allows the liquefied region to
ANALYSES deform at constant volume and uses a Lagrangian
updating scheme to handle large strains.
The use of large displacement analysis in evaluating The computed defoiined shape of the dike is
post-liquefaction response and assessing the shown in Fig. 10. The sharp break in the surface
adequacy of proposed remediation measures has shows the effect of the frozen ground. The
now become part of engineering practice. It was deformed shape and the magnitudes of
first applied to Sardis Dam in 1989 (Finn, 1990; displacements agree fairly well with the
1998b). It has subsequently been applied to many displacements measured after the earthquake. The
darns (Finn, 1998a; Haile et al., 1996; Byrne and computed maximum settlement and horizontal
Beaty, 1997). Post-liquefaction analysis and its displacement are 2.3 m and 2.7 m, respectively,
application in design of remediation measures have compared to measured displacements of 2 m and
been the subject of several reviews (Finn, 1993; 3 m.
Finn, 1998a).
Between 1994 and 1998, displacement analyses
were conducted on many flood protection dikes in
Hokkaido, Japan, which had been damaged during
the Kushiro-olti and Nansei-oki earthquakes in 1993
and 1994, respectively. The objective was to
develop a criterion based on potential post-
liquefaction crest settlement to prioritize the
remediation of dikes against future earthquakes. A
2-step strategy was adopted for the studies. First,
failures of dikes in eastern Hokkaido would be
simulated. If these simulations were satisfactory,
then the analyses would be used to predict crest
settlements in a number of dikes in western
Hokkaido which had significant post-liquefaction
Fig. 9. Mode of failure on left bank of Kushiro
displacements. The displacement analyses were
River at station 9K850 (after Sasaki et al., 1995).
conducted by the writer and the predictions were
verified by engineers from the Advanced
Construction Technology Center (ACTEC), Tokyo,
and the Hokkaido Development Bureau on the basis
of field data known only to them.

8.1 Simulation of Dike Failure at Section 9K8.50

in Eastern Hokkaido
The failure mode at a location on the left bank of
the Kushiro river is shown in Fig. 9. The height of
the dike before the earthquake was about 7 m and
the crest width was about 8 m. As a result of
earthquake shaking, the crest of the dike settled
about 2 m and movement of the slope of the order
of 3 m took place towards the river. The ground
was frozen to a depth of about 0.7 m at the time of
the earthquake. The brittle nature of the frozen
layer is probably responsible for the sharp step
feature in the crest near the upstream slope. This
frozen layer was taken into account during the
simulation.
Appropriate input motions for seismic analysis
were specified by Jishin Kogaku Kenkyusho,
Tokyo. Relevant soil properties were provided by
Fig. 10. Computed post-liquefaction shape of the
dike.
The simulation studies were considered
satisfactory and a major parametric study was
approved to investigate the effects of some of the
important cross-sectional parameters that control
the consequences of liquefaction, such as the
thickness of a non-liquefiable layer overlying the
liquefied layer, the thickness of the liquefied layer
itself, and the height and side slopes of the dikes.
The effects of these parameters were characterised

1103
by the settlements of the crests of the dikes after
liquefaction.
8.2 Estimation of Crest Settlements
The crest settlements were estimated first for dikes
with side slopes 1:2.5 as shown in Fig. 11. The
thicknesses of the liquefied and nonliquefied layers
were varied and the resulting displacements after
liquefaction are plotted in nondimensional form in
Fig. 12.
Fig. I 1. Typical cross-section of dike for analysis.
Fig. 12. Comparison of crest settlement prediction
curve for dikes with slopes 1:2.5 with actual crest
settlements for dikes with various side slopes.
The nondimensional computed crest settlements,
S/HD are shown by the curve in Fig. 12. The
equation of the curve is given by,
S to earthquakes of different magnitudes which
HD
where S is the crest settlement, HD, is the height of
the dike; HL and HNL are the thicknesses of the
liquefiable and non-liquefiable layers, respectively.
1104
This curve was adopted for predicting crest
settlement.
Engineers from ACTEC and the Hokkaido
Development Bureau compared the measured crest
settlements from a wide variety of dikes in western
Hokkaido which underwent noticeable displace-
ments during the Nansei-oki earthquake in 1994
with those predicted by Eqn. 1. The data points and
the prediction curve are plotted in Fig. 12. The
black points represent the real cases corresponding
to some of the idealised analyses done to develop
the curve; the open points represent other dikes.
The agreement was very good for dikes with slopes
of 1:2.5, but the field data showed that the side
slopes had an important effect on the crest
settlement and that separate criteria would be
necessary for two other predominant slopes;
uniform side slopes of 1.5, and unequal slopes, 1:5
and 1: 10. Parametric studies were conducted also
for different values of Sr/dv0. Dikes with Sr/dv02
0.15 showed only tolerable displacements.
The Hokkaido dikes study is an important case
history because it is the only instance in which post-
liquefaction displacement analysis has been
validated independently in blind tests using data
from a large number of earth structures undergoing
different levels of post-liquefaction displacements.
SUMMARY
The design provisions in codes and standards which
have a bearing on the practice of geotechnical
engineering have been reviewed against the latest
understanding of ground motion characteristics and
the evolving practice of geotechnical earthquake
engineering.
The current trend is to select uniform hazard
design spectra which have a uniform probability of
exceedance at each period. For seismic design
based on providing life safety, these spectra are an
adequate basis for design. However, for
performance-based design in which the damage to
the building needs to be estimated or in the case of
earth structures, the displacements need to be
evaluated, representative time histories of seismic
motions are essential. It is becoming more common
to derive time histories by generating motions that
match the uniform hazard spectrum at all
frequencies within a prescribed tolerance instead of
selecting a range of recorded motions corresponding
individually are compatible with different parts of
the spectrum. Some designers are concerned that
the uniformly compatible spectrum motions are not
appropriate for displacement analysis or damage
assessment because they tend to exaggerate
displacements and energy input.
 Some aspects of the code provisions for
assessing liquefaction potential and the estimation
of lateral pressures against rigid structures are
supplemented by more recent findings from theory
and practice. The evaluation of post-liquefaction
large displacements of our structures is described
and a major validation study is presented which
tends to confirm the reliability of large analysis.
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Irikura, K. Kudo, H. Okada and T. Sasatami,
Yokohama, Japan, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam,
Vol. 2, pp. 545-552.
Graves, R.W., A. Pitarka and P.G. Somerville.
1998. Ground motion amplification in the Santa
Monica area: effects of shallow basin edge
structure, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., Submitted.
Haile, J.P., K.J. Brouwer, I.B. Manning and P.M.
Byrne. 1996. Design and seismic displacement
analyses for Kensington Tailings Dam, Alaska.
Proc., Seminar on Tailings Dam, Int. Congress
on Large Dams, Santiago, Chile.
Hartford, D.N. 1997. Dam management in Canada
- a Canadian approach to dam safety. Proc.,
International Workshop on Risk Based Dam
Safety Evaluations, Trondheim, Norway,
Norwegian National Committee of the
International Committee on Large Dams.
Lee, M.K., K.Y. Lum and D.N.D. Hartford. 1998.
Calculation of the seismic risk of an earth dam
susceptible to liquefaction. Proc., Geotechnical
Earthquake Engineering in Soil Dynamics 111,
Edited by P. Dakoulas, M. Yegian and R.D.
Holtz, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 75,
ASCE, Vol. 2, pp. 1451-1460.
McDonald, L.A. 1997. Status of risk assessment of
dams in Australia. Proc., International
Workshop on Risk Based Dam Safety
 Evaluations, Trondheim, Norway, Norwegian
National Committee of the International
Committee on Large Dams.
McGuire, R.K. 1995. Probabilistic seismic hazard
analysis and design earthquakes: Closing the
loop. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 86, 1275-1284.
Naeim, F. and Lew, M. 1995. On the use of design
spectrum compatible motions. Earthquake
Spectra, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 111-128.
National Research Council. 1985. Liquefaction of
soils during earthquakes. Report of Committee
on Earthq. Eng. , Washington, DC.
National Science Foundation (NSF) 1997. Post
liquefaction Shear Strength of Granular Soils.
Pr-oc., Workshop on Post-Liquefaction Shear
Strength of Granular Soils, Edited by T.D. Stark,
S.L. Kramer, and T.L. Youd. April 18-19.
NCEER 1997. Proc., NCEER Workshop on
Evaluation of Liquefaction Resistance of Soils,
Summary Report, Edited by T.Leslie Youd and
Izzat M. Idriss, National Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research, University of Buffalo,
Technical Report NCEER-97-0022.
Robertson, P.K. and C.E. Fear. 1995. Liquefaction
of sands and its evaluation, Proceedings, I s f Int.
Con$ on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,
Tokyo, Japan.
Robertson, P.K., D.J. Woeller and W.D.L. Finn.
1992. Seismic cone penetration test for
evaluating liquefaction potential under cyclic
loading, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol.
29, pp. 686-695.
Sasaki, Y . 1994. Embankment failure caused by the
Kushiro-oki earthquake of January 15, 1993. In
Special Volume “Performance of Ground and
Soil Structures During Earthquakes”, 13”’
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Earthquake Engineering, New Delhi, pp. 61-68.
Seed, R.B. and L.F. Harder, Jr. 1990. SPT-based
analysis of cyclic pore pressure generation and
undrained residual strength. Proc., H. Bolton
Seed Memorial Symp. , University of California,
Berkeley, Editor J.M. Duncan, Bi-Tech
Publishers, Vancouver, Canada, Vol. 2, May 9-
11, pp. 351-376.
Seed, H.B. and I.M. Idriss. 1982. Ground motions
and soil liquefaction during earthquakes.
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute,
Oakland, California.
Somerville, P.G. 1998. Emerging art: earthquake
ground motion. Proc., Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering in Soil Dynamics III, Edited by P.
Dakoulas, M. Yegian and R.D. Holtz,
Geotechnical Special Publication No. 75, ASCE,
Vol. 1,pp. 1-38.
Somerville, P.G. and T. Sato. 1998. Correlation of
rise time with the style-of-faulting factor in
strong ground motions. Seismological Research
Letters, pp. 153 (abstract).
1106
Somerville, P.G. and R.W. Graves. 1996. Strong
ground motions of the Kobe, Japan earthquake of
January 17, 1995, and Development of a Model
of Forward Rupture Directivity Applicable in
California”, Proc., Western Regional Tech. Sem.
on Earthq. Eng. for Dams, Assoc. of State Dam
Safety Officials, Sacramento, California, April
11-12, 1996.
UBC 1997. Uniform Building Code, International
Conference of Building Officials, Whittier,
California, Vol. 11.
Uthayakumar, M., and Y . P. Vaid. 1998. Static
liquefaction of sand under multiaxial loading.
Canadian Geotechnical J., Vol. 35, No. 2,pp.
273-283.
Vaid, Y. P. and S. Sivathayalan. 1996. Static and
cyclic liquefaction potential of Fraser Delta sand
in simple shear and triaxial tests. Canadian Geot.
J., Vol. 33, NO. 2, pp. 281-289.
Vaid, Y.P. and S. Sivathayalan. 1997. Post-
liquefaction behaviour of saturated sand under
simple shear loading. Proc., 14‘* ICSMFE,
Hamburg. pp. 221-224.
Vaid, Y.P., S. Sivathayalan and D. Stedman. 1998.
Influence of specimen reconstituting method on
the undroained response of sand. Submitted to
ASTM Geotechnical Testing J.
Vaid, Y.P. and J. Thomas. 1994. Post-liquefaction
behaviour of sand. Pvoc., 13‘” Int. Conference
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Whitman, R.V. 1984. Evaluating calculated risk in
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2, ASCE, Feb., pp. 145-188.
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Wu, G. and W.D.L. Finn. 1999. Seismic lateral
pressures for the design of rigid walls, Canadian
GeotechnicalJournal, accepted for publication.
Yoshimine, M., K. Ishihara, and W. Vargas. 1998.
Effect of principal stress direction and
intermediate principal stress on undrained shear
behaviour of sand. Accepted for publication,
Soils and Foundations, Japan Society for Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Youngs, R.R., N.N. Abrahamson, F.I. Makdisi and
K. Sadigh. 1995. Magnitude-dependent variance
of peak ground acceleration. Bull. Seism. Soc.
Am. 85, 1,161-1,176.
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 163
Session: Codes, standards and safety evaluation
A. Pecker
Gkodynamique et Structure, Bagneux, France
ABSTRACT The papers presented by the panelists in this session are reviewed in order to highlight the
points of convergence among the various geotechnical seismic codes and also to draw attention to points
where codes are still deficient. Some deviations in the spirit of the codes are also pointed out.
INTRODUCTION
Although the safety of a construction does not rely
only upon the codes and standards which are used
for its design and construction, those documents
help significantly to minimize the most commonly
encountered causes of deficiencies and fallacies in
seismic areas. These codes and standards are
continuously evolving documents which take
advantage of the lessons learned aRer each
earthquake.
Since the geotechnical community, as opposed to
the structural one, has always been rather reluctant
in producing codes and standards, a significant
amount of work has been devoted to this task
worldwide during the last decade. These efforts
converge towards the publication of various
geotechnical seismic codes which, although
different, bear some resemblance. However, some
aspects still remain a subject of controversy or
debate, probably until future earthquakes bring
some additional evidence.
It must however be noted that, in almost every
region of the world, there is a strong tendency
towards producing unified codes: this was the
motivation of Eurocode; the United States which
has a long tradition of several different codes,
depending on the State, the owner, ..., are also
involved in the process of elaborating a uniform
code (Seed & Moss 1999). This is clearly a
significant step forward, but it must be kept in
mind that not all requirements in terms of safety
can be unified. Each State must keep the freedom
1107
of choosing the level of protection he wants to
enforce; this level is then linked to economy and
to the price the society is willing to pay to ensure
its protection. Clearly, if for new buildings,
differences might be marginal, the retrofit of old
structures is a far more critical issue.
GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF
GEOTECKNICAL SEISMIC CODES
Until recently, geotechnical engineers were used to
evaluate the safety of a structure through a global
safety factor. For instance, the state-of-the-art
practice to assess the safety of a foundation with
respect to a bearing capacity failure, was to
compute the so-called "bearing capacity" of the
foundation within the framework of a given theory,
or practice, and to require that the applied load be
smaller than the ultimate bearing pressure. Both
the loads and the soil strength parameters were
evaluated on the basis of engineering judgment and
were considered as best estimates values.
Nowadays, the general framework is set up and
almost all geotechnical codes have converged
towards the use of factored parameters (load,
resistance, strength, ...) to maintain consistency
with structural practice. However, agreement has
not yet been reached as to the most appropriate
choice.
For instance, in the New-Zealand code, the loads
and the resistance are factored (Pender 1999),
whereas in the Eurocode partial safety factors, on
the loads and strength parameters, are used
(Cuellar 1999). Which is the best approach
remains a subject of debate.
Moreover, since geotechnical design relies very
much upon past experience and precedents, the
choice of the appropriate partial safety factors that
would maintain consistency with the old approach
is not a straightforward task. A structure which
has proved to be safe with the old practice should
remain safe with the new one, and vice a versa.
The link between both approaches is not evident as
shown by Cuellar (1999), but obviously they must
be reconciled to maintain credibility.
EMERGING TOPICS IN SEISMIC CODES
The review of the lectures presented in this session
clearly points out that some areas focus the
attention of geotechnical engineers, whereas some
others are almost disregarded.
Ground motions
This is clearly one of the areas where most of the
work has been done during the last two decades.
The motivation was clearly the observations of the
ground amplifications and evidence of soil non-
linearities during the recent strong earthquakes
(Mexico 1985, Loma Prieta 1989, Northridge 1994,
Kobe 1995, ...). The track has been opened more
than 20 years ago by the pioneering works of Seed
et a1 (1976), Mohraz (1976) and others. Nowadays,
there seems to be enough experimental data to
incorporate in codes the dependency of the ground
motion characteristics (spectral shapes) not only on
a crude soil classification (rock, stiff soil, soft soil)
but on more quantitative data (average shear wave
velocity in the top 30meters) and also on other
parameters like the magnitude - distance
dependency reflecting different fi-equency content
(nearby and faraway earthquakes) or on the level of
acceleration reflecting the soil non-linearities. This
is the way which is followed in UBC but also in the
New Zealand and the Japanese codes, and in the
ongoing revision of Eurocode 8.
However, there is a drawback to such refinements:
soil classification must be more detailed with
quantitative measurements instead of qualitative
data, zonation maps must be updated and
incorporate additional parameters to the p.g.a., for
instance the peak ground velocity, ... This renders
the use of codes more difficult for engineers which
1108
are not well-trained and increases the cost of
construction by requiring more parameters.
Another more pernicious consequence of the huge
amount of work devoted to the refinement in the
prediction of ground motions, is to give the
impression to young or inexperienced (in earthquake
engineering) engineers that the safety of a structure
relies almost exclusively on our ability to predict
ground motions. This is obviously wrong and safety
can be significantly enhanced with good
constructive details. This aspect is definitely not
enough covered in geotechnical seismic codes.
Liquefaction
This is the second area which attracts the attention
of earthquake geotechnical engineers.
The paper by Yasuda (1999) clearly points out the
significant improvements which have been
implemented in Japanese codes for the prediction of
liquefaction. All other codes throughout the world
duly recognize the importance of this phenomenon
and gives reliable means of assessing its occurrence.
In that respect, the state-of-the-art is well advanced
and can be codified.
However, in the light of the consequences of the
Kobe earthquake, new trends emerge in the Japanese
code. In all other codes, the occurrence of
liquefaction in the vicinity of a structure shall more
or less be prevented; in the Japanese code for
highway bridges (Yasuda 1999), not only
liquefaction is not prohibited but means of
computing the forces acting on structures founded in
a liquefied soil deposit are provided. This is a
significant change to previous practice but the
questions might be raised on how far the state-of-
the-art has advanced to allow for implementing such
recommendations in codes. Not so long ago, the
assessment of liquefaction was clearly dedicated to
experienced earthquake geotechnical engineers; the
great danger with this new trend is that
inexperienced, and even non geotechnical, engineers
will use this information to make their design. In
that respect, the codes may achieve the opposite
objective to which they were devoted to: instead of
improving the safety of a structure, they may
actually decrease its reliability.
Other topics
From the lectures which are presented in that
session, it is surprising to notice how limited are the
recommendations given to engineers for the seismic
design of foundations (shallow or piled
foundations). As noted in Seed & Moss paper
"these geotechnical issues receive too little attention
as structural engineers largely dominate the code
processes". Some efforts are however made in the
New-Zealand code for piled foundations (Pender
1999). In the Eurocode 8, the topic is only briefly
touched upon and could probably be dealt with in a
more extensive manner based on the results of
research conducted in support of Eurocode (PREC8,
ECOEST and ICONS programs).
These topics clearly need to be expanded in
geotechnical seismic codes and in view of the
ongoing research carried out everywhere, the day
when recommendations can be implemented in
codes is not too far.
require specialized engineering judgment and
experience".
REFERENCES TO THIS CONFERENCE
Cuellar V. Codes and standards for Europe
Pender M.J. Geotechnical earthquake engineering
design practice in New-Zealand
Seed R.B., Moss R.E.S. Recent advances in US
Codes and Policy with regard to Seismic
Geotechnics.
Yasuda S. Seismic Design Codes for Liquefaction
in Asia

