Ishihara - Liquefaction and Flow Failure During Earthquake

Ishihara,K. (1993). Gdotechnique 43, No.
3, 351-415
Liquefaction and flow failure

during earthquakes
K. ISHIHARA*
Two aspects of seismically-induced liquefaction are L’article etudie deux des aspects de la liquefaction
discussed which are of vital engineering signifi- sismiquement induite qui sont d’une importance
cance: the triggering condition and the conse- vitale pour les ingknieurs: les conditions de dCclen-
quences of liquefaction. The triggering condition is chement et les con&quences de la liqubfaction. Les
examined with respect to liquefaction analysis, conditions de di?clenchement sont examinies au
note being taken of the onset condition which is travers d’une analyse de la IiquCfaction pour
governed by cyclic strength. Consequences of lique- laquelle les toutes premiires conditions, regies par
faction are discussed with respect to post-seismic la r&stance cyclique, sont prises en compte. Les
stability analysis, in which the residual strength consequences de la IiquCfaction sont Btudiks P
plays a major role. Procedures used for liquefac- I’aide d’une analyse de stabiliti! post-sismique pour
tion analysis based on the results of in situ sound- laquelle la r&stance rbiduelle joue une rSle pri-
ing tests are introduced, and the applicability of mordial. L’on prbente les mkthodes utili&es pour
this method for estimating associated ground set- I’analyse de la IiquCfaction fond&s sur les ri?sultats
tlements is discussed. d’essais in-situ. L’applicabiliti! de cette mCthode i
The evaluation of residual strength requires a I’estimation des tassements associb est egalement
better understanding of undrained sand behaviour. discutCe. L’Cvaluation de la r&stance rCsiduelle
Results of extensive laboratory rests on Japanese demande une meilleure comprbhension du com-
standard sand are examined and new index param- portement des sables non-drain& Les rbultats
eters are proposed to quantify undrained sand d’essais extensifs de laboratoire sur des sables
behaviour better. The results of laboratory tests on japonais standards sont Ctudib et de nouveaux
silty sands are examined in the same way. All the param&res sont proposb pour amCliorer la quanti-
results are presented in terms of whether sand fication du comportement des sables non-drain&.
behaviour is contractive or diltative. The Les rCsultats obtenus pour des sables argileux sont
laboratory-established criterion for contractive or Ctudib de la m6me faGon. Tous ces rbultats sont
diltative behaviour is expressed in terms of field p&en& diffbremment selon que le comportement
parameters such as N value from the SPT or qe du sable est contractant ou dilatant. Le criti?re
value from the CPT. This correlation permits in Ctabli en laboratoire pour des comportements dilat-
situ deposits to be classtied as being either able or ant ou contractant peut s’exprimer en terme de
not able to develop flow slide. paramitres de chantier tels que N valeurs issues du
The laboratory-established relationships between SPT ou q, valeurs issues du CF’T. CPT. Cette cor-
the normalized residual strength and the field rilation permet de classer les depats in-situ comme
parameters are presented. These correlations are Ctant capahles ou non de dCvelopper un glissement
shown to be consistent with many cases of flow par koulement. L’article prbente Cgalement les
failure observed in recent large earthquakes. The relations i?tablies en laboratoire entre la rbistance
relationship between cyclic strength and residual r6siduelle normaliske et les paramktres de chantier-
strength is clarified. tels que SPT ou CPT. Ces correlations sont en
accord avec de nombreux cas de rupture par &cou-
lement observCs lors de grands sitismes r&cents. La
KEYWORDS: case history; earthquakes; fabric/struc- relation existant entre r&stance cyclique et rbis-
ture of soils; liquefaction; sands; silts. tance rbiduelle est clarif%e.
INTRODUCTION ‘spontaneous liquefaction’ was coined by Ter-

The phenomenon of sand changing its behaviour zaghi & Peck (1948) to indicate the sudden
from solid to liquid was recognized in the early change of loose deposits of sand into flows much
stage of soil mechanics’ development. The term like those of viscous fluid, triggered by a slight
disturbance. This phenomenon was considered to
be the main cause of slope failures likely to occur
* Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo. in saturated deposits of fine silty sands. It was
351
Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

352 K. ISHIHARA
LEVEL GROUND
settlement
( analysis )
,SLOPING GROUND
Fig. 1. Flow chart of the problems associated with liquefaction
probably not until 1953 that a similar phenome- sequent ground settlements and sometimes flow
non was recognized (by Mogami & Kubo, 1953) failure involving extremely large movements of
to take place during earthquakes and addressed soil masses. The phenomena and problems associ-
under the name of liquefaction as an issue of ated with liquefaction can be put in perspective
engineering significance. The impetus for Mogami by considering two different conditions encoun-
& Kubo’s early work in the laboratory appar- tered in the field. One is the level ground condi-
ently emerged from the experience of the Fukui tion in which the phenomenon of cyclic softening
earthquake in 1948 in Japan, in which liquefac- or liquefaction is of prime concern; the other is
tion of the ground and associated damage the sloping ground condition where flow failure
occurred in a widespread area in the alluvial or large lateral displacement is of major impor-
plain. The Niigata earthquake of 1964 is regarded tance in addition to the cyclic softening. Fig. 1
in Japan as a milestone in that it led to public shows the phenomena and problems of engineer-
recognition of liquefaction phenomena and of the ing significance for each of these conditions. In
importance of measures to mitigate the damage the level ground condition, the major factor
caused by earthquakes in general. The city of would be the occurrence of cyclic softening or
Niigata had been reduced to ashes by a large fire liquefaction in sandy deposits in which the
in 1955, but as a result of extensive restoration ground starts to move back and forth with a large
works the urban area had been reshaped and amplitude. The assessment of whether cyclic
reborn as a new city with modern facilities and softening can or cannot occur in a given deposit
installations. Thus, the 1964 earthquake was an would be the first important task in clarifying the
enormous blow, and caused unprecedented level of safety of the ground against an earth-
damage. The Niigata earthquake can be cited quake with a given intensity of shaking. Under
symbolically as the first event in the world where level ground conditions, the next problem would
all kinds of modern infrastructure were destroyed be the estimation of ground settlements resulting
(to the surprise of many) by what came to be well from dissipation of pore water pressures devel-
known later as soil liquefaction. Because of its oped in liquefied sand deposits, which cause grave
engineering importance, the problems of liquefac- concerns for the integrity of lifelines buried at
tion have received a great deal of attention shallow depths where the deleterious effects of
among the geotechnical community and many liquefaction are most predominant.
efforts have been made to clarify the basic mecha- In sand deposits such as under sloping
nism and various aspects of the associated prob- grounds, levees or embankments, checks should
lems. The progress of investigations into be made in the same way as for level ground to
liquefaction and its consequences have been determine whether or not cyclic softening or
described in detail in state-of-the-art papers by liquefaction is triggered. If liquefaction is identi-
Yoshimi, Richart, Prakash, Balkan & Ilyichev fied as being triggered, the ground will at least
(1977), Seed (1979) and Finn (1981). undergo large-amplitude motions causing settle-
When the ground is subjected to strong ment or breakage of overlying structures, as in
shaking during an earthquake, several pheno- the case of level ground. In the worst case, the
mena of engineering significance can manifest ground will start to move largely in one horizon-
themselves, from onset of liquefaction to sub- tal direction, perhaps driven by a slightly per-

