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Observations on Sand Boils from Simple Model Tests

Conference Paper in Geotechnical Special Publication · May 2008

DOI: 10.1061/40975(318)71

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 Observations on Sand Boils from Simple Model Tests

Andrew Brennan1
1
University of Dundee, UK. a.j.brennan@dundee.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: Sand boils are a long-recognized phenomenon associated with soil

liquefaction. Deep liquefied sand is acknowledged to be able to burst through
overlying impermeable layers. However, the exact conditions required to produce sand
boils are unclear, as is their relative importance to engineering structures. To
investigate the phenomenon further, a series of simple model tests were performed.
The models consisted of small sand samples containing one or more layers of
consolidated silt, visible in profile, which are then vibrated. Visual monitoring was
taken of structural settlement and the influence of multiple layering, and the ensuing
water films and sand boils observed. It was found that relatively heavy foundations
over relatively thin silt layers were susceptible to sand boils. If the silt layer was too
thick to be unduly strained by the foundation then the occurrence of water films was
suppressed. Buried silt layers were seen to experience a hitherto unobserved
phenomenon whereby silt was carried up towards the soil surface with the pore fluid
during shaking. It is concluded that the relative importance of sand boils and
associated layered-soil phenomena is an area requiring further investigation.

INTRODUCTION

Earthquake-induced soil liquefaction has been recognized as a hazard for over forty
years (e.g. Seed and Lee, 1966; Ishihara, 1985) and static liquefaction for longer (e.g.
Koppejan et al., 1948). Loose saturated sands attempting to settle during shaking are
unable to dissipate fluid from the contracting void spaces quickly enough, and
individual soil grains lose contact with each other and go into suspension (as observed
by, e.g., Sasaki et al., 2001). The soil consequently loses strength and dramatic failures
occur via a number of mechanisms such as the soil’s loss of strength (Fig. 1a) or sand
boils (Fig. 1b), bursts of liquefied sand spilling over the ground surface, for example.
Most studies have concentrated on the case where the entire soil mass is liquefiable.
However, as natural soils can often contain stratifications of sands and clays. The
presence of layers of low permeability materials through liquefiable soils has been
shown to create problems and failure mechanisms additional to the unstratified case.
Some laboratory element tests have been carried out on layered small samples (e.g.
Amini and Sama, 1999), as well as rudimentary 1-g models (Butterfield and Bolton,

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2003) and centrifuge tests (e.g. Fiegel and Kutter, 1994; Brennan and Madabhushi,
2005). Thin water films can form at the inter-soil boundary as impermeable layers
hinder fluid dissipation (Kokusho, 1999). Based on current understanding, sand boils
seem to occur when trapped pore water at elevated pressure bursts through weaknesses
in overlying low-permeability layers.
Beyond the qualitative basics outlined above, there have been relatively few studies
performed specifically to investigate sand boil formation, possibly due to their
perceived low engineering importance. However, sand boils are commonly taken as
evidence for liquefaction after an earthquake, so from this point of view it is important
to understand a little more about the conditions which are favorable or otherwise for
sand boil occurrence. This research therefore aims to understand the factors leading to
sand boil occurrence better. The following specific objectives are given for this paper:-
• to develop a means of creating sand boils in a simple laboratory experiment,
• to observe the influence of multiple soil layers, and
• to observe the influence of surface loads on sand boil occurrence.

FIG. 1. a) Liquefaction-induced building settlement, Niigata. b) Sand boil,

California. Photographs: Karl V. Steinbrugge Collection, Earthquake
Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley.

METHODOLOGY

To investigate the above objectives, a series of simple 1-g model tests were carried
out. Two test series are reported in this paper, taken from the wider series performed at
Dundee University by Ritchie (2006) and Moran (2007). Tests by Ritchie are labeled
“NR” and investigate shallow foundation settlements. Tests by Moran are labeled
“DM” and investigate multiple layers. Six tests, shown in Fig. 2, form the basis for the
observations presented in this paper. The soil sample was placed in a simple Perspex-
fronted aluminium container which was then clamped to a sieve-shaker. Vibration was
applied for a period up to two seconds. This is shown below to be sufficient to cause
liquefaction conditions in the sand. The applied vibration is difficult to characterize as
it occurs both horizontally and vertically. It is not measured, but is believed to be at
frequencies of the order of 10 Hz and amplitudes of the order 2 mm. An obliquely-

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mounted digital video camera recorded the soil behavior during and after shaking.
Soil used for the tests was a fine Congleton sand and a uniform HPF5 silt. The sand
is uniform with an internal friction angle of 310 and reference void ratios emin = 0.49
and emax = 0.85. Model construction was slightly different for test series NR and DM.
Test series NR were formed by dry-pluviating sand to a void ratio of around 0.75
(relative density ~ 30%), then saturating with water through the base of the container.
Silt was mixed at 30% moisture content, just above the liquid limit, and spread on the
soil surface as evenly as possible. To ensure some strength in the layer, a 4 kg mass
was applied through a sheet of porous plastic for drainage and load spreading and the
sample allowed to consolidate for 24 hours. The preload and the porous plastic were
removed prior to testing. Test series DM differ in that to accommodate multiple silt
layers the sand could not always be saturated through the model base. Sand in these
experiments was therefore wet-pluviated through predetermined amounts of water to a
similar void ratio.
It should be noted that the experiments do not attempt to simulate an earthquake but
to examine the fluid-driven interactions between liquefied/reconsolidating sands and
their less permeable crusts. Also, these are not scale models of larger prototypes but
small prototypes in themselves and should be interpreted as such.

