What is the liquefaction of soil during an earthquake?
What is the liquefaction of soil during an earthquake?
Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid loading. This water exerts a pressure on the soil particles that influences how tightly the particles themselves are pressed together. Prior to an earthquake, the water pressure is relatively low.
Can earthquakes cause soil liquefaction?
soil liquefaction, also called earthquake liquefaction, ground failure or loss of strength that causes otherwise solid soil to behave temporarily as a viscous liquid. When earthquake shock occurs in waterlogged soils, the water-filled pore spaces collapse, which decreases the overall volume of the soil.
What kind of subsurface material is most subject to liquefaction during an earthquake?
Liquefaction is more likely to occur in sandy or non-plastic silty soils, but may in rare cases occur in gravels and clays (see quick clay).
What subsurface conditions can cause liquefaction?
Liquefaction occurs when vibrations from seismic waves increase water pressure between soil grains, transforming once cohesive soil into a slurry of mud! Liquefaction is more likely to occur in loose to moderately saturated granular soils with poor drainage, such as silty sands or sands and gravels.
What are the most dangerous types of liquefaction?
Types of dangerous liquefaction. There are two types of liquefaction which are equally dangerous: Flow Liquefaction. Cyclic Liquefaction.
What does an earthquake do to saturated soil?
Earthquake motion can turn loosely packed, water-saturated soil to liquid-“liquefaction.” Liquefied soil loses its density and ultimately the ability to support roads, buried pipes, and, of course, houses. The 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake caused liquefaction, most severely in the Marina District of San Francisco.
Can soil act like liquid in an earthquake?
Soil liquefaction, also called earthquake liquefaction, ground failure or loss of strength that causes otherwise solid soil to behave temporarily as a viscous liquid . The phenomenon occurs in water-saturated unconsolidated soils affected by seismic S waves (secondary waves), which cause ground vibrations during earthquakes .
How does soil liquefaction commonly occur?
Soil liquefaction. Soil liquefaction occurs when a 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. In soil mechanics,…