Abstract
Progress in earthquake geotechnical engineering in the past 10 to 12 years is reviewed. Developments in understanding foundation behaviour and also liquefaction are described briefly. It is explained that perhaps the greatest advance in the period is the interpretation of the substantial amount of site response data which has come to hand. This clarifies earlier controversy about the contribution of nonlinear soil behaviour to site response. Findings show that it is possible for stiff soil sites to behave in a linear manner for quite large peak ground accelerations but for softer soils significant nonlinear response has been inferred using a number of different approaches.
Highlights
The title of this keynote panel session is linked to the I0th anniversary of the Edgecumbe earthquake of March 1997
To review recent progress in earthquake geotechnical engineering the 1985 Michoacan earthquake, and its effect on Mexico City, is a better place to start because this event is the first in a series of major earthquakes all of which have contributed much to geotechnical knowledge or which have prompted important investigations
In the case of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake Berrill [6] found little evidence for nonlinear soil behaviour in the Los Angeles region. This same conclusion has been reached for the Northridge event, Chin and Aki [17] have developed a way of generating synthetic ground motion records and comparing these with the observed to reveal some nonlinear effects in the Northridge earthquake
Summary
Progress in earthquake geotechnical engineering in the past 10 to 12 years is reviewed. Developments in understanding foundation behaviour and liquefaction are described briefly. It is explained that perhaps the greatest advance in the period is the interpretation of the substantial amount of site response data which has come to hand. This clarifies earlier controversy about the contribution of nonlinear soil behaviour to site response. Findings show that it is possible for stiff soil sites to behave in a linear manner for quite large peak ground accelerations but for softer soils significant nonlinear response has been inferred using a number of different approaches
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