LIQUEFACTION AND FLOW FAILURE DURING EARTHQUAKES 353
sisting gravity-induced force, bringing about an ing an axial strain of about 5% in double amplitude
intolerable amount of lateral deformation or (DA). Such a state has been referred to as ‘initial
flow-type failure. A second-step analysis is then liquefaction’ or simply ‘liquefaction’. For loose
necessary to determine whether the flow-type sand, the initial liquefaction can certainly be
deformation will or will not occur, on the condi- taken as a state of softening, because infinitely
tion that cyclic softening or liquefaction has large deformation is produced suddenly with
already occurred in the sand deposit being con- complete loss of strength during or immediately
sidered. This kind of evaluation is called post- following the 100% pore water pressure build-up.
seismic stability analysis; the strength used in this For medium dense to dense sand, a state of
analysis is termed residual strength or steady- softening is also produced with a pore water pres-
state strength. If the once-liquefied ground is sure build-up of almost lOO%, accompanied by
identified by post-seismic stability analysis as about 5% DA axial strain. However, deformation
being prone to flow-type failure, the consequences thereafter does not increase indefinitely, and com-
will be disastrous, involving extensive movement plete loss of strength does not take place in the
or complete slumping of soil masses forming the sample even after the onset of initial liquefaction.
ground or embankments. However, if the post- None the less, some degree of softening takes
seismic stability analysis indicates that the flow- place in the sample accompanied by a sizeable
type failure can be avoided, the consequent amount of cyclic strain, and it has therefore been
damage will remain below a tolerable level, customary to consider the state of 100% pore
although it may require some degree of repair water pressure build-up or the development of
work. 5% DA axial strain as a criterion by which to
In the first part of this Paper, recent develop- recognize a state of cyclic instability covering a
ments in the evaluation procedures of liquefaction wide range of density of sand. In silty sands or
potential in the field are briefly summarized, sandy silts containing some amount of fines, the
together with the application of liquefaction pore water pressure is observed not to develop
potential to the estimation of ground settlements. fully, but to stop building up when it has reached
In the second part, problems associated with a value equal to about 90%-95% of the initial
flow-type deformation are examined in detail, confining stress. However, a sizeable amount of
with emphasis on the results of recent laboratory cyclic strain is observed to develop, indicating
tests conducted at the University of Tokyo. The considerable softening taking place in these soils.
outcome of these considerations is examined in Thus, the occurrence of 5% DA axial strain in the
the light of the observed performance of sandy cyclic triaxial test is used below as a criterion to
grounds during recent earthquakes. define coherently the state of cyclic softening or
liquefaction of soils, from clean sands to sands
DEFINITION OF LIQUEFACTION OR CYCLIC containing fines.
SOFTENING In order to specify the onset of liquefaction or
The basic mechanism of onset of liquefaction is development of 5% DA axial strain, the number
elucidated from the observation of behaviour of a of load cycles must be specified in the constant-
sand sample undergoing cyclic stress application amplitude uniform cyclic loading. In principle,
in the laboratory triaxial test apparatus. Seed & the number of load cycles can be set as arbitrary,
Lee (1966) consolidated samples of saturated sand provided an appropriate correction factor is
under a confining pressure and subjected them to incorporated to evaluate the irregular nature of
a sequence of constant-amplitude cyclic axial seismic loading, but it has been customary to
stress under undrained conditions until they consider 10 or 20 load cycles in view of the
deformed to a certain level of peak-to-peak axial typical number of significant cycles present in
strain. This loading procedure creates stress con- many actual time histories of accelerations
ditions on a plane at 45” through the sample ana- recorded during past earthquakes. Thus, the
logous to those produced on the horizontal plane onset condition of liquefaction or cyclic softening
in the ground during earthquakes. This corre- is specified in terms of the magnitude of cyclic
spondence of the laboratory sample and in situ stress ratio required to produce 5% DA axial
soils is the basis on which the cyclic triaxial test is strain in 20 cycles of uniform load application.
warranted as a useful procedure for producing This cyclic stress ratio is sometimes referred to
meaningful data to assess the resistance of sands simply as cyclic strength.
to liquefaction.
In the test described above, it is generally
observed that the pore water pressure builds up CYCLIC RESISTANCE OF RECONSTITUTED
steadily as the cyclic axial stress is applied, and CLEAN SAND
eventually approaches a value equal to the ini- The potential for liquefaction of saturated
tially applied confining pressure, thereby produc- sands under seismic loading conditions has been

354 K. ISHIHARA
extensively investigated by many workers by same, samples prepared by different methods can
means of cyclic triaxial tests, cyclic simple shear show different resistances to liquefaction. Fig. 2
tests and cyclic torsional tests in the laboratory. shows the results of cyclic triaxial tests performed
The outcome of these studies has generally con- by Mulilis et al. (1977) on saturated samples of
firmed that the resistance to liquefaction of the Monterey No. 0 sand prepared by two different
samples of clean sand reconstituted in the labor- methods. In one method, called air pluviation,
atory is influenced primarily by factors such as oven-dry sand was continuously poured into the
initial confining stress, intensity of shaking (as sample-forming mould, and after saturation and
represented by the amplitude of cyclic shear consolidation the sample was subjected
stress), number of cyclic stress applications, and undrained to cyclic axial stress until it softened to
void ratio or relative density. As a result of com- develop a significant amount of cyclic strain. In
prehensive laboratory studies, it has been recog- another method, called moist tamping, sand with
nized as reasonable and become customary to 8% moisture content was spread in the mould
consider the combined effect of cyclic shear stress and compacted in layers with a tamping rod so as
and initial confining stress in terms of the cyclic to attain a desired density. Of several methods
stress ratio defined as ad2a,’ for the triaxial employed by Mulilis et al. (1977), these two were
loading condition in which e,, denotes the single shown to produce the samples of lowest or
amplitude of cyclic axial stress and ue’ is the highest resistance to liquefaction. Fig. 2 shows
initial confining stress. Thus, it has become a that the cyclic resistance of sand can vary over a
routine practice to take the cyclic stress ratio fairly wide range, depending on the nature of
required to cause 5% DA axial strain under 20 fabric structure created by different methods of
load cycles as a factor quantifying the liquefaction sample preparation. The study described has
resistance of sands under a given state of packing shown that it is important to specify a method of
as represented by void ratio or relative density. sample preparation if cyclic tests are to be run on
This cyclic stress ratio is represented by reconstituted samples. In addition, it has been
C~dlo~o’)l*o>and is sometimes referred to as the considered almost mandatory to conduct tests on
cyclic strength. It has also been observed that the undisturbed samples if the cyclic resistance of in
resistance to liquefaction as quantified above situ sand deposits is to be evaluated with a rea-
tends to increase in proportion to the relative sonable level of confidence.
density at which the sample is prepared for the In view of the variability due to the sample
laboratory tests. preparation described above, and because of the
Although relative density has been recognized diversity of test results due to other testing
as a dominant factor influencing the cyclic details, Silver, Chan, Ladd, Lee, Tiedemann,
strength, studies by Ladd (1974), Mulilis, Seed, Townsend, Valera & Wilson (1976) attempted to
Chan, Mitchell & Arulanandan (1977) and Tat- implement a co-operative testing programme in
suoka, Ochi, Fujii & Okamoto (1986) have indi- the USA in which eight organizations were
cated that, even when the relative density is the requested to conduct a series of cyclic triaxial
0 I I I I,,/11 I I I11111 /
1 10 100
Number of cycles to 5 % D.A. axial Strain
Fig. 2. Effects of sample preparation on cyclic shear strength of sand

(Mulilis et al., 1977)

