ISC7

Critical Shear-Wave Velocity Case Histories for Liquefaction Triggering Curves in Gravel

  • Rollins, Kyle (Brigham Young University)
  • Salvatore, Nadia (University of Chieti-Pescara)
  • Cox, Brady (Utah State University)
  • Jackson, Tyler (Utah State University)

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In 2022, a new set of probabilistic Vs-based liquefaction triggering curves was developed for gravelly soil by Rollins et al., using a dataset of 96 liquefaction and 78 no liquefaction case histories from 17 earthquakes in seven countries. Although these curves provide liquefaction assessment based on direct field performance, they suffer from the fact that there are relatively few case histories for high CSR and high Vs values to define the shape of the upper branch of the triggering curves. To provide better resolution of the triggering curves in this region, we made shear wave velocity measurements at three sites in Valdez, Alaska where liquefaction did not occur in the Mw9.2 1964 Great Alaska earthquake. These no liquefaction points are critical in constraining the triggering curves relative to the liquefaction points for this earthquake previously collected. The Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) technique was used to develop several median Vs profiles at each site that account for uncertainty in the experimental dispersion data and inversion parameterizations. VS-based liquefaction evaluations were then made at each site, following the procedure outlined by Rollins et al. (2022), using the VS profiles derived from each solution. Results from previous Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DPT) tests were then used in selecting the most reasonable velocity interpretation. Based on this Vs profile, the layer most likely to liquefy was selected and used to define VS1 and CSR7.5 at the middle of this critical layer. Finally, these three no liquefaction points were plotted on the liquefaction triggering curves proposed by Rollins et al. (2022) and the points fall between the curves defining 85% and 50% probability of liquefaction. These preliminary results suggest that it might be necessary to shift the triggering curves to the left or steepen their slope to provide better agreement with observed performance.