Dynamic Analyses of Two Buildings Founded on Liquefiable Soils during the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
A series of major earthquakes near Christchurch, New Zealand, produced different levels of liquefaction-induced ground failure and damage to multistory buildings in the city’s central business district. Observations of seismic performance during the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence provide a unique data set for evaluating design procedures. Nonlinear dynamic soil-structure interaction analyses of two shallow-founded multistory buildings that were damaged by moderate liquefaction-induced settlements provide useful insights. Nonlinear effective-stress fully coupled soil-structure interaction analyses were performed using the finite-difference method with a widely used constitutive model for soil liquefaction calibrated with field and laboratory test data. The results show good agreement between observed and calculated responses of the ground and the structure during the earthquake events. Shear-induced ground deformation was a key mechanism of liquefaction-induced settlement of the structures. This mechanism was captured well in the two-dimensional analyses. Liquefaction-induced volumetric-induced ground deformation was also important and captured in the analyses. However, the influence of ejecta-induced building settlement was not captured.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador (SENESCYT) for funding this research. Additional support was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through CMMI-1332501. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or SENESCYT. Collaborations with Prof. Misko Cubrinovski and Dr. Merrick Taylor of the University of Canterbury, Dr. Josh Zupan, Dr. Christopher Markham, and Christine Beyzaei of the University of California, Berkeley, and Mike Jacka of Tonkin + Taylor Ltd. were invaluable. Discussions with Profs. Ross Boulanger and Katerina Ziotopoulou of the University of California, Davis about the PM4Sand constitutive model were also invaluable. Constructive comments by two anonymous reviewers improved the paper.
References
ACI (American Concrete Institute). (2014). “Building code requirements for structural concrete (ACI 318-14) and commentary.” ACI 318R-14, Farmington Hills, MI.
Adrianopoulos, K. I., Papadimitriou, A. G., and Bouckovalas, G. D. (2010). “Bounding surface plasticity model for the seismic liquefaction analysis of geostructures.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 30(10), 895–911.
AISC. (2014). “Steel construction manual shapes database.” ⟨http://www.aisc.org/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=34922⟩ (May 16, 2015).
Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner Ltd. (2011). “Earthquake damage assessment.”, Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner, Singapore.
Boulanger, R. W., and Idriss, I. M. (2016). “CPT-based liquefaction triggering procedures.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 04015065.
Boulanger, R. W., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2015). “PM4Sand (version 3): A sand plasticity model for earthquake engineering applications.”, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of California, Davis, CA.
Bradley, B. A. (2013). “A New Zealand-specific pseudo-spectral acceleration ground-motion prediction equation for active shallow crustal earthquakes based on foreign models.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 103(3), 1801–1822.
Bradley, B. A. (2014). “Site-specific and spatially-distributed ground-motion intensity estimation in the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes.” J. Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 61–62, 83–91.
Bray, J., Cubrinovski, M., Zupan, J., and Taylor, M. (2014). “Liquefaction effects on buildings in the central business district of Christchurch.” Earthquake Spectra, 30(1), 85–109.
Bray, J., and Dashti, S. (2014). “Liquefaction-induced building movements.” Bull. Earthquake Eng., 12(3), 1129–1156.
Dashti, S., and Bray, J. D. (2013). “Numerical simulation of building response on liquefiable sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1235–1249.
Dashti, S., Bray, J. D., Pestana, J. M., Riemer, M. R., and Wilson, D. (2010a). “Centrifuge testing to evaluate and mitigate liquefaction-induced building settlement mechanisms.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 918–929.
Dashti, S., Bray, J. D., Pestana, J. M., Riemer, M. R., and Wilson, D. (2010b). “Mechanisms of seismically-induced settlement of buildings with shallow foundations on liquefiable soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 151–164.
Elgamal, A., Lu, J., and Yang, Z. (2005). “Liquefaction-induced settlement of shallow foundations and remediation: 3D numerical simulation.” J. Earthquake Eng., 9(Special Issue), 17–45.
Eliot Sinclair & Partners Ltd. (2011). “Ground floor levels–4 March 2011.” Christchurch, New Zealand.
FLAC 2D 6.0 [Computer software]. Itasca Consulting Group, Minneapolis.
GNS Science. (2016). “New Zealand Geotechnical database.” ⟨https://www.nzgd.org.nz⟩ (Aug. 8, 2016).
Idriss, I. M., and Boulanger, R. W. (2008). Soil liquefaction during earthquakes, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA.
Jamiolkowski, M., LoPresti, D. C. F., and Manassero, M. (2001). “Evaluation of relative density and shear strength of sands from cone penetration test and flat dilatometer test.” Soil behavior and soft ground construction, ASCE, Reston, VA, 201–238.
