Behavior of a liquefiable site during seismic loading

Building codes may require ground response analysis for sites underlain by weak and liquefiable soils. Site effects are most commonly studied using equivalent linear ornonlinear, one-dimensional, effective or total stress analyses. Such analyses often involve challenges around the selection of input soil parameters and analysis type. This paper investigates the effects of variations in soil stiffness, stratigraphy, and bedrock depth on the seismic site response, using 1D total and effective stress analyses. Results indicate that higher surface spectral accelerations are obtained at low periods for stiffer soils, and at high periods in softer formations. Effective stress analyses considering liquefaction potential of soil, may affect the spectral accelerations at high periods. Large displacement at the ground surface in the case of liquefaction occurrence is the most significant issue since it can bring damage to superstructures and underground facilities.

Behavior of a liquefiable site during seismic loading Keywords:

Site response analysis , Site uncertainties , Effective stress analysis , Liquefaction