Boundary between
tes.t results wth
I I I I
01 10 100
Nvmber oi-cycles- to 5% D.A. stro,”
Fig. 3. Results of the co-operative tests in the USA on 02 1

cyclic strength of sand (Silver ef al., 1976) 0.5 1 2 5 IO 20 50 100 200 500
Number of cycles to 5% DA axial strain
Fig. 4. Results of the co-operative tests in Japan on

tests under specified conditions of equipment, test cyclic strength of sand (Toki ez al., 1986)
performance and data presentation. Monterey
No. 0 sand with D,, = 0.36 mm, U, = 1.5, use of its own cyclic triaxial test equipment. It
e max = 0.85 and emin = 0.56 was used to prepare was stipulated that the samples be prepared by
test specimens of a relative density 60% by means the method of air pluviation, where dried sand
of moist tamping as described above. The samples was poured into the sample-forming mould from
were consolidated to a confining stress of (ra’ = a funnel in a specified manner. All the samples
100 kPa and subjected undrained to cyclic were consolidated isotropically under a confining
loading. The results of this programme are sum- pressure of (rO’= 98 kPa and cyclic loads were
marized in Fig. 3 in terms of the cyclic stress ratio applied undrained until they produced a state of
plotted against the number of cycles required to cyclic softening with attainment of the DA axial
produce 5% DA axial strain. The test data lie in a strain of 10%. The outcome of the co-operative
rather narrow band, indicating reasonable consis- tests is shown in Fig. 4, where the cyclic stress
tency of the cyclic strength between laboratories. ratio is plotted against the number of cycles
From the average curve shown in Fig. 3, the required to produce 5% DA axial strain.
cyclic stress ratio causing 5% DA strain in 20 Figure 4 shows that the data from several
cycles of loading is read as 0.31. If this cyclic sources fall within a relatively narrow band, indi-
stress ratio is assumed to change in proportion to cating a reasonable degree of coincidence among
the relative density, the cyclic stress ratio corre- the values of cyclic strength from various labor-
sponding to D, = 50% can be evaluated as atories. There is a tendency, however, for the
0.31 x 50/60 = 0.26. This is the value of cyclic smaller-size specimens to show slightly greater
strength that can be compared to the value in resistance to cyclic softening than the larger
Fig. 2 obtained by Mulilis et al. (1977). For the samples. This is attributed to the effects of system
sample formed by the moist tamping, the cyclic compliance arising from membrane penetration,
stress ratio causing 5% DA strain in 20 cycles of sample seating or tubing in the test apparatus.
loading is read from Fig. 2 as being 0.28. If allow- The curve in Fig. 4 sets an approximate boundary
ance is made for the difference in initial confining between the two groups of data from different
stress, the cyclic strength obtained by the co- sample sizes, and may be taken as indicating an
operative tests can be considered to agree well average of the data from various laboratories.
with that obtained by Mulilis et al. (1977). The cyclic stress ratio causing 5% DA strain in 20
A similar effort at co-operative tests was under- cycles of loading is read from Fig. 4 as being 0.14
taken by the Research Committee of the Japanese for the samples of relative density D, = 50%.
Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Since all the samples were prepared by the air
Engineering (JSSMFE), in order to diffuse the use pluviation method, this value of cyclic strength
of some concerted testing procedures among can be compared with the corresponding test
many organizations involved in geotechnical data of Mulilis et al. (1977) shown in Fig. 2, which
testing. Detailed accounts of this programme are indicate a similarly defined cyclic strength of 0.21.
given by Toki, Tatsuoka, Miura, Yoshimi, Such a large difference cannot be explained fully,
Yasuda & Makihara (1986) and Tatsuoka et al. but Toyoura sand of much finer grain size
(1986). Five laboratories participated; each was appears to exhibit less resistance to liquefaction.
requested to perform a series of tests on samples The interpretation of the test results on reconsti-
of Toyoura sand (D,, = 0.164 mm, U, = 1.46) tuted samples is discussed below with reference to
prepared at relative densities of 50% and 80% by its practical application.

356 K. ISHIHARA
Moist placement and dry deposition are intro-

duced below as methods to prepare samples in
laboratory tests. The moist tamping used here is
roughly the same procedure as moist placement,
but the air pluviation differs from the dry deposi-
tion procedure in that the sand is air pluviated
from a certain height, whereas the sand is placed
from zero height in dry deposition.
CYCLIC RESISTANCE OF IN SITU DEPOSITS

G 0.1
u”
OF SAND
In view of the diversity of cyclic strength of 1 10 100 lO(
Number of cycles to 5% DA cwol strain
sand samples reconstituted by different methods
of preparation, it has been recognized that depos- Fig. 5. Cyclic strength of undisturbed samples of sand
its of sands in the field may exhibit varying resist- (Yoshimi et al., 1989)
ance to seismic load application. Thus, there have
been increasing efforts to recover samples as per-
always needed in order to evaluate precisely the
fectly undisturbed as possible from in situ sand
performance of in situ deposits of sands during
deposits and to test them in the laboratory under
earthquakes.
conditions representative of those in the field. The
in situ techniques used to recover samples of
sands from below the groundwater table are CYCLIC RESISTANCE OF SILTY SANDS
divided into two groups: tube sampling and Liquefaction is a state of particle suspension
ground freezing. The tube-sampling technique has resulting from release of contacts between par-
been shown to be useful for the recovery of undis- ticles of sands constituting a deposit. Therefore,
turbed samples from loose deposits of sands, but the type of soil most susceptible to liquefaction is
adverse effects due to sample disturbance become one in which the resistance to deformation is
pronounced with increasing sand density mobilized by friction between particles under the
(Ishihara, 1985). influence of confining pressure. When the soil is
The ground-freezing method has been devel- fine-grained or contains some amount of fines,
oped instead, and used successfully to recover cohesion or adhesion tends to develop between
high-quality undisturbed samples even from fine particles, making it difficult to separate them.
dense deposits of sands. In a comprehensive Consequently, a sand containing some fines gen-
investigation by Yoshimi, Tokimatsu, Kaneko & erally shows a greater resistance to liquefaction.
Makihara (1984) and Yoshimi, Tokimatsu & However, this tendency depends on the nature of
Hosaka (1989), undisturbed samples were recov- the fines contained in the sand. If the fines com-
ered by the freezing technique from in situ sand prise minerals with a dry surface texture free from
deposits in Niigata. At the same time, a manmade adhesion, individual particles will separate
fill was provided in a large bin 4 m wide, 6 m readily, therefore the sand containing such fines
long and 5 m deep by letting the sand sediment will show as great a potential to liquefaction as
underwater. Undisturbed samples were also clean sand. A typical example of such fines is the
obtained from this freshly deposited fill by means tailings materials produced as residue in the con-
of the freezing method. A series of cyclic triaxial centration process of ore in the mining industry.
tests were conducted on the undisturbed samples Since the tailings essentially comprise ground-up
thus obtained (Yoshimi et al., 1989). The outcome rocks, they preserve the hardness of parent rocks
of the test programme is shown in Fig. 5: for with dry surface. Therefore, the rock flour, in its
clean sands with relative densities of about 50% water-saturated condition, does not possess sig-
and 80%, the cyclic resistance of undisturbed nificant cohesion and behaves as if it were clean
samples from the in situ deposit is about twice as sand. Thus, tailings have been shown to exhibit as
great as the cyclic resistance of the sample from low a resistance to liquefaction as clean sand
the newly deposited sand fill. The cyclic strength (Ishihara, 1985).
of in situ deposits is thus considered to vary The degree of liquefiability of sand containing
greatly, depending on ageing and inherent fabric more or less cohesive fines such as those found in
structure of sands created under different deposi- fluvial deposits has been investigated in labor-
tional conditions. The test results on reconstitut- atory tests by Ishihara, Sodekawa & Tanaka
ed samples should therefore be considered not to (1978), who showed that with increasing content
reflect the true behaviour of in situ sands, and of fines, the cyclic resistance of sand tends to
tests on high-quality undisturbed samples are increase to a certain extent in its normally con-