OTHER REFERENCES
CONCLUSIONS Seed H.B. et al. 1976. Site dependent spectra for
earthquake resistant design. Bull. Seism. Soc.
From the presentations of this session, it appears Am., vol65 no 1.
that significant steps have been achieved for the Mohraz D. 1976. A study of earthquake response
implementation of geotechnical seismic codes. All spectra for different geological conditions. Bull.
converge towards a unified framework, although Seism. Soc. Am., vol65 no 3.
differences still persist. The tendency is also to
produce unified codes within wide regions of the
world: Europe, North America, ...
Some challenges still exist for the implementation
of the new codes:
- to reconcile the old state of practice in
geotechnical engineering with the framework of the
new code
- attention must not be exclusively (and
excessively?) focused on some aspects of the codes,
like the definition of ground motions neglecting
some equally important aspects contributing to the
overall safety of a structure
- care must be exercised not to codify advanced
research results which may either evolve in a near
future or be misinterpreted and misused by
practicing engineers.
Finally, a fundamental question must be raised:
how detailed a geotechnical seismic code must be?
A too refined and detailed code may achieve the
opposite objective of the one assigned originally. If
the practicing engineer is guided at every single
step, he may be under the impression that
geotechnical earthquake engineering is not so
difficult. One must keep in mind that very often,
these codes may be used by structural engineers,
with no or little, experience in geotechnical
engineering. Therefore, it seems very important to
stress that these codes are not intended to be used as
a recipe book. This is clearly stated in the Foreword
of Eurocode 8 Part 5 ' I . . . Part 5 may not cover in
detail all design situations, and its proper use may

1109
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam,ISBN 90 5809 116 3

Recent advances in US codes and policy with regard to seismic geotechnics

R. B. Seed & R. E. S.Moss

University of California, Berkeley, Calif., USA

ABSTRACT: The past decade has seen major advances in U. S. seismic codes and policies dealing with
seismic geotechnical issues. The result has been a significant improvement in overall seismic practice, and in
overall public safety and reduction of risk to the existing infrastructure. Technical lessons from recent major
earthquakes, combined with the political and professional will generated by a number of recent seismic
events, have led to a surge in progress in the code and policy arenas. The U. S. code and policy processes are,
however, a very complex mix, and advances have been far from uniform across all areas of concern. This
paper will attempt to describe selected significant advances over the past decade, to briefly trace their origins
and motivations, and will also offer observations regarding areas in which further progress appears warranted.

INTRODUCTION structures and facilities, and “special” structures and

The United States does not have a single,
dominant governmental agency or body responsible
for even a large fraction of code and policy efforts
affecting seismic geotechnics. Instead, a large
number of governmental agencies and groups, at
both the State and Federal (National) levels, interact
with a number of professional and technical groups
and entities to evolve both codes and policies. This
process is further complicated by the right of local
jurisdictions (e.g. local cities and counties) to choose
from among a suite of available options with regard
to both codes and policy in many areas, and to
modify and amend these in response to perceived
local needs and preferences.
The result is a labyrinthine process, partly
technical, pcly political, and partly
professional/political by which policies, codes and
practice evolve in different geographic regions and
across different application areas (e.g. new
buildings, retrofit of existing structures, dams,
transportation works, etc.) This short paper cannot
begin to do full justice to this complex topic.
Instead, the authors will highlight major recent
changes, and will make observations regarding areas
in which progress appears to be lagging.
BUILDINGS
The single most important set of codes and
policies are those affecting the seismic design and
performance of “buildings”, as the majority of risk
or hazard exposure with regard to both loss of life
and injury, as well as economic loss, is centered
here. This general area can be loosely sub-divided
into three areas: new construction, retrofit of existing
facilities that warrant or receive special treatment.
Codes and policies concerning new
construction have received the greatest attention, as
it is here that the greatest gains in safety can be most
easily achieved. As a result, periodic advances
generally cause “new” structures to be progressively
safer than older, existing structures. Conversely, it
has been politically more difficult to achieve major
advances with regard to retrofit of older, existing
structures due to an adverse combination of social,
political, and economic forces.
A surprising variety of codes, and variations,
are applied to seismic design of structures across
different geographic regions of the U. S. The
western U.S. generally faces the largest levels of
probabilistic seismic risk, and codes and standards
are especially variable in less seismically active
areas in the East. Perceived seismic risk is generally
low across most of the eastern U. S., and seismic
design code provisions in the east are generally not
very severe. Exceptions occur in localized areas of
higher risk (e.g. the New Madrid and Charleston
regions), and a few states have taken a laudable lead
in establishing local standards (e.g. New York and
Massachusetts.) Generally, however, the dominant
U. S. seismic codes evolve in the west, and are then
adapted and/or adopted in the east.
Since 1970, and the adoption of the first
“modern” seismic building codes (1 970 UBC),
western U. S. seismic building codes have been
largely dominated by the Uniform Building Code
(UBC) provisions. The UBC provisions, in turn,
evolve from draft “Blue Book” provisions developed
by the Structural Engineers Association of California
(SEAOC). Though dominated by structural
engineers, the SEAOC process involves other