Karamitros, D. K., Bouckovalas, G. D. and Chaloulos, Y. K. (2013). “Seismic settlements of shallow foundations on liquefiable soil with a clay crust”. Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 46, 64–76.
Karimi, Z., and Dashti, S. (2016a). “Numerical and centrifuge modeling of seismic soil-foundation-structure interaction on liquefiable ground.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 04015061.
Karimi, Z., and Dashti, S. (2016b). “Seismic performance of shallow-founded structures on liquefiable ground: Validation of numerical simulations using centrifuge experiments.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 04016011.
Kulhawy, F. H., and Mayne, P. H. (1990). “Manual on estimating soil properties for foundation design.”, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA.
Lopez-Caballero, F., and Farahmand-Razavi, A. M. (2008). “Numerical simulation of liquefaction effects on seismic SSI.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 28(2), 85–98.
Luque, R., and Bray, J. (2015). “Dynamic analysis of a shallow-founded building in Christchurch during the Canterbury earthquake sequence.” 6th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering-Technical Committee TC203, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Markham, C. (2015). “Response of liquefiable sites in the Central Business District of Christchurch, New Zealand.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Markham, C., Bray, J. D., Macedo, J., and Luque, R. (2016a). “Evaluating nonlinear effective stress site response analyses using records from the Canterbury earthquake sequence.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 82, 84–98.
Markham, C. S., Bray, J. D., Riemer, M. F., and Cubrinovski, M. (2016b). “Characterization of shallow soils in the Central Business District of Christchurch, New Zealand.” Geotech. Test. J., 39(6), 922–937.
McGann, C., Bradley, B., Taylor, M., Wotherspoon, L., and Cubrinovski, M. (2015). “Development of an empirical correlation for predicting shear wave velocity of Christchurch soils from cone penetration test data.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 75, 66–75.
Montgomery, J., and Boulanger, R. W. (2017). “Effects of spatial variability on liquefaction-induced settlement and lateral spreading.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 04026086-1.
Popescu, R., and Prevost, J. H. (1993a). “Centrifuge validation of a numerical model for dynamic soil liquefaction.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 12(2), 73–90.
Popescu, R., and Prevost, J. H. (1993b). “Numerical class A predictions for model nos. 1, 2, 3, 4a, 4b, 6, 7, 11 & 12.” Verification of numerical procedures for the analysis of soil liquefaction problems, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Popescu, R., Prevost, J. H., and Deodatis, G. (1997). “Effects of spatial variability on soil liquefaction: Some design recommendations.” Geotechnique, 47(5), 1019–1036.
Popescu, R., Prevost, J. H., and Deodatis, G. (2005). “3D effects in seismic liquefaction of stochastically variable soil deposits.” Geotechnique, 55(1), 21–31.
Popescu, R., Prevost, J. H., Deodatis, G., and Chakrabortty, P. (2006). “Dynamics of nonlinear porous media with applications to soil liquefaction.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 26(6), 648–665.
Robertson, P. K. (2010). “Soil behavior type from the CPT: An update.” Proc., 2nd Int. Symp. on Cone Penetration Testing, CPT’10, Huntington Beach, CA.
Robertson, P. K., and Cabal, K. L. (2015). Guide to cone penetration testing for geotechnical engineering, 6th Ed., Gregg Drilling & Testing, Inc., Signal Hill, CA.
Robertson, P. K., and Wride, C. E. (1998). “Evaluating cyclic liquefaction potential using the cone penetration test.” Can. Geotech. J., 35(3), 442–459.
Seed, H. B. (1979). “Soil liquefaction and cyclic mobility evaluation for level ground during earthquakes.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., 105(GT2), 201–255.
Shakir, H., and Pak, A. (2010). “Estimating liquefaction-induced settlement of shallow foundations by numerical approach.” Comput. Geotech., 37(3), 267–279.
Silva, W. J. (1988). “Soil response to earthquake ground motion.”, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA.
Taylor, M. (2015). “The geotechnical characterization of Christchurch sands for advanced soil modelling.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Tokimatsu, K., and Seed, H. B. (1987). “Evaluation of settlement in sands due to earthquake shaking.” J. Geotech. Eng., 861–878.
Travasarou, T., Bray, J. D., and Sancio, R. B. (2006). “Soil-structure-interaction analyses of building responses during the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake.” Proc., 8th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, EERI, Oakland, CA.
van Ballegooy, S., et al. (2014). “Assessment of liquefaction-induced land damage for residential Christchurch.” Earthquake Spectra J., 30(1), 31–55.
Zhang, G., Robertson, P. K., and Brachman, R. W. I. (2002). “Estimating liquefaction induced ground settlements from CPT for level ground.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(5), 1168–1180.
Zupan, J. (2014). “Seismic performance of buildings subjected to soil liquefaction.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 19, 2016
Accepted: Feb 28, 2017
Published online: Jun 26, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 26, 2017
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.