One method to accomplish this is to take

advantage of the penetration resistance of the
standard penetration test (SPT), which has found
worldwide use in the investigation of in situ char-
acteristics of soil deposits. There are basically two
approaches for establishing the correlation of the
blow count value N of the SPT with the cyclic
strength of soils in the field. The first approach is
based on investigation of whether or not in situ
n:Loam I
soil deposits have actually developed liquefaction
during past earthquakes. With an intensity of
.: Undisturbed
shaking estimated by some appropriate pro-
cedure, values of cyclic stress ratio believed to
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Plasticity index , Ip have occurred in in situ soil deposits during an
earthquake can be estimated and compared with
Fig. 6. Effects of plasticity index on the cyclic strength
of fines-containing sand
the penetration resistance of a sandy soil at any
depth of an in situ deposit. Since it is known
whether or not liquefaction-induced ground
damage has occurred, it is possible to establish a
solidated state, but to a greater extent if over- threshold relation between the cyclic stress ratio
consolidated. This tendency is expected, because and the N value of the SPT test. Such an
adhesion between fine particles tends to prevent approach was developed by Seed (1979) on the
the separation of individual particles when the basis of a vast number of field performance data
sand is about to liquefy. Thus, sand containing on sand deposits exposed to strong shaking
such somewhat plastic fines generally exhibits a during recent earthquakes. The relation derived
higher resistance to liquefaction. However, since by Seed, Idriss & Arango (1983) based on more
the effects of fines are manifested in various ways, comprehensive data is shown in Fig. 7, which
depending on the nature of the fines, it would be plots the cyclic stress ratio causing initial lique-
very useful to have a key parameter capable of
specifically quantifying the liquefaction character-
istics of fines-containing sands. It is commonly
observed that relative density fails to be an
appropriate index parameter if the fines content is
greater than about 50%.
Compilation of several series of laboratory
tests has shown that the most important index
property influencing the cyclic strength is the
plasticity index of the fines contained in the sand
(Ishihara & Koseki, 1989). This is clearly demon-
strated in the results summarized in Fig. 6, where
the cyclic strength is plotted against the plasticity
index I, of the materials used in the tests. The
cyclic strength does not change much for the low
plasticity range, below I, = 10, but increases
thereafter with increasing plasticity index.
EVALUATION OF LIQUEFACTION
RESISTANCE BY SPT AND CPT
Recovery of high-quality undisturbed samples
and laboratory testing is the most reliable pro-
cedure for accurate evaluation of the cyclic
strength of sand. However, obtaining sand
samples from deposits below the groundwater
table is a costly operation, and can be justified
only for an important construction project. 0 10 20 30 40
Normolized N-value , Nt=0833(N~)60
Therefore, a simpler and more economically feas-
ible procedure to assess the cyclic resistance of Fig. 7. Summary chart for evaluation of tbe cyclic
sand needs to be established. strength of sands based OIIthe normalized SPT N value

358 K. ISHIHARA
faction against the normalized N value. The three bridge design (Tatsuoka, Iwasaki, Tokida,
kinds of stress ratio are shown on the y-axis, Yasuda, Hirose, Imai & Kon-no, 1980) is
based on past studies indicating these three stress
ratios to be approximately equal
= O.O676JN, + 0.225 log,,
for 0.04 mm < D,, < 0.6 mm (2a)
where ~~~is the amplitude of average shear stress

taken over the time history of seismic motions. = O.O676JN, - 0.05
&lax,JcrV’ denotes the amplitude of maximum
shear stress required to cause liquefaction. The for 0.6 mm < D,, < 1.5 mm (2b)
N, value plotted on the x-axis is obtained by cor-
recting a measured N value to that corresponding where D,, is the mean particle diameter in milli-
to an overburden pressure of 1 kgf/cm* = 98 kPa. metres. N, is obtained through the correction
is used to indicate explicitly the factor C, , defined as
In Fig. 7, Vi),,
blow count value obtained with a driving energy
1.7
60% of the theoretical free-fall energy of the SPT N,=C,N c, = ~
hammer. The SPT practice in the USA is con- trV’+ 0.7
sidered to employ this level of energy on average.
where 0”’ is the effective overburden pressure in
Rate of energy transmission in Japanese practice
kgf/cm*.
is considered to be 1.2 times as great as in US
The cyclic strength obtained from equation (2)
practice, therefore the relation N, z 0.833 (N,),,
is plotted against N, in Fig. 7 for typical grain
can be used to convert the N value of SPT
sizes of D,, = 0.15 mm and 0.35 mm. Equation
between the two practices as indicated on the
(2) was originally derived in the form of a linear
x-axis of Fig. 7.
correlation between the laboratory-determined
The second method to establish a correlation
cyclic strength and relative density D,. It was
between the cyclic strength and N value is to
rewritten later in the form of equation (2) by use
collect a large number of laboratory test data on
of the relation D, = 16,/N,. Therefore equation
the cyclic strength of undisturbed soil samples
(2) is valid only in the range of relative density
recovered from deposits of known penetration
less than about 70%, where the cyclic strength is
resistance. An empirical correlation between these
related linearly to the relative density. In terms of
two quantities can easily be established: one of
SPT blow count, equation (2) should be con-
the relations incorporated in the Japanese code of
sidered to hold true for the N, < 20.
Similar attempts were made by Kokusho,
Yoshida & Esashi (1983) on the basis of a vast
body of laboratory test data on clean sands. Rela-
tions based on a large body of field performance
data obtained mainly in Japan were proposed by
Shibata (1981) and Tokimatsu & Yoshimi (1983),
and they are also shown in Fig. 7. On the basis of
recent large earthquakes in China, the criterion
for identifying sandy deposits as being susceptible
Normolized cone reslstonce,qcl(MF’a)
Fig. 8. Summary chart for evaluation of the cyclic Fig. 9. Definition of an increment of N, value, allowing
strength of sands based on the normalized CPT qcvalue for the effects of fines

or immune to liquefaction was presented in the given a correlation such as equation (2) in terms
form of a code requirement. Through some of a parameter associated with grading such as
numerical manipulation (Ishihara, 1990) the fines content F, or average diameter D,,, it is
Chinese criterion can be expressed as possible to determine the amount of the shift AN,
shown in Fig. 9 as a function of fines content. The
75,ax I value of AN, is interpreted as a decrease in N,
= A = 6 (9.5N, + 0.466N12)
6”’
value for clean sands so as to have the same
cyclic strength as silty sands. Thus, if the cyclic
(4) strength for fines-containing sands is f(N,, F,),
the increment AN, is determined as
This relation is also shown in Fig. 7. From the
cluster of curves proposed by various researchers,
it is apparent that the relations fall in approx- f(N, - AN,, F,) = f(N,, 0) (5)
imately the same range for N, = 10-25, where Introduction of this requirement into an empiri-
actual data were available in abundance. cal correlation such as equation (2) gives an
In view of the increasing popularity of the cone explicit expression for AN,, but it is also possible
penetration test (CPT), it has become desirable to to read AN, directly from a family of curves such
establish a relation between CPT tip resistance qc
as that shown in Fig. 8 compiled for different
and the cyclic strength, analogous to that devel- values of fines content. The increment AN, thus
oped for the SPT N value. Based on compilation obtained from the compiled data by Seed & De
of a large body of field performance data, Alba (1986) is plotted in Fig. 10. By connection of
Robertson & Campanella (1985) proposed corre- these points, a curve is drawn in Fig. 10 that can
lations for clean sands and silty sands as shown be used for practical purposes. The same argu-
in Fig. 8, where the cone tip resistance is ment can be developed to obtain the increment
expressed in the form of qcl, a value normalized AN, associated with residual strength. In this
to an effective overburden pressure of 0”’ = 1 case, the value of AN, implies the change of N,
kgf/cm’ (98 kPa). Similar correlations were estab- value required by fines-containing sand to have
lished by Seed & De Alba (1986) and Shibata & the same residual strength as clean sand. The
Teparaska (1988), in which the effects of fines increment related to the cyclic strength is different
content are allowed for in terms of the median from that associated with the residual strength. A
grain size. The correlations for the case of appar- curve of AN, for the residual strength was
ently clean sands with D,, 2 0.25 mm and for obtained from the values suggested by Seed &
silty sands with D 5. < 0.15 mm proposed in these Harder (1990), and is shown in Fig. 10: its use is
works are shown in two groups in Fig. 8. discussed below. The curves for the increment
In most of the correlations epitomized above,
Aqci similarly obtained are shown in Fig. 11.
effects of the presence of fines are allowed for in These curves can be used to estimate the cyclic
such a way that the penetration resistance strength or residual strength based on in situ
becomes smaller with increasing fines content if CPT data.
soils possess equal cyclic strength. At constant The method of correction described above is
penetration resistance, soils are observed to have based on the assumption that the effects of fines
increasing cyclic strength with increasing fines can be taken into account in terms of grading
content as shown schematically in Fig. 9. Thus, parameters such as fines content and mean diam-
10-
5 Based on
- cyct,c strength
residual strength
i 201 / Based on
residual strength
I
/, I
0 10 20 30 40 50
Fines content , FC P/J
0 10 20 30 40 50
Fig. 10. Increment AN, value as a function of fines

