Excess pore pressure dissipation and solidification after liquefaction of saturated sand deposits

To understand the post-liquefaction behavior of liquefied ground, it is important to get a better understanding and a more suitable characterization of the variation of excess pore pressure after liquefaction. In this paper, the soil permeability is considered as one of the key soil parameters for clarifying the mechanism of post-liquefaction behavior of liquefied ground. For this reason, a series of shaking table tests were conducted for a Toyoura sand deposit with different soil permeability values. Polymer fluid was used in model tests to vary the permeability of sand deposits. Excess pore pressures and settlements were measured in each test. A basic mechanism in post-liquefaction behavior and the solidification phenomenon after liquefaction were discussed based on these test results. Also, a new method for predicting the dissipation of excess pore pressure was developed. This study provides evidence of the important effect of soil permeability on the velocity with which the solidification front moves upward in liquefied ground. It is suggested that the value of coefficient of permeability of liquefied sand can increase to about 4.0 times the initial value. This variation of permeability after liquefaction should be taken into account in post-liquefaction analysis.