A critical state interpretation for the cyclic liquefaction resistance of silty sands

Contrary to many laboratory investigations, common empirical correlations from in situ tests consider that the increase in the percentage of fines leads to an increase of the cyclic liquefaction resistance of sands. This paper draws upon the integrated Critical State Soil Mechanics framework in order to study this seemingly not univocal effect. Firstly the effect of fines on the Critical State Line (CSL) is studied through a statistical analysis of a large data set of published monotonic triaxial tests. The results show that increasing the content of non-plastic fines practically leads to a clockwise rotation of the CSL in (e–ln p) space. The implication of this effect on cyclic liquefaction resistance is subsequently evaluated with the aid of a properly calibrated critical state elasto-plastic constitutive model, as well as a large number of published experimental results and in situ empirical correlations. Both sets of data show clearly that a fines content, less than about 30% by weight, may prove beneficial at relatively small effective stresses (p₀<50–70 kPa), such as the in situ stresses prevailing in most liquefaction case studies, and detrimental at larger confining stresses, i.e. the stresses usually considered in laboratory tests. To the extent of these findings, a correction factor is proposed for the practical evaluation of liquefaction resistance in terms of the fines content and the mean effective confining stress.     

Explicit integration of bounding surface model for the analysis of earthquake soil liquefaction

This paper presents a new plasticity model developed for the simulation of monotonic and cyclic loading of non‐cohesive soils and its implementation to the commercial finite‐difference code FLAC, using its User‐Defined‐Model (UDM) capability. The new model incorporates the framework of Critical State Soil Mechanics, while it relies upon bounding surface plasticity with a vanished elastic region to simulate the non‐linear soil response. Stress integration of constitutive relations is performed using a recently proposed explicit scheme with automatic error control and substepping, which so far has been employed in the literature only for constitutive models aiming at monotonic loading. The overall accuracy of this scheme is evaluated at element level by simulating cyclic loading along complex stress paths and by using iso‐error maps for paths involving change of the Lode angle. The performance of the new constitutive model and its stress integration scheme in complex boundary value problems involving earthquake‐induced liquefaction is evaluated, in terms of accuracy and computational cost, via a number of parametric analyses inspired by the successful simulation of the VELACS centrifuge Model Test No. 2 studying the lateral spreading response of a liquefied sand layer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Travel time residuals in southeastern Europe

The Pn travel time relative residuals, in respect to a crustal model of the Aegean area, have been determined for 103 permanent seismological stations in southeastern Europe, western Turkey and the Middle East. The values of these residuals are considered to depend mainly on the crustal thickness beneath the seismological stations. Based on these values seven regions with different crustal thickness, varying between 31 Km and 42 Km, have been defined. The crust in these regions is continental. A region with very high negative residuals has been defined in the Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Lebanon). These negative residuals are attributed to different crustal structure of the eastern Mediterranean (oceanic crust with an extra thick sedimentary layer) and not the crustal thickness at the station sites.Independently from the interpretation, these Pn residuals can be used successfully to considerably improve (up to 2 Km) the determination of the earthquake foci locations.     

A microearthquake study of the Mygdonian graben (northern Greece)

During March and April 1984, a temporary network of 29 portable stations was operated in the region of the Mygdonian graben near Thessaloniki (northern Greece), where a destructive earthquake (M_s = 6.5) had occurred in the Summer of 1978. During a period of six weeks we recorded 540 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from −0.2 to 3.0. From this set of data, 254 events are selected which according to us have a precision in epicenter and depth better than 1.5 km. A total of 54 single-event focal mechanisms have been determined.The seismicity and focal mechanisms show a rather complex pattern. There are no clear individual faults, but the E-W and NW-SE striking zones show N-S extension. Zones striking NNE-SSW show dextral strike-slip motion but NW-SE zones with sinistral strike-slip are also observed.In the center of the graben where the 1978 earthquake was located, we observe several thrust mechanisms distributed in two groups showing either NW-SE or E-W compression; these earthquakes seem to be located 2 km above the earthquakes showing normal mechanisms.The mean direction of the T-axes, found from the focal mechanisms, trends N15° and dips sub-horizontal.We propose a model for the formation and evolution of a complex graben system comprising several stages. In the initial stage the deformation occurs along pre-existing NW-SE or NNE-SSW faults, with normal or strike-slip movements. In the second stage, a new, E-W trending group of normal faults is formed over the ancient fault network. These new faults have a direction perpendicular to the mean T-axis and accommodate better the actual state of stress. At this stage the initial faults adjust to the deformation produced by the E-W trending new faults, and may constitute geometric barriers to the evolution of the new normal faults.     

