Documentation of soil conditions at liquefaction and non-liquefaction sites from 1999 Chi–Chi (Taiwan) earthquake

The 1999 Chi–Chi, Taiwan, earthquake provides case histories of ground failure and non-ground failure that are valuable to the ongoing development of liquefaction susceptibility, triggering and surface manifestation models because the data occupy sparsely populated parameter spaces (i.e. high cyclic stress ratio and high fines content with low to moderate soil plasticity). In this paper, we document results from several large site investigation programs conducted in Nantou, Wufeng and Yuanlin, Taiwan. The seismic performance of the investigated sites include non-ground failure building and free-field sites, building sites with partial foundation bearing failures, free-field lateral spread sites, and free-field level ground sites with sediment boils. Field and laboratory investigation protocols for the sites are described, including cone penetration testing (some with pore pressure and shear wave velocity measurements) and rotary wash borings with standard penetration testing (including energy measurements). Implications of the SPT energy measurements with respect to established guidelines for the estimation of SPT energy ratio (including short rod corrections) are presented. Finally, data for three example sites are shown that illustrate potential applications of the data set, and which also demonstrate a condition where existing liquefaction analysis procedures fail to predict the observed field performance.     

The use of MASW method in the assessment of soil liquefaction potential

The multi-channel analysis of surface wave (MASW) method is a non-invasive method recently developed to estimate shear wave velocity profile from surface wave energy. Unlike conventional SASW method, multi-station recording permits a single survey of a broad depth range and high levels of redundancy with a single field configuration. An efficient and unified wavefield transform technique is introduced for dispersion analysis and on site data quality control. The technique was demonstrated in the assessment of soil liquefaction potential at a site in Yuan Lin, Taiwan. The shear wave velocity and liquefaction potential assessments based on MASW method compares favorable to that based on SCPT shear wave measurements. Two-dimensional shear wave velocity profiles were estimated by occupying successive geophone spreads at several sites in central western Taiwan, at some of which sand boils or ground cracks occurred during 1999 Chi Chi earthquake. Liquefaction potential analysis based on MASW imaging was shown to be effective for estimating the extent of potential liquefaction hazard.     

Nonlinear identification of the soil response at Dahan downhole array site during the 1999 Chi–Chi earthquake

Records of the 1999 Chi–Chi earthquake, provided by the Dahan downhole array were analyzed, and nonlinear hysteretic stress–strain relations in the soil layers were estimated by the method previously used for studying the response of soils during the 1995 Kobe and the 2000 Tottori earthquakes. The obtained models of the soil behavior were applied for evaluating changes of the shear moduli in the soil layers and for the nonlinear identification of the soil behavior at Dahan site during the Chi–Chi earthquake. We found that reduction of the shear moduli in the soil layers did not exceed 5%, and the soil response was virtually linear. The content of the nonlinear components in the soil response was about 5% of the intensity of the response, and it was mostly due to the odd-order nonlinearities. A similarity in the stress–strain relations describing the behavior of soils during the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the 2000 Tottori earthquake, and the 1999 Chi–Chi earthquake was found, which indicates the possibility to describe the behavior of similar types of soils at different sites by similar stress–strain relations and predict soil behavior in future earthquakes.     

台湾集集地震近场地震动的上盘效应

1999年9月21日（当地时间）台湾集集7.6级地震是一个逆断层型地震．用回归分析法对台湾集集地震的加速度峰值数据进行分析，得出了这次地震的水平与垂直向的加速度峰值衰减关系．从残差分布上看，位于断层上盘和下盘上的加速度峰值与从衰减关系所得到的结果相比存在不同的系统偏差，断层上盘地表的加速度峰值较高，而下盘地表的加速度峰值较低．从这次地震的加速度峰值分布等值线图上也可以看出，加速度峰值的分布相对于断层呈现明显的不对称性，上盘衰减较慢而下盘衰减较快．在近断层强地面运动研究、地震危险性分析、设定地震研究与震害预测等工作中，应考虑可能地震的震源机制特点，以便使所用的衰减模型更能反映不同地震环境地区的地震动分布特征．      

Characterization of liquefaction resistance in gravelly soil: large hammer penetration test and shear wave velocity approach

Gravelly soil is generally recognized to have no liquefaction potential. However, liquefaction cases were reported in central Taiwan in the 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan earthquake and in the 1988 Armenia earthquake. Thus, further studies on the liquefaction potential of gravelly soil are warranted. Because large particles can impede the penetration of both standard penetration test and cone penetration test, shear wave velocity-based correlations and large hammer penetration tests (LPT) are employed to evaluate the liquefaction resistance of gravelly soils. A liquefied gravelly deposit site during the Chi-Chi earthquake was selected for this research. In situ physical properties of soil deposits were collected from exploratory trenches. Instrumented LPT and shear wave velocity (V_s) measurements were performed to evaluate the liquefaction resistance. In addition, large-scale cyclic triaxial tests on remolded gravelly soil samples (15 cm in diameter, 30 cm in height) were conducted to verify and improve LPT-based and V_s-based correlations. The results show that the LPT and shear wave velocity methods are reasonably suitable for liquefaction assessment of gravelly soils.     

