Seismically induced landslide at Degirmendere Nose, Izmit Bay during Kocaeli (Izmit)-Turkey earthquake

This paper presents a study on the analyses of seismically induced landslide at Degirmendere Nose during the 1999 Kocaeli (Izmit)-Turkey earthquake. The paper discusses: (1) observed ground deformations and displacements after the earthquake, (2) the results of field investigations by means of borings and in situ index tests including standard penetration tests, static cone penetration tests (CPT) and piezocone tests, (3) analyses of observed landslide mechanisms by a suite of methods and (4) potential effects of soil liquefaction rupture on the observed landslide mechanism.     

Correlation between ground failure and soil conditions in Adapazari, Turkey

Ground failure in Adapazari, Turkey during the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake (M_w=7.4) was severe. In four central downtown districts, where more than 1200 buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged, hundreds of structures tilted and penetrated into the ground due in part to liquefaction and ground softening. Based on a multi-institutional subsurface investigation program, soil conditions along four lines in which ground failure was surveyed after the earthquake are classified into four generalized subsurface site categories. This classification is primarily based on the presence or absence of shallow and intermediate depth liquefiable soils. Observations of ground failure are found to correlate well with site categories that are susceptible to liquefaction according to current state-of-the-art methods without strict adherence to the Chinese criteria. Soils that liquefied were found to meet the liquid limit and liquidity index conditions of the Chinese criteria. However, soils that liquefied did not typically meet the clay-size condition for liquefiable soils by the Chinese criteria.     

Neural network model for liquefaction potential in soil deposits using Turkey and Taiwan earthquake data

Simplified methods have been practiced by researchers to assess nonlinear liquefaction potential of soil. Derived from several field and laboratory tests, various simplified procedures such as stress-based, strain-based, Chinese criteria, etc. have been developed by utilizing case studies and undisturbed soil specimens. In order to address the collective knowledge built up in conventional liquefaction engineering, an alternative general regression neural network model is proposed in this paper.To meet this objective, a total of 620 sets of data including 12 soil and seismic parameters are introduced into the model. The data includes the results of field tests from the two major earthquakes that took place in Turkey and Taiwan in 1999 and some of the desired input parameters are obtained from correlations existing in the literature.The proposed GRNN model was developed in four phases, mainly: identification phase, collection phase, implementation phase, and verification phase. An iterative procedure was followed to maximize the accuracy of the proposed model. The case records were divided randomly into testing, training, and validation datasets.Generating a model that takes into account of 12 soil and seismic parameters is not feasible by using simplified techniques; however, the proposed GRNN model effectively explored the complex relationship between the introduced soil and seismic input parameters and validated the liquefaction decision obtained by simplified methods. The proposed GRNN model predicted well the occurrence/nonoccurrence of soil liquefaction in these sites. The model provides a viable tool to geotechnical engineers in assessing seismic condition in sites susceptible to liquefaction.     

Attenuation characteristics of peak ground acceleration from fault trace of the 1999 Kocaeli (Turkey) earthquake and comparison of spectral acceleration with seismic design code

The 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake in Turkey produced a majorsurface rupture. We traced this surface rupture from Gölcük toDüzce and located it accurately by using GPS. The closest distancefrom the surface rupture to the strong motion observation sites weredetermined. Then the attenuation characteristics of the observed peakground acceleration were compared with the attenuation relation given byFukushima and Tanaka (1992), which is suitable for the near-fault zone inJapan and gives results that closely match data recorded during the 1995Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake in Japan. Although this attenuation relationwas developed for Japan, we found that it agreed well with the KOCAELIearthquake. Furthermore, the observed spectral acceleration of 5%damping was compared with the building design code of Turkey and theobserved level was lower than the code.     

Influence of the ground profile on the reduction of earthquake motion at the filled man-made islands in the Kobe harbor during the 1995 Hyogoken Nambu earthquake

During the 1995 Hyogoken Nambu earthquake in Kobe, the ground motion at the filled man-made islands in the Kobe harbor was not as severe as that at the mainland. The building damage was also less compared to that on the mainland. It was found by comparative study of earthquake records that the magnitude of acceleration response on the ground surface decreases at the islands as opposed to the mainland. One dimensional effective stress analysis is adopted in this study. Input data has been generated from test results, e.g. the SPT N-value by standard penetration test and shear wave velocity V_s by PS logging. Results obtained by the analyses showed good agreement with the observed records, which is an indication of the suitability of the adopted analysis procedure. From this study, the followings are concluded. By the increase of SPT N-value of the filled layers, liquefaction near ground surface is restrained and damage modes such as ejection of water and soil can be prevented. Since the ground profile at the islands is that considerably soft filled layer and marine clay layers, etc. are present and the thickness of the surface layer is large, the initial natural period of the ground is above 1 s and the natural period is elongated further under the earthquake excitation, which is deemed to be the principal reason for the reduction of the earthquake motion at the ground surface.