Case History of Landslide Movement during the Northridge Earthquake
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 11
Abstract
We document a case history of Northridge earthquake induced movement of a coherent landslide mass comprised principally of weathered, previously sheared siltstone. Information on the residual shear strength of the material through which the sliding occurred is available both from backanalysis of a static (rainfall-induced) failure on the same slope and laboratory test data. Postearthquake field reconnaissance data establishes the seismic slope displacements near the slope crest. A yield coefficient is estimated for the slope based on residual shear strengths and measured groundwater levels at the time of the Northridge earthquake. This yield coefficient is used with four horizontal equivalent acceleration time histories (that approximate the seismic demand within the slide mass) in Newmark sliding block displacement analyses. The calculated displacements range from approximately 20 to 90 mm, which compares well with observed displacements at the slide scarp of approximately 50 mm.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abrahamson, N. A. (1992). “Non-stationary spectral matching.” Seismol. Res. Lett., 63(1), 30.
Abrahamson, N. A., and Silva, W. J. (1997). “Empirical response spectral attenuation relations for shallow crustal earthquakes.” Seismol. Res. Lett., 68(1), 94–127.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM. (2002). “Standard test method for direct shear test of soils under consolidated drained conditions.” ASTM D-3080, West Conshohocken, Pa.
Arias, A. (1970). “A measure of earthquake intensity.” Seismic design for nuclear power plants, R. J. Hansen, ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 438–483.
Augello, A. J., Matasovic, N., Bray, J. D., Kavazanjian, E., and Seed, R. B. (1995). “Evaluation of solid waste landfill performance during the Northridge earthquake,” Proc., Earthquake Design and Performance of Solid Waste Landfills, Geotechnical Special Publication 54, M. K. Yegian and W. D. Liam Finn, eds., ASCE, New York, 17–50.
Bardet, J. P., and Davis, C. A. (1996). “Performance of San Fernando dams during 1994 Northridge earthquake.” J. Geotech. Eng., 122(7), 554–564.
Blake, T. F., Hollingsworth, R. A., and Stewart, J. P., eds. (2002). Recommended procedures for implementation of DMG Special Publication 117 guidelines for analyzing and mitigating landslide hazards in California, Southern California Earthquake Center, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Bray, J. D., and Rathje, E. M. (1998). “Earthquake-induced displacements of solid-waste landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(3), 242–253.
Chandler, R. J. (1977). “Back analysis techniques for slope stabilization works: A case record.” Geotechnique, 27(4), 479–495.
Elgamal, A.-W. M., Scott, R. F., Succarieh, M. F., and Yan, L. (1990). “La Villita Dam response during five earthquake including permanent deformation.” J. Geotech. Eng., 116(10), 1443–1462.
Franklin, A. G., and Chang, F. K. (1977). “Earthquake resistance of earth and rock fill dams: permanent displacements of earth embankment by Newmark sliding block analysis.” Miscellaneous Paper S-71-17, Rep. No.5, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss.
Gazetas, G., and Uddin, N. (1994). “Permanent Deformation on Preexisting Sliding Surfaces in Dams.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(11), 2041–2061.
Goodman, R. E., and Seed, H. B. (1966). “Earthquake-induced displacements in sand embankments.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 92(2), 125–146.
Hudson, M., Idriss, I. M., and Beikae, M. (1994). QUAD4M: A computer program to evaluate the seismic response of soil structures using finite element procedures and incorporating a compliant base, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Davis, Calif.
Hungr, O. (1988). CLARA—Slope stability in two and three dimensions. O. Hungr Geotechnical Research Inc., Vancouver, Canada.
Jibson, R. W., Harp, E. L., and Michael, J. A. (2000). “A method for producing digital probabilistic seismic landslide hazard maps.” Eng. Geol. (Amsterdam), 58(3–4), 271–289.
Jibson, R. W., and Jibson, M. W. (2003). Java Programs for Using Newmark’s Method and Simplified Decoupled Analysis to Model Slope Performance During Earthquakes, Version 1.0, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colo.
Kutter, B. L. (1982). “Centrifuge modeling of the response of clay embankments to earthquakes.” PhD thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, U.K.
Lin, J. S., and Whitman, R. V. (1983). “De-coupling approximation to the evaluation of earthquake-induced plastic slip in Dams.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 11, 667–678.
