Dynamic Response of a Levee System with Liquefaction Manifestations and Cyclic Softening in 2016

Meinong Earthquake

Yu-Wei Hwang1,* Jiun-Shiang Wang2, Yuan-Chang Deng3, Kuan-Yu Chen4

1* Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, USA
(corresponding author: yuwei.hwang@utexas.edu)
2,3,4 Assistant Research Fellow, Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering Division, National Center for Research on Earthquake

Engineering, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Two-dimensional (2D), effective stress, nonlinear, dynamic finite-element analyses were performed to model seismic-
induced displacements of Rixin levee in southern Taiwan during the 2016 Meinong earthquake. The seismic
performance of the levee system on interlayered soils was evaluated to identify the ground deformation patterns
associated with liquefaction manifestation of sandy soil and the cyclic softening of clayey soil. The simplified
subsurface at Rixin levee was characterized via available standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test
(CPT) data, which consisted of a thick low-to-medium plasticity clay layer, overlaid by a liquefiable, sandy soil layer.
The PDMY03 and PM4Silt constitutive models in an object-oriented, open-source, OpenSEES platform were used to
simulate the cyclic stress-strain responses of sand-like and clay-like soil, respectively. Material parameters are
calibrated by the available experimental data, CPT soundings, and empirical relations. The one-dimensional (1D) input
motion was obtained as the maximum rotated component (RotD100 for peak ground acceleration) of two horizontal
recordings at CHY058 station during the 2016 Meinong earthquake. The numerical results showed that the maximum
permanent ground deformation was localized at the free-face of the slope and shallow depth of the clay layer, which
was shown along with the critical slip surface from the pseudo-static analysis. Importantly, the numerically computed
damage state was consistent with the field observations. The results point to the importance of considering cyclic-
induced strength loss of clay-like soil on assessing key engineering demand parameters of the levee system.

Keywords: Levee, Liquefaction, Cyclic softening, Geotechnical earthquake engineering

Figure. Contours of (a) permanent displacement magnitude at the end of shaking; (b) excess pore water
pressures (EPWPs) at 14 sec during shaking.