An Energetic Interpretation of Liquefaction Laboratory Tests on Partially Saturated Soils
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 10
Abstract
Induced partial saturation (IPS) is considered to be one of the most promising technologies to tackle soil liquefaction risk. The mitigation of the liquefaction susceptibility of loose partially saturated sandy soils is linked to the high volumetric compressibility of the gas or air bubbles entrapped in the continuous water phase. Based on a large amount of experimental data, a new formulation of the potential volumetric strain () of nonsaturated soil is introduced to overcome some experimental inconsistencies linked to the possible dissolution of the air bubbles, that may not be neglected at the laboratory scale if cyclic loads are applied with low frequencies (). Gas dissolution increases the volumetric strains, and if neglected may lead to unconservative estimates of the beneficial effect of desaturation on liquefaction potential. The experimental results of this study also showed that the difference in liquefaction resistance between partially saturated and fully saturated soils depends only on the volumetric component () of the specific energy spent to attain liquefaction. Such a synthetic state parameter satisfactorily allows predicting the liquefaction resistance curves of partially saturated sands.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge Prof. Junichi Koseki of University of Tokyo for the fruitful discussions on the behavior of partially saturated tests. They also thank him for his valuable suggestions and comments on tests results. Mr. Takeshi Sato also is acknowledged for his essential technical support during testing in the laboratory of the University of Tokyo. Moreover, the authors gratefully acknowledge Prof. Marco Nicotera (University of Napoli Federico II) for the fruitful discussions on the behavior of quasi-saturated soils, which were of help in the interpretation of the experimental results.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 10 • October 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 12, 2021
Accepted: May 19, 2022
Published online: Aug 8, 2022
Published in print: Oct 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 8, 2023
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