Pore pressure generation in silty sands during cyclic loading

Abstract

Recent developments in studies of soil response to earthquake loadings have made it possible to incorporate the rates of pore water pressure build-up in soils in to nonlinear response analyses of the grounds. Such pore pressure changes help in computing the changes in stress-strain behaviour of soils in the deposit progressively as the earthquake progresses. The rate and magnitude of pore pressure generation in soils during seismic loading will have important effects on the shear strength, stability, and settlement characteristics of a soil mass, even if the soil does not liquefy. The results in terms of pore pressure response in soils from a series of experimental investigations using strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests on soils samples collected from liquefied sites are presented in this paper. The effect of relative density, amplitude of cyclic shear strain, number of loading cycles, confining pressure and frequency of cyclic loading on the pore pressure build-up are studied. Analytical expressions are proposed using regression analysis to define mean relationships between normalized pore water pressure and normalized cycles for the prediction of pore water pressure build-up in silty sands. Also, the pore water pressure build-up in soils is independent of frequency of loading.

Keywords:

• Earthquake
• Frequency
• Pore pressure
• Strain controlled

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the Seismology Division, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for funding this work in project mode.