Ground motion characteristics of the Chi‐Chi earthquake of 21 September 1999

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ground motion characteristics of the Chi‐Chi earthquake (21 September 1999) as well as the interpretation of structural damage due to this earthquake. Over 300 strong motion records were collected from the strong motion network of Taiwan for this earthquake. A lot of near‐field ground motion data were collected. They provide valuable information on the study of ground motion characteristics of pulse‐like near‐field ground motions as well as fault displacement. This study includes: attenuation of ground motion both in PGA and spectral amplitude, principal direction, elastic and inelastic response analysis of a SDOF system subjected to near‐field ground motion collected from this event. The distribution of spectral acceleration and spectral velocity along the Chelungpu fault is discussed. Based on the mode decomposition method the intrinsic mode function of ground acceleration of this earthquake is examined. A long‐period wave with large amplitude was observed in most of the near‐source ground acceleration. The seismic demand from the recorded near‐field ground motion is also investigated with an evaluation of seismic design criteria of Taiwan Building Code. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Liquefaction analysis from seismic velocities and determination of lagoon limits Kumluca/Antalya example

This study analyzes liquefaction in the Kumluca/Antalya residential area and surroundings, using seismic velocities of soil deposits and the predominant period of the earthquake wave. The liquefaction analysis calculates shear–stress ratio, shear–resistance ratio and safety factor. Shear wave velocity used in liquefaction analysis was determined through surface waves. Moreover, the dynamic parameters of the ground were calculated through seismic velocities. Distributions of groundwater, shear wave velocity, adjusted shear wave velocity, predominant period of vibration, soil amplification and ground acceleration of the research area were mapped. In addition, the liquefied and non-liquefied areas as a result of liquefaction analysis in Kumluca were determined and presented as maps. Examining these maps, among all these maps, the limits of the lagoon sandbar and the old lake area were determined using only the liquefaction map.     

Evaluation of soil liquefaction in the Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake using CPT

During the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake, many sand boiling phenomena were observed in central Taiwan, which caused severe ground settlement and structure damages. According to the installed accelerograms, the peak ground surface horizontal accelerations in the liquefaction-affected areas range from 774.42 to 121.3 gal. The writers carried out an extensive investigation of soil liquefaction in this earthquake. In this paper, we present results of the CPT exploration and post-earthquake liquefaction analysis. Two hundred and seventy five (275) cone penetration test data were collected from the liquefaction-affected areas, and 46 liquefaction case histories and 88 non-liquefaction case histories were derived that can be used to evaluate the accuracy of existing liquefaction evaluation models. In addition, the strength of the liquefied soils after earthquake and the implication of its liquefaction potential in the future event are discussed.     

Validation of small strain properties from recorded weak seismic motions

During the last decade, there has been an increased interest in the computations of surface ground motions from known rock outcrop motions. The main advantage of the procedure is to allow for the actual variation of strength and stiffness properties of heterogeneous soil profiles, eventually accounting for non-linear soil behavior. The main questions raised against the adequacy of such a procedure lie upon the reliability of the computational scheme and in the representativity of the soil constitutive relationship. The present paper addresses both aspects by comparing the motions computed assuming standard assumptions in the state of practice of earthquake engineering. Since until now, the downhole array recorded only weak motions (horizontal peak ground accelerations smaller than 0·04 g), the paper focuses on elastic soil properties. It is demonstrated that a carefully conducted geotechnical survey yields an accurate shear wave velocity profile and that rate-independent soil damping might not be appropriate to represent the soil behavior in the small strain range.     

Identification and modeling of earthquake ground response - I. Site amplification

Seismic downhole-array data provide a unique source of information on actual soil (and overall site) behavior over a wide range of loading conditions that are not readily covered by in-situ or laboratory experimentation procedures. In this paper, free-field downhole-array seismic records are employed to identify and model the recorded response at the Lotung (Taiwan) and Treasure Island (California) sites. At Lotung, a five-accelerometer array recorded the site response during 18 earthquakes (1985–1986). The Treasure Island site was instrumented in 1992 with an array of six accelerometers that recorded a low amplitude earthquake in 1993. Using this downhole data, correlation and spectral analyses are performed to evaluate shear wave propagation characteristics, variation of shear wave velocity with depth and site resonant frequencies and model configurations. In addition, the actual seismic shear stress-strain histories are directly evaluated from the recorded downhole accelerations. These histories provide valuable insight into the mechanisms of site amplification, damping and pore-pressure build-up. Computational simulations of these case histories are performed based on the identified mechanisms of site response. In a companion paper, two additional case histories of site liquefaction are analyzed using records of downhole seismic response.     