FIG. 2. Models employed in two test series. All dimensions in millimeters. Not to
scale. DM tests from Moran (2007). NR tests from Ritchie (2006). Plan area 215
mm wide by 105 mm deep.

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PORE PRESSURES

Pore pressure transducers (PPTs) were not available for the whole test series, but an
initial test was carried out in order to confirm that the experimental conditions did
achieve liquefaction in the sand layer. This test was performed in a sand sample 200
mm deep without a surface crust. Fig. 3 shows the excess pore pressures (total pore
pressure – hydrostatic pore pressure) recorded at four depths. Also plotted is an
approximate value of initial vertical effective stress σv0′. This is based on the final PPT
position, so small changes in instrument location will affect the accuracy of this value.
Such differences manifest as a difference between the initial and final value of excess
pore pressure, which is seen in Fig. 3b and Fig. 3c.
All instruments record large transient pore pressures due to the intense shaking. This
can exceed σv0′ due to a significant vertical acceleration. Shaking is followed by a
period of prolonged high excess pore pressure while deeper soil layers drain. These
values are close to σv0′ which, together with their prolonged nature, suggests that the
soil is in a state of liquefaction. A second experiment (not presented) showed identical
results, in line with the similar test of Florin and Ivanov (1961).
Based on this, it is concluded that this shaking applied to this sand at this density
causes it to liquefy. Therefore, by keeping these variables constant, sand in the
following experiments would also have liquefied.

FIG. 3. Excess pore pressures recorded in a 200 mm sand sample, without silt
layers.

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OBSERVED PHENOMENA IN STRATIFIED SOILS

Water Films
As expected, water films visibly formed at the silt-sand boundaries in all tests, with
thicknesses of the order of 1 mm. Similar observations have been made by, e.g.,
Kokusho (1999). Video images were insufficiently high resolution to distinguish any
differences between water films arising during different tests. What was clear,
however, was that in multiple-layer tests then water films were invariably first seen at
the shallowest layer, followed by formation at successive depths (Moran, 2007). This
would sometimes occur during shaking and sometimes after shaking had finished,
depending on the duration of shaking.

Sand Boils
Sand boils were observed in all tests. Fig. 4 shows how these appeared during
testing, as thin vertical channels through the silt layer that may or may not contain
sand. These often appeared to widen as they approached the surface. Ejection was
often sufficiently violent to disturb the surface of the water (which was always above
the soil surface) indicating great speed and pressure release despite the small-scale
nature of the test. These always occurred after the two seconds applied shaking had
finished. Further experiments (not presented - Ritchie, 2006; Moran, 2007) in which
the same and similar models were subjected to increasingly longer duration shaking
showed that an exceptionally long duration of shaking was required to cause boiling
during shaking. This may be because the required redistribution of fluid required a
much greater length of time than the duration of shaking. This correlates with many
eyewitness accounts of earthquakes.

Fig. 4. Illustration of sand boils using before and after images of test DM1.

Silt Clouds
In the experiments with sub-surface silt layers, repeated shaking was seen to induce
a further hitherto unobserved phenomenon. Material from this sub-surface silt layer
was entrained in the pore fluid and traveled vertically upwards towards the soil

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surface. Fig 5 shows examples of these “silt clouds”. In these tests, these began very
soon after the start of shaking and were not seen to continue for a long time after
shaking, relative to the other phenomena of water films and sand boils.

FIG. 5 Illustration of “silt clouds” from tests a) DM2; b) DM3.

Silt clouds appeared to be due to the top surface of the silt being entrained in
suspension by the pore fluid. This may have been caused by the high shaking intensity
liquefying the silt, or by the high excess pore pressures causing seepage into the silt at
a large hydraulic gradient and raising the local pore pressures in the silt (i.e. liquefying
the silt). Whether different levels of shaking intensity or conditions of silt would also
produce silt clouds is not known, as these variables were kept constant for this study.
Particle and void sizes may also be important variables. Therefore, silt clouds are here
noted as an observation and are the subject of further research.
On the one occasion that a silt cloud hit the base of the surface layer, a sand boil
began at the place and moment of impact. This suggests that silt clouds, while not
necessarily of engineering importance, have information to give that can be utilized in
the future.

INFLUENCE OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS ON SAND BOILS

Test series NR (Fig. 2) observed the effect of a shallow foundation on such layered
soil profiles. Snapshots of behavior following the end of shaking are shown in Fig. 6.
In Fig. 6, a single image is taken from each test with the (difficult to see) water films
ringed on the left hand figures and the locations of observed sand boils ringed on the
right hand figures.

