3 basics to understand

liquefaction

Assoc. Professor: Tetsuo Tobita

Faculty of Civil & Environmental
Engineering
Kansai University
関⻄⼤学
KANSAI UNIVERSITY

Tetsuo TOBITA
Osaka
Tokyo

KANAZAWA
TOTTORI
KYOTO

KOBE

OSAKA

KANSAI Int’l Airport

Tetsuo TOBITA
 Division of Geotechnics
Objective
Strengthen city’s resilience against Natural Disasters

Subjects
Soil Dynamics, Liquefaction, Dynamic response of the ground
Sea walls, Embankment, Soil-pile interaction, Slope stability

Tools
Nonlinear dynamic effective stress analysis (FEM, Finite Difference Method)
Laboratory testing (Triaxial tests, Direct shear test, Consolidation tests)
Physical Modelling (Centrifuge and 1G model testing)

Tetsuo TOBITA
3 basics to understand liquefaction

1. Dependency on confining stress

2. Effective stress concept

3. Dilatancy

Tetsuo TOBITA
 Dependency on confining stress

Stiffness and
strength of granular
material strongly
depends on the
confining stress
https://www.google.co.jp/search?biw=1920&bih=901&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=%E6%BA%80%E5%93%A1%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A%E3%80%80%E9%98%AA%
E6%80%A5&oq=%E6%BA%80%E5%93%A1%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A%E3%80%80%E9%98%AA%E6%80%A5&gs_l=psy-
ab.3...171222.178928.0.179479.36.26.10.0.0.0.136.1842.25j1.26.0....0...1.1j4.64.psy-ab..1.23.1376...0j0i4k1j0i4i24k1.5gKQ4Wes5e8#imgrc=1AhnmbHyIzggWM:
 Geotechnical Centrifuge
An experimental device to simulate behavior of geotechnical structures
by applying the centrifugal force to a model

Model Counter weight

Tetsuo TOBITA
Geotechnical centrifuge in Kansai Univ.

Why do we need this?

Why do we need to
apply the centrifugal
force to a model?

Answer is,,,,
“To give the confining
stress to the ground”
Tetsuo TOBITA
 Prototype (Real) Centrifuge model 1G model

z/N z/N
z
Vertical gz g(z/N)
Scale
stress at
down
depth z
gz to 1/N
(m)
density

Acceleration 1G N x G (N>1) 1G

Confining
stress at z m
gz (Ng)(z/N)= gz gz/N

Stress Stress Stress

Stress-
strain
relationship
Strain Strain Strain
 Effective stress concept

Effective stress is
the source of
deformation of soil.
’= -u
’: effective stress
: total stress
u: poreTetsuopressure
https://www.google.co.jp/search?biw=1920&bih=901&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=crouded+pool&oq=crouded+pool&gs_l=psy-
TOBITA
ab.3..0i13k1l4.15560.17553.0.17747.8.8.0.0.0.0.91.649.8.8.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.8.647...0j0i10i67k1j0i10k1.wnMX5gh8iP8#imgrc=yf3KNlJCpH309M:
 Kamaishi offshore tsunami breakwater

Kamaishi

450 km

Tokyo

Opening
(300m)

North
South section
section (990m)
(670m)
津波で破壊された防波堤(１９日、岩手県釜石市)=写真 佐光恭明

In 2011 Tohoku
Mega Earthquake,
offshore tsunami
breakwater was
heavily damaged.
990m

関⻄⼤学
Centrifuge experiment for an offshore tsunami breakwater

Tetsuo TOBITA
Numerical analysis based on the

Effective stress concept

Dynamic response of caisson quay walls

FLIP3D
Caisson
Backfilll Liquefiable sand

Tetsuo TOBITA
 Dilatancy

Dilatancy is a
hidden weapon of
the granular
material.
Tetsuo TOBITA
Can you pull up a container filled with sands by a stick?

• A container

• A Stick

• Sand

Tetsuo TOBITA
Tetsuo TOBITA
Liquefaction: Negative Dilatancy of granular material

Liquefaction (Sand + Grass beads + Plastic ball)

1 cm

Tetsuo TOBITA
 Cars sank in the boiled sand in NZ

Christchurch, New Zealand (2011)

Houses were relocated due to recurrence of liquefaction
Stokoe, et al(2014)
The same happened in Urayasu, Japan

2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku, Japan, Earthquake

http://daike.cocolog-nifty.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2011/03/12/ca3c0672.jpg
In 1964, they had already been sunk.

1964 Niigata, Japan, Earthquake

(JGS)
 Mechanism of sand boiling during liquefaction
Numata et al. (1999)，Okawa et al. （2014）

Impermeable layer

Non liquefiable layer

Trapped water
Liquefiable layer

A crack in the impermeable

layer
It is very difficult to reproduce this phenomena in model tests with certain repeatability.
 Added weight 250 g
A model testing device
for sand boiling Initial
water
level
Height of a WL20
sidewall of
a plate 20
mm
Diameter of a plate 146 mm
Saturated sand

Diameter of a cylindrical container

150 mm

• A cylindrical container of 150mm

• Give rotational dynamic motion
• Loading plate covers sand surface
• Ejecting sands from the space between
the sidewall of the cylinder and the
loading plate
• Loose model ground (Toyoura sand of
Dr=40%) by boiling method
An example of the loading plate（PT20-146）

146mm

20mm
Video 1
 Settlements of liquefied ground（PT20-146）
Heavier is the overburden, larger is the settlements.
Shaking duration 2 seconds
Time(s)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0
Settlement
20 ratio
1.0 3.1%
40 No loading plate
Settlement(mm)

1.27
60 1.30
載荷板あり
Loading plateおもり0g
80 X 1.20 8.4%

100 Loading plateおもり100g

載荷板あり + 100g X 1.25
11%

120 Loading plateおもり250g

載荷板あり + 250g
14%
140
3 basics to understand liquefaction

1. Dependency on confining stress

(Stiffness and strength, i.e., stress-strain relationship, of
granular material strongly depends on the confining stress)

2. Effective stress concept

(Effective stress is the source of deformation of soil.)

3. Dilatancy
(Dilatancy is a hidden weapon of the granular material.)

Tetsuo TOBITA
 Thank you for your attention.

Tetsuo TOBITA