Probability of liquefaction hazard map for Yangon City, Myanmar

Abstract

Liquefaction probability hazard map is one of the most important tasks in earthquake geotechnical engineering. Yangon City is not only financial but also most populated city in Myanmar. The right-lateral strike-slip Sagaing Fault is located 40km from eastern Yangon and threaten to create biggest earthquake. Seismic soil liquefaction is evaluated the Factors of Safety against liquefaction (FS) along the depths of soil profiles to using Standard Penetration Test (SPT) based simplified empirical procedure. Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI) is evaluated at each borehole location from the obtained Factors of Safety (FS) and used as an assessing tool of Liquefaction Probability. Based on the existing correlation of the LPI values with the liquefaction potential of a site, liquefaction hazard map has been compiled. This map is presented in the form of degree of colors range map that correspond to the values of probability. As the majority of the sites in the city are of reclaimed land, vulnerability of liquefaction is observed to be very high at many places. According to the results, the Southern part of Yangon City is more occurrence in liquefaction damage than the Northern part. The hazard map could provide informative guidelines for decision-makers to detect damage state of a field induced by liquefaction.