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Fig. 6. Snapshots from tests series NR, with indications of the locations of water
films (a, c, e) and sand boils (b, d, f).

For the 0.41 kg foundation test NR1, the foundation mass did not affect the water
film which formed along the base of the silt layer (Fig. 6a). Significant sand boiling
followed around the edge of the foundation (Fig. 6b), as it deformed under the
foundation weight. When the foundation mass was increased to 1.15 kg (test NR2) the
mass similarly sank, and although it is unclear whether or not a water film was present

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beneath the foundation following shaking (Fig. 6c) sand boil evidence again collected
around the edge of the foundation (Fig. 6d). With a thicker silt layer, however, a
different response resulted. The punch-through failure of the other models was not
observed and there was no water film directly beneath the foundation (Fig. 6e)
although water films were clearly present elsewhere. The little sand boil activity in
this model was restricted to the furthest reaches of the container.
With the water film suppressed immediately beneath the foundation in test NR3, no
sand boils were observed near the structure, and they would only occur far from the
footing where the water film was present. When punch through occurred with the
heavier foundation (test NR2), significant amounts of sand boiling were observed
where the shear strain was greatest, as the increased shear stresses in the soil created a
weaker zone where fluid could puncture through to the surface. A schematic figure
(Fig. 7) has been created to illustrate the two observed regimes of behavior – “sand
boils far” implies the water film was suppressed, while “sand boils near” implies that
punch-through failure could be expected.
It might be noted that water films are not always a precursor to sand boils (e.g. left
hand side, Fig. 6e and 6f, and data of other researchers e.g. Kokusho, 1999). It is
unclear if sand boils can form if excess pore pressures are insufficient to allow a water
film to form.

FIG. 7. Qualitative view of observed behavior.

It would be expected that, in a refined form, Fig. 7 would change when accounting
for different properties of the impermeable layer. It might be expected that undrained
strength would have a significant influence, as well as the moisture content of the soil
relative to its Atterberg limits. However, this preliminary test series has only examined
one value of each of these variables, and the extension is currently being carried out.
The characteristics of shaking would be less likely to change this graph; these
characteristics might determine whether or not sand boils occur, but not affect their
location.

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DISCUSSION

The tests presented have been rudimentary in nature and intended purely to provide
qualitative observations of the behavior that might arise in various circumstances
associated with layering of liquefiable and low-permeability soils. With increasingly
affordable high resolution and high speed video technology becoming available, it is
anticipated that quality of successive tests can be improved in these departments.
It has been seen that the simple experiments performed in this series have produced
some interesting observations. For the foundation model, shallow footings over thicker
surface silt crusts suppressed the formation of water films immediately beneath the
foundation. This may be advantageous if there is a risk of sliding failure akin to that
possible near Niigata following the 1964 earthquake (Kokusho and Fujita, 2001), or if
boiling sand is likely to cause an increase in the structural settlement. Once the sand
liquefies there is limited support for the footing, and heavier footings were observed to
“punch-through” thinner silt layers. This latter case is the concern of Bouckovalas and
Dakoulas (2007) who perform settlement calculations of such cases using the finite
element method. To determine whether the displacement and boiling of sand and
water increases the settlement from that calculated using numerical models cannot be
quantitatively identified from these experiments and requires a carefully controlled
centrifuge model.
Of undetermined usefulness is the identification of “silt clouds”. They appear to
travel with the pore fluid and were linked to sand boils where they touched the
surface, so they could at least act as markers for future experiments. It is possible that
by removing material from the buried silt layer, its capacity decreases; this could not
be ascertained in the available time. Nor could a variety of shaking intensities or silt
conditions be tested in order to ascertain whether silt clouds were a general or a
special occurrence.
Although accurate quantification of foundation settlement and influence of input
motion were not made and require more sophisticated models, such as a centrifuge,
both the expected and the unexpected outcomes of the experiments presented show
that there is value in performing simplified tests.

CONCLUSIONS

Following these simple experiments, it can be concluded that the phenomena of

water films and sand boils can be readily reproduced in a laboratory. By varying
simple parameters, the effect of such variations on the occurrence of sand boils were
determined. In the test series presented, multiple layers were seen to undergo sand
boiling from the shallowest layer first. These models were also susceptible to the
upward transmission of silt from deeper layers, which was highly visible and here
termed “silt clouds”. Finally, shallow foundations on thick silt crusts were seen to
suppress water films and consequent sand boil was some distance from the foundation.
However, when the structure became heavy relative to the thickness of the crust, a
punch-through failure was observed.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Testing performed by Nikholas Ritchie and Donna Moran as part of their BEng
projects formed the basis for the research presented. Technical support was provided
by Mark Trusswell at the University of Dundee.

REFERENCES

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under seismic liquefaction conditions”. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake
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foundations in presence of a soil crust”. 4th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical
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