Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Influence of Fines Contents on Soil Liquefaction Resistance in Cyclic Triaxial Test

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Liquefaction is the most detrimental ground failure caused by strong earthquakes. Ground liquefaction leads to associated foundation and superstructure failures due to loss of bearing capacity and excessive deformation. An appropriate assessment of liquefaction is critical to the seismic safety evaluation of foundations and super structures. In this study, a series number of isotropically consolidated undrained cyclic triaxial test have been performed to evaluate influence of fines contents on soil liquefaction resistance. A total of 96 cyclic triaxial test was run on the uniform medium Monterey No. 0/30 sand with six different percentages of fine content. A total of 198 cyclic triaxial test was performed on the uniform medium concrete sand with five different percentages of fine content. Four different relative densities of 30%, 45%, 50% and 60%, two confining pressure of 103kpa and 207 kpa, six stress ratios (0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4 and 0.45) have been used for series of cyclic triaxial tests on two different soil types. Laboratory cyclic triaxial tests were conducted systematically to produce liquefaction potential curves.At a constant overall void ratio and PI, the increase in fines content up to 12% in the clean sand causes a decrease in liquefaction resistance. Beyond 20%, the further increases in fines content results in increase in liquefaction resistance. The threshold fines content, which is in the range of 12–20%, observed from nearly 300 of laboratory test results in this study. Statistical analyses were performed to formulate functional relationships for predicting liquefaction resistance of soils containing fines. For evaluating liquefaction potential for soils containing fines content, soil with 12–20% of fines content should be paid more attention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig.6
Fig.7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bray JD, Sancio RB (2006) Assessment of the liquefaction susceptibility of fine-grained soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 132(9):1165–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang NY (1990) Influence of fines content and plasticity on earthquake- induced soil liquefaction. In: Representative Contract No. DOCW3988-C-0078, U.S. army engineer waterways experiment station, Vicksburg, Mississippi

  • Chang NY, Yeh ST, Kaufman LP (1982) Liquefaction potential of clean and silty sands. In: Proceedings of the 3rd international earthquake microzonation conference, Vol. 2, pp. 1017–1032, Seattle, USA

  • Eseller-Bayat EE, Monkul MM, Akin Ö, Yenigun S (2019) The coupled influence of relative density, CSR, plasticity and content of fines on cyclic liquefaction resistance of sands. J Earthquake Eng 23(6):909–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fei HC (1991) The characteristics of liquefaction of silt soil soil dynamics and earthquake engineering V. Computational mechanics publications, Southhampton, pp 293–302

  • Green RA, Bommer JJ, Rodriguez-Marek A, Maurer BW, Stafford PJ, Edwards B, Kruiver PP, de Lange G, van Elk J (2019) Addressing limitations in existing ‘simplified’ liquefaction triggering evaluation procedures: application to induced seismicity in the Groningen gas field. Bull Earthq Eng 17(8):4539–4557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holzer TL, Youd TL, Hanks TC (1989) Dynamics of liquefaction during the 1987 superstition hills, California, earthquake. Science 244:56–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Idriss IM, Boulanger RW (2004) Evaluating the potential for liquefaction or cyclic failure of silts and clays. Report No. UCD/CGM-04/01 University of California Davis, California

  • Ishihara K, Koga Y (1981) Case studies of liquefaction in the 1964 Niigata earthquake. Soils Found Jpn Soc Soil Mech Found Eng 21(3):35–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan MA et al (2016) Effect of fines on liquefaction resistance in fine sand and silty sand. Int J Eng Res Appl 6(1):102–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Koester JP (1994) The influence of fine type and content on cyclic strength. Ground failures under seismic conditions, geotechnical special publication, ASCE, pp 17–33

  • Lee KL, Seed HB (1967) Cyclic stress conditions causing liquefaction of sand. J Soil Mech Found Div 93(SM1):47–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu HC (1992) Statistical modeling of liquefaction resistance of sands containing fines. Ph.D. thesis, University of Colorado Denver

  • Liu J (2012) Liquefaction resistance on monterey No. 0/30 Sand. Master thesis, University of Colorado Denver

  • Liu J (2019) Liquefaction resistance of monterey No. 0/30 sand containing fines under cyclic triaxial and cyclic hollow cylinder tests. Ph. D thesis, University of Colorado Denver

  • Liu HC, Chang NY (1994a) Statistical modeling of liquefaction resistance of a uniform fine sand containing plastic fines. In: Fifth U.S. national conference on earthquake engineering, pp 251–260.