1111
 n
""I
TABLE 1: SELECTED U.S. CODES, STANDARDS, AND PROCEDURES - "Other" Foundation issues

~:
Codes, Ground 4otionsLateral Force Provisions I Seismic "Ground Failure"
Provisions. Principal Probabilistic Design 1 Site Effects Near Field -Based
Performance ~ Structure
Soil- Soil I Slope I Surface Seismic I DeeD I Shallow
or Levei(s) Bearing Founda- Founda-
dations, Application Deterministic Design or Interaction Rupture Cap. and tions tion
Commentary, Basis Other Basis Deforma- Settle- (Piles/ Systems/
Policy, etc.. . tions ments Elements
Mainly Prob. 10% in Reasonably 1ncompl.l Incompl./ Incompl./ V.Littlex
LBuildings
(A) New Provisions Advisory7 Advisory? Advisory? Advisory7
0.4g PGA Treated

UBC i 1997 j Mainly'

Western
I F limit
10% in
50yrs.,
Reasonably

0.4-0.6~ Treated Treated

I 1 U
Vision2000 1995 N/A Mainly Prob.
rence
Levels
IBC2000 In US. Mainly Prob.
Advisory7

limit I I I

(B) Retrofit FEMA-273 1997 Mainly Prob. Not Well Performance Incompl./ Fair Fair Adequate V.Littlex 1ncompl.l Incornpl./

(C) Schools,
Hospitals,
etc.
*Field Act (and
subsequent.)
I
1933 to
current'

----1998
-
I
California

US.
11
Prob.

10%in I NotWell
Treated
Evolving
Standards
Based
"Safety"
Basis
Advisory7
Allowed
7I
Treatment

Not Well
Treatment

Not Well
Treatment

Not Well
Good
Treatment
Advisory7
Fair
I
I
Advisory?
Fair

ILBridges
Bridge Specs Treated Treated Treated
CALTRANS Current California Mainly Prob.
Procedures Treated Treated Treated Treated
1II.Dams Well Well
Div. of Safety Treated Treated Treated
of Dams
Mainly Det.
Treated Treated Treated
Well Well Well
----I
1V.Waste
Reclamation
Subtitle C, D Current US.
Mainly Prob.
Treated
Incompl./
Treated
Incompl./
Treated
N/A N/A N/A N/A
Landfills Advisory7 Advisory7 I I
I I U
Title 14 & 23 Current California Mainly Prob. Incompl./ Incompl./ N/A N/A N/A N/A
I I
Advisory7 Advisory7 1 I

VSelected Alquist-Priolo I 1972 I California 1 Det. N/A N/A Well N/A N/A N/A
Others Act I Treated I

Seismic-Haz. I 1990 California I Prob.

1 Well Well N/A Fair Incompl./ Incompl./
Mapping Act 1 I 5Oyrs. Treated I Treated Treated Advisory7 Advisory7
, . legisla n
L

Not widelv a oted. 'Also widely copied in other parts of U.S. 'Provisions are still under development. letrofit has historically been difficult to m a 3te; these provisions show promise for T espread adoption. 'Subsequent
(through present) is collectively referred to as "Field Act" legislation. %ngle design level based principally on "Life Safety" and corollary prevention of collapse &d/or severe damage. ?Principal issues are noted, but mandatory treatment
1s lacking: the treatment is incomplete and/or advisory in nature. 'Treatment addresses only a small part of the overall issue, or the issue is mentioned but not seriously addressed. 9MCE=maximum earthquake capable of occurring (under
known tectonic framework), MPE=maximum earthquake "likely" to occur over a 100-year period. "Generally, MCE causative event producing mean plus one standard deviation shaking levels.

