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Article
Shear-Wave Velocity–Based Probabilistic and Deterministic Assessment of Seismic Soil Liquefaction Potential
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
  • R. Kayen, United States Geological Survey
  • R. E.S. Moss, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
  • E.M. Thompson, University of California - Berkeley
  • R. B. Seed, University of California - Berkeley
  • K. O. Cetin, Middle Eastern Technical University
  • A. Der Kiureghian, University of California - Berkeley
  • Y. Tanaka, UTAR, Jalan Genting Klang
  • K. Tokimatsu, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Publication Date
3-1-2013
Abstract

Shear-wave velocity (Vs) offers a means to determine the seismic resistance of soil to liquefaction by a fundamental soil property. This paper presents the results of an 11-year international project to gather new Vssite data and develop probabilistic correlations for seismic soil liquefaction occurrence. Toward that objective, shear-wave velocity test sites were identified, and measurements made for 301 new liquefaction field case histories in China, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, and the United States over a decade. The majority of these new case histories reoccupy those previously investigated by penetration testing. These new data are combined with previously published case histories to build a global catalog of 422 case histories of Vsliquefaction performance. Bayesian regression and structural reliability methods facilitate a probabilistic treatment of the Vscatalog for performance-based engineering applications. Where possible, uncertainties of the variables comprising both the seismic demand and the soil capacity were estimated and included in the analysis, resulting in greatly reduced overall model uncertainty relative to previous studies. The presented data set and probabilistic analysis also help resolve the ancillary issues of adjustment for soil fines content and magnitude scaling factors.

Citation Information
R. Kayen, R. E.S. Moss, E.M. Thompson, R. B. Seed, et al.. "Shear-Wave Velocity–Based Probabilistic and Deterministic Assessment of Seismic Soil Liquefaction Potential" Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Vol. 139 Iss. 3 (2013) p. 407 - 419
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rmoss/38/