Geotechnical Aspects of the January 2003 Tecomán, Mexico, Earthquake

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Wartman ◽  
Adrian Rodriguez-Marek ◽  
Emir Jose Macari ◽  
Scott Deaton ◽  
Martín Ramírez-Reynaga ◽  
...  

Ground failure was the most prominent geotechnical engineering feature of the 21 January 2003 Mw 7.6 Tecomán earthquake. Ground failure impacted structures, industrial facilities, roads, water supply canals, and other critical infrastructure in the state of Colima and in parts of the neighboring states of Jalisco and Michoacán. Landslides and soil liquefaction were the most common type of ground failure, followed by seismic compression of unsaturated materials. Reinforced earth structures generally performed well during the earthquake, though some structures experienced permanent lateral deformations up to 10 cm. Different ground improvement techniques had been used to enhance the liquefaction resistance of several sites in the region, all of which performed well and exhibited no signs of damage or significant ground deformation. Earth dams in the region experienced some degree of permanent deformation but remained fully functional after the earthquake.

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1_suppl1) ◽  
pp. 97-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bray ◽  
Kyle Rollins ◽  
Tara Hutchinson ◽  
Ramon Verdugo ◽  
Christian Ledezma ◽  
...  

Soil liquefaction occurred at many sites during the 2010 Maule, Chile, earthquake, often leading to ground failure and lateral spreading. Of particular interest are the effects of liquefaction on built infrastructure. Several buildings were damaged significantly due to foundation movements resulting from liquefaction. Liquefaction-induced ground failure also displaced and distorted waterfront structures, which adversely impacted the operation of some of Chile's key port facilities. Important case histories that document the effects of ground failure on buildings, ports, and industrial facilities are presented in this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5283
Author(s):  
Jui-Ching Chou ◽  
Hsueh-Tusng Yang ◽  
Der-Guey Lin

Soil-liquefaction-related hazards can damage structures or lead to an extensive loss of life and property. Therefore, the stability and safety of structures against soil liquefaction are essential for evaluation in earthquake design. In practice, the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure associated with numerical simulation analysis is the most used approach for evaluating the behavior of structures or the effectiveness of mitigation plans. First, the occurrence of soil liquefaction is evaluated using the simplified procedure. If soil liquefaction occurs, the resulting structural damage or the following mitigation plan is evaluated using the numerical simulation analysis. Rational and comparable evaluation results between the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure and the numerical simulation analysis are achieved by ensuring that the liquefaction constitutive model used in the numerical simulation has a consistent liquefaction resistance with the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure. In this study, two frequently used liquefaction constitutive models (Finn model and UBCSAND model) were calibrated by fitting the liquefaction triggering curves of most used simplified liquefaction analysis procedures (NCEER, HBF, JRA96, and T-Y procedures) in Taiwan via FLAC program. In addition, the responses of two calibrated models were compared and discussed to provide guidelines for selecting an appropriate liquefaction constitutive model in future projects.


1963 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-357
Author(s):  
C. Martin Duke ◽  
David J. Leeds

abstract Observations and interpretations of damage associated with soil failure in the Chilean earthquakes are presented. Effects of the earthquake are discussed relative to foundations, earth fills, harbor works, and landslides. Damage was extreme in several areas. Of particular interest were the frequent instances of apparent soil liquefaction and the many correlations between foundation conditions and degree of damage to structures.


2013 ◽  
Vol 405-408 ◽  
pp. 470-473
Author(s):  
Sheng Jie Di ◽  
Ming Yuan Wang ◽  
Zhi Gang Shan ◽  
Hai Bo Jia

A procedure for evaluating liquefaction resistance of soils based on the shear wave velocity measurements is outlined in the paper. The procedure follows the general formal of the Seed-Idriss simplified procedure. In addition, it was developed following suggestions from industry, researchers, and practitioners. The procedure correctly predicts moderate to high liquefaction potential for over 95% of the liquefaction case histories. The case study for the site of offshore wind farm in Jiangsu province is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed procedure. The feature of the soils and the shear wave velocity in-situ tested in site are discussed and the liquefaction potential of the layer is evaluated. The application shows that the layers of the non-cohesive soils in the depths 3-11m may be liquefiable according to the procedure.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Fattah ◽  
Mohammed Al-Neami ◽  
Nora Jajjawi

AbstractThe present research is concerned with predicting liquefaction potential and pore water pressure under the dynamic loading on fully saturated sandy soil using the finite element method by QUAKE/W computer program. As a case study, machine foundations on fully saturated sandy soil in different cases of soil densification (loose, medium and dense sand) are analyzed. Harmonic loading is used in a parametric study to investigate the effect of several parameters including: the amplitude frequency of the dynamic load. The equivalent linear elastic model is adopted to model the soil behaviour and eight node isoparametric elements are used to model the soil. Emphasis was made on zones at which liquefaction takes place, the pore water pressure and vertical displacements develop during liquefaction. The results showed that liquefaction and deformation develop fast with the increase of loading amplitude and frequency. Liquefaction zones increase with the increase of load frequency and amplitude. Tracing the propagation of liquefaction zones, one can notice that, liquefaction occurs first near the loading end and then develops faraway. The soil overburden pressure affects the soil liquefaction resistance at large depths. The liquefaction resistance and time for initial liquefaction increase with increasing depths. When the frequency changes from 5 to 10 rad/sec. (approximately from static to dynamic), the response in displacement and pore water pressure is very pronounced. This can be attributed to inertia effects. Further increase of frequency leads to smaller effect on displacement and pore water pressure. When the frequency is low; 5, 10 and 25 rad/sec., the oscillation of the displacement ends within the period of load application 60 sec., while when ω = 50 rad/sec., oscillation continues after this period.


Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Zhixiong Chen ◽  
Hongrui Li ◽  
Anthony Teck Chee Goh ◽  
Chongzhi Wu ◽  
Wengang Zhang

Soil liquefaction is one of the most complicated phenomena to assess in geotechnical earthquake engineering. The conventional procedures developed to determine the liquefaction potential of sandy soil deposits can be categorized into three main groups: Stress-based, strain-based, and energy-based procedures. The main advantage of the energy-based approach over the remaining two methods is the fact that it considers the effects of strain and stress concurrently unlike the stress or strain-based methods. Several liquefaction evaluation procedures and approaches have been developed relating the capacity energy to the initial soil parameters, such as the relative density, initial effective confining pressure, fine contents, and soil textural properties. In this study, based on the capacity energy database by Baziar et al. (2011), analyses have been carried out on a total of 405 previously published tests using soft computing approaches, including Ridge, Lasso & LassoCV, Random Forest, eXtreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost), and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) approaches, to assess the capacity energy required to trigger liquefaction in sand and silty sands. The results clearly prove the capability of the proposed models and the capacity energy concept to assess liquefaction resistance of soils. It is also proposed that these approaches should be used as cross-validation against each other. The result shows that the capacity energy is most sensitive to the relative density.


2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad P. Wham ◽  
Christina Argyrou ◽  
Thomas D. O'Rourke ◽  
Harry E. Stewart ◽  
Timothy K. Bond

Technological advances have improved pipeline capacity to accommodate large ground deformation associated with earthquakes, floods, landslides, tunneling, deep excavations, mining, and subsidence. The fabrication of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping, for example, can be modified by expanding PVC pipe stock to approximately twice its original diameter, thus causing PVC molecular chains to realign in the circumferential direction. This process yields biaxially oriented polyvinyl chloride (PVCO) pipe with increased circumferential strength, reduced pipe wall thickness, and enhanced cross-sectional flexibility. This paper reports on experiments performed at the Cornell University Large-Scale Lifelines Testing Facility characterizing PVCO pipeline performance in response to large ground deformation. The evaluation was performed on 150-mm (6-in.)-diameter PVCO pipelines with bell-and-spigot joints. The testing procedure included determination of fundamental PVCO material properties, axial joint tension and compression tests, four-point bending tests, and a full-scale fault rupture simulation. The test results show that the performance of segmental PVCO pipelines under large ground deformation is strongly influenced by the axial pullout and compressive load capacity of the joints, as well as their ability to accommodate deflection and joint rotation. The PVCO pipeline performance is quantified in terms of its capacity to accommodate horizontal ground strain, and compared with a statistical characterization of lateral ground strains caused by soil liquefaction during the Canterbury earthquake sequence in New Zealand.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam M. Wotherspoon ◽  
Rolando P. Orense ◽  
Mike Jacka ◽  
Russell A. Green ◽  
Brady R. Cox ◽  
...  

The city of Christchurch and the surrounding region on the South Island of New Zealand are underlain by large areas of recent alluvial sediments and fills that are highly susceptible to liquefaction and seismic ground failure. Thus, the widespread liquefaction that occurred following the successive large-scale earth-quakes, with moment magnitudes (MW) ranging from 6.0 to 7.1 that struck the Canterbury region in 2010–2011 was expected. Prior to the series of earthquakes, soil improvement had been used at several sites to mitigate the anticipated damage. This paper reviews the performance of improved sites during the Canterbury earthquake sequence. The existing soil conditions at each site and the design of the ground improvement are discussed, together with descriptions of the post-earthquake damage observed. Moreover, liquefaction assessment within and surrounding a selection of the ground improvement zones is presented.


1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
P K Robertson ◽  
CE (Fear) Wride

Soil liquefaction is a major concern for structures constructed with or on sandy soils. This paper describes the phenomena of soil liquefaction, reviews suitable definitions, and provides an update on methods to evaluate cyclic liquefaction using the cone penetration test (CPT). A method is described to estimate grain characteristics directly from the CPT and to incorporate this into one of the methods for evaluating resistance to cyclic loading. A worked example is also provided, illustrating how the continuous nature of the CPT can provide a good evaluation of cyclic liquefaction potential, on an overall profile basis. This paper forms part of the final submission by the authors to the proceedings of the 1996 National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research workshop on evaluation of liquefaction resistance of soils.Key words: cyclic liquefaction, sandy soils, cone penetration test


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