1112
disciplines (e.g.: geotechnics, seismology and earth
sciences, etc.). California, the state with the highest
perceived seismic risk, has the nation’s largest
community of seismic professionals, but the SEAOC
process has also increasingly involved professionals
from other states.
Beginning in 1978, the NEHRP (National
Seismic Hazard Reduction Program) Provisions,
developed principally under the sponsorship of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
by the professional community (including many of
those involved in development of the UBC
provisions), have provided an important alternate set
of available “code” recommendations. Intended to
serve as a basis for a “national” code, the NEHRP
Provisions have not yet succeeded in supplanting the
UBC in the all-important western U. S., and have
not yet been widely adopted. This NEHRP effort
has, however, made important contributions by
“pushing” the UBC codes towards a number of
advances.
At present, with the support of FEMA, under
the auspices of ICBO, and with the involvement of
SEAOC, an ongoing effort is being made to
reconcile the UBC and NEHRP provisions and to
develop the IBC-2000 code provisions. The IBC
code effort (“International” Building Code) is not
intended to be an international code, but is aimed at
establishing a unified national code. It is too early to
project the likelihood of this being accomplished
since the development has not yet progressed
beyond the draft stage.
Ground Motions for Design
A decade ago, there were four main
shortcomings in the ground motions provisions of
most U.S. seismic building codes. These were:
(1) Probabilistic mapping of hazard lagged far
behind the state-of-knowledge,
(2) Peak shaking intensity levels in close proximity
to major potentially active faults were arbitrarily
truncated at levels well below those likely to
occur at the recurrence intervals or probability
levels stated as the intended design basis (an
arbitrary cutoff of PGA50.4g was common),
(3) Local site effects, and their significant potential
influence on shaking intensity and character
were either neglected or underestimated, and
(4) Potentially significant near-field effects (e.g.
directionality producing “fling” or coherent
long-period pulse effects) were neglected.
As ground motion (or Lateral Force)
provisions provide the initial basis for all other
elements of design, both structural and geotechnical,
this is the single most important issue to “get right”.
Lessons, and a wealth of new strong motion
data, from the 1985 Mexico City and 1989 Loma
Prieta earthquakes highlighted the long-debated site
effects issues, and a program to modify the principal
U.S. codes was initiated in 1991. Subsequently, data
1113
and lessons from the 1992 Landers, 1994
Northridge, and 1995 “Kobe” events, coupled with
the professional and political pressures produced by
these events, enhanced and broadened the scopes of
these efforts.
The NEHRP provisions were the easiest to
modify, in part because they were not widely used in
practice, and a new treatment of ground motions was
produced in the 1994 NEHRP Provisions. Based on
a wealth of new strong motion data, and analytical
methods refined using this data, the new NEHRP
provisions produced a greatly improved treatment of
site effects. Six basic classes of site conditions were
delineated, and nonlinear (intensity-dependent)
spectral amplification factors for both short-period
and long-period motions were developed for each.
Response spectra for design are developed using a
level short-period spectral segment which intersects
a long period segment (which declines as the inverse
of increasing period) as illustrated in Figure 1. The
nonlinear amplification factors are designed to
produce reasonable spectral values in both ranges,
and to provide for a reasonable “corner” or
intersection point between the short and long-period
sections.
The nonlinear site factors were originally
extended to peak acceleration levels greater than
amax=0.4g,but it was not possible to raise the “cap”
of kaX10.4gin this effort. Similarly, no treatment of
near-field effects was implemented. Accordingly,
the authors feel that these provisions under-represent
“expected” intensity levels in near proximity to
major, potentially active faults to some degree. The
mapping basis for basic hazard assessment continued
to be probabilistically derived maps of peak
acceleration and peak velocity developed by the U.
S. Geological Survey (USGS) for a 10% probability
of exceedance in 50 years. These nearly 20-year-old
maps lagged behind the evolved state-of-knowledge,
especially in the seismically active western U. S.
This was remedied to a large extent by adoption in
the 1997 NEHRP Provisions of updated maps, also
developed by USGS, but with significant
collaboration with other agencies and experts. The
“cap” of 0.4g persisted, however, which continued to
restrict design motions near large, capable faults
below the intended level of 10% probability of
exceedance in 50 years.
The 1997 UBC was next, and further
significant advances were achieved here. The
greatly improved NEHRP treatment of site effects
was coupled with a treatment of near-field effects
that reasonably increases the long-period design
motions in the near field. It was again politically
and professionally infeasible to elevate the intensity
“cap” of a,,ax,,,,=0.4g. This was mitigated, in part,
by artful application of the near-field factors, which
were also applied to short-period motions. Short-
period motions do not develop the coherence
necessary to manifest the “pulse” type of effects
addressed by the longer-period near-field factors, so
the short-period factors instead served the useful
surrogate purpose of slightly increasing (to
%,,r0,k-0.6g) the otherwise onerous cap on
maximum intensity. The greatly improved hazard
maps developed by USGS (with the collaboration of
California Div. of Mines and Geology-CDMG, and
others) have served to greatly close the gap between
the resulting mapped hazard (for 10% probability of
exceedance in 50 years) and the state-of-knowledge.
There is always room for improvement, and
no expert can be expected to fully agree with any
“simplified” code-type treatment of seismicity. It is
the authors’ view, however, that the tremendous
improvements in these 1997 UBC provisions are
such that there need never again be such major
changes implemented. Areas that might merit
further improvement or refinement would include
formally eliminating the “cap” of a,,,m,,r0,k=0.4g,and
undoing the short-period (high fiequency) near-field
treatment that currently serves as a slightly
misleading (but effective) “patch”. In addition, site
factors can be further refined, and their interactions
with near-field factors have not yet been directly
addressed. An additional “site effect”, the potential
entrapment and amplification of energy at the edges
of geologic basins, has also not been addressed.
Most current codes do not yet do full justice to soil-
structure interaction effects in developing
assessments of superstructure responseAoading.
Overall, however, the current (new) treatment is a
very good simplified code-specific treatment of
seismicity (based on 10% probability of exceedance
in 50 years), and further refinements will be less
significant in terms of their overall impact on the
design process.
Future developments already on the horizon
will include efforts to implement “performance-
based” seismic design, setting multiple levels of
targeted performance associated with multiple levels
of seismicity. The Vision 2000 exercise (SEAOC,
1995) has helped lay the groundwork for this.,
Efforts to reconcile the UBC and NEHRP provisions
are currently in progress under the principle auspices
of FEMA and the ICBO, and are directed towards
development of IBC 2000. The IBC 2000 effort is
still evolving in draft form, and appears likely to
invoke a 1997 NEHRP treatment of seismicity (a
small step backwards), but long-term efforts in
parallel are already directed towards attempting to
implement a performance-based code in subsequent
IBC efforts. It is too early to guess how the IBC
efforts will fare relative to the UBC code with regard
to implementation.
Other Geotechnical Issues
In addition to seismicity, there are two broad
additional classes of seismic geotechnical issues that
should be addressed within the code framework. The
first of these is ground failure, which can be further
subdivided into (1) soil liquefaction-related issues,
(2) seismic stability and deformations of slopes,
embankments, and fills, and (3) surface fault rupture
hazard. The other broad class of issues are those
associated with the seismic performance of
1114
Figure 1. Design Spectra (from UBC 1997)
foundation elements, which includes soil-structure
interaction, seismic bearing capacity and
settlements, and performance of shallow and deep
foundation elements. Unfortunately, as structural
engineers largely dominate the code processes, these
“geotechnical” issues generally receive too little
attention.
There has been a small amount of progress
here in recent years. The 1994 and 1997 NEHRP
provisions now include a largely advisory chapter on
these types of geotechnical issues, and the 1997
UBC code also has limited and largely advisory
treatment of some parts of some of these issues. It
continues to be true, however, that these principal
U.S. provisions do not re uire meaningful attention
to most seismic ground b i s s u e s , or most of the
foundation performance issues above.
In direct response to this oversight, the State
of California has two pertinent laws. The first is the
Alquist-Priolo Act (1972), whirdirects CDMG to
prepare maps of potentially active faults, and
requires “special studies” (with CDMG review) for
all projects within mapped Special Study Zones
(within 200 feet of known or suspected fault rupture
hazard). Passed in the wake of the very damaging
1971 San Fernando earthquake, early drafts of this
act had also similarly addressed liquefaction and
slope stability concerns, but these broader provisions
were defeated by special interest groups in the final
legislation.
Two decades later, spurred by the 1989
Loma Prieta (and subsequently the 1994 Northridge)
earthquakes, the missing provisions were more than
restored with the 1990 Seismic Hazards Mapping
Act, which directs CDMG to prepare maps of
“special study” zones for both liquefaction and
seismic slope stability hazard. These maps are being
prepared initially targeting densely built urban
regions, and all significant new construction in zones
judged likely to have some risk of either liquefaction
or slope instability are required to address and
mitigate these hazards. The result is nothing less
than a major revolution. For the first time, a
majority of new projects (in California) will be
Fequired to address these important hazards. An
important additional by-product of this is the
enormous evolving database of accessible
geotechnical and geological data being compiled and
made available by CDMG as part of the hazard
assessment and mapping process.
OTHER SPECIAL STRUCTURES AND
FACILITIES
Space limitations prevent a full treatment of
other types of facilities subject to codes and policy
advances related to seismic geotechnics. Instead a
very brief overview of selected points will be
addressed. An overview of selected issues is
presented in Table 1.
Seismic Retrofit of Existing Structures
With a few limited exceptions, (e.g. schools
and hospitals) it has been very difficult both
politically and economically to require retrofit to
upgrade the seismic safety of existing structures.
This has only recently begun to change in the wake
of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, as some
municipalities in both the greater Los Angeles and
the greater San Francisco Bay area have begun to
enact requirements for retrofit of selected classes of
structural inventory. Corollary to this, there have
been no widely acceptedadopted standards for such
retrofit, and research regarding the very difficult
technical problems of retrofit also lagged prior to the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The State of
California has required upgrading of seismic safety
for schools and hospitals (including significant
geotechnical issues such as liquefaction, etc.).
Finally, the recent FEMA-273 (FEMA, 1997) has
been developed as an intended set of supportable
standards for retrofit. These are notable for a
number of reasons. A truly “performance-based
design” approach is undertaken, with four levels of
targeted performance associated with four levels of
seismicity or loading (progressively higher shaking
intensities with progressively lower annual
likelihood of occurrences call for levels of
performance from “immediate occupancy” through
limitation of damages and ensuring repairability, to
life safety and prevention of collapse at the highest
shaking levels). A meaningful treatment of seismic
ground failure issues, with some good guidance
regarding adequate mitigation, is also included.
Ground motion assessment is based on derivatives of
the 1997 NEHRP provisions, varying these for the
levels not directly addressed.
California Schools and Hospitals
An additional note should be made regarding
the special engineering treatment afforded public
schools and hospitals in the State of California.
Since the 1933 “Field Act” legislation, California
1115
has set higher standards for public schools, and these
were extended to hospitals in the wake of the 1971
San Fernando Earthquake. These standards
constantly evolve, as the profession advances, and
geotechnical seismic procedures are currently very
up-to-date across essentially the full panoply of
geotechnical seismic issues. Site-specific ground
motion studies are required, and site and near-field
effects must be considered. Soil liquefaction, slope
deformations, and fault rupture hazards are all fully
dealt with. Some minor room for improvement
exists in analysis and design of deep @iles/piers) and
shallow foundation elementdsystems, but, overall,
this is an exemplary llcode/policyl’ treatment of
seismic geotechnical issues.
Bridges and Transportation Works
Two sets of standards dominate U. S.
transportation design. The California Department of
Transportation (CALTRANS) has their own
standards and procedures, and the rest of the country
is largely dominated by the AASHTO Bridge Design
Spec’s. (though many states modify these, and many
keep a close eye on California practice). In response
to recent earthquakes, CALTRANS has rapidly and
deliberately evolved a very enlightened perception
of the importance of the full suite of issues that
comprise seismic geotechnics. Based on lessons
learned from a recent spate of earthquakes,
CALTRANS has, over the past decade, massively
upgraded their seismic expertise and has undertaken
a full re-evaluation (and often also retrofit) of more
than 2,000 bridges. Lacking staffing for this
massive task, CALTRANS has made heavy use of
the West Coast professional consulting community
in both structural and geotechnical engineering. An
interesting result has been that a majority of the
professional structural community were required to
do things CALTRANS’ way, and so became much
more deeply involved in eotechnical seismic issues
than they had generallyk o u s l y . Owing
largely to the tremendous pace of the work,
CALTRANS has not yet been able to formally
document their full policies and procedures, but
these are widely disseminated among the West Coast
community. In contrast, the AASHTO Bridge
Spec’s. are well documented (AASHTO, 1998), but
are lacking by comparison. They employ outdated
(1988 NEHRP) treatments of seismicity and site
effects, and do not begin to adequately address
important issues associated with liquefaction, slope
instability, piles and piers, etc. that can profoundly
affect “bridges”.
Dams
U.S. policies and practices with regard to
seismic safety of dams are largely a matter of local
choice, but are driven by three main agencies. The
California Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD),
formed in response to the catastrophic failure of the
St. Francis dam in 1928, has an unusual degree of
authority in an otherwise fiee democracy, and sets
very rigorous seismic standards for dams in
California. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation
(BuRec) each oversee large numbers of Federal
dams across the country, and both also take a
comprehensive and conservative view of seismic
safety. A number of other organizations and
agencies also participate in establishing standards of
practice (e.g. USCOLD, ASDSO, etc.), and
implementation of standards is largely a matter of
local/regional choice. DSOD, USACE and BuRec
all use fully up to date methods to address issues
including liquefaction, seismic deformations,
remediatiodmitigation, etc., and all employ
conservatively selected design-level motions
(roughly corresponding to “maximum credible”
causative events producing mean plus one standard
deviation levels of excitation.) Standards are
somewhat more spotty in some regions of the
southern and eastern U. S., where lower levels of
perceived seismic hazard have led to less stringent
seismic standards for non-Federal dams in some
areas.
Waste LandJills
Essentially a new area of significant practice
in just the last decade, seismic engineering of waste
landfills is driven by both Federal and California
State regulations (see Table 1). These overlap and
compete to some degree, but in general they call for
a reasonably comprehensive suite of geotechnical
studies to ensure the adequate seismic performance
of the base liner, leachate collection, and gas
collection systems, and adequate performance (or
occasionally for rapid repairability) of top cover
systems. Resulting studies routinely involve
assessment of expected seismic deformations and
allowable system deformations, and have helped to
advance practice in these areas. One interesting
fillet here is the fact that the governing regulations
generally require higher levels of seismicity (lower
annual probability levels) than are used in most
standard building codes, with the incongruous result
that many waste landfills are arguably “safer” or at
least designed to safely withstand somewhat higher
levels of excitation, than homes and other buildings
in adjacent communities.
SUMMARY
U. S. codes and policies pertaining to seismic
geotechnics have made tremendous advances over
the past decade, spurred in no small part by a
number of earthquakes (both domestic and abroad)
over this same time frame. Major improvements in
ground motions, as well as local site effects, near-
field effects, etc., have been implemented, though
not yet uniformly through all venues. Issues that
remain as potentially important and largely
unaddressed here would include improved SSI
treatment, more realistic treatment of hazard near to
1116
major potentially active faults (eliminating “caps” on
maximum excitation levels here), and site and
directionality issues associated with edges of
geologic basins.
Some progress has been made in “other”
seismic geotechnical areas, but national codes and
policies for most structures and facilities continue to
be deficient with regard to requiring adequate and
responsible treatment of issues associated with soil
liquefaction, seismic slope stability, and fault
rupture hazard. The codes and policies also tend to
neglect or fail to set rigorous guidelines for soil-
structure interaction and for performance of shallow
and deep (pile and pier) foundation elements. These
issues have been largely addressed in California with
direct legislative action for most new structures, and
by CALTRANS’ own policies for transportation
works. It must be hoped that this, in turn, drives
further improvements policies and in practice in
other regions.
A final and very promising trend over the
past decade has been the increasingly congenial and
collaborative interaction among the diverse
professional fields that, together, encompass
earthquake engineering. From seismologists and
earth scientists, through geotechnical and structural
engineers, and including architects, planners, and
policy makers, this vastly improved collaboration
has had a very beneficial effect, not only on codes
and policy but also on practice, where it matters
most.
REFERENCES
AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications.
(1998) American Association of State Highway
andTransportation Officials, Second Edition.
Alquist-Priolo Special Studies Zones Act of 1972. SB
520, Chapter 7.5, Division 2, California Public
Resources Code.
Field Act of the State of California. Chapter 29,
Statutes of 1933.
Mualchin, L. & Jones, A.L. (1 992) “Peak Acceleration
from Maximum Credible Earthquakes in California
(Rock and Stiff-Soil Sites).” California Division of
Mines and Geology.
NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic
Regulations for New Buildings. (1994, 1997)
Building Seismic Safety Council, FEMA.
NEHRP Guidelines for the Seismic Rehabilitation of
Buildings (FEMA Publication 273). (1997)
Applied Technology Council (ATC-33 Project),
Building Seismic Safety Council, FEMA, October.
SEAOC. (1995) “Performance Based Seismic
Engineering of Buildings.” Structural Engineers
Association of California Vision 2000 Committee,
Final Report, Vol. I & 11, April 3.
Slosson, J.E. (1974) “Model Ordinance for Cities &
Counties to Implement the Alquist-Priolo Act.”
California Division of Mines and Geology, Misc.
Pub.
Uniform Building Code. (1997). International
Conference of Building Officials.
 Earthquake GeotechnicalEngineering, Sec0 e Pinto fed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Seismic design codes for liquefaction in Asia

S.Yasuda
Tokyo Denki University,Japan

ABSTRACT: Seismic design codes for liquefaction in Asian countries are introduced. In Asia, few countries
are located on high seismic zones. Among them, east Asian countries have design codes for liquefaction.
Design codes in Japan are introduced at first. Then, design codes in east Asian countries are introduced.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 DESIGN CODES FOR LIQUEFACTION IN

In Asian region, there are mainly two zones where
seismic activity is high. The first one is along the
Pacific Ocean from Japan to Taiwan and Philippines.
The other one is from Indonesia to Iran through India
and Pakistan. Other countries are located at low
seismic or moderate seismic zones. Therefore
seismic design is conducted in few countries such as
Japan, P.R.China, Taiwan etc. Codes for liquefaction
has been established in these countries.
The author asked to ATC 3 (Asian Technical
Committee on Geotechnology for Natural Hazards)
members to show seismic design codes in each
country. In this paper, codes for liquefaction in Asian
countries are introduced based on the information.
First of all, design codes in Japan are introduced
precisely because many codes have been prescribed
in Japan. Then codes in other countries are presented.
JAPAN BEFORE THE 1995 HYOGOKEN-
NAMBU EARTHQUAKE
2.1 Critical N-value methods
Liquefaction prediction methods used in Japan are
classified into the following three groups :
(1) evaluate roughly based on topographical and
geological information (brief method)
(2) evaluate form SPT N-values and grain size
(simple method)
(3) evaluate precisely by conducting cyclic shear tests
and sesmic response analyses (detailed method)
The simple method is used most commonly for
design codes. In the simple method, there are two
different procedures : critical N-value methods and
FLmethods. The idea of the critical N-value was

--
Year
Design codes
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
i " ~ ' i ' " ' " ' " " ' i " ' " ' ' '
1971 1979 1989 1997
n
Port and harbor facilities D---------M N 0-
1972- 1980 1990-1996-
Highway bridges U W
1974
I
Railway facilities El
.-,
iQ7A. i