Fines content , FC C%)
content Fig. 11. Increment Aqcl as a function of fines content

360 K. ISHIHARA
mined. If the plasticity index of the fines is

found to be greater than I,, = 10, further cor-
rection must be made for the cyclic strength
by use of the chart in Fig. 12. Experience has
shown that most sandy soils in alluvial depos-
its or manmade fills possess a plasticity index
less than 15, therefore, the correction in this
regard may not change the cyclic strength
appreciably.
01 10 20
Plasticity
30
Index ,
40
Ip
50 69
ANALYSIS OF LIQUEFACTION
The cyclic shear stress induced at any point in
level ground during an earthquake due to the
Fig. 12. Chart for modification of cyclic strength allow- upward propagation of shear waves can be
ing for the effects of plasticity index assessed by means of a simple procedure proposed
by Seed & Idriss (1971). If a soil column to a
depth z is assumed to move horizontally and if
eter. However, as pointed out above, the grading
the peak horizontal acceleration on the ground
of soils is not necessarily an essential factor influ-
encing the cyclic strength: the nature of the fines, surface is amsx, the maximum shear stress 7mar
acting at the bottom of the soil column is given
as represented by plasticity index, is a more
physically meaningful parameter governing the by
strength mobilized in cyclic loading. If this effect t max = amaxrd Yt zh (64
is to be incorporated into the cyclic strength-
penetration resistance relation, it is necessary to rd = 1 - 0.0152 (6b)
know how the penetration resistance is influenced where y, is unit weight of the soil, g is the gravita-
by the plasticity of fines. However, there are no tional acceleration and rd is a stress reduction
relevant test data. coefficient to allow for the deformability of the
Under the circumstances described, the only soil column (rd < 1). Seed & Idriss (1971)
way at present to elucidate this relation would be expressed the value of rd in a graphical form, but
first to evaluate the cyclic strength of in situ soil Iwasaki, Tatsuoka, Tokida & Yasuda (1978)
deposits through the procedures described above, recommended the use of the empirical formula
where effects of fines are allowed for in terms of given in equation (6b), where z is in metres. Divi-
the grading indices, and then to modify it in sion of both sides of equation (6a) by the effective
accordance with a relation such as that shown in
vertical stress a,’ gives
Fig. 6. In utilizing this relation, it would be expe-
dient to normalize the cyclic strength at any plas- 7max a max 0”
ticity to the cyclic strength at low plasticity index -= , -‘d, (7)
0” 9 0”
(< 10). The curve modified in this way is shown in
Fig. 12. With the background information as where G” = y,z is the total vertical stress. Equa-
given above, the procedures to determine the tion (7) has been used widely to assess the magni-
cyclic strength of the soil in a given deposit can tude of shear stress induced in a soil element
be summarized as follows. during an earthquake. One of the advantages of
equation (6) is that all the vast amount of infor-
(4 By means of SPT or CPT, penetration resist- mation on the horizontal accelerations that has
ance (N, or s,i) is obtained, together with the ever been recorded on the ground surface can be
fines content F, or mean diameter D,, for the used directly to assess the shear stress induced by
soils in question, throughout the depth at a seismic shaking in the horizontal plane within the
given site. If necessary, the plasticity index of ground.
the fines fraction must be determined. Liquefaction can be analysed by a simple com-
(4 If the material is identified as clean sand with parison of the seismically induced shear stress
fines content less than 5%, the cyclic strength with the similarly expressed shear stress required
is determined from the chart shown in Fig. 7 to cause initial liquefaction or whatever level of
or Fig. 8. If more than 5% fines is shown to shear strain amplitude is deemed intolerable in
exist in the soil, measured N, or qEl values design. Usually, the occurrence of 5% DA axial
should be increased based on the chart shown strain is adopted to define the cyclic strength con-
in Fig. 10 or Fig. 11. Then, by use of the chart sistent with 100% pore water pressure build-up as
in Fig. 7 or Fig. 8, the cyclic strength is deter- mentioned above. The externally applied cyclic

SPT N-value D% (mm)

IO 20 30 40 0.2 0.4 0.6
Kawogishi - cho
Fig. 13. Example of liquefaction analysis
stress ratio can be evaluated by equation (7); the SETTLEMENTS IN SAND DEPOSITS
corresponding strength can be obtained by any of FOLLOWING LIQUEFACTION
the procedures mentioned in the previous section. When saturated sand deposits are subjected to
Thus, the liquefaction potential of a sand deposit shaking during an earthquake, pore water pres-
is evaluated in terms of factor of safety F, , defined sure is known to build up, leading to liquefaction
as, or loss of strength. The pore water pressure then
starts to dissipate mainly towards the ground
surface, accompanied by some volume change of
the sand deposits which is manifested on the
ground surface as settlements.
The volume-change characteristics of sand due
If the factor of safety is < 1, liquefaction is said to to drainage of pore water pressures induced by
take place. Otherwise, liquefaction does not undrained cyclic loading have been studied in
occur. A typical example of the liquefaction laboratory tests by Lee & Albaisa (1974), Tat-
analysis made for a deposit at Kawagishi-cho in suoka, Sasaki & Yamada (1984) and Nagase &
Niigata using the correlation in equation (2) is Ishihara (1988). From these studies it has become
shown in Fig. 13, for the recorded peak horizon- apparent that the volumetric strain after liquefac-
tal acceleration of nmax = 0.169. The liquefaction tion is influenced not only by the density, but,
is shown to have developed in the sand sediment more importantly, by the maximum shear strain
down to a depth of about 10 m. This result is con- that the sand has undergone during the applica-
sistent with what was observed on the ground tion of cyclic loads. On this basis, Tokimatsu &
surface at the time of the 1964 earthquake. The Seed (1987) attempted to deploy a methodology
factor of safety obtained in this way is generally to predict the post-liquefaction settlements of the
used to identify the depth to which liquefaction is ground. An alternative procedure for estimation
expected to occur in a future earthquake. This of the ground settlements was explored by Ishi-
information is necessary if some countermeasure hara & Yoshimine (1991) by way of the maximum
is to be implemented in an in situ deposit of shear strain, which is a key parameter influencing
sands. the post-liquefaction volumetric strain. This

