Liquefaction

LIQUEFACTION
By: Rey John Ganancial
What is Liquefaction?
It refers to soil instability and can be caused by various factors such as the inflow of water beneath the
soil or a sudden shock caused by earthquakes or human activities. If the soil of a particular region suffers
from liquefaction, it may become unable to support the weight of its structures. In that scenario, those
structures could suffer severe damage, or even collapse completely into the ground.
 During liquefaction the water pressure become high enough to counteract the gravitational pull
on the soil particles and effectively float or suspend the particles.
 The soil particle move freely with respect to each other. Due to this the strength of soil
decreases and the ability of a soil deposit to support foundations for buildings and bridge is
reduce.
In addition to buildings, liquefaction can ruin roads, railways, airport runways, dams and anything else
that sits on the ground. It can also cause damage to below-ground utilities. Liquefaction can cause
landslides, settlements, and eruptions of mud or water from the ground.
BEFORE AFTER
Water fills in the pore Water completely

space between grains. surrounds all grains
Friction between and eliminates all
grains holds sediment grain to
together.
Type of Liquefaction:
 Flow Liquefaction - flow liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the static equilibrium is

destroyed by static or dynamic loads in a soil deposit with low residual strength. It occurs when
the static shears stresses in the soil exceed the shear strength of the liquefied soil.
 Cyclic Mobility - cyclic mobility is a liquefaction phenomenon, triggered by cyclic loading,

occurring in soil deposits with static shear stresses lower than the soil strength.
 Deformation due to cyclic mobility develop incrementally because of static and dynamic
stresses that exist during an earthquake.
Effects of Liquefaction:
Loss of Bearing Strength - the ground can liquefy and lose its ability to support the structure.
Lateral Spreading - the ground can slide down very gentle slopes. It is mainly caused by cyclic mobility.
Lateral spreading causes damage to foundations of buildings, pipelines, railway lines and causes shaking
at pile due to increased lateral loads.
Sand boil - sand-laden water can be ejected from a buried liquefied layer and erupt at the surface to
form sand volcanoes. The surrounding grounds often fractures and settles.
Flow Failures - flow failures are the most catastrophic ground failures caused by liquefaction. These
failures commonly displace large masses of soil laterally. Flows develop in loose saturated sands or slits
on relatively steep slopes.
Ground Oscillation - where the ground is flat or the slope is to gentle to allow lateral displacement,
liquefaction at depth may decouple overlying soil layers from the underlying ground, allowing the upper
soil to oscillate back and forth and up and down in the form of ground waves. These oscillations are
usually accompanied by opening and closing of fissures fracture of rigid structures such as pavements
and pipelines.
Flotation - Light structure that are buries in the ground (like pipeline sewers and nearly empty fuel
tanks) can float to the surface when they are surrounded by liquefied soil.
Methods to Reduce Liquefaction:
Avoid susceptible soil - the first possibility is to avoid construction on liquefaction susceptible soil.
Build resistant structures - it may be possible to make the structure liquefaction resistant by designing
the foundation elements to resist the effects of liquefaction. Structure that possesses ductility, has the
ability to accommodate large deformations, adjustable supports for correction of differential
settlements.
Shallow foundation aspects - it is important that all foundation elements in a shallow foundation are
tied together to make the foundation move or settle uniformly, thus decreases the amount of shear
force induced in the structural elements resting upon the foundation.
 A stiff foundation mat is a good type of shallow foundation. Which can transfer loads
form locally liquefied zone to adjacent stronger ground.
Deep foundation aspect - Liquefaction can cause large lateral loads on pile foundations. Piles driven
through a weak, potentially soil layer to a stronger layer not only have to carry vertical loads form the
super structure, but must also be able to resist horizontal loads and bending moments induced by
lateral movements if the weak layer liquefies. Piles of larger dimensions and/or more reinforcement can
achieve sufficient resistance.
Vibro-compaction - Vibro-compaction involves the use of a vibrating probe that can penetrate granular
soil to depths of over 100 feet. The vibration of the probe cause the grain structure to collapse thereby
densifying the soil surrounding the probe.
Dynamic Compaction - densification by dynamic compaction is performed by dropping a heavy weight

of steel or concrete in a grid pattern form heights of 30 to 100 feet.
Compaction grouting - compaction grouting is a technique whereby a slow-floating water\sand\cement

mix is injected into loos sand under high pressure. Gout does not enter soil but forms a bulb that
compacts and densify the soil by forcing it to occupy less space.
Stone column - stone columns are columns of gravel constructed in the ground. Stone column can be
constructed by the vibro-compation method. In this approach the steel casing is driven into the soil and
gravel is filled in from the top and tamped with a drop hammer as the steel is successively withdrawn.

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LIQUEFACTION

By: Rey John Ganancial

Water fills in the pore Water completely

 Flow Liquefaction - flow liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the static equilibrium is

 Cyclic Mobility - cyclic mobility is a liquefaction phenomenon, triggered by cyclic loading,

Dynamic Compaction - densification by dynamic compaction is performed by dropping a heavy weight

Compaction grouting - compaction grouting is a technique whereby a slow-floating water\sand\cement

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