Ling, H. I., and Leshinsky, D. (1995). “Seismic performance of simple slopes.” Soils Found., 35(2), 85–94.
Makdisi, F. I., and Seed, H. B. (1978). “Simplified procedure for estimating dam and embankment earthquake-induced deformations.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 104(7), 849–867.
Marcuson, W. F. III, Hynes, M. E., and Franklin, A. G. (1992). “Seismic stability and permanent deformation analysis: The last twenty five Years,” Proc., 2nd Stability Performance of Slopes and Embankments, ASCE, New York, 552–592.
McCrink, T. P. (2000). “Calibration of the Newmark displacement method for mapping earthquake-induced landslides in the Laurel Quadrangle, Santa Cruz County, California.” Proc., 6th International Conf. Seismic Zonation: Managing Earthquake Risk in the 21st Century, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, Calif. (computer file).
McMillan, J. R. (2000). “Method and status of zoning landslide hazards under California’s Seismic Hazard Mapping Act.” Proc., 6th International Conf. on Seismic Zonation: Managing Earthquake Risk in the 21st Century, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, Calif. (computer file).
Newmark, N. M. (1965). “Effects of earthquakes on dams and embankments.” Geotechnique, 15(2), 129–160.
Nigbor, R. L., and Imai, T. (1994). “The suspension p-s velocity method.” Geophysical characterization of sites, R. D. Woods, ed., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 57–61.
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, PEER (2001). PEER strong motion database, <http://peer.berkeley.edu/smcat>.
Rathje, E. M., Abrahamson, N. A., and Bray, J. D. (1998). “Simplified frequency content estimates of earthquake ground motions.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(2), 150–159.
Rathje, E. M., and Bray, J. D. (2000). “Nonlinear coupled seismic sliding analysis of earth structures.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(11), 1002–1014.
Sarma, S. K. (1979). “Stability analysis of embankments and slopes.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 105(12), 1511–1524.
Seed, H. B., and Idriss, I. M. (1970). “Soil moduli and damping factors for dynamic response analyses.” Rep. No. EERC 70-10, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Seed, H. B., and Martin, G. R. (1966). “The seismic coefficient in earth dam design.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 92(3), 25–58.
Sharma, S. (1992). “Slope analysis with XSTABL.” Research Rep., Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho.
Skempton, A. W. (1985). “Residual strength of clays in landslides, folded strata, and the laboratory.” Geotechnique, 35(1), 3–18.
Spencer, E. (1967). “A method of analysis of the stability of embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.” Geotechnique, 17, 11–26.
Stark, T. D., Choi, H., and McCone, S. (2005). “Drained shear strength parameters for analysis of landslides.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131(5), 575–588.
Stark, T. D., and Eid, H. T. (1994). “Drained residual strength of cohesive soils.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(5), 856–871.
Stewart, J. P., Bray, J. D., McMahon, D. J., Smith, P. M., and Kropp, A. L. (2001). “Seismic performance of hillside fills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 127(11), 905–919.
Wald, D. J., and Heaton, T. H. (1994). “A dislocation model of the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake determined from strong ground motions.” Open-File Rep. No. 94-278, U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, Calif.
Wartman, J, Bray, J. D., and Seed, R. B. (2003). “Inclined plane studies of the Newmark sliding block procedure.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(8), 673–684.
Wartman, J, Bray, J. D., and Seed, R. B. (2005). “Shaking table modeling of seismically induced deformations in slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131(5), 610–622.
Watry, S. M., and Lade, P. V. (2000). “Residual shear strength of bentonites on Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.” Proc., Slope Stability 2000, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 101, D. V. Griffiths, G. A. Fenton, and T. R. Martin, eds., ASCE, Reston, Va., 323–342.
Wilson, R. C., and Keefer, D. K. (1983). “Dynamic analysis of a slope failure from the 6 August 1979 Coyote Lake, California earthquake.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 73(3), 863–877.
Yegian, M. K., and Lahlaf, A. M. (1992). “Dynamic interface shear strength properties of geomembranes and geotextiles.” J. Geotech. Eng., 118(5), 760–779.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 26, 2004
Accepted: Feb 8, 2005
Published online: Nov 1, 2005
Published in print: Nov 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.