Evaluation of liquefaction resistance of soils from Swedish weight sounding tests

Abstract

A procedure to estimate the liquefaction resistance of soils by means of Swedish weight sounding tests is proposed. The empirical formulae estimating the liquefaction resistance of soils Rl directly from the penetration resistance, Wsw and Nsw, of Swedish weight sounding tests are firstly derived by combining the correlation between the values for Wsw and Nsw and relative density Dr and the relation between liquefaction resistance Rl and relative density Dr obtained in past studies. As a result, two empirical formulae are derived, one for sand and the other for sand with silt and silty sand. The proposed procedure is then compared with the conventional procedure and examined in detail. The proposed procedure is found to work well for sand, sand with silt and silty sand, although due care should be taken when applying it to fine silts.