MAY 1975, ow JOURNAL OF THE GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING DIVISION FUNDAMENTALS OF LIQUEFACTION ‘uNDER CycLic Loabinc By Geotfrey R. Martin," W. D. Liam Finn,? ‘and H. Bolton Seed,’ Members, ASCE lwnooucron pressure builds up to a value equal ‘sand, having may be only for the purposes of ‘recognized that other criteria may be necessary Wote.—Diseassion open until October 1, ied with the Editor of Te anaas MAY 1975, ors ‘The mechanism of the progressive increase of pore-water pressure during undrained cyeie loading is investigated and quantitative relationships between Yolume reductions during drained cyclic loading and corresponding pore-water increases under undrained conditions are established, These relationships Permit the theoretical computation of the progressive increase of pore-water Pressure during, undrained cyclic loading vsing basic physical parameters of The sund, and thus, they also provide means for coupling such pore-water pressure “dynamic response analyses of horizontal deposits subjected to ‘earthquakes, Prewous Lioveracron STUDIES, Considering the id of horizontal sand formation, the most significant deformations and stre by an earthqual bedrock. Asa toa sequence to the earthquake are represented by the principal K,0,q. in which K, = the coefficient of earth pres ‘effective sires. During the earthquake, the element wil Shear sttesses, yyy the magnitude of which will vary to cycle. 1s based on approximations or simulations of the preceding have been the principal means of studying liquefaction. Compre faction potential have been pres ‘The cyclic triaxial various factors contro form of such a test, fan ambient press under undrained conditions. Stress conditions on a plane ‘sample approximate those on the horizontal planes shown i end of each s progressively with increasing number of cycles. The rate of pore-water pressure Gevelopment accelerates as liguefaction is approached, at which point strain amplitudes repidly increase, The nature of pore-water pressure increases due to nonuniform cyclic deviator stresses simulating the irregular loading from actual earthquakes also has been studied (13,14). itations to the eyci (zero lateral deformation), and a eyclic ‘with drainage prevented and with zero lateral deformation co pore-water pressure lie fluctuationsin pore-water magnitude of the buildup of pore-water pressure for both triaxial and simple shear tests have been.‘ows LIQUEFACTION 425 well documented (4,23), For simple shear tests with a uniform cyclic shear stress, results may Torsion tests G3, ‘examine the undrained beh Practical applications of iustrated by Seed and Idi e oe Pen to Tv (1 Cycle Looe cui 3. 1 —Idealized Field Loading Conditions of sh ‘sand as the pore-waler pressures progressively increase26 MAY 1975, ors ‘are not taken into account. Obviously an analysis where progressive pore-water response analysis is more later herein. ‘Ghaboussi and Wilson (7,8) have presented a generalized numerical method for the coupled dynamic anal ied je medium, gation theory developed he method of analysis, por: were introduced ig pseudocyclic and permanent void ratio changes. However, a method for assigning such volume changes was not established. ‘Vou Cuan Crunacrensres noe Dranen Cyouc Lownie Considerations of volume changes in drained cyclic tests and their relationship to pore-water pressure increases during undrained cyclic loading are restricted ‘conditions, which best simulate field deformations induced been studied by Silver and conditions are induced b izontal motion between the cap and base. ‘Youd (25) has shown th ral boundaries of the sample deform reasonably uniformly for shear strains as large as 5% and although the absence of comple- “hear stresses produces stress concentrations within the sample, Lucks, 7) have shown that approx 70% of the sample has a uniform stress ‘equal to volumetric strains. icates that for a given density and number of cycles, volumetric ress for a given cyclic shear strain ‘changes during cyclic loading are amplitudes, as for a constant shear strain amplitude the lat increasing vertical stress. Tests also"show that for a given density and number of cycles, volumetric strains are reasonably proportional to the cyclic shear ‘strain amplitude for strain amplitudes less than 0.3%. By measuring ing from the applied shear strains, changes in shear modulusLIQUEFACTION a amplitude) with number of cycles may be juring cyclic torsion increase and shear moduli decrease with independent of frequency in the range, 0.2 Hz to 2 He. Reusnowsn serween Vote Reduction Dunina Dram Gveus Tess AN one: Wares Presoune neneast1w Unonanen Tests ‘rain contacts Consider now a cycle of loading having the same shear strain a ‘ndrained conditions x slip deformation mus Fees to the more incompressible erement of recoverable vo Ae, ‘grain contacts. For volumetric compatibility at the end of the load cycle, we must have: ‘change in volume of voids = net change in volume of sand structure. . . . - (D) If Au = the increase in residual pore pressure for the cys le; and B,a8 MAY 1875 os @b) wheres E, is generally of the onder ‘of magnitude ofthe moduli, the water pressible, and this, under conditions For s of 108 pf. C may be assur ‘of zero volume change: legree of saturation, S, r values of S, = 9%, and thus, from cycle would be reduced considerably. during undrained cyclic tests is apparer are to be obtained. Tn the remainder of