Characterizing the Liquefaction Potential and Pore Pressure Generation of Silty Sands through the Energy-Based Approach in the Framework of Critical State Soil Mechanics

Evaluation of the liquefaction susceptibility of soils is one of the most important subjects in geotechnical earthquake engineering. The energy-based liquefaction evaluation procedure, with a focus on seismic energy propagation and dissipation in soils, has attracted increasing attention in recent years. This paper presents a systematic analysis of cyclic triaxial test data of three series of silty sands through the energy-based approach. The stress-normalized accumulative dissipated strain energy per unit volume required for triggering liquefaction is used to evaluate the liquefaction potential of sands. It is a function of void ratio, fines content, and sand type. The pore pressure generation with the stress-normalized accumulative dissipated energy per unit volume can be simulated by a one-parameter pore pressure model, and the model parameter is affected by void ratio, fines content, and sand type. Unified characterizations of the stress-normalized accumulative dissipated energy per unit volume required for liquefaction and the fitting parameter of the pore pressure model are proposed in the framework of critical state soil mechanics.