Site Investigations for Involvement of Water Films in Lateral Flow in Liquefied Ground
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 11
Abstract
Previous research indicates that if layered sand deposits are liquefied during earthquakes, water films are likely to develop beneath less permeable sublayers and lead to the destabilization of sloping ground. In Niigata City, large lateral flow displacements were reported in almost flat areas during the 1964 Niigata earthquake. The involvement of water films in lateral flow failure during the earthquake is examined in this research based on site investigation data. Soil profiles in the investigated areas estimated from many borehole logs indicate that continuous or partially continuous sublayers of fine soil that cap liquefiable loose sand exist. Elevation contours of 0.1 m increments are drawn based on an in situ leveling survey and local maps. The ground slopes obtained are found to be closely related to flow displacements evaluated in previous research, indicating that a gentle slope of less than 1% results in displacement of several meters. This strongly suggests that water films with literally no shear resistance formed beneath fine soil sublayers were highly responsible for the large lateral flow displacements in these areas during the Niigata earthquake.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 11 • November 2002
Pages: 917 - 925
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 2, 2001
Accepted: Mar 29, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2002
Published in print: Nov 2002
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