The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Liquefaction potential of sand deposits under low levels of excitation

Carter, David P.; Seed, H. Bolton

UCB/EERC-88/11, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1988-08, 315 pages (475/C268/1988)

A literature survey was undertaken to determine the levels of ground shaking generated by various nonseismic sources of vibration and to relate these levels to observed field performance. Measurements were made of train-induced ground vibration amplitudes in the field since it appeared that the levels reported in the literature were somewhat inconsistent with the common perception that trains are a significant source of ground vibration. Analytical studies were performed to predict the levels of cyclic shear stress and shear strain, likely to be induced within a site by trains, and hence to attempt to determine whether trains might be capable of causing liquefaction. Analytical studies were performed to examine the effects of both artesian pore pressures and initial static shear stresses on the minimum level of shaking required to cause liquefaction at a site.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-88-11.pdf (21 MB)