Effects of Excess Pore Pressure Redistribution in Liquefiable Layers
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 4
Abstract
Existing simplified procedures for evaluating soil liquefaction potential or for estimating excess pore pressures during earthquakes are typically based on undrained cyclic tests performed on saturated soil samples under controlled loading and boundary conditions. Under such conditions, the effect of excess pore pressure () dissipation and redistribution to neighboring soil layers cannot be accounted for. Existing simplified procedures treat liquefiable layers as isolated soil layers without any boundary conditions even if dense and loose layers are very thin, permeable, and adjacent to each other. However, redistribution is likely to increase and decrease in the neighboring dense and loose layers respectively. Until now, no procedure short of fully coupled numerical analysis is available to estimate the importance of redistribution. This paper presents an approximate analytical procedure for assessing the effects of redistribution in (1) soil layers that would have liquefied if they were undrained, and (2) soil layers that would have not liquefied even if undrained. It is found that a layer that is initially assumed liquefied under undrained conditions might not even liquefy accounting for the redistribution to neighboring layers. On the other hand, a layer initially assumed to not liquefy can develop significant and can even liquefy due to pore pressure migration from the neighboring layers. Thus, accounting for redistributed is important for liquefaction consequence assessment quantification, particularly in systems that span the depth of these effects like deep foundations. Migration of u toward the tip of a pile can reduce its capacity, even if the tip is embedded in a dense sand layer. On the other hand, if redistribution can result in the reduction of in initially assumed liquefied layers, risks associated with liquefaction might be avoided. A criterion is also developed to evaluate the thicknesses of a layer below which redistribution could prevent liquefaction even if the layer is deemed liquefied according to the existing liquefaction-triggering procedures. Finally, the proposed procedure is illustrated by application to selected shaking events of centrifuge tests involving liquefaction of layered soil profiles. The predictions from the procedure matched the centrifuge test results reasonably.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository online per funder data retention policies. All the data used in this study are made available through DesignSafe project PRJ-2828 (Sinha et al. 2021a, b).
Acknowledgments
This work was performed with funding from the California Department of Transportation under Agreement 65A0688. The centrifuge tests were made possible by the staff and facilities of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling at UC Davis. The centrifuge facility at UC Davis is part of the NSF Natural Hazards Research Infrastructure (NHERI) program under Award CMMI 2037883.
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 15, 2023
Accepted: Nov 1, 2023
Published online: Jan 30, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 30, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Layered soils
- Load tests
- Pore pressure
- Pressure (type)
- Saturated soils
- Soft soils
- Soil dynamics
- Soil liquefaction
- Soil mechanics
- Soil pressure
- Soil properties
- Soil tests
- Soils (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Tests (by type)
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