the paper complete saturatio of Eq, 3 for pore-water pressure calculations is developed further. ‘Avazyss oF Voue Cuants Dunia Daaneo Nowraron Creu Loanwe During nonuniform cyclic toa that occuring during earthquakes or during stress controled cyclic I the volumetric strain increments per cycle, Ae,,, need to be compi nonuniform sequence of cyclic strain ‘amplitudes. While volume change characteristics during uniform strain amplitude Sequences have been well established by the investigations of Silver and Seed (25,26), a method for computing volume changes during nonuniform sequences using basic phy density of 43% and were normally loaded to a vertical stress ‘of 4,000 psf. Following tests to establish the volume-change characteristics for uniform cyclic shear strain amplitude cycles (frequency = 1 Hz), a series im shear strain amplitudes was carried out and @ ‘method of correlation attempted. strain curves for uniform shear strain amplitude cycles are ly the curve for 0.396 shear strain amplitude was establishedFIG. 4—Volumetric Strain Curves for Constant Cylie Shear Strain Amplitude Toate FIG, 6.—Ineremental Volum Curves tle Strain ) J the (N+ Ith eycle may be tude. determined480 MAY 1975, ors by finding the point of intersection of the horizontal line corresponding to &,g= OAM with the 7 = 0.2% curve shown in Fig. 4 and me val of the volumetric strain increment, Ae,q appropriate to a further cycle on the 0.2% shear strain curve, ie., Atyq = 0.06%. Thus, Volumetric strain may be envisaged to represent a strain history parameter. "To enable such a procedure o be conveniently used for numerical calculations, f changes corresponding volumetric strain increment/cycle also is doubled to sati observation that volumetric strain is proportional to shear strain amplitude. fortant feature of the curves shown in Fig. 5 is that for a given ‘the change in volumetric strain, Ae,, = Oat ide, as given by the intersection Of the curves with the ‘axis, Therefore, for example, if the volumetric strain reaches 0.87% les of 0.19% ly as described subsequently and is indicative of the asymptotic e curves shown in Fig. 4 “To permit the family of curves shown in Fig. 5to be utilized by a computer, they were fitted to an analytical function of the form ‘The evaluation of the four constants, Cy, Cy» Cy, and Cy, using data plot stant strain amplitude cyclic tests, completely defines ing. The constant, C, = the slope of the ey = 0 line, while the remaining three constants may be computed by constant €y cont hree resulting simultaneous equations. ‘eq and y are expressed as a percentage. “Fest results for the nonuniform cyclic shear strain amplitude sequences are imetrc strain function given by Eq. 4, volumetric ere predicted by means of a computer program. ‘The measured and computed volumetric strains were found to be in remarkably ‘good agreement, as shown, indicating the success of the computational method ‘adopted. Tests C and D show that once large volumetric strains have occurred, Tow cyclic shear strain amplitudes have no effect in increasing the volumetric strain CCaueuanon oF Sean Srman AneL Tunes Dunaa Stas Conrmots> LonDwa To calculate volume changes during stress controlled cyclic simple shear tests, the calculation of the corresponding cyclic shear strain amplitudes is necessary For drained cyclic tests, the shear modulus is a function of both the shearFIG, &.—Comperison between Analyt ‘cl and Exparimental One-Dimensional Unloading Curves (1 psf = 47.9 N/m*) tHonahips (1 paf = FIG. 9.—Computed Results for Undrained Strees Controlied Cyclic Simple Shear ‘Teste (1 pat = 47:8 N/m?) i» FIG, 10.—Computed Results for Number of Gyles Causing Liqueectionon loading, as previously described, shear modulus for any cycle «2 strain amplitude and land thus a method for pre 43 contro i test sequence is necessary. he eycic shear stress amplitudes during the tests described previously enabled the changes in shear stress amplitude with shear strain amplitude and volumetric ddata revealed that the effect of the number of cycles on the shear modulus into account by expressing the shear stress-shear strain amplitude fa function of the accumulated volumetric strain, €,4. For a given, train, the smoothed shear stress-shear strain amplitude curves were 7. By assuming that the ly general fr ing their use during undrained ‘carves shown in Fig, 7 were fitted to a hyperbolic in which the parameters, @ and b= functions of ¢,,, The parameters, a and », were in turn fitted to functions of the form a=A,- 6 YO A Ase ° and b= B,-——*— . ” B+ Bye ‘The evaluation of the six constants, A, plotied from say three constant strain amplitude cy: le behavior of sa 0. , iche ‘The shear mod any cycle ‘can be evaluated from the ratio of shear stress to shear strain amplitude as expressed by the functions shown in Fig. 7. The changes in shear modulus measured during the experimental the function given by Eq. 5, the changes of strain history in increasing the modulus is i and b on the in amplitude plot have approximately the same amplitude, but the shear modulus is approx 80% greater for point b than for point a ‘Ana.vets oF One-Divensona. Untoanwa CnanAcrensmies ‘The use of the pore-water pressure prediction theory requires a knowledge of the recoverable deformation characteristics of sand during one-dimensional unloading from a. given i fof sand in one-dimensional compression has been studied by Hendronor LIQUEFACTION 43 ‘The volumetric or