Seismic Performance and Deformation of Levees: Four Case Studies
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 4
Abstract
During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake the Pajaro River levees near Watsonville, Calif., spread laterally at multiple locations. Four of these locations are discussed in this paper. At one location, an industrial facility was also damaged and a dispute arose as to whether lateral spreading of the adjacent levee was the cause. Stability analyses were made of the industrial site for conditions before, during, and after the earthquake. To confirm the findings, analyses were also made of three other nearby locations where the actual deformation was documented and the subsurface conditions are well defined. The calculated levee deformations at the four locations are quite consistent with the observed movements (up to 60 cm). This experience provides increased confidence in the methods of analysis described, for the characterized subsurface conditions, and the range of ground motions experienced. Additional analyses made using the more recently developed multilinear regression lateral-spreading model (e.g., Youd et al. in 1999) yielded inconsistent results.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 4 • April 2004
Pages: 344 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 25, 2000
Accepted: Feb 20, 2003
Published online: Mar 15, 2004
Published in print: Apr 2004
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