Introduction to Liquefaction

Lecture-28
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Liquefaction is a process by which sediments below the water table
temporarily lose strength and behave as a viscous liquid rather than a solid.
The types of sediments most susceptible are clay-free deposits of sand and
silts; occasionally, gravel liquefies.
seismic waves, primarily shear waves, passing through saturated granular
layers, distort the granular structure, and cause loosely packed groups of
particles to collapse. These collapses increase the pore-water pressure
between the grains if drainage cannot occur. If the pore-water pressure rises
to a level approaching the weight of the overlying soil, the granular layer
temporarily behaves as a viscous liquid rather than a solid. This
phenomenon is called Liquefaction.
What is liquefaction?
2
In the liquefied condition, soil may deform with little shear resistance;
deformations large enough to cause damage to buildings and other
structures are called ground failures.
The ease with which a soil can be liquefied depends primarily on the
looseness of the soil, the amount of cementing or clay between particles,
and the amount of drainage restriction.
What is liquefaction?
3
Liquefaction does not occur at random, but is restricted to certain geologic
and hydrologic environments, primarily recently deposited sands and silts in
areas with high ground water levels. Generally, the younger and looser the
sediment, and the higher the water table, the more susceptible the soil is to
liquefaction.
Liquefaction has been most abundant in areas where ground water lies
within 10 m of the ground surface; few instances of liquefaction have
occurred in areas with ground water deeper than 20 m. Dense soils,
including well-compacted fills, have low susceptibility to liquefaction.
What is liquefaction?
4
The term liquefaction
The term was first used by Arthur Casagrande (1935) and later by
Mogami and Kubo (1953)
Became popular during Japan, Alaska and Nigata earthquake in 1964.
History says that liquefaction is found in prior earthquakes
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It is not the occurrence of liquefaction that is of prime importance, but its
severity or its capability to cause damage.
Adverse effects of liquefaction can take many forms.
Flow failures
Lateral spreads
Ground oscillation
Loss of bearing strength & settlement
Increased lateral pressure on retaining walls.
Effects of liquefaction
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Flow failures are the most catastrophic ground failures caused by
liquefaction. These failures commonly displace large masses of soil laterally
tens of meters and in a few instances, large masses of soil have traveled tens
of kilometers down long slopes at velocities ranging up to tens of kilo-
meters per hour.
Flows may be comprised of completely liquefied soil or blocks of intact
material riding on a layer of liquefied soil.
Flow Failure
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Flow failure of Lake Merced in San Francisco during the 1957 Daly City earthquake
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Source: wikipedia
Loss of bearing strength
When the soil supporting a building or other structure liquefies and
loses strength, large de-formations can occur within the soil which
may allow the structure to settle and tilt. Buried tanks and piles may
rise buoyantly through the liquefied soil.
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Source: wikipedia
Nishinomia Bridge 1995 Kobe earthquake, Japan
Loss of bearing strength
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Source: google images
Tilting of apartment buildings, Niigata (1964) 11
Source: wikipedia
Sand Boil: Ground water rushing to the
surface due to liquefaction
Sand blow in mud flats used for salt production
southwest of Kandla Port, Gujarat 12
Sand Boil in the Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989
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Source: wikipedia
Lateral Spreading: Liquefaction related phenomenon
Upslope portion of lateral spread at Budharmora, Gujarat
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The Showa Bridge's pile foundations moved due to lateral spreading Niigata (1964)