362 K. ISHIHARA
stress ratio tends to increase with increasing

2 5 shear-strain amplitude specified to define the
Clean sands
6
. cyclic softening. In other words, a larger magni-
tude of cyclic resistance can actually be mobilized
over the nominally determined cyclic strength if
more than 5% DA axial shear strain is allowed to
60 “I.
take place in the triaxial test samples. Conse-
7 0 7%
quently, when the factor of safety for liquefaction
8 0 “I.
is defined as indicated by equation (8) for the 5%
90 %
DA axial shear strain, cases often occur where the
computed factor of safety becomes less than
I_
unity. As already defined, a factor of safety of
0 2 1, 6 8 10 12 14 16 unity implies a state of cyclic softening producing
Scngle amphtude of shear strain , k’hax
(‘1.)
a 5% DA axial strain, and a factor of safety less
Fig. 14. Post-liquefaction volumetric strain plotted than unity means that the soil has been softened
against maximum shear strain to a state in which more than 5% DA axial strain
is produced. Thus, the factor of safety F, is con-
sidered to be a function of the DA axial strain
methodology is based on two basic concepts and, conversely, if the factor of safety is known
derived from results of extensive laboratory tests. for a sand deposit at a given site, the DA axial
The first is the relation of the volume change of strain developing in the sand during liquefaction
saturated sand and maximum shear strains. The can be determined. Half this shear strain, i.e. the
outcome of simple shear tests performed in this single-amplitude axial strain, is regarded as the
context on clean sand with various relative den- maximum shear strain that the sand has under-
sities is shown in Fig. 14, which plots the volu- gone in the course of liquefaction during earth-
metric strain during the reconsolidation E, against quakes.
the maximum shear strain Y,,, experienced by the The relation in the above context of the factor
sample during the undrained irregular loading. of safety and the shear strain amplitude can be
The developed pore water pressure became equal established on the basis of available data
to the initial vertical stress when the amplitude of obtained in laboratory tests. Simple shear test
irregular loads was sufficiently large to produce data on a clean sand obtained by Nagase (1985)
the maximum shear strain of about 3%, as indi- were processed in this context as represented by a
cated in Fig. 14. This is consistent with the results family of curves in Fig. 15, where the factor of
of many other tests indicating that cyclic soften- safety is shown against the maximum shear strain
ing or initial liquefaction with 100% pore water Ymax for the sand with different relative densities.
pressure build-up occurs accompanied by Fig. 15 shows that, at a given value of factor of
maximum shear strain of the order of 2%-3%. It safety less than unity, the larger the relative
is important to note in Fig. 14 that, even when density, the smaller will be the maximum shear
the maximum shear strain increases beyond strain. The family of curves in Fig. 15 can be used
2%-3% (the value required to cause initial to assess the maximum amplitude of shear strain
liquefaction), the volumetric strain during recon- for a known factor of safety value. If the value of
solidation tends to increase significantly.
In order to estimate the liquefaction-induced
settlement of a sand deposit using the correlation
shown in Fig. 14, it is necessary to know the
maximum shear strain that the sand will undergo
during the application of shaking in a future
earthquake. This can be determined based on the
second concept, as follows. As mentioned above,
the cyclic strength has customarily been defined
as the cyclic stress ratio required for a DA axial
strain of 5% to be developed in the sample in the
triaxial tests. In the case of very loose sand, the
sand starts to deform greatly as soon as such a
state of softening is encountered, and therefore
IL I I
whatever amount of DA strain may be used, 0 2 4 6 a 10 12 I
14 ii
almost the same value is obtained for the cyclic Single omplltude of shear strain , Lax (“/.I
strength. However, in the case of medium dense Fig. 15. Relation of factor of safety and maximum shear
to dense sand, this does not apply; the cyclic strain

maximum shear strain is hence known, the post- maximum shear strain becomes fairly large there
liquefaction volumetric strain can be determined is no change in the volumetric strain. This is
through the use of the established curves shown reflected in Fig. 16 in such a way that the post-
in Fig. 14. liquefaction volumetric strain becomes indepen-
At this stage, if the factor of safety is known by dent of the factor of safety when it is very small.
way of the conventional method of liquefaction In Fig. 16, the curves for small relative densities
analysis, it will be possible to circumvent the (<40%) and the portion of the curves with
determination of the maximum shear strain and maximum shear strains less than 5% are drawn
to estimate the amount of post-liquefaction volu- approximately, without many background data.
metric strain directly. For this purpose, com- More exact curves will require the collection of
binations of the factor of safety F, and the more comprehensive test data.
volumetric strain E, giving equal magnitude of The settlements of the ground surface resulting
maximum shear strain were read from each from liquefaction of sand deposits during earth-
family of curves shown in Figs 14 and 15. The quakes can be estimated if the factor of safety and
combinations of F, and E, thus obtained are relative density of sand at each depth of the
plotted to establish a family of relations as shown deposit are known. The relative density of in situ
in Fig. 16, where the maximum shear strain y,., sand deposits can be assessed from a knowledge
is taken as a tracking parameter. If these curves of the penetration resistance in the SPT or the
are to be used for practical purposes, the axial CPT. Several attempts have been made to estab-
strain in the triaxial mode should be converted to lish an empirical correlation between the relative
shear strain in the simple shear mode according density D, and N value in the SPT. From an
to the relation y,,, = 1.5~~~~~. In the case of extensive survey of many sets of existing in situ
constant-amplitude axial strain in the triaxial test, data on the N value of the SPT, this correlation
&rmaxis taken to be equal to cr. The maximum was expressed by Skempton (1986) in a general
shear strain yma, indicated in Fig. 16 is the one form as
converted thus.
As can be seen in Fig. 14, an upper limit exists N = (a + ba,‘)(D,/lOO)* (9)
in the reconsolidation volumetric strain for each
where CT”’is the effective overburden pressure in
given density, and therefore even when the
kgf/cm* and a and b are constants that depend
mainly on the grain size. In current practice in
Japan, it is customary to use the formula pro-
posed by Meyerhof (1957) which assumes a = 16
,,O~
1.8
and b = 23. The choice of these constants
rely to some extent on judgement,
may
as discussed
below, but the above values seem to be a gross
average for clean sands and silty sands (see Fig.
1.6 78). In this section, the formula by Meyerhof is
used to estimate the relative density. Putting
’ = 1 kgf/cm* in equation (9), with a = 16 and
?= 23, gives
Dr= 16JN, (10)

Similar attempts have been made by Jamiolk-
owski, Ladd, Germaine & Lancellotta (1985) to
establish an empirical correlation in the following
general form between the relative density and q,
value in the CPT
D, = -A + B log (qc/ Jo”‘) (11)

While greater values were suggested by
Jamiolkowski et al. (1985), Tatsuoka, Zhou, Sato
& Shibuya (1990) recommended the use of
A = 85 and B = 76, based on their test results
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 using a calibration chamber. If these constants
Post-liquefoctlan volumetric strain , EV[n) are used, the equation (11) is modified as follows
on the basis of the same reasoning as above
Fig. 16. Chart for determination of the post-liquefaction
volumetric strain as a function of factor of safety D, = -85 + 76 log qel (12)

