Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V
Liquefaction of Reclaimed Land at Wellington Port in the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake
Publication: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
ABSTRACT
In the 2016 Mw7.8 Kaikoura (New Zealand) earthquake, widespread liquefaction occurred in the reclaimed land of CentrePort, Wellington, in end-tipped gravelly fills and hydraulically-placed sandy fills. The liquefaction resulted in global (mass) settlement of the reclamations and lateral spreading, which was particularly pronounced along the edges of the reclamation. The large settlements and spreading-induced movements affected container terminals, wharves, and buildings constructed on deep and shallow foundations. There are several interesting aspects of this important case history including the performance of reclamations of different soils (gravelly soils and sandy soils), reclamations of different age (from 40 years to over 100 years) and methods of construction (end-tipping and hydraulic placement), wharves subjected to spreading of liquefied fills, and buildings on deep and shallow foundations affected by liquefaction-induced settlement or/and lateral spreading. The paper combines detailed observations from damage inspections, results from comprehensive CPT investigations, respective analyses, and interpretation to emphasize key aspects of this important case study on the liquefaction of gravelly soils.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Brendon Bradley and Gabriele Chiaro (University of Canterbury), Emilia Stocks (Tonkin & Taylor), Tiffany Krall (CentrePort Ltd) and Michael Olsen (Oregon State University; performed and interpreted ground-based LiDAR scanning). The authors are grateful for the collaboration provided by CentrePort Ltd, and especially for allowing access to our team for multiple site visits, and helping us execute site investigations safely and efficiently. We thank Stuart Palmer, Mike Jacka, and Sjoerd van Ballegooy from Tonkin & Taylor for their support and assistance throughout reconnaissance and site investigations. Iain Haycock and the McMillan Drilling Group crew are acknowledged for performing an exceptional job advancing CPTs through challenging soil deposits. Hugh Cowan’s assistance in gaining port access is greatly appreciated. The use of aerial survey data from Cardno is gratefully acknowledged.
The NZ team reconnaissance effort was principally supported by EQC Capability Grant at the University of Canterbury, and MBIE support provided for the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake Reconnaissance. The US GEER team contributors were supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Engineering for Natural Hazards program under Grants CMMI-1266418 and CMMI-1724866. CPT exploration efforts were funded through the Natural Hazards Research Platform (NHRP) grant “Kaikoura Earthquake response – geotechnical characterization of CentrePort reclamations” provided by MBIE (NZ) and NSF Grant CMMI-1724866. Any 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. For more information visit the GEER website: www.geerassociation.org. This is QuakeCoRE publication number 0255.
REFERENCES
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
Pages: 357 - 373
Editors: Scott J. Brandenberg, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, and Majid T. Manzari, Ph.D., George Washington University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8145-5
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jun 7, 2018
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Case studies
- Earthquakes
- Ecosystems
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Foundation settlement
- Foundations
- Geohazards
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Land reclamation
- Methodology (by type)
- Ports and harbors
- Research methods (by type)
- Shallow foundations
- Soil dynamics
- Soil liquefaction
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil settlement
- Water and water resources
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