Buildings 1995
Oil tanks c) 7' '\ *I
LNG tanks
Water supply system
Tailing dams 1980 c+$i"" ', W

1997-
Sewage facilities 1981 0 .., 0-
Common utility ducts
Road embankment
-0 1986
1986
Y

Nuclear electric power El

1117
introduced by Koizumi, Kishida and othes after the
1964 Niigata earthquake. Based on these studies, the
methods for predicting liquefaction using the critical
N-value were adopted in design codes for harbor
facilities, highway bridges, buildings and railway
facilities from1971 to 1974 as shown in Table 1. The
critical N-values specified in each codes are shown in
Fig.l(a) and (b).
There mainly three factors which affect the critical
N-value: depth, seismic intensity and grain size.
Effect of grain size is considered in the design codes
for oil tanks and LNG tanks in 1978 and 1979,
respectively as shown in Fig.l(c). One more factor
on the weight of tanks is considered in the code for
oil tanks. The critical N-value for port and harvor
facilities was revised in 1989 as shown in Fig.l(d).
2.2 FL methods
In 1971 Seed and Idriss proposed a simple method
for estimating liquefaction potential. In Japan, a large
number of undrained cyclic triaxial tests have been
conducted on undisturbed samples obtained from
alluvial and reclaimed sands, starting from about
1975. Moreover several seismic response analyses
were carried out. By summarizing these test results,
Iwasaki et a1.(1978) derived a formula which was
adopted in the design codes for highway
bridges( 1980), water facilities( 1979) and sewage
facilities( 1981).
After the failure of Mochikoshi Tailing Dam
during the 1978 Izuoshima-kinkai earthquake, many
undrained cyclic triaxial tests on undisturbed tailing
material were carried out. Test resultes were adopted
in the design codes for tailing dams.
Tokimatsu and Yoshimi(1983) proposed
prediction method, and the design code for buildings
adopted this method in 1988. Kokusho et al. studied
liquefaction strength of dense sands and their results
were specified in the design code for nuclear electric
power plant in 1987.
Table 2 compares the formulae of R in the codes
for highway bridges, tailing dams and buildings.
2.3 Comparison of estimated results by several codes
Several more prediction methods using SPT N-
values have been proposed in Japan. Fig.:! compares
Table 2 Estimation methods for R in Japan

Desigr Liquefactionresistance (Strength ratio) R. T ,/a z1

codes

-- -
R=O. 08824 -,?+O. 7-+O. 19 (0.02 mmsiD,osO. 05 mm)
HlghWaY
R = 0 . 0 8 8 2 ~ ~ ~ + 0 . 2 'loglo('
2 5$) (0.0jmrn,CDSoS0.6mrn)
bridge:
(1980
R=O.08824Z--O.O5
f0.7
(I" (0.6rnm,CDso,C2.0mm)
R=R+(OOOJFC-016) for FC$40% ( a . If/mZ)

Tailing
dams
( 1982)

Buildings

(1988)

[For sandy will

Htghway NFCINI+CZ C,=l ( O % i F C < 10%) Cl=O (O%SFC< In%)
bndges NI=I.~N/(".'+0.7) C,=(FC+40)/50(10%5 FC< 60%) Cz=(FC-IO)/lR ( 10%S FC
(1996) CI=FU20- 1 (60%iFC)
[For gravcl] .
N.= 11-0.36xlogldDd2)~N1

DSo: Mean diameter (mm) ,FC : Fines content (%) ,

ha: Maximum surface acceleration (gals) ,Z : Depth (m)
U : Overburden pressure U v' , U z' : Effective overburden
?

Fig.1 Critical N-value methods in Japan

1118

Fig.2 Comparison of liquefiable layers predicted by
several codes
the predicted results under 200gals of the maximum
surface acceleration for 2 types of grounds in low
lands in Japan. Predicted results by old codes are not
coincided but the results by new codes are fairly
coincided.
2.4 Design of structures
After the estimation of occurrence of liquefaction, it
is necessary to design structures by considering the
liquefaction. In the codes for highway bridges and
buildings, reduction rate of bearing capacity for pile
foundations is prescribed. A method to evaluate the
safety factor against floating is prescribed in the
design code for common utility ducts. In the design
code for tailing dams and road embankment, a
method to evaluate safety factor against sliding is
prescribed.
3 CHANGE OF DESIGN CODES IN JAPAN
AFTER THE 1995 HYOGOKEN-NAMBU
EARTHQUAKE
3.1 Specijkation for Highway Bridges
The shaking in Kobe during the 1995 Hyogoken-
1119
nambu(Kobe) earthquake was very strong as the
maximum acceleration was 600 to 800 gals on the
ground surface. In Japan, about 200 gals of the
maximum surface acceleration had been considered
in the estimation of liquefaction potential before the
Hyogoken-nambu earthquake. Then it became
necessary to develop new design concept to consider
the very strong shaking which is called “Level 2
earthquake motion”.
Some studies have been conducted to develop a
new estimation method for liquefaction potential
under very strong shaking. In the new specification
for highway bridges, evaluation formula for
undrained cyclic strength was revised because the
previous formula can not be applied to the level 2
earthquake motion. Several cyclic triaxial tests on
frozen samples and case studies were carried out and
a new formula shown in Table 2 was proposed
(Matsuo et. al, 1997).
Figure 3 shows relationship between NI and RL for
clean sand. Big difference compared with the
relationship introduced in the previous specification
is that the RL increase rapidly with NIin the range of
N1>20.
One more important revise is the correction factor
C,. Two types of ground motion : @generated by
interplate fault in the ocean (named Type l), and@
generated by inland fault (named Type 2) are
introduced in the specification. The maximum
surface acceleration for two types of ground motions
are 0.3 G to 0.4 G and 0.6 G to 0.8 G in high
seismic zones , respectively. The correction factor on
the irregularity of seismic shear stress, C, is defined
as follows:
[Type 11 Cw=l.o (1)
[Type 2]CW=1.0(O<RLSO.I), Cw=3.3RL~-0.67 (0.1
< R L S O . ~ )Cw=2.0
, (0.4<R~) (2)
i
Clean sand ............
.............
.............i ...............
A :
1 ;
.j :
.......... .............. .............
0 10 20 30 40 50
Normalized N-value in SPT,N,
Fig.3 Relationship between SPT N and RL in the new
design code (Matsuo et a1.,1997)
 Estimated results for the two types of ground
model by the new design code for highway bridges
are shown on @in Fig.2 under the condition of
Khc=0.6. As shown in the figure, thickness of
liquefiable layer increased.
Design method for level 2 earthquake motion has
already introduced in the specification for highway
bridges thus mentioned. However, consideration of
very strong shaking into the design for liquefaction
has many problems to be solved. The followings are
the problems to be studied:
(1)Appropriate acceleration for Level 2 earthquake
motion must be studied. Fig.4 Schematic diagram of liquefaction-induced
flow
(2)New simple estimation methods on seismic shear
stress which can be applied for very strong shaking
must be developed.
(3)Not only the judgment whether liquefaction
occurs or not, but also the evaluation of deformation
of structures such as settlements or uplift must be
taken in the design for liquefaction.
(4)Post liquefaction behavior of medium dense sand
must be studied because liquefaction occurs in
medium dense ground such as N-values in SPT is 15
to 20 under the very strong shaking. There is a
possibility that damage to structures is not severe in
the medium dense grounds even though liquefaction
occurs. Fig.5 Earth pressure considered in the Specification
for Highway Bridges (1996)
3.2 Liquefuction-inducedgroundflow
Many quaywalls and reinforcements moved toward
the sea and settled during the 1995 Hyogoken-nambu (HNL< X 5 HNL+HL) (4)
where, C,: correction factor for the distance,S, from
(Kobe) earthquake in and around Kobe City in Japan.
quaywall, 1.O for S 5 50 m, 0.5 for 50 < S
The ground behind quaywalls liquefied and flowed
toward the sea due to the movement of the quaywalls.
5 100 m
CNL:correction factor in non-liquefy layer,
The ground flow brought severe damage to many
0 for P ~ 5 5(0.2P~-1)/3
, for 5 < PL 5
structures, such as bridges, buildings and lifelines.
20, 1 for PL>20
Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of the typical
CL:correction factor in liquefy layer, =0.3
damage to quaywalls and the ground. K,: coefficient for passive pressure
There are two approaches to consider the effect of
X: depth (m)
ground flow into the design of pile foundation or
buried pipes: The second approach will be adopted for several
(1)evaluate the pressures act on the structures due to design codes soon. For example, the following
the ground flow at first, then evaluate the method (e.g. Yasuda et al., 1998) may be adopted for
deformation of structures, and high pressure gas tanks:
(2)estimate the displacement of the ground at first,
0estimate the displacement of quaywalls or
revetments, D in Fig.4,
then evaluate the deformation of structures @ estimate the distance of influence, L in Fig.4,
The first approach was adopted for the new @ estimate the lateral displacement on the ground
specification for highway bridges. Based on back surface at the site of foundation, and
analyses of the damaged highway bridges during the @ analyze the bending moment on the pile with an
Hyogoken-nambu earthquake, the following method appropriate small soil spring constant.
was derived :
OArea to be consider is within 100 behind a
quaywall which is higher than 5 m. Thickness of 4 CODES FOR LIQUEFACTION IN OTHER
liquefiable layer is more than 5m. COUNTRIES
@The following forces, shown in Fig.5, are applied
to foundation :
qNL=CsCNLKp Y NLX (0 5 x 5 HNL) (3) 4.1 P.R. China
qL=CsCL{ Y NLHNL+ Y L(X-HNL)) Liquefaction prediction methods are specified in the