The Poseidon Operational Tool for the Prediction of Floating Pollutant Transport

In this work the development and the application of an operational management tool for the Greek Seas is described. This tool consists of a three-dimensional floating pollutant prediction model coupled with a weather, a hydrodynamic and a wave model in order to track the movements and the spreading of the pollutants and indicate those coastal areas which might be affected. The tool is part of the Poseidon system which has been designed to provide real time data and forecasts for marine environmental conditions in the Greek Seas. In this paper, we present four case studies based on realistic scenarios that show the value of the application for long-term strategic planning and short-term decision making in oil spill accidents.     

An investigation of earthquake induced pounding between adjacent buildings

The response of adjacent buildings in city blocks to several strong earthquakes is analysed, taking into account the mutual collisions, or pounding, resulting from insufficient or non-existing separation distances. The buildings are idealized as lumped-mass, shear beam type, multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems with bilinear force-deformation characteristics and with bases supported on translational and rocking spring-dashpots. Collisions between adjacent masses can occur at any level and are simulated by means of viscoelastic impact elements. Using five real earthquake motions the effects of the following factors are investigated: building configuration and relative size, seismic separation distance and impact element properties. It is found that pounding can cause high overstresses, mainly when the colliding buildings have significantly different heights, periods or masses. This suggests a possibility for introducing a set of conditions into the codes, combined with some special measures, as an alternative to the seismic separation requirement.     

The Pindos Fold-and-thrust belt (Greece): inversion kinematics of a passive continental margin

Continuous exposure in the Pindos mountain chain (Greece) and the detailed stratigraphic measurements in the area enable us to construct eight balanced cross sections across the Pindos Fold-and-thrust belt (PFTB) and to approach quantitatively some parameters which controlled foreland evolution. The 160-km-wide passive continental margin of the Apulian continent in Greece was progressively shortened from east to west at rates of 6 mm/year between the Early Oligocene and Late Eocene. From the rear to the frontal part of the wedge, fault-bend folds, duplexes and imbricates were formed, while strain was partitioned into faulting (~34%), layer parallel shortening (~23%) and buckling (~9%). Foreland subsidence and internal deformation of the orogenic wedge are strongly affected by two parameters of equal importance: the thrust load of the overthrusted microcontinents and the rigidity of the underthrusted Apulian passive margin. Changes in the thickness of the pre-orogenic sediments and reactivated transform faults induced salients. During the Lower Miocene, the orogenic wedge in the Peloponnese suffered additional uplift and westward gravitational gliding induced by the intracontinental subduction of the Palaeozoic rift zone of the Phyllite-Quartzite Series, which was reactivated and returned to the earths surface during the Hellenic orogeny.     

Did the 7/9/1999 M5.9 Athens Earthquake Come with a Warning?

Prior to the 7/9/1999 M_S = 5.9 Athens earthquake, regional seismicity has exhibited a power-law increase, of the form = K+A(t_c - t)ⁿ, where is estimated using an expression log = cM + d and t_c is the time of the culminating event. Such changes appeared after the 17/8/1999 M7.4 Izmit event. We quantified the performance of the power law vs. the null hypothesis of constant seismic release rates, by defining the curvature C as the ratio of the power law fit RMS/linear fit RMS, so that the smaller C is, the better the power law behaviour. By mapping C, we have established a critical radius of 110 km and observed that the region of correlated accelerating seismic release extended from the N. Aegean, through Euboea and Attica to the SW Peloponnese. A few days prior to the Athens event, min(C) was centred at the epicentral area and numerical simulation yielded t_c = 1999.676 and predicted M_S = 5.77. Seismicity rates returned to normal (quasi-constant) after the Athens event. We interpret this effect as critical point behaviour, following remote excitation of a broad area by stress redistribution due to the Izmit event which, at Athens, has triggered `premature' failure of a fault nearing its load bearing capacity. If this is correct, we have documented a case of remote earthquake triggering by another earthquake, as well as insight into the mechanisms producing it. As a corollary, we note that a large event may beget another large event in its broader region of interaction, which may be preceded by characteristic precursory seismicity changes.