挡土墙地震被动土压力的拟动力分析

对地震土压力的研究是地震区挡土墙安全设计的一项重要课题。地震条件下,目前的研究主要是给出了土压力的近似拟静力解析解。本文采用可考虑动力荷载下的周期和纵波及横波效应的拟动力方法,对挡土墙后的地震被动土压力进行分析。在挡土墙后平面滑裂面假设的基础上,考虑了水平和垂直向地震加速度、纵波速度、横波速度、挡土墙摩擦角、填土内摩擦角、填土坡角对地震被动土压力的影响。与Mononobe-Okabe理论的拟静力法不同的是,用本方法得出了沿墙身地震被动土压力是非线性变化的结果,这更符合地震条件下土压力的变化规律。     

土层平均剪切波速确定及其可靠性验证——基于钻井台阵强震动记录

震害资料显示,场地条件对地震动特性以及工程结构破坏程度影响显著。为减少因场地效应而造成的经济损失和社会影响,在进行场地地震反应分析时,需最大限度地减小因场地土层模型参数的不确定性引起的地震动评估偏差,为工程结构地震反应分析选取并生成适当的地震动输入。随着强震动观测技术的逐渐发展,大量可靠的钻井台阵记录为地震过程中场地观测点的动力反应提供了直接数据。以美国加州地区La Cienega钻井台阵强震动观测数据为基础,利用互相关函数,对不同强度地震作用下场地土层的平均剪切波速进行分析,并在此基础上,以Cyclic 1D为模拟平台,建立一维自由场地地震反应有限元分析模型。分析结果表明：通过钻井台阵地震动观测数据识别,得到场地平均剪切波速,能够反映该场地的动力特性,数值模拟计算结果和台阵地震动记录基本吻合,可为数值模型参数选取提供依据。     

控制性深孔地震输入界面位置的确定方法和影响研究

探讨了在工程场地地震安全性评价的地震反应分析模型中,江苏省盐城地区部分工程场地内深度超过100m时剪切波速仍小于500m/s的控制性深孔,采用近似估算方法弥补所缺波速值和确定地震输入界面后,进行波速值和地震输入界面位置的不确定性对工程场地地震反应的影响研究,包括地表地震动峰值加速度和反应谱特征周期等,为其他地区控制性深孔的地震输入界面位置的确定方法和影响研究提供参考。     

回填土不确定性对场地地震反应的影响

选取某核电场地控制性钻孔的厚度、剪切波速、密度等实际勘探数据,通过改变回填土剪切波速,分析了回填土不确定性对场地地震动参数的影响。研究结果表明:在回填土层厚度不变和模型总厚度不变的情况下,地表的水平向峰值加速度随着回填土剪切波速的增大而减小,但水平向峰值加速度增幅逐渐减小;回填土剪切波速到达一定的波速就不再影响地表水平峰值加速度;随着回填土剪切波速的增加,整个反应谱的谱值都普遍减小。     

Rock-physics-based carbonate pore type characterization and reservoir permeability heterogeneity evaluation, Upper San Andres reservoir, Permian Basin, west Texas

The use of the shear wave velocity data as a field index for evaluating the liquefaction potential of sands is receiving increased attention because both shear wave velocity and liquefaction resistance are similarly influenced by many of the same factors such as void ratio, state of stress, stress history and geologic age. In this paper, the potential of support vector machine (SVM) based classification approach has been used to assess the liquefaction potential from actual shear wave velocity data. In this approach, an approximate implementation of a structural risk minimization (SRM) induction principle is done, which aims at minimizing a bound on the generalization error of a model rather than minimizing only the mean square error over the data set. Here SVM has been used as a classification tool to predict liquefaction potential of a soil based on shear wave velocity. The dataset consists the information of soil characteristics such as effective vertical stress (σ′_v0), soil type, shear wave velocity (V_s) and earthquake parameters such as peak horizontal acceleration (a_max) and earthquake magnitude (M). Out of the available 186 datasets, 130 are considered for training and remaining 56 are used for testing the model. The study indicated that SVM can successfully model the complex relationship between seismic parameters, soil parameters and the liquefaction potential. In the model based on soil characteristics, the input parameters used are σ′_v0, soil type, V_s, a_max and M. In the other model based on shear wave velocity alone uses V_s, a_max and M as input parameters. In this paper, it has been demonstrated that Vs alone can be used to predict the liquefaction potential of a soil using a support vector machine model.     