364 K. ISHIHARA
The relative density was converted to the value of 17 October 1989 and caused extensive damage
N, and qcl by use of equations (10) and (12), and not only in the epicentral region but as far north
is shown in Fig. 16. The conversion of the N, and as the bay area of San Francisco. Among several
qcl values through the use of equations (10) and areas of severe damage, the Marina District was a
(12) implies that a relation is implicitly assumed microcosm representing typical types of
between the N, and qc, values. As can be checked liquefaction-linked damage. A detailed account of
numerically, qcl/N1 takes a value of 0.6-0.8 for a the historical development of this area and its
small value of N, = 5-10. Although this ratio is ground conditions, and the damage to buried
higher than a similar ratio proposed by lifelines, is given by O’Rourke, Gowdy, Stewart &
Robertson & Campanella (1985), q,,/N, given by Pease (1991) and O’Rourke, Pease & Stewart
equations (10) and (12) appears to be reasonable, (1992). One of the favourable aspects of this
particularly for loose sand deposits with N, < 10, investigation is that it includes well-documented
as verified by Ohya, Iwasaki & Wakamatsu records of the ground settlements monitored
(1985) based on most of the in situ data in Japan. before and after the earthquake. It is thus of
With reference to the chart in Fig. 16, the set- interest to examine the settlements actually mea-
tlement of the ground due to liquefaction of sand sured in the light of the prediction based on the
deposits can be estimated simply as follows. First, proposed methodology. According to the report
the factor of safety against liquefaction F, is by O’Rourke et al. (1992), three types of sandy
evaluated for each layer of sand deposits at a deposit exist in the Marina District, namely
given site, on the basis of information on the natural beach sand, land-tipped and barge-tipped
intensity of shaking in terms of the acceleration fills, and hydraulic fill. As shown in Fig. 17, the
and the density of sands in the deposit. The pro- land-tipped fills were placed in the 1890s in front
cedures to evaluate the factor of safety are of the beach and behind the sea wall constructed
described in detail above. With the known factor of rock to enclose the sea on the north side. The
of safety, the chart in Fig. 16 is used to determine enclosed lagoon area, about 600 m wide, was
the post-liquefaction volumetric strain E, for each infilled around 1912 by pumping of dredged soils
layer of sand deposits where the N, value or qcl from bay deposits offshore. Subsurface conditions
value is known. With the volumetric strains were investigated extensively by means of the
established for each layer throughout the depth of SPT and CPT before and after the earthquake.
the deposit, the amount of settlement on the However, because of a higher degree of resolution
ground surface can be obtained by addition of the in the identification of soil types through the
vertical displacements produced in each layer. depth, the use of the CPT has an advantage over
the SPT, particularly in the hydraulic fill deposits
such as those in the Marina District, where the
CASES OF EARTHQUAKE-INDUCED GROUND composition of the ground is highly stratified.
SUBSIDENCE Thus, the estimate of settlement is made here
Loma Prieta earthquake (1989) using the CPT data.
The Loma Prieta earthquake, with a magni- The locations of CPT soundings are shown in
tude of M = 7.1, struck Northern California on Fig. 17. It is reported that the natural beach sand
Fig. 17. Subsurface conditions and locations of CPT soundings at the

Marina District, San Francisco (O’Rourke et al., 1992)

eplh Soil Soi I CPT Cl, (MPa: i Factor of safety , Fl Volumetric strain , EvW)
k-n) type pfile
I 10
I I
4.x:‘.
:,.:.,::+:;
:
Land- -
_ lipped &
:.~I:.~,.;.
fill ;‘+:;,I:.:
:.:: ,..,..
2 ‘A ..f.
._T :.
:‘. I’_’
_’ L
..i+,. _’
4 -Hydraulic gi:g
fill *
._l ._
,.._.
:__.:+.
6- .: ._..-,.
. .. . . .
.;+ ;
.‘.‘7y:.
Total settlement
: 7.3 cm
Fig. 18. Example of calculation of the ground settlement
and land-tipped fills are relatively consistent in over the full thickness to yield an estimated settle-
composition with depth, being predominantly fine ment on the ground surface. A typical example of
sand with a median grain size of 0.2-0.4 mm. such a calculation is shown in Fig. 18 for a site
Their fines content is less than 5%. However, the 8 representative of the hydraulic fill area. In this
hydraulic fill is composed of siltier soils with area, the cone tip resistance is as low as 3 MPa,
average fines content not less than 15%. It is as shown in Fig. 18, and hence the settlement
hence assumed in the settlement analysis below appears to have been preponderant in this loose
that the median grain size for the natural sand, layer. The outcome of settlement computations as
land-tipped fill and hydraulic fill is D,, = 0.3 above for all the sites of CPT sounding in the
mm, 0.2 mm and 0.1 mm respectively. The Marina District is shown in Fig. 19: the observed
analysis was made by first entering the measured settlements from the contour lines shown in Fig.
qcl value in the empirical formula (equation (12)) 17 are plotted for comparison. The agreement is
to estimate the relative density of each soil layer satisfactory, despite the relatively small order of
at the sites of CPT soundings. With the relative magnitude of settlements associated with this case
density thus obtained, the corresponding N, study. Also, while the sand dune area underwent
value was determined using equation (10). With the smallest amount of settlement, the largest set-
this N, value, and the median grain size assumed tlements took place in the area of the hydraulic
as above, equation (2) was used to estimate the fill, where the damage to buried pipelines and
cyclic stress ratio required to cause liquefaction houses was most severe and pervasive.
or cyclic softening. The maximum cyclic stress
ratio induced by seismic shaking during the 1989 Luzon earthquake, the Philippines (1990)
Loma Prieta earthquake was calculated for A destructive earthquake of M = 7.8 occurred
various depths of the deposits by use of equation on 16 July 1990 in the middle of Luzon Island in
(7), assuming a peak acceleration of 0.2g on the the Philippines. The low-lying areas in the coastal
ground surface: a value consistent with the peak region along Lingayen Bay suffered extensive
horizontal acceleration recorded nearby. Then the damage due to liquefaction in the loose deposits
factor of safety was computed for each depth by of silty sands. Most seriously devastated was the
use of equation (8). city area of Dagupan, where hundreds of five- to
Given the factor of safety and the qcl value, as seven-storey buildings tilted and sunk substan-
above, it is possible to estimate from Fig. 16 the tially into the ground softened by the liquefac-
vertical strain following dissipation of excess pore tion. In the eastern coastline of Lingayen Bay,
water pressure during the earthquake. The verti- lowland areas were flooded as a result of land
cal strains determined in this way are integrated subsidence caused by the earthquake. Fig. 20

366 K. ISHIHARA
emerged here and there in the vicinity of the

sunken area (Tokimatsu, Midorikawa, Tamura,
Kuwayama & Abe, 1991). The village of Alaska is
located in an area of backswamp enclosed by a
sand bar along the coast, as is apparent in the
topography indicated in Fig. 20. Another area of
substantial subsidence was the village of Narva-
can, south of Alaska, located at the tip of a sand
bar (Fig. 20), where the subsidence was also up to
1.0 m.
In an attempt to determine the cause of the
subsidence, several borings were conducted after
the earthquake at the locations indicated in Fig.
20; the results of soil exploration are shown in
Fig. 22. These figures show that sand deposits
with low N values certainly exist down to depths
of about 10 m, but the N value in deeper deposits
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 is relatively large.
Observed settlement (cm) On the basis of the SPT N value obtained in
Fig. 19. Comparison of estimated settlement with settle- the soil exploration, settlement was calculated fol-
ments observed in the Marina District at tbe time of the lowing the procedures described above. The com-
1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake puted settlement was about 15 cm for Alaska village
and about 20 cm for the Narvacan area: these are
small fractions of the observed settlements. The
shows the Alaska area, which was submerged in actual causes of such large settlements resulting
the sea due to ground subsidence claimed to have from the earthquake of 1990 are not yet known,
been up to 1.0-2.0 m. An aerial view of Alaska is but it is speculated that considerable densification
shown in Fig. 21. The subsidence was accompa- had taken place in originally very loose deposits
nied by a number of large sand volcanoes which of sandy soils, leading to significant increases in
Fig. 20. Alaska and Narvacan and surrounding areas, the Philippines

