Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V
Probability of Liquefaction at the Sampit and Gapway Sites in South Carolina
Publication: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
ABSTRACT
Soil liquefaction was one of the major causes of damage in the 1886 Charleston earthquake, one of the largest historic seismic events in the eastern United States. Paleoliquefaction studies indicate that at least seven, large, prehistoric earthquakes have occurred within the last 6000 years in the South Carolina Coastal Plain (SCCP). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has marked the SCCP as a region with high seismic hazard. In this study, data from cone penetration tests obtained from six test locations at two sites with a history of paleoliquefaction, Sampit and Gapway, were used for site-specific evaluation of liquefaction potential. Liquefaction evaluation methods, that include both deterministic and probabilistic approaches, were used to evaluate the current liquefaction susceptibility based on the most recent estimation of prehistoric earthquake magnitude and peak ground accelerations. Results indicate that, at these two sites, the factor of safety against liquefaction ranges from 0.4 to 0.7 and liquefaction probability is greater than 83%. Moreover, results obtained from probabilistic approaches were compared with deterministic approaches and it was found that except for one test location, the equivalent minimum probability of liquefaction for the soil deposits was about 16%.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The SPT and CPT data used in this study were obtained with funds from the National Science Foundation, under grant number CMS-0556006. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Published In
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
Pages: 463 - 472
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
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© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Jun 7, 2018
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