Effects of the hanging wall and footwall on peak acceleration during the Jiji (Chi-Chi), Taiwan Province, earthquake

Introduction In the study of ground motion attenuation model the considered parameters are generally sim-plified as ground motion parameters (acceleration, velocity, displacement, response spectrum, dura-tion, etc), earthquake magnitude, distance and site condition. As the accumulation of ground motion records, it was found that the characteristic of ground motion attenuation in tectonicly compressional region was different from that in tectonicly tensional region and the peak ground accelerat…     

Verification of predicted non-linear site response during the 1995 Hyogo-Ken Nanbu earthquake

The linear and non-linear responses of surface soil layers have been predicted through the simultaneous simulation test against the observed ground motions at the six sites in Kobe City during the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake. The total stress analysis method and the effective stress analysis method have been applied for the rough and detailed verification of the predicted non-linear dynamic behavior at the PIS and RKI sites including the liquefaction phenomenon. The shear strain distribution along depth, the ratio of excess pore water pressure to initial effective stress, the liquefaction strength parameters to initial effective stress, and the stress–strain curve during the earthquake at the PIS site have been investigated when the predicted ground motion could simulate successfully the observed acceleration time histories and response spectra in the non-linear range.     

近断层速度脉冲地震动的三维有限差分模拟

根据台湾西部地质地貌特征和1999年集集M_W7.6地震的研究成果,建立三维速度结构模型和震源模型,并采用三维有限差分法对双冬断层可能产生的近断层脉冲型地震动进行数值模拟。结果表明,方向性效应引起的双向速度脉冲集中在垂直于断层滑动分量的方向上,而滑冲效应引起的单向速度脉冲则集中在平行于断层滑动分量的方向上。受方向性效应和上盘效应的共同调制,近断层脉冲型地震动反映出不对称带状分布的特征,速度脉冲主要分布在距离断层面约10 km的范围内。凹凸体的特性影响着地震动的时空分布,由地震波场显示南投和台中处于强地震动危险区。近场脉冲型地震动的研究对分析速度脉冲形成机理以及地震危险性有一定的参考意义。     

Shear wave velocity-based liquefaction evaluation in the great Wenchuan earthquake： a preliminary case study

The great Wenchuan earthquake (Ms = 8.0) in 2008 caused severe damage in the western part of the Chengdu Plain. Soil liquefaction was one of the major causes of damage in the plain areas, and proper evaluation of liquefaction potential is important in the definition of the seismic hazard facing a given region and post-earthquake reconstruction. In this paper, a simplified procedure is proposed for liquefaction assessment of sandy deposits using shear wave velocity (Vs), and soil liquefaction from the Banqiao School site was preliminarily investigated after the earthquake. Boreholes were made at the site and shear wave velocities were measured both by SASW and down-hole methods. Based on the in-situ soil information and Vs profiles, the liquefaction potential of this site was evaluated. The results are reasonably consistent with the actual field behavior observed after the earthquake, indicating that the proposed procedure is effective. The possible effects of gravel and fines contents on liquefaction of sandy soils were also briefly discussed.     

Threshold seismic energy and liquefaction distance limit during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Estimating the possible region of liquefaction occurrence during a strong earthquake is highly valuable for economy loss estimation, reconnaissance efforts and site investigations after the event. This study identified and compiled a large amount of liquefaction case histories from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China, to investigate the relationship between the attenuation of seismic wave energy and liquefaction distance limit during this earthquake. Firstly, we introduced the concept of energy absorption ratio, which is defined as the absorbed energy of soil divided by the imparted energy of seismic waves at a given site, and the relationship between the energy absorption ratio and the material damping ratio was established based on shear stress–strain loop of soil element and the seismic wave propagation process from the source to the site. Secondly, the threshold imparted seismic energy of liquefaction was obtained based on existing researches of absorbed energy required to trigger liquefaction of sandy soils and the ground motion attenuation characteristics of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and the liquefaction distance limit of this earthquake was estimated according to the proposed magnitude–energy–distance relationship. Finally, the field liquefaction database of 209 sites of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was used to validate such an estimation, and the field observed threshold imparted seismic energy to cause liquefaction in recent major earthquakes worldwide was back-analyzed to check the predictability of the present method, and several possible mechanisms were discussed to explain the discrepancy between the field observations and the theoretical predictions. This study indicates that seismic energy attenuation and liquefaction distance limit are regional specific and earthquake dependent, and 382 J/m³ is the average level of threshold imparted seismic energy to cause liquefaction for loose saturated sandy soils, and the corresponding liquefaction distance limit is approximately 87.4 km in fault distance for a M_w?=?7.9 event in the Chengdu Plain. The proposed regional energy attenuation model and threshold imparted seismic energy may be considered as an approximate tool in evaluating the liquefaction hazard during potential earthquakes in this area.