Liquefaction, Cyclic Mobility, and Failure of Silt
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 6
Abstract
It is known that the mechanical properties of low-plasticity silt are similar to those of sand, and yet silts are frequently used as coastal reclamation materials in many cities and industrial areas and will thus be susceptible to liquefaction. Samples of a low-plasticity silt have been tested under monotonic and cyclic loading under isotropic and anisotropic stress conditions to characterize liquefaction, cyclic failure, and to develop an empirical model describing its cyclic strength. A sedimentation technique produced samples that had the highest susceptibility to liquefaction. Contractive behavior of monotonically loaded samples was triggered when the stress path reached an initial phase transformation (IPT) in both compression and extension tests. The samples became dilative after reaching a phase transformation (PT) point. The cyclic shear behavior of the silt samples prepared using the sedimentation method and consolidated at various initial sustained deviator stress ratios was examined in terms of two different failure criteria: a double amplitude axial strain for reversal conditions; or axial plastic strain for nonreversal. For isotropically consolidated samples the initial phase transformation determined from undrained monotonic extension tests was the boundary between stable and contractive behavior. For anisotropically consolidated samples failure was defined by a bounding surface formed by undrained monotonic compression tests. An empirical model was developed relating the number of cycles to failure under conditions of both liquefaction and cyclic mobility to the initial anisotropic sustained deviator stress and cyclic deviator stress ratio.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Adachi, M. (1996). “Liquefaction strength and post-liquefaction settlement of finer containing sands.” Ph.D. thesis, Ibaraki Univ., Japan (in Japanese).
Alarcon-Guzman, A., Leonards, G. A., and Chameau, J. L. (1988). “Un-drained monotonic and cyclic strength of sands.” J. Geotech. Eng., 114(10), 1089–1109.
Bishop, A. W., and Wesley, L. D. (1975). “A hydraulic triaxial apparatus for controlled stress path testing.” Geotechnique, 25(4), 657–670.
Castro, G. (1975). “Liquefaction and cyclic mobility of saturated sands.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 101(6), 551–569.
Castro, G., and Poulos, S. J. (1977). “Factors affecting liquefaction and cyclic mobility.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 103(6), 501–516.
Castro, G., Seed, B. R., Keller, T. O., and Seed, H. B. (1992). “Steady-state strength analysis of Lower San Fernando Dam slide.” J. Geotech. Eng., 118(3), 406–427.
Hight, D. W., and Georgiannou, V. N. (1995). “Effects of sampling on the undrained behaviour of clayey sands.” Geotechnique, 45(2), 237–247.
Higuchi, T., Hyde, A. F. L., and Yasuhara, K. (2000). “Liquefaction criteria for a non-plastic silt.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Coastal Geotechnical Engineering in Practice, Vol. 1, 33–38, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Hosono, Y., and Yoshimine, M. (2004). “Liquefaction of sand in simple shear condition.” Int. Conf. on Cyclic Behaviour of Soils and Liquefaction Phenomena, Bochum, Germany, 129–136, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Hyodo, M., Murata, H., Yasufuku, N., and Fujii, T. (1989). “Undrained cyclic shear strength and deformation of sands subjected to initial static shear stress.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Mexico City, Mexico, 81–103, Computational Mechanics, Southampton, U.K.
Hyodo, M., Murata, H., Yasufuku, N., and Fujii, T. (1991). “Undrained cyclic shear strength and residual strain of saturated sand by cyclic triaxial tests.” Soils Found., 31(3), 60–76.
Hyodo, M., Tanimizu, H., Yasufuku, N., and Murata, H. (1994a). “Undrained cyclic and monotonic triaxial behaviour of saturated loose sand.” Soils Found., 34(1), 19–32.
Hyodo, M., Yamamoto, Y., and Sugiyama, M. (1994b). “Undrained cyclic shear behaviour of normally consolidated clay subjected to initial static shear stress.” Soils Found., 34(4), 1–12.
Ishihara, K. (1993). “Liquefaction and flow failure during earthquakes.” Geotechnique, 43(3), 351–415.
Ishihara, K., Lysmer, J., Yasuda, S., and Hirao, H. (1976). “Prediction of liquefaction in sand deposits during earthquakes.” Soils Found., 16(1), 1–16.
Ishihara, K., Tatsuoka, F., and Yasuda, S. (1975). “Undrained deformation and liquefaction of sand under cyclic stresses.” Soils Found., 15(1), 29–44.
Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE). (1995). “Emergency report on damages in Hanshin Great earthquake.” JSCE, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese).