  • Liu HC, Chang NY (1994b) A procedure for evaluating in-situ liquefaction resistance of a uniform fine sand with plastic fines inclusion. In: Fifth U.S. national conference on earthquake engineering, pp 261–270

  • Maurer BW, Green RA, van Ballegooy S, Wotherspoon L (2019) Development of region-specific soil behavior type index correlations for evaluating liquefaction hazard in Christchurch, New Zealand. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 117:96–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mogami T, Kubo K (1953) The behavior of soil during vibration. In: Proceedings of the third international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Vol. 1, pp. 152–153

  • Monkul MM, Yamamuro JA (2011) Influence of silt size and content on liquefaction behavior of sands. Can Geotech J 48:931–942

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noorzad R, Shakeri M (2017) Effect of silt on post-cyclic shear strength of sand. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 97:133–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okashi Y (1970) Effects of sand compaction on liquefaction during Tokachioki earthquake. Soils Found 10(2):112–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park SS, Kim YS (2013) Liquefaction resistance of sands containing plastic fines with different plasticity. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 139(5):825–830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polito CP, Martin JR (2001) Effects of nonplastic fines on the liquefaction resistance of sands. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 127(5):408–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson PK, Campanella RG (1985) Liquefaction Potential of Sands Using CPT. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE 111(3):384–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seed HB, De Alba P (1986) Use of SPT and CPT tests for evaluating the liquefaction resistance of sands. In: Use of in situ tests in geotechnical engineering. Geotechnical special publication. ASCE, New York

  • Seed HB, Idriss IM (1971) Simplified procedure for evaluating soil liquefaction potential. J Soil Mech Found Div 97(9):1249–1273

    Google Scholar 

  • Seed HB, Idriss IM (1982) Ground motions and soil liquefaction during earthquakes. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Monograph, Oakland

  • Seed HB, Idriss IM, Arango I (1983) Evaluation of liquefaction potential using field performance data. J Geotech Eng. 109(3):458–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seed HB, Lee KL (1966) Liquefaction of saturated sands during cyclic loading. J Soil Mech Found Div 92(6):105–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Seed HB, Tokimatsu K, Harder L, Chung R (1985) Influence of SPT procedures in soil liquefaction resistance evaluations. J Geotech Eng 111(12):1425–1445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatsuoka F, Iwasaki T, Tokida K, Yasuda S, Hirose M, Imai T, Kon-No M (1980) Standard penetration tests and soil liquefaction potential evaluation. Soils Found 20(4):95–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tokimatsu K, Yoshimi Y (1983) Empirical Correlation of Soil Liquefaction Based On SPT N-Value And Fines Content. Soils and Foundations, JSSMFE 23(4):56–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ueng TS, Sun CW, Chen CW (2004) Defifinition of fifines and liquefaction resistance of Maoluo river soil. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 24(2004):745–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ueng TS, Wu MC, Lin CY, Yu RY (2000) Pore water pressure changes in sands under earthquake. In: 12th world conference on earthquake engineering. New Zeland

  • Ulmer K, Green RA, Rodriguez-Marek A (2019) A consistent correlation between versus, SPT, and CPT metrics for use in liquefaction evaluation procedures. Geo Congress 2020 GSP 318

  • Wang WS (1979) Some findings in soil liquefaction. In: research institute of water conservancy and hydroelectric power. Beijing, China

  • Wang Y, Wang Y (2010) Study of effects of fines content on liquefaction properties of sand. In: GeoShanghai 2010 international conference soil dynamics and earthquake engineering, pp 272–277

  • Youd TL, Gilstrap SD (1999) liquefaction and deformation of silty and fine-grained soils. In: Proceedings of the second international conference on earthquake geotechnical Engineering. Lisbon, Portugal, Vol. 3, pp 1013–1020

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Hubei Polytechnic University, No.16 North of Guilin Road, K8-206, Huangshi, 435003, Hubei, China

    Jungang Liu

  2. Center for Geotechnical Engineering Science (CGES), University of Colorado Denver, Denver, USA

    Jungang Liu

Authors
  1. Jungang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jungang Liu.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, J. Influence of Fines Contents on Soil Liquefaction Resistance in Cyclic Triaxial Test. Geotech Geol Eng 38, 4735–4751 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-020-01323-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-020-01323-4

Search

Navigation