Chapter 10 - Liquefaction as a seismic hazard: Scales, examples and analysis

Abstract

This work is based on presenting the liquefaction as a major seismic hazard. For liquefaction to occur, the necessary conditions include water saturated sandy soils and a trigger by a moderate to high magnitude earthquake. Liquefaction results in slope, bridge and foundation failures, which makes urban areas more susceptible to it. The large metropolitan cities like San Francisco, Tokyo and Mexico City etc. resting on liquefaction susceptible soils are especially vulnerable to the damage due to liquefaction. A detailed methodology based on geotechnical data is presented along with application on a susceptible study region. The case study involves the Kashmir basin of the NW Himalaya. It deciphers the application of a well-accepted methodology to evaluate the liquefaction potential of soils in the susceptible regions using standard penetration test geotechnical data and synthetic ground motions generated by the stochastic finite-fault method based on a dynamic corner frequency. It is worth noting that the liquefaction potential results of the case study endorse the already reported instances of liquefaction in the Kashmir basin during historical and recent earthquakes.