The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive - (Nisee e-library)

Laboratory study of liquefaction triggering criteria

Wu, Jiaer; Kammerer, Ann Marie; Riemer, Michael F.; Seed, Raymond B.; Pestana, Juan M.

[13WCEE Secretariat?], [Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada?], 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering: Conference Proceedings, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, August 1-6, 2004, Paper No. 2580, 2004, pdf (CF 96)

The term "liquefaction" has been used to describe a wide range of phenomena associated with loss of strength of saturated soil due to dynamic loading. Historically, liquefaction initiation criteria are commonly based on either pore pressure or strain amplitude within a sample. This has led to numerous definitions of "soil liquefaction" and inevitable inconsistencies within the geotechnical community over the years. In a recent laboratory study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, the liquefaction "triggering" threshold criteria are selected as the first occurrence of either 6% double amplitude (DA) or 6% single amplitude (SA) shear strain, whichever occurs first. Of particular interest is the relationship between the threshold shear strain and the corresponding peak excess pore pressure, r subscript u,max. In addition, it appears that the occurrence of 6% DA (or 6% SA) threshold shear strain is well correlated with the onset of flow-type deformation behavior in liquefiable soils.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/13WCEE/wu-kammerer-002580.pdf (268 KB)