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The Role of Insitu Static Stress State Conditions in a Liquefaction Assessment

Loose sand can have a collapsible grain-structure. The behavior of such sand can be described by what is called a collapse surface or flow liquefaction line. The insitu static stress state conditions relative to the collapse surface have a dramatic effect on the potential liquefaction of the sand during earthquake shaking. An insitu stress state in q-p' space close to the collapse surface will likely liquefy under any strong motion shaking while a stress state far from the collapse surface would require a significant generation of excess pore-pressures for liquefaction to occur.

       
          Potentially liquefiable stress states

Read the paper: Procedures and Methods for a Liquefaction Assessment using GeoStudio 2007, which describes these concepts and shows how GeoStudio can be conveniently used for such an assessment.

In the end, as pointed out in the paper, it is vitally important to establish the initial static insitu effective stress state conditions, especially the static shear stress conditions, for a liquefaction assessment. Without first establishing the initial static stress state conditions using SIGMA/W with considerable confidence, a follow up QUAKE/W dynamic analysis may be of limited value.

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The Annual Geotechnical Modeling Workshop in Banff

With a full conference room of eager people and a brand new location, the 9th Annual Geotechnical Modeling workshop was the best we've ever held. Nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Banff Park Lodge was a perfect setting for attendees to learn, enhance and fine-tune their numerical modeling skills under the personal guidance of GEO-SLOPE personnel.

Many thanks to all of the attendees, and the special group of people at GEO-SLOPE who helped to make the workshop such a great success! We are looking forward to next year's workshop and will post dates and locations when they become available.

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