1120
 design codes for buildings, special shctures and Table 3 Characteristic depth of liquefaction-potential
railways in P.R.China. Prediction methods in these Soil
codes are slightly different.
In,
In,the
theBuilding
Building code code (1989),
(1 989), liquefaction
liquefaction potential
potential
isisjudged
judged by bythe the following
followingmethod method:
[Step
[Step 11 11ItIt is is not
not necessary
necessary to to evaluate
evaluate liquefaction
liquefaction
potential
potential by by thethe second
second step step ifif the
the site
site has
has oneone of of the
the Sand
Sand
following
following:conditions:
Y
conditions:
QSeismic
@Seismic intensity intensityisis lesslessthan
than 6. 6.
@Soil
@Soil isisolder older thanthan diluvium
diluvium soil. soil.
@Clay
@Clay content content isis more more than than 10, 10, 1313 and and 16 16 forfor Near-
Near- or
or far-
far- Seismic
Seismic intensity
seismic
seismicintensity
intensity7, 7, 88 and
and 9,9, respectively.
respectively. Earthquake
Earthquake 7 8 9
@ @Depthes
Depthes of of non-liquefiable
non-liquefiable layer, layer, d,(m),
d,(m), water water Near-earthquake
Near-earthquake 6 10
10 16
table,
table, d,.,(m),
dw(m),base base of of building,
building, db(m) db(m) and and liquefaction
liquefaction Far-earthquake
Far-earthquake 8 12 -
characteristic
characteristic depth, depth, &(m) do(m) have have the the following
following
relationships:
relationships:
d,>do+db-2
dU>do+db-2 ((5)
5)
d>do+db-3
dddo+db-3 (6)
(6)
du+d> 1.5do+2db-4.5
d,+d>l .5do+2db-4.5 (7)
(7)
do:
do: shown
shown in Table 33
inTable
[Step
[Step 21 21 Liquefaction
Liquefaction potentialpotential is is evaluated
evaluated by by thethe
followingformula
following formulabased based on on SPTSPTN-values:
N-values:
N63.6Ncr (8)
Ncr=No[0.9+0.1( d s - d w ) ] m (9)
. .
where,
where,N63.5:
N63.5:measured
measured SPT SPTN-ialue
N-value
N,,
N,, ::critical
critical SPTSPTN-value
N-value
No ::reference
No reference SPT SPTN-value
N-value (Table(Table 4) 4)
d,d, ::measured
measureddepth depth (m) (m)
pp ::clay claycontent
content (%),(%), pp ,=3 =3 ifif pp <3 <3
CriticalN-values
Critical N-values evaluated
evaluated by by thethe above
above formulae
formulae
for dW=2m,
for d,=2m, pP =0% =0% are are shown
shown in in Fig.6.
Fig.6.
InIn the
the design
design code code for for antiseimic
antiseimic of of special
special
structures (1994),
structures (1994), 0 @ to to @ @ in in the
the first
first step
step and
and thethe
formula in
formula in thethe second
second step step are are almost
almost same same as as the
the Fig.6 Comparison
Comparison of
of critical
criticalN-values
N-values
Fig.6
building code.
building code. Relationship
Relationship of of d,, d,, d,d, andand seismic
seismic
intensityin
intensity in 0, @, shown
shown in in Fig.7,
Fig.7, isis slightly
slightlydifferent.
different.
In this
In this figure,
figure, 2m 2m is is deducted
deducted from from d, d, and
and d,d, ifif thethe
depthof
depth ofbase
base isis 2m 2m to to Sm.
5m.
In the
In the design
design code code for for railways(
railways(1989), 1989),liquefaction
liquefaction
potential isis evaluated
potential evaluated by by the the formulae
formulae show show in in
appendix based
appendix based on on test
test results
results by by SPT SPT or or cone
cone tests.
tests.
Maximum depth
Maximum depth to to be
be evaluated
evaluated is is 15m
15mand and 20m20m for for
seismic intensity
seismic intensity 7, 7, and
and 88 andand 9, 9, respectively.
respectively. IfIf the the
site has
site has one one of of the
the following
following conditions,
conditions, effect effect of of
liquefactionisisnot
liquefaction not necessary
necessaryto to bebe considered:
considered:
@Soil isis older
@Soil olderthanthandiluvium
diluvium soil soilor or clay with IIpp 2
clay with 10.
2 10.
@Clay content
@Clay content isis more more than than 10, 10, 13 13 andand 16 16 forfor
seismicintensity
seismic intensity7, 7, 88and
and 9,9, respectively.
respectively. Fig.7 Relationship
Fig.7 Relationship among
among d,,
d,, d, and seismic
@Relationships among
@Relationships among d,, d,, d,d, and and seismic
seismic intensity
intensity
have the
have the relationships
relationships shown shown in in Fig.7
Fig.7 (exactly
(exactly
speaking boundary
speaking boundary lines lines are
are slightly
slightly different
different from from
Fig.7)ififthe
Fig.7) the depth
depthof ofbase
base isis less
lessthanthan 2m.2m. table, d,(m),
table, 1=1-0.o65(dw-2)
d,(m), a!cx 1=1-0.065(dW-2)
[Appendix]
[Appendix] a:a 2:2 : correction
correction factor
factor for the measured depth,
Ncr=NoCY.a I 1a:a 22 aa 33 a4
Ncr=No a4 (10)
(1 0) d,(m), aa 2=0.52+0.1
ds(m), 2=0.52+0.175ds-0.005d;
75ds-0.005d?
where,Ncr:
where, Ncr: critical
critical SPTSPTN-value
N-value a 3:3: correction
a correction factor
factor for
for the
the thickness of
No ::7,
No 7, 12,
12,16 16for
for seismic
seismicintensity
intensity7, 7, 88 and
and 9, 9, non-liquefiable layer, d,(m),
non-liquefiable
respective1y
respectively 3=1 -0.05(du-2)
a: 3=1-0.05(d,-2)
correctionfactor
a 1:1 : correction
a! factorfor forthethe depth
depth of of water
water a:a 4:4: correction
correction factor
factor for
for clay
clay content, Pc(%),

1121
1121
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, S&coe Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1 16 3

Geotechnical earthquake engineering design practice in New Zealand

M. J. Pender
Department of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand

ABSTRACT: Current practices followed in New Zealand for assessing seismic risk and the ultimate limit
state design of foundations are summarised. The ultimate limit state design method used is explained and
compared with other methods. Also current research in earthquake geotechnical engineering is reviewed. In
particular mention is made of prototype field tests aiid recorded data on earthquake response of buildings and
sites which are likely to be of wider than New Zealand applicability.

1 INTRODUCTION ings Standard gives design acceleration response

New Zealand seismicity is such that, roughly
speaking, we can expect one magnitude-6 event per
year, one magnitude-7 event per decade, and one
magnitude-8 event per century. The relatively small
population for the country, which is concentrated in
a few major cities, means that large earthquakes of-
ten occur in sparsely populated regions distant from
concentrations of population, property, and infra-
structure susceptible to damage. On the other hand
Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, is located on a
major active fault system that has a recurrence inter-
val for surface fault rupture of a few hundred years.
Auckland, the largest city in the country, is in a
seismically less active region but, even so, the earth-
quake hazard there is still significant.
In New Zealand load factors aiid strength re-
duction factors for ultimate limit state design, as
well as loads for serviceability limit state design, are
given in the Loadings Standard (NZS4203: 1992)
and associated material codes published by Stan-
dards New Zealand. In addition the Building Indus-
try Authority publishes performance-based docu-
ments for all aspects of building construction.
Relevant to the discussion in this paper is the docu-
ment dealing with foundation design (BIA 1998).
2 SEISMIC HAZARD MODEL FOR NEW
ZEALAND
An important aspect of the aseisiiiic design of new
structures and the retrofit of existing structures is the
selection of appropriate levels of earthquake motion
for the various limit states. Currently the NZ Load-
spectra for various parts of the country. These are
based on earthquake hazard models developed in the
~ O ’ S , which were presented in a uniform hazard for-
mat. At present the basis of these spectra is being
re-examined (McVerry et a1 1998 and Stirling et a1
1999). This is possible because recently better qual-
ity data have been obtained, particularly from sev-
eral magnitude 6 and 7 events in the last decade
yielding recorded motions over a range of distances.
Also, geological and seismological studies over the
last twenty years have yielded a wealth of additional
information about New Zealand’s active faults (par-
ticularly from paleoseisinic studies), tectonic struc-
ture and seismicity distribution.
A complication in assessing earthquake hazard is
the location of NZ across the boundary of the Pacific
and Australian Plates. In the northeast beneath the
North Island the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the
Australian Plate. In Fiordland, in the southwest of
the South Island, the sense of subduction is reversed,
with the Pacific Plate overlying the Australian Plate.
These two subduction zones are linked by the Alpine
Fault and other predominantly strike-slip faults. In
addition the Taupo Volcanic Zone is extensional in
nature. Furthermore there are distinct regions of
normal faulting and others of reverse faulting. Thus
contributions from different mechanisms - strike-
slip, oblique, reverse and normal fault mechanism
crustal earthquakes, and subduction zone earth-
quakes (both at the subduction interface and within
downgoing slabs) - need to be considered in esti-
mating design ground motions for a given site.
The study requires that attenuation of PGA with
distance be Considered as well the shape of response
spectra. For a total of 51 earthquakes, recorded be-
tween 1966 and 1994, moment magnitudes and