vertical strains on loading to a vertical stress, 4, may be or slip strain component, ‘component, €,,, resulting 1s shown in Fig. il vertical stresses, o'» are geometrically simi thus they may be related by an expression of the fOrM, €4,/€ ye = (6/0, in which ¢,,, = the magnitude of recoverable strain on unloading from a st turn, may be related to a7, by a curve of the form, min Fig. 8. Therefore, the general form of the unloading senna (2) = ‘The unloading modulus, B,, at any stress, 0}, is given by: ‘The controlling parameters, m, n, and k,, may be obtained readily from a series of say three unloading curves from different initial vertical stresses ,, Pone- Waren Prescune Wengases Dura Unoranen Srmess Covrnouso Creuc Tests eyelic simple shear {0 compare pore-wat s-been well documented (4 interest predict ial expres- sions developed with experimental results for the particular case of a sequence of uniform shear stress cycles. The basic physical parameters the test program on the crystal silica sand were used in all computations ‘The procedure adopted for each cycle of the calculations is as fc 1, The available initial conditions prior to each loaé the vertical effective stress, ‘and corresponding pore: cycle are the shear ‘and the accumulated pressure u from the previous loading 2. he stress-strain amplitude curves shown in Fig. 7, the shear strain amplitude corresponding to the applied shear stress amplitude may be computed using Eq. 5. 3, From the calculated shear strain amplitude, the increment of volumetric slip strain, Ae,g, for the cycle can be computed from the curves shown in Fig. 5 by making use of Eq. 4434 MAY 1975 ows 4, The unloading modulus, E,, corresponding to the initial conditions may be computed from Ea. 9 '. By substituting for Se,and pressure, Aw, occurring during to pore-water pressure u existing 3, the increment of residual pore-water ad cycle can be determined and added start ofthe eyele. By programming this sequence of calculations for a computer, the time history id pore-water pressu i and the pressure show a fe as the vertical eff characteristic rapi stress approaches zer ferent relative densities iso probably due to minor to obtain the drained ind Seed and Peacock as sample uniformity ite equipment used forthe drained cyclic tests was unsuitable for undrained ‘Nevertheless, the general agreement of the form of computed results 1 shows computed pore-water pressure ith varying values of o},, The res and number of cycles to cause ineach ease are very simil form Stress Cyces,—The computation method described inthe preceding can be used equally well to compute pore-water pressure increases resulting rm sequence of stress pulses, e.g., those occurring during an ‘earthquake. Indeed, this feature would permit the computation method to be coupled with dynamic response analyses as previously mentioned. te the effects of nonuniform stress cycles, to form three different time histories, as shown in Fig. pressure increases computed for each sequence. jeance of the order of stress cycles is apparent, For time history large cycles result in a rapid increase of the volumetric slip strains, the subsequent volumetric slip strains and corresponding om the end of the sequence are still effective in producing pore-water pressure435 ler cycles following a pressure increases ‘of nonuniform cyclic at methods used to convert FIG. 11.—Computed Results Showing Etfect of lie! Vertical Stress on Pore-Watar Pressure Ineroates, z,,/2, Constant (1 pat = 47.9 N/m*) Aa FIG, 12.—Computed Results Showing Effect of Nonuniform Shear Stress Cycles on Pore-Water Pressure Incranses (1 psf = 47.9 N/m?) ‘ nonuniform cycle sequence to an equivalent number of uniform cycles should sighting technique. thie zero stress axis, However, the {is based on symmetric full cycle calculations coul calculations, \d be adapted easly for half-cycle438 May 1975, ors sand. 1e case of undrained cyclic simple shear progressive pore-water pre trated horizontal sand dep at the computational methods improving the understanding of potential during earthquakes. 1. Biot, M. A. “Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Flid Saturated Porous 1 “Journal of the Accoustical Society of America,“ors LIQUEFACTION a7 snd 3 [ASCE, Vol. 97, No. SMS, Proc. 4, Tokyo, Japan, Des. ‘Saad Liguefction under Random Earthquake Loading ‘World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Rome, KL, and Fitton, J. Au, “Factors Affecting the Dynamic Strength of Sol tion Effects on Solts and Foundations, ASTM STP4S0, American Society for ing and Material 6. IH, B,, “Sand Liquefaction under Cylic Louding Simple ‘Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, ASCE, o ‘of Soil Liquefaction: Nigta Earthquake,” ‘ASCE, Vel 98, No. SM3, Procedure for Evaluating Soil Liquefaction cs and Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. pp. 1249127. faction of Sturated Sands Dating Cyclic Loading.” Vol 92, No. SMB, Procedures for Measuring Soil Lian ‘Mechanles and Foundations Divisi fon Characteristics of Sands Under Cyclic ‘ASCE, Vol. Journal of Proc. Paper 8384, Septoe don Computations by ‘Structural The following symbols are used inthis paper: constants; function of volumetric strain (Eq. 6): leading; Ac, increment of recoverable volumetric strain occuring during ‘one-dimensional unloading: gq = sccumulated volumetric slip strain from cyclic loading sequence; «,, = recoverable volumetric strain from one-dimensional load-