Shear Wave Based Screening Method for Liquefaction Evaluation

This paper describes a new screening method for evaluating the liquefaction potential of sand deposits with varying percentages of fines. The method is based on measurements of shear wave velocity (Vs), and is developed from a comprehensive experimental program comprising small-strain shear wave testing and large-strain undrained shear tests for sand samples with different quantities of non-plastic fines. A novel point of the method is the unified characterization of shear wave velocity for both clean sand and silty sand through a state parameter that properly combines the effects of void ratio and confining stress in a sound theoretical context. As modern technology has made it more convenient and reliable to measure the shear wave velocity both in the laboratory and in the field, and since the state parameter is a rational index for characterizing various aspects of soil behavior, the proposed method is promising in a wide range of geotechnical applications.