1123
 PGAs are available. The largest of these was for the
1968 Inangahua earthquake with a magnitude of
7.23, which also gave rise to the largest horizontal
acceleration component, 0.5 Sg. recorded on a
scratch plate at Reefion 15 km from the closest point
to the rupture surface. The data set coniprises 24
crustal events, 7 interface events and 20 dipping slab
events. In all 46 1 strong-motion records from
ground sites or the bases of buildings were available
for modelling attenuation. The New Zealand data
have been supplemented with overseas records for
near source or large magnitude events that are lack-
ing in the local data (for the PGA study) or bq coil-
straining near source behaviour by overseas attenua-
tion relations (response spectrum study).
Initially the strong-motion recorder sites were
classified into the three ground classes of the current
New Zealand Loadings Standard. These are: ( A )
rock or very stiff soil sites with natural periods less
than 0.25s, (B) intermediate soil sites. and (C) flexi-
ble or deep soil sites with natural periods greater
than 0.6s. Analysis of the results of the attenuation
model showed that the verb stiff soil sites in class
(A) have PGAs and spectral shapes similar to the
intermediate soil sites of class R rather than the roch
sites of class (A). Consequently. an improved match
to the data has been found by combining the verb
stiff and intermediate soil sites into a new class U,
and leaving class A as only rock sites, uith at most a
veneer of soil less than 3111thickness overlying them.
Consideration has also been gi\ en to subdividing thc
rock sites into Moderate-to-Strong rock sites, and
Weak rock sites. "Moderate-to-strong rock" corrc-
sponds to the recent "Hard Rock" and "Rock" cate-
gories recoinniended in the United States (NEI-IRP
1994). The spectral shapes and PGA values for the
Moderate-to-Strong rock class are poorly con-
strained because of insuf'ficient data. so a single roch
class is likely to be retained.
To date the attenuation and response spectrum
models have been developed for the various classes
of earthquakes. Yet to be completed is the probabil-
istic combination of the spectral shapes for the dif-
ferent source mechanism earthc~uakesto obtain cle-
sign spectra at the various locations in the countrj .
Thus at a particular location the seismic hazard is the
sunmation of contributions fiom the various types
of earthquakes taking due account of magnitude and,
via the attenuation relationship. distance between the
source mechanism and the site in question.
3 ULTIMATE LIMIT STATE DESIGN
Structural design in Neu Zealand has followed liiiiit
state methods for some time. Only recently has there
1124
been a move towards geotechnical limit state design
to maintain consistency with structural practice.
There are three distinct approaches to ultiniate liinit
state design in geotechnical engineering. These are:
Total Factor of Safety: WFoS = CF,
Partial Factor of Safety: % 2 Ca,F,
Load and Resistance Factored: @R 2 Cu,F,
11 here:
are the applied loads.
is the ideal resistance or strength (this resistance
sometimes has other names, among them are
theoretical resistance, nominal resistance as
well as ideal resistance).
is the total factor of safety.
are load factors.
is the strength reduction factor (referred to as a
performance factor or resistance factor in some
documents). (In the NZ materials codes this is
symbolised with 4. @ is used as an alternative
symbol in view of the prior universal use in
geotechnical work of $ for friction angle.)
is the resistance calculated using the design
strength parameters obtained by reducing the
characteristic strength values (ie ( c f ) d = c'/Pf,,
and (tan@)d= tan$'/Pfq, or (sJd = suP~sLl).
etc are the partial factors of safety. (Note that
there is more than one partial factor of safety.)
etc are the characteristic strength values
(defined in EC7: "The characteristic value is a
cautious estimate of the mean value.").
etc are the design values of the stren_@h
parameter for use with the partial factor of
safety method.
I-Ierein the load and resistance factored design
method will be referred to with the abbreviation:
1,RFD (Barker et a1 1991). Structural design in New
Lealand is based on an LRFD approach. The load
fictors are given in the Loadings Standard (NZS
-1203:1992) and the various materials standards give
L allies for the strength reduction factors. This being
the case it is attractive to follow an LRFD approach
in geotechnical work so that all aspects of civil
engineering design in NZ are done on the same
conceptual basis. Although some aspects of the
partial factor of safety approach implemented in the
Eurocodes are attractive, this is a different approach
from the method used in the NZ codes for structural
materials. Thus consistency of approach and clarity
of communication is a strong argument to follow an
1 .RFD inethod in geotechnical work. This decision
does not. of course, mean that LRFD is thought to be
superior to the partial factor of safety approach,
although good arguments can be made to support
each.
3.2 Load factors
NZ 4203 (1992) gives a range of load cases to be
considered along with accompanying load factors.
Dead load (depending on load combination):
1.0, 1.2 and 1.4
In NZ 4203 (1992) it is specified that when dead
loads improve stability a load factor of 0.9 should be
applied. Experience with the application of this
factor in the geotechnical context reveals that inter-
pretation is a source of confusion, consequently it is
not used for factoring soil weights in geotechnical
design. Furthermore good arguments have been
marshalled by Simpson (1992) as to why soil
weights should always be have a factor of unity.
Live load (depending on load combination):
1.0 and 1.6
Earth pressure:
1.6 for static load, 1.O with seismic loading
Unlike the prior document, NZS4203( 1992) does not
give a load factor for thrusts generated by active
earth pressures. For static loading a value of 1.6 has
been found to be appropriate.
3.3 Load combinations
The following is a selection from the load combina-
tions given in NZS4203( 1992) for ultimate limit
state design:
1.4G
1.2G + 1.6Q
G + Qu + Et,
where: G is dead load
Q is reduced live load
Qu combinations of load involving dead
load and live load with other loads
E,, is earthquake loading for the ultimate
limit state.
3.4 Strength reduction factors
Strength reduction factors (BIA 1998) for shallow
foundations are given in Table 1 and for deep foun-
dations in Table 2.
1125
Table 1. Strength reduction factors for shallow
foundation design
CD values for the ultimate limit state in bearing
for shallow foundations
Load combination Strength reduc-
tion factor range
Load combinations includ- 0.80 - 0.90
ing earthquake overstrength
All other load combinations 0.45 - 0.60
CD values for the sliding of shallow foundations
Load combination Strength reduc-
tion factor ranPe
Load combinations includ- 0.80 - 0.90
ing earthquake overstrength
All other load combinations 0.80 - 0.90
Table 2. Strength reduction factors for deep foun-
dation design
Method of assessment of the char- Range of
acteristic geotechnical strength CD values
Static load testing to failure 0.65 - 0.85
Static proof (not to failure) load 0.7 - 0.9
testing
Static analysis using CPT data 0.45 - 0.65
Static analysis using SPT data in 0.4 - 0.5
cohesion less soils
Static analysis using laboratory 0.45 - 0.55
data for cohesive soils
Measurement during installation 0.5 - 0.65
of proprietary displacement piles,
using well established in-house
fosini i lae
Structural design in NZ is done following capacity
design principles (Park and Paulay 1974 and Paulay
and Priestley 1992). The essence of this is the
choice by the designer of a suitable ductile yielding
mechanism for the ultimate limit state of the struc-
ture. Once this mechanism is decided upon the re-
mainder of the structure is proportioned so that ulti-
mate section capacity is not reached in other places.
This requires that the likely maximum section ca-
pacity - the so-called overstrength capacity - must
be estimated in these regions rather than a conserva-
tive design value. Generally designers do not
choose to have the yielding mechanism in the foun-
dation, so the bearing and sliding resistance of the
foundation must be able to sustain the overstrength
actions. Since these actions represent the upper limit
of those expected the corresponding strength reduc-
tion factor is set at the rather high value of 0.9.
Limit state design in geotechnical engineering may
appear to be more prescriptive than the former factor
of safety approach. There are two avenues to pro-
vide the designer with some scope to exercise
judgement. First, tlie range of \ alues given above for
tlie strength reduction factor. t h i h idea was imported
from the Australian Piling Code (AS 2159 1995).
Second, what has not been resolved in NZ, and per-
haps not adequately elsewhere. although it is dis-
cussed in the commentary on Eurocode 7 (Simpson
and Driscoll 1998), is the decision making process to
arrive at the characteristic strength and stiffiiess
value for a soil. To some extent this is covered i n
tlie above tables with the range of values for 41
which are intended to allow for consideration of liov,
well the soil parameter values have been selected.
In the design of gravity retaining structures NZS
4203:1992 allows that the designer might prefer to
limit seismic loads on the wall by allowing some
outward movement to occur. The design is then
based on acceptable outward mo\tement.
4 SERVICEABILITY LIMIT S l ATE
For serviceability limit states the loads are unf’ac-
tored. The main problem now revolves around de-
fining the stiffness values for the soil. It is widelq
acknowledged that the geotechnical coniniunit>
needs to improve skills in this area both for static
and dyii ainic 1oad i ng .
5 CURRENTWORK
A range of research work i s underway in New Zea-
land looking at aspects of eai-thquake geotechnical
engineering. The main lines of \$orb are listed M it11
supplementary re ference s in t 11e fo 11ow i ng 1x31.a-
graphs.
5.1 Soil properties und invesligoiion
Many soils in NZ are of residual origin; work is un-
derway to better document the properties of these
and develop a consistent framework for categorisa-
tion and classification. A significant increase in
undrained shear strength with rapid loading has been
found (Ahmed-Zeki et al 1999). Near linear
oedometer stress-strain curves. when plotted on a
natural stress axis, have been noted as a feature of
these soils (Wesley 1998).
A further interesting class of soil found in the cen-
tral North Island of New Zealand is pumice sand.
This are extremely crushable w that tlie CPT does
not adequately differentiate loosc and dense deposits
(Wesley at a1 1999). Laboratory testing and field
observations do indicate that these are subject to liq-
1126
uefaction; it appears though that the shear wave ve-
locity varies between the loose and dense states
(Marks et a1 1998) and that this may be a more use-
l’ul indicator of liquefaction susceptibility.
5.2 Site response
The literature on site response studies has been re-
viewed (Pender 1992) and the suggestion made that
many of the studies up to that time have been done
on very stiff soil profiles which behave elastically.
Two-dimensional nonlinear site response studies
(Marsh et a1 1995) have compared nonlinear and
clastic site response.
A number of site response studies measuring am-
bient noise and small earthquake motions have been
done around the Wellington region (McLauchlan
and Taber 1999).
5.3 Liqtiefnctiori
n ongoing the me in liquefaction assessment in
New Zealand is based on dissipation of energy
( Davis and Berrill 1996, 1998a, 1998b, & 1998~).
The interpretation of the CPT in layered soil pro-
files has been investigated (Vreugdenhil et a1 1994).
l’his showed that stiffiiess contrasts have a signifi-
cant effect on the cone resistance, a method of ac-
counting for the effect was developed.
For shallow foundation design the reduction in
”elastic” modulus with increasing PGA suggested in
FC8-Par-t 5 has been investigated (McKenzie and
I’ender 1996), work which is continuing. The aini of
tlie research is to provide the foundation designer
\z i th a simple elastic-based method for performing
>oil-structure interaction calculations that account
for tlie effect of nonlinear soil behaviour with in-
creasing earthquake PGA.
Analysis of the response of several earthquake re-
corders installed in buildings with shallow founda-
tions has given useful information about soil struc-
ture interaction (Zhao 1995, Zhao et a1 1995, Zhao et
a1 1996. McVerry 1984).
5.5 Pile foundations
I..ollowing on from an earlier review of aseismic pile
lbundation design (Pender 1993, 1994) the effect of
gapping generated adjacent to tlie shafts of piles eni-
bedded in clay soil profiles was investigated (Pender
aiid Satyawan 1996). This showed that the phe-
nonienon produces only a modest decrease - less
than a factor of 2 - in lateral stiffness.
 In addition the dynamic stiffness of 2x2 pile
groups has been investigated at model (Burr et a1
1997) and near-prototype (McManus and Alabaster
1999) scales.
Also prototype scale tests have been done on the
cyclic axial capacity of driven piles (275mni square
and 7.75111 long) in a mixed sand, silt, and peat de-
posit ( M c M ~ ~ 1999).
us This indicates that while the
static uplift capacity of the pile was about 600 kN it
fell to about 300kN after several episodes of cyclic
axial loading at +/- 350kN. Cyclic axial loading at
smaller force amplitudes also indicated a progressike
degradation in uplift stiffness of shaft capacity so
that the load displacement curves for the piles be-
came bilinear.
The 1987 Edgecunibe earthquake provided data
about bridge foundation perforniance, in particular
damage to piles from lateral spreading (Berrill et al
1997).
Earthquake motions in layered soil profiles are
known to cause pile shaft damage where there is a
sharp contrast in soil stiffiiess. Accurate modelling
of the moment curvature relations for reinforced
concrete piles (Fussell and Larkin 1996) demon-
strated the significance of this effect.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The ultimate limit state design method used is ex-
plained and cornpared with other methods. The rea-
sons for using the LRFD method are presented.
Also current research in earthquake geotechnical
engineering is reviewed and references given to tield
and laboratory testing that might be of wider than
New Zealand interest.
In the cause of promoting safety and improving
reliability, an important topic for research, by the
whole geotechnical cornmunit>. is the process of
selecting characteristic values fi>r soil parameters.
7 ACKNOWLEDGEMEN'I
Earthquake engineering research i n N w Zealand is
funded by the NZ Foundation liw Research Science
and Technology (FRST) and the Earthquake Con-
mission (EQC). Funding from these sources is sup-
porting much of the work discussed above.
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 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Sec0 e Pinto (ed.) 0 1999 Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 7 16 3

Codes and standards for Europe

VCUf5llar
Laboratorio de Geotecnia del CEDEX, Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT: In this paper the interrelation among three different Eurocodes for estimating ground
strength parameters and soil inertia effects in seismic situations is analysed. I t is also shown that
in order to estimate the real consequences of partial factors being applied separately, the Resistance
Factor Approach considered in the n e w version of Eurocode 7 appears t o be the most realistic and
perhaps a reference approach t o other possibilities offered b y the Eurocodes for the analysis of
ground ultimate states under static and dynamic conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION for a period of five years. Thereafter, National

