Evaluation of Cyclic Softening in Silts and Clays
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 6
Abstract
Procedures are presented for evaluating the potential for cyclic softening (i.e., onset of significant strains or strength loss) in saturated silts and clays during earthquakes. The recommended procedures are applicable for fine-grained soils with sufficient plasticity that they would be characterized as behaving more fundamentally like clays in undrained monotonic or cyclic loading. The procedures are presented in a form that is similar to that used in semiempirical liquefaction procedures. Expressions are developed for a static shear stress correction factor and a magnitude scaling factor. Guidelines and empirical relations are presented for determining cyclic resistance ratios based on different approaches to characterizing fine-grained soil deposits. The potential consequences of cyclic softening, and the major variables affecting such consequences, are discussed. Application of these procedures is demonstrated through the analysis of the Carrefour Shopping Center case history from the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. The proposed procedures, in conjunction with associated liquefaction susceptibility criteria, provide an improved means for distinguishing between the conditions that do and those that do not lead to ground deformations in fine-grained soil deposits during earthquakes.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful for the many discussions and valuable comments provided by Professors James K. Mitchell, Jonathan P. Stewart, and Jimmy Martin, and Drs. Lelio Mejia, Yoshi Moriwaki, and Faiz Makdisi.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 6 • June 2007
Pages: 641 - 652
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 2, 2005
Accepted: Nov 29, 2006
Published online: Jun 1, 2007
Published in print: Jun 2007
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