Lateral Spreading: Liquefaction related phenomenon
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Source: google images
The Lower San Fernando Dam suffered failure by lateral spreading in 1971
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Source: wikipedia
Lateral spreading in the soil beneath embankment causes the embankment to be
pulled apart, producing the large crack down the center of the road.
Cracked Highway, Alaska, 1964
Lateral Spreading: Liquefaction related phenomenon
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Source: google images
Liquefied soil exerts higher pressure on retaining walls, which can cause them
to tilt or slide.
Retaining wall damage and lateral spreading, Kobe (1995)
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Source: google images
Whats liquefaction
For a loose, saturate sand
Under earthquake or quick loading
=
0
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Under the quick loading
Reduction of soil strength
Reduction bearing capacity
Soil particles lose contact with each other
When soil loses its strength and stiffness and behaves like a fluid
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Whats liquefaction
When soil loses its strength and stiffness and behaves like a fluid
Soil grains in a soil deposit. The height
of the blue column to the right
represents the level of porewater
pressure in the soil.
The length of the arrows represent the
size of the contact forces between
individual soil grains. The contact
forces are large when the porewater
pressure is low.
Observe how small the contact forces are because of the high
water pressure. In an extreme case, the pore water pressure may
become so high that many of the soil particles lose contact with
each other. In such cases, the soil will have very little strength,
and will behave more like a liquid than a solid - hence, the name
"liquefaction".
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Liquefaction Susceptibility
The term liquefaction is typically used to describe a variety of
phenomena that causes soil deformations resulting from monotonic,
transient, or repeated disturbance of saturated, cohesionless soils under
undrained conditions.

The generation of excess pore pressures under undrained loading is a
key aspect of liquefaction and the formation of sand boils.

The evaluation of liquefaction hazards requires that the susceptibility of
soil deposits be evaluated. However, not all soils deposits are susceptible
to liquefaction. Therefore, several criteria are used by which liquefaction
susceptibility can be assessed. These criteria include historical, geologic,
compositional, and state criteria.
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Historical Criterion
liquefaction often recurs at the same location when soil and groundwater
conditions remain relatively unchanged. Therefore, field case histories
where liquefaction evidence has been observed can be used to identify the
general site conditions under which susceptibility can be evaluated.

Prehistoric evidence has been used to identify the sites and conditions
under which liquefaction has occurred. The study of these prehistoric
features, termed paleoliquefaction, examines exposed soil stratigraphy in
the field to identify liquefaction features that have been subsequently
buried by sedimentation.

Researchers have begun to use paleoliquefaction evidence to estimate
magnitudes and accelerations (peak) associated with prehistoric
earthquakes

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Geological Criterion
Soils that are susceptible to liquefaction are deposited in a narrow range of
sedimentary environments.

Sedimentary facies that consist of uniform grain size distributions deposited
in loose states produce soils highly susceptible to liquefaction. These facies
primarily consist of fluvial (river), alluvial (seasonal), colluvial (slope
instability), and aeolian (wind).

Soil aging can also affect liquefaction susceptibility; older sediments are less
susceptible to liquefaction.

Liquefaction only occurs in saturated soil deposits. Therefore, the depth to
groundwater, either static or perched, is an important factor in
susceptibility.
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Compositional Criterion
Compositional characteristics influence volume change behavior in soils
during liquefaction, and hence, how excess pore pressures develop.

These characteristics primarily consist of particle shape and size, and
gradation.

The bounds on size criteria are broad and range from nonplastic silts to
gravel, however most liquefaction is observed in clean sands.

Well-graded soils are generally less susceptible to liquefaction than poorly
graded soils.

Most liquefaction failures in the field have involved uniformly graded soils.

Rounded soil particle shapes are generally more susceptible to liquefaction
than angular-grained soils.
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Grain size ranges for most liquefiable soils (After Ishihara 1985)
Compositional Criterion
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Fraction finer than 0.005 mm <15%
Liquid Limit, LL <35%
Liquid limit - water content above
which material acts as a liquid
Natural water content > 90%
LL Liquidity Index <0.75
Compositional Criterion
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Liquefaction susceptibility also depends on the
initial state of the soil. State criteria define
the stress and density state characteristics at
the time of the earthquake required to
evaluate liquefaction susceptibility.
State Criterion
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28
Kramer, S.L. (1996) Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Prentice Hall.
Day, R.W. (2001) Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Handbook, McGraw-Hill.
http://www.ce.washington.edu/~liquefaction/html/what/what1.html
(Accessed on 12 April 2012)
Liquefaction demonstration video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmVYbjiNWds (Accessed on 12 April 2012)
Christchurch Earthquake liquefaction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or2Ic2Z6zn8 (Accessed on 12 April 2012)


References