Since 1 9 6 3 the International Association for
Earthquake Engineering has been compiling,
under the title "Earthquake Resistant Regula-
tions-A World list", a collection of earthquake
resistant regulations used in seismically active
regions. The last version published in 19 9 2 con-
tains the sesimic codes o f 37 countries among
which there are several European countries. A
reading of those standards indicate that even
within Europe there is a wide difference among
the seismic provisions of the different countries.
Cognizant of that, the Commission of the Euro-
pean Communities (CEC) initiated the work of
establishing a set of harmonized technical rules,
known as the "Structural Eurocodes", for the
structural and geotechnical design of buildings
and civil engineering works. The final goal is t o
provide an alternative t o the different rules in
force in the various Member States which would
ultimately replace them.
The schedule t o incoporate the Eurocodes
into national practice is as follows:
Eurocodes are firstly being published as Euro-
pean Pre-standards (ENVs) with an initial life of
three years (minimum) or five years (maximum)
intended for experimental application and for the
submission of comments. Then, after formal
vote, ENVs are either converted into European
Standards (ENS)or withdrawn. If approved, each
European Standard (EN) will be introduced into
national practice parallel t o the National Standard
1129
Standards will remain only valid where the Euro-
pean Standard lacks specific design rules.
A n important aspect of the Eurocodes is the
opportunity they offer to insert local requirements.
That is, specific numerical values o f key factors
("boxed values") , affecting loads and material
parameters, susceptible to be substituted by local
authorities t o incorporate local conditions of
economy, social conditions and safety.
A t present the ten following Structural Euroco-
des are being prepared under the auspices of CEN
Technical Committee CEN/TC 250:
EN 1 9 9 0 Eurocode 0 Basis of design.
EN 1991 Eurocode 1 Essential actions.
EN 1 9 9 2 Eurocode 2 Design of concrete
structures.
EN 1 9 9 3 Eurocode 3 Design of steel
structures.
EN 1 9 9 4 Eurocode 4 Design of composite steel
and concrete structures.
EN 1995 Eurocode 5 Design of timber structures.
EN 1996 Eurocode 6 Design of masonry structu-
res.
EN 1 9 9 7 Eurocode 7 Geotechnical design.
EN 1 9 9 8 Eurocode 8 Design of structures for
earthquake resistance.
EN 1 9 9 9 Eurocode 9 Design of aluminium and
alloy structures.
Of particular interest for this Conference are
Eurocode 0, Part 1 (General rules) of Eurocode
7 and Part 5 (Foundations, retaining structures
and geotechnical aspects) of Eurocode 8 that
complements Part 1 of Eurocode 7 related t o the
geotechnical design in non-seismic situations.
In the following paragraphs it is shown h o w
these three Eurocodes, in their present formula-
tion, are interrelated for the estimation of ground
strength properties under earthquake type of
loading and for the assessment of soil inertia
effects to be considered for shallow foundations.
2 BASIS OF DESIGN
An innovative fact of the Eurocodes is that con-
trary t o the traditional deterministic approach of
geotechnical design in which characteristic va-
lues of both loads and material parameters are
used and an overall safety factor is applied t o
the result of the calculation, all Eurocodes rely
on the so called partial safety factors for the
estimation of loads, material parameters and
resistance.
To understand the Eurocodes general safety
philosophy it is necessary t o differentiate "cha-
racteristic values" of actions Frep,action effects
E, material properties Xk and resistance R, from
"design values" of actions F, action effects E,
material properties x d and resistance R,.
Eurocode 7, Part 1 considers the characte-
ristic value xk of a soil or rock parameter as a
cautious estimate of the value affecting the
occurrence of the limit state. The selection of
those values shall be based on the results of
laboratory and field tests complemented, whene-
ver possible, b y well established previous expe-
rience. Calibration factors shall be applied where
necessary t o convert laboratory or field test
results into those characteristic values. If statisti-
cal methods are used, the characteristic value
should be divided such that the calculated proba-
bility of a worse value governing the occurrence
of the limit state considered is n o t greater than
5%0.
Eurocode 0, define the action effects (E) as
responses of the structure under consideration
t o the actions. Once the characteristic values
of the material properties of the structure xk and
of the actions Frepare known, the characteristic
values of the action effects E, can be determined
as:
1130
Design values of ground properties (xd)shall
either be assessed directly or be derived from
characteristic values using the equation:
where yM is the partial material factor
Design values o f actions F, are defined as:
(3)
where yF is the partial factor for the action
From F, and x d design values of the action
effects E, are determined as:
(4)
Finally, also characteristic values of resistance
Rk and design values of resistance R, shall be
differentiated. Whereas the characteristic resistan-
ce is defined as R, = R(X,), the design resistance
R, may have one of the t w o following formula:
Rd = (x) Xk
for MFA approach (5)
Rd = R!?) ~ for RFA approach
YR
where yR is the partial resistance factor.
In conventional deterministic methods, after
determining the magnitude o f the characteristic
ground properties xk and characteristic action
effects E, on the ground, a safety factor yo is
adopted which creates a standard margin between
the calculated strengh R, and the action effect
E, SO that:
Rk
- 2 Yo (7)
Ek
When the partial safety method is used, it is
verified that, in all relevant design situations, the
limit states are not exceeded when design values
for actions and material properties are used in
the design models. In particular, it shall be verified
that the effects of the design actions E, do n o t
Table A . l . Partial load factor (yF)
Parameter Symbol Case
A B
Permanent , u nf avo ura ble VG 1 .o
Variable, unfavourable va 1.5
Accidental VA 1 .o
Permanent , favour able vG,fav 0.9
Variable, favourable va,rav 0 0
These factors are applied t o any action effect that is calculated with characteristic actions
and characteristic ground properties.
exceed the design resistance R, of the mate-
rial at the ultimate limit state as indicated by
the following formula:
Ed 3 R,
In Eurocode 7 five design cases A, B, C
and D (D, or D2) are considered and avoidan-
ce of the limit states according t o Eq. (8)
shall be demonstrated by satisfying one of
the following combinations of them:
Cases A, B and C considered separately.
Cases A and D (D, or D2) considered separa-
tely.
Case A aims t o provide safe geotechnical
design against loss of static equilibrium.
Case B deals primarily with providing safe
geotechnical sizing and structural design
against unfavourable deviations of actions
from their characteristic values (see Table
A . l ) , while ground properties are equal t o
their characteristic values. Case B will be
critical in relation t o the ultimate limit of the
structural elements involved in foundations or
retaining structures, so that deviations of
structural materials from their characteristic
values will be considered.
Case C aims to provide safe geotechnical
sizing and structural design against unfavou-
rable deviations of ground properties from
their characteristic values. Permanent actions
are equal t o their characteristic values and
variable actions are increased (see Table
A.11, but less than in case B, above their
characteristic values. No deviations of struc-
tural materials from their characteristic values
will be considered.
Case D deals simultaneously with uncertain-
ties in actions and resistances:
1131
Case Case Case Case
C D1 D2
1.35 1 .o 1.35 1 .o
1.5 1.3 1.5 1.2
1 .o 1 .o 1 .o 1 .o
1 .o 1 .o 1 .o 1 .o
0 0 0
Case D, uses the Resistance Factor Approach
(RFA), in which partial factors are applied t o
characteristic action effects and characteris-
tic resistances.
Case D, uses the Material Factor Approach
(MFA), in which partial factors are applied t o
characteristic values of actions and characte-
ristic material properties.
3 ESTIMATION OF GROUND STRENGTH
PARAMETERS
For the estimation of effective ground stre-
ngth parameters t o be used for earthquake
resistant design, Part 5 of Eurocode 8 refers
to clauses 2.4.2 (Characteristic values) and
2.4.3 (Design values) of Eurocode 7, Part 1.
Values of the partial material factors rela-
ting characteristic and design values for the
strength parameters of the ground are
shown, in the present state of the revised
version of part 1 of Eurocode 7, in Table A.3,
reproduced below.
4 ESTIMATION OF SOIL INERTIA EFFECTS
Concerning soil inertia effects under
earthquake type of loading, Pecker (1996)
showed that, for shallow foundations with a
safety factor higher than 2 under static loads,
the effect of the soil seismic forces can be
neglected without loss of accuracy, so that
verification and dimensioning of the founda-
tion can be done using the formulae of Annex
2 of Eurocode 7 taking into account the load
inclination and excentricity arising from the
inertia forces of the structure.
It will be shown below that following the
procedure identified in Eurocode 7 as Resis
Table A.3. Partial material factors ( y M )
Parameter Symbol Case Case Case Case
A B D1 D2
tan p 1.25 1.o ~ 1.4 1.o 1.2
eff. cohesion c’ 1.25 1.o I.o 1.2
tot. cohesion cu 1.4 1 .o 1 .o 1.4
compressive strength qu
pressuremeter limit pressure
unit weight of ground
CPT resistance
1.4
1.4
1.o
1.4
1 .o
1 .o
1.o
1.o
1.4

;::
1.4
1 1.o
1.o
1.o
1.o
1.4
1.4
1 .o
1.4

I I I
Table A.4. Partial resistance factors(y,)
Parameter Symbol Case
A
Case
B
Case
C
Case
D1
1 Case
02
Model factor Yrd 1.o 1.o I.o 1.o 1.4
Bearing resistance YRv 1 .o 1.o 1 .o 1.4 1 .o
Sliding resistance YRh 1.o 1 .o 1.o 1 .I 1 .o
Earth resistance YRe 1 .o 1 .o 1.o 1.4 1.4

tance Factor Approach (RFA) the influence of
soil inertia effects can be estimated directly,
whereas it becomes a very tedious procedure
if the Material Resistance Approach (MRA) is
used.
Effectively, when the first approach is
chosen, use of Tables A . l and A.4 of Euro-
code 7 in conjunction with Case D I , allows a
sensible estimate of both factors governing
load effects ( y ; = yE) and resistance (yR) as
well as their combination t o give an overall
safety factor y, obtained multiplying b y each
other. If the value of y, is higher than 2,
Pecker’s conclusion on soil inertia effects
would be applicable.
On the other hand, if the material resistant
factor approach (MFA) is used, it can be
seen, when, considering the formulae of the
bearing capacity factors N, Nc and N, given
in Annex 2 of Eurocode 7, that since tag @I
appears in linear from, cuadratic form and
exponential form in those factors, the effect
of the material safety factor (see Table A.3)
applied t o tag @I is succesively enlarged b y
those functions, leading t o a factor in resis-
tance n o t directly related t o the initial mate-
rial partial factor. This, complicates tremen-
dously the estimation of the global safety
factor o f the foundation. Actually, the ana-
lysis of the structure and the analysis of the
subsoil should be carried out without safety
factors and both the effect of loads and the
resistance of the ground obtained in those
calculations should be compared with the
load effects and resistance obtained in the
partial safety calculation t o estimate the final
partial factors in load effects and resistance
which multiplied b y each other would yield
the global safety factor.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A t present, a high degree o f uncertainty is
associated t o the use of partial safety factors
for the abalysis of the ground mechanical
behaviour under static and dynamic loads.
It has been shown that for the very simple
case of a footing for which analytical formu-
lae of ultimate resistance are available, the
final safety factor has little relation t o the
initial safety factor of friction because of the
functions involved in the problem.
Among the possibilities offered in the n e w
version of Eurocode 7, for checking ultimate
states in the ground, case D-1 appears to be
the most realistic and perhaps a reference
approach t o other alternatives in order t o
estimate the real consequences of partial
factors being applied separately t o loads and
strength parameters.

1132
 Since Eurocodes offers a large variety of
approaches in order t o allow the different
countries t o fix their o w n safety margins in
building and public work industries, it would
be of outmost importance t o keep the partial
safety coefficients into brackets, so that the
different NADs could calibrate those coeffi-
cients and so doing even choose the most
suitable approach t o the analysis of ultimate
limit states.

REFERENCES

Eurocode 1-Basis of design and actions on struc-

tures. Part 1: Basis of design (ENV 1991-1 1,
CEN (European Committee for Standardi-
zation/TC-250.

Eurocode 7-Geotechnical design. Part 1: General

rules (EhV 1997-1), CEN (European Commit-
tee for Standardization/TC-250/SC 7,
1998.

Eurocode 8-Design provisions for earthquake re-

sisstance of structures. Part 5: Foundations, r-
etaining structures and geotechnical aspects,
CEN (European Committee for Standardi-
zation/TC-Z50/SC 8, 1994.

Pecker, A. 1996. Shallow foundations in Seis-

mic Behaviour and Design of Foundations and
Retaining Structures. PREC 8-2. Facciolli &
Paolucci, Laboratorio Nacional de Engen-
haria Civil, Lisboa.

1133
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, SBco e Pinto (ed.)0 1999Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 1163

Author index

Alva-Hurtado, J. E. 1035 Gazetas, G. 941 Pender, M. J. 1123

Andrus, R.D. 81 1 Gilstrap, S.D. 1013 Pitilakis, K. D. 901
Ansal, A. M. 879 Gookin, W.B. 847
Arduino, E! 1029 Raptakis, D.G. 901
Hatanaka, M. 869 Riemer, M.E 847
Balakrishnan, A. 857 Hirschauer, R. 943 Robertson, l? K. 1021
Bardet, J.P. 973 Romo, M.l? 993
Beaty, M. H. 1069 Iai, S. 927
Boulanger, R.W. 965 Ishihara, K. 795 Sarma, S.K. 1077
Bray, J.D. 847 Savidis, S.A. 943
Brown, L.T. 8 11 Justo, J. L. 9 19 S6co e Pinto, P. S. 1059
Byrne, l? M. 1069 Seed, R.B. 1111
Koganemm, K. 1005 Shimizu, Y. 1005
Carrasco, R. 919 Kokusho, T. 913 Sitar, N. 1083
Cavallaro, A. 863 Kramer, S.L. 1029 Steedman, R. S. 949
Cukllar, V. 1129 Kutter, B.L. 857,965 Stokoe, 11, K.H. 81 1
Curras, C. J. 965 Sugano, T. 927
Makra, K.A. 901
Darendeli, M. B. 8 11 Maugeri, M. 863 Tokimatsu, K. 957
Davis, C.A. 973 Merlos, J. 993 Towhata, I. 1045
Dobry, R. 895 Mizutani, T. 1045
Elgamal, A. 895 Moss, R.E.S. 1111 Wilson, D.W. 965

Finn, W. D. L. 1091 Nakayama, W. 1005 Yang, 2.895

Fotieva, N. N. 999 Nova-Roessig, L. 1083
Furukawazono, K. 795 Yasuda, S. 1005,1117
Parra, E. 895 Yoshida, N. 987
Garcia, S.R. 993 Pecker, A. 1107 Youd, T.L. 1013

1135