Date of Award:
5-2001
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Committee Chair(s)
James A. Bay
Committee
James A. Bay
Committee
Loren R. Anderson
Committee
Marvin W. Halling
Abstract
This paper presents shear wave velocity profiles for 15 sites liquefied by the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey earthquake. These profiles are used in order to evaluate each liquefaction site by the simplified shear wave velocity procedure. This procedure allowed for the identification of a potentially liquefiable region within the subsurface at each site. Locating this region at each site allowed for the separation of soils that were too stiff to liquefy from soils that were soft enough to liquefy. Once these soft regions had been identified, they were evaluated to separate granular soils expected to liquefy, from fine-grained soils expected not to liquefy. At sites where actual soil samples were available, this was accomplished by using the Chinese Criteria and the Andrews and Martin Criteria. At sites where only CPT data were available, this was accomplished by developing profiles of soil behavior type index (lc).
Granular soil layers were located within the liquefiable region at 11 of the liquefaction test sites. It is assumed that these layers were the ones responsible for the observed liquefaction. The depth and thickness of each of these layers have been identified. However, at four of the liquefaction sites, only soils predicted as not susceptible to liquefaction were encountered. In these cases, the layer coming closest to fulfilling the Chinese Criteria and the Andrews and Martin Criteria was chosen as the one most likely to have liquefied. At each of these four sites, this layer appeared to be primarily made up of non-plastic silts having 2 μm clay contents ranging from 15 - 25%
Recommended Citation
Cox, Brady R., "Shear Wave Velocity Profiles at Sites Liquefied by the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey Earthquake" (2001). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 8932.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/8932
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