Correlation of liquefaction resistance with shear wave velocity based on laboratory study using bender element

Abstract

Recent studies using field case history data yielded new criteria for evaluating liquefaction potential in saturated granular deposits based on in situ, stress-corrected shear wave velocity. However, the conditions of relatively insufficient case histories and limited site conditions in this approach call for additional data to more reliably define liquefaction resistance as a function of shear wave velocity. In this study, a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on saturated sand with shear wave velocityVs measured by bender element. By normalizing the data with respect to minimum void ratio, the test results, incorporated with previously published laboratory data, statistically revealed good correlation of cyclic shear strength with small-strain shear modulus for sandy soils, which is almost irrespective of soil types and confining pressures. The consequently determined cyclic resistance ratio,CRR, was found to be approximately proportional toV s 4 . Liquefaction resistance boundary curves were established by applying this relationship and compared to liquefaction criteria derived from seismic field measurements. Although in the range ofVs1>200 m/s the presented curves are moderately conservative, they are remarkably consistent with the published field performance criteria on the whole.