New formulae for capacity energy-based assessment of liquefaction triggering

Abstract

Liquefaction of loose saturated soil deposits is a hazardous type of ground failure occurring under earthquake excitations. Therefore, an accurate estimation of liquefaction potential is extremely important in geotechnical engineering. In the current study, a new model is proposed which estimates the level of strain energy needed for liquefaction initiation. A compiled database containing cyclic tests gathered from previously published works was used to develop new models to predict liquefaction potential. M5′ algorithm was used to find the best correlation between parameters. It was shown that not only the derived formulas are acceptably accurate but also they feature a very simple structure in comparison with available formulas in the literature. The proposed equations are accurate, physically sound and uncomplicated. Furthermore, safety factors were given for different levels of risk, which can be useful for engineering practice. In addition, the influence of different predictors on the liquefaction potential was evaluated and also the significance of input variables was assessed via sensitivity analysis. Finally, a new model was introduced for preliminary estimation of liquefaction potential.

Keywords:

• Liquefaction potential
• soft computing
• strain energy
• probabilistic design
• model tree

Acknowledgement

Authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers and Dr. Yaser Jafarian for their constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.