10 Facts About Soil liquefaction

Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in which material that is ordinarily a solid behaves like a liquid.

Soil liquefaction described the mechanism of flow liquefaction of the embankment dam as:.

Soil liquefaction occurs when the effective stress of soil is reduced to essentially zero.

These tests are performed to determine a soil's resistance to liquefaction by observing the number of cycles of loading at a particular shear stress amplitude required to induce 'fails'.

Deposits most susceptible to Soil liquefaction are young sands and silts of similar grain size (well-sorted), in beds at least metres thick, and saturated with water.

Examples of soil liquefaction include quicksand, quick clay, turbidity currents and earthquake-induced liquefaction.

Resistance of the cohesionless soil to liquefaction will depend on the density of the soil, confining stresses, soil structure, the magnitude and duration of the cyclic loading, and the extent to which shear stress reversal occurs.

One positive aspect of soil liquefaction is the tendency for the effects of earthquake shaking to be significantly damped for the remainder of the earthquake.

Studies of Soil liquefaction features left by prehistoric earthquakes, called paleoSoil liquefaction or paleoseismology, can reveal information about earthquakes that occurred before records were kept or accurate measurements could be taken.

Soil liquefaction induced by earthquake shaking is a major contributor to urban seismic risk.