Effective Stress Analysis of Liquefiable Sites to Estimate the Severity of Sediment Ejecta
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 5
Abstract
The severity of liquefaction-induced ejecta manifestation for the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes was overestimated or underestimated using simplified liquefaction ground-failure indices at several sites in Christchurch. Nonlinear effective stress analyses of two representative level ground sites are performed to investigate the causes of these misestimations. One site has a thick, clean sand deposit, and the other site has a highly stratified silty soil deposit. The excess hydraulic head profile with depth that develops during and after earthquake shaking determines the potential of upward seepage-induced artesian flow that produces sediment ejecta. The thick, clean sand site can develop high-gradient upward seepage that is sustained after strong shaking ends to produce severe ejecta. The stratified silty soil site develops high pore water pressures in isolated soil layers, but the amount and rate of upward seepage are insufficient to produce ejecta. A proposed ejecta potential index (EPI) captures key aspects of the hydraulic mechanisms of liquefaction manifestation. EPI estimates the severity of sediment ejecta by tracking the duration in which the excess hydraulic head exceeds the hydraulic head required for artesian flow. The EPI values computed from the simulations of the two sites capture the observed trends of liquefaction manifestations during the Canterbury earthquakes.
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Data Availability Statement
All data are publicly available. Numerical models, codes, and results that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge support from the Ministry of Finance of Republic of Indonesia through Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) for the first author. This study was also funded by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center through the Transportation Systems Research Program (TSRP) and by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CMMI-1561932. All opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. Data compiled by New Zealand and US researchers, which are now available in the New Zealand Geotechnical Database and geotechnical extreme event reconnaissance (GEER) reports, are essential to this research. Data and insights shared by Dr. Sjoerd van Ballegooy of Tonkin + Taylor, Ltd. were also of great help. Discussions with Long Chen and Professor Pedro Arduino of the University of Washington regarding the implementation of PM4Sand and PM4Silt in OpenSees were of great value.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 5 • May 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 30, 2020
Accepted: Dec 22, 2020
Published online: Mar 13, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Aug 13, 2021
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