Ladd, R. S. (1977). “Specimen preparation and cyclic stability of sands.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 103(6), 535–547.
Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B. (1967). “Cyclic stress conditions causing liquefaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 93(SM1), 47–70.
Mesri, G., and Ali, S. (1999). “Undrained shear strength of a glacial clay overconsolidated by dessication.” Geotechnique, 49(2), 181–198.
Mohamad, R., and Dobry, R. (1986). “Undrained monotonic and cyclic triaxial strength of sand.” J. Geotech. Eng., 112(10), 941–958.
Moradi, G. (1998). “Symmetrical and non-symmetrical cyclic triaxial loading of silt.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Bradford, U.K.
Mori, S., and Numata, A. (1990). “Site investigation of liquefaction and sand boil occurred during Loma Prieta earthquake.” Proc., 25th Japan National Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 67–70 (in Japanese).
Mori, S., Takimoto, Y., and Hasegawa, M. (1988). “Site investigation of liquefaction occurred during Chibaken-tohooki earthquake on 17 December 1987.” Proc., 23rd Japan National Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 943–946 (in Japanese).
Morimoto, I., Tohno, I., and Yasuda, S. (1988). “Locations of liquefaction and their characteristics in Chibaken-tohooki earthquake.” Proc., 23rd Japan National Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 953–954 (in Japanese).
Mulilis, J. P., Seed, H. B., Chan, C. K., Mitchell, J. K., and Arulanandan, K. (1977). “Effects of sample preparation on sand liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 103, 91–108.
Schofield, A. N., and Wroth, C. P. (1968). Critical state soil mechanics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Seed, H. B. (1979). “Soil liquefaction and cyclic mobility evaluation for level ground during earthquakes.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 105(2), 201–255.
Seed, H. B., and Hon, M. (1987). “Design problems in soil liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Eng., 113(8), 827–845.
Skempton, A. W. (1954). “The pore-pressure coefficients A and B.” Geotechnique, 4(4), 143–147.
Sladen, J. A., D’Hollander, R. D., and Krahn, J. (1985). “The liquefaction of sands, a collapse surface approach.” Can. Geotech. J., 22(4), 564–578.
Soong, B., Yasuhara, K., and Murakami, S. (2004). “Cyclic and post-cyclic strength and stiffness of silty soils with initial static shear stress in direct simple shear tests.” Geotech. Test. J., 27(6), 607–613.
Tatsuoka, F., and Ishihara, K. (1974a). “Drained deformation of sand under cyclic stresses reversing direction.” Soils Found., 14(3), 51–65.
Tatsuoka, F., and Ishihara, K. (1974b). “Yielding of sand in triaxial compression.” Soils Found., 14(2), 63–76.
Vaid, Y. P., and Chern, J. C. (1983a). “Effect of static shear on resistance to liquefaction.” Soils Found., 23(1), 47–60.
Vaid, Y. P., and Chern, J. C. (1983b). “Mechanism of deformation during cyclic undrained loading of saturated sands.” Int. J. Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 2(3), 171–177.
Vaid, Y. P., and Chern, J. C. (1985). “Cyclic and monotonic undrained response of saturated sands.” Proc., Advances in the Art of Testing Soils under Cyclic Conditions, ASCE, New York, 120–147.
Vaid, Y. P., Chern, J. C., and Tumi, H. (1985). “Confining pressure, grain angularity, and liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Eng., 111(10), 1229–1235.
Yamamuro, J. A., and Lade, P. V. (1997). “Static liquefaction of very loose sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 34(6), 905–917.
Yasuhara, K., Murakami, S., Yokokawa, S., Toyota, N., and Hyde, A. F. L. (1997). “Cyclic softening of degradation of a plastic silt with initial shear stress.” Proc., Int. Symp. in Nagoya on Deformation and Progressive Failure in Geomechanics, Pergamon, Tarrytown, N.Y., 617–622.
Yasuhara, K., Hyde, A. F. L., Toyota, N., Murakami, S., and Yokokawa, S. (1998). “Cyclic and post-cyclic stiffness and degradation of a plastic silt with initial sustained shear stress.” Geotechnique, Pre-failure Deformation of Geomaterials, Part II, 373–382, Thomas Telford Ltd., London.
Yasuhara, K., and Toyota, N. (1997). “Effects of initial static shear stress on post-cyclic degradation of a plastic silt.” Proc., 14th ICSMFE, Vol. 1, 439–442, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 5, 2004
Accepted: Nov 2, 2005
Published online: Jun 1, 2006
Published in print: Jun 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.