368 K. ISHIHARA
Fig. 22. Soil profiles at locations of the land subsidence in the villages of Alaska and Narvacan
deposition and water sedimentation (details are sample by this method is higher at the start of
given in Appendix 1). The Japanese standard consolidation than the value of the maximum
sand called Toyoura sand was used in this study. void ratio of emax = 0.977 determined by the
It consists of sub-angular particles, and has a JSSMFE method. The consolidation curves of the
mean diameter D,, = 0.17 mm and a uniformity loosest possible samples obtained by dry deposi-
coefficient of U, = 1.7, as seen in the grain-size tion and water sedimentation are also shown in
distribution curve (Fig. 23). Fig. 24. The void ratios attained are substantially
Effects of the fabric seem to be manifested most lower than the void ratio obtained by moist
conspicuously in the form of void ratio of the placement. The results of isotropic consolidation
samples prepared by different methods. Therefore, on the sample prepared by moist placement but
it is first of interest to determine the highest void compacted to the densest possible state by
ratio that can be produced by each of the three tamping of the sand in the forming mould are
methods of sample preparation. The highest void shown in Fig. 24. It is seen that the void ratio at
ratio at an initial stage, attained by the moist the start of consolidation is only slightly larger
placement method, was found to be 1.04 for than the minimum void ratio emin = 0.597 deter-
Toyoura sand (Fig. 24). The relation between the
void ratio and effective confining stress during the 7’ “l”‘Il’II’l”“I_
isotropic consolidation is also shown in Fig. 24, lsotmplc consolidation cuw?s for the Loosest
which shows that the highest void ratio of the Ilo- and densest powble states of packing for
Toyoura sand
\ -0ensest
state-
OM”“““““““““’
0 1-o 20 3.0 40
0 ,:
0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0
Effectlveconflnlng stress, p’=(CTj’+ZD;)/3
(MPa)
Grain size (mm I Fig. 24. Isotropic consolidation curves of samples of Toyoura
Fig. 23. Grain size distribution curves of clean sands sand prepared by three methods

mined by the JSSMFE method, and that the stress-strain behaviour at an early stage of
change in void ratio of the densest sample during loading, the samples tend to exhibit almost iden-
isotropic consolidation is generally very small tical behaviour at a later stage of loading, where
over the wide range of mean principal stress used the developed axial strain becomes as large as
in the present study. Similar consolidation curves 25%. In this largely deformed state, the deviator
were obtained for the densest possible samples stress is seen to stay at an approximately constant
prepared by dry deposition and water sedimenta- value of 80 kPa, with an effective confining stress
tion. Thus, for the densest state of sand, the iso- of about 60 kPa. The state of the sand deforming
tropic consolidation curve is determined almost continually, at constant volume and under con-
uniquely, no matter what method is employed for stant shear stress and confining stress, is called
preparation of the test sample. By any method of the steady state (Castro, 1975; Castro & Poulos,
sample preparation, any initial state with pre- 1977). The basic concept of the steady state envis-
assigned void ratio and confining stress could be aged for sand is essentially the same as the critical
produced in the sample by controlling the state defined for clay (Schofield & Wroth, 1968).
tapping energy during sand deposition, but the The shear stress of a sand mobilized at the steady
widest range in void ratio that can be attained is state has been called the steady-state strength or
by means of moist placement, and the narrowest residual strength. One of the characteristic fea-
range by means of water sedimentation. This is tures of this test series is the fact that the stress
illustrated schematically in Fig. 25. path goes upward to the right after the shear
stress has reached a minimum value. This state of
minimum shear stress is called the state of phase
STEADY STATE OF SAND transformation (Ishihara, Tatsuoka & Yasuda,
The samples of Toyoura sand prepared by 1975), because it defines a transient state in which
moist placement have been shown to produce the the change from contractive to dilative behaviour
widest range of void ratio. Thus, both contrac- occurs in the sand. In a sample much looser than
tive and dilative characteristics can be observed D, = 16%, the dilative behaviour never becomes
in such samples during the subsequent loading. In apparent, and the state of phase transformation
order to examine the deformation behaviour of coincides with the steady state.
sand from a broader point of view, it was there- The results of another series of tests on denser
fore considered highly desirable to prepare all the samples prepared by moist placement at a relative
test samples by this procedure. Thus, all the density of 38% are shown in Fig. 27, where the
undrained triaxial compression tests were con- same tendency is observed in the overall behav-
ducted on samples of Toyoura sand prepared by iour with respect to the influence of the initial
the moist-placement method at relative densities confining stress on the stress-strain and pore
of I%-65%. pressure response.
The results of a series of tests on loose samples The results of other tests on dense samples of
of the Toyoura sand of relative density 16% are relative density D, = 64% are shown in Fig. 28:
shown in Fig. 26. The peak in stress-strain curves the steady state was attained at an effective con-
is prominent at large initial confining stresses, but fining stress of p’ = 2.8 MPa and a deviator stress
tends to dwindle as the initial confining stress of q = 3.6 MPa.
decreases. In contrast to the large difference in As indicated by Castro & Poulos (1977) and
the results of tests in the present study, the state
of stress of sand at a steady-steady deformation is
determined by the void ratio alone, and for the
4 sand sheared undrained, the pore water pressure
increases or decreases, depending on the initially
applied confining stress, so as to bring the effec-
tive confining stress to a unique value inherent in
the void ratio. Thus, it becomes possible to plot
the confining stress at the steady state against the
void ratio for the data sets described above, and
to draw a line that is generally referred to as the
steady-state line (SSL). If the deviator stress q is
plotted against the effective confining stress p’,
- 01 both at the steady state, an angle of interparticle
P’
( b) (cl p’ friction +,, is determined from
Fig. 25. Consolidation characteristics of samples pre-
6 sin $,,
pared by: (a) moist placement; (b) dry deposition; (c)
water sedimentation = 3 - sin #,, (13)

370 K. ISHIHARA
where M, is the ratio of q and p’ at the steady accompanied by a large strain: the sand then
state. For Toyoura sand &, was determined as changes its behaviour from contractive to dila-
31”, corresponding to M, = 1.24. tive. A similar drop in shear stress has been
observed and reported by many investigators
(Castro, 1975; Hanzawa, 1980; Mohamad &
QUASI-STEADY STATE Dobry, 1986; Been, Jefferies & Hachey, 1991;
The general behaviour described above indi- Konrad, 1990a, 1990b; Vaid, Chung & Keurbis,
cates that, if the density is great or the initial con- 1990; Georgiannou, Hight & Burland, 1991); this
fining stress is sufficiently low, the sand tends to type of behaviour has been called ‘flow with
exhibit dilative characteristics, with the shear limited deformation’.
stress rising with increasing shear strain until the One of the important aspects of this state is
steady state is reached at the end. At this ultimate that the shear stress mobilized at this moderately
state, the shear stress attains its maximum; this deformed condition is markedly smaller than the
value can be taken as the strength of the sand. stress mobilized at the ultimate steady state with
However, when the sand is loose and undergoes a much larger strains. Therefore, when the residual
large confining stress, it tends to deform fairly strength becomes of major concern in relation to
markedly at the beginning, exhibiting contractive some practical problem, the opportunity for the
behaviour, and then starts to dilate approaching sand to exhibit two different levels of strength,
the steady state at the end. An example of such a both under fairly deformed conditions, will pose a
case for Toyoura sand prepared by moist place- serious question as to which of the two should be
ment is shown in Fig. 29. It can be seen that, for taken as the residual strength. The answer will
the case of initial confining stress go’ = 0.5 MPa, differ depending on individual circumstances
a temporary drop occurs in the shear stress encountered in practice: however, most investiga-
l”“!““(“I’I~~I’I’/“l”‘.
2
-P 0155
b”
1
C%=O.l MPa
6 e = 0.917
II /
0.06MPo
I / I
0 10 20
Axial stra,n , E, (%I
(a)
0 0.01 002 0.06 0.1

Effective confmlng stress, P’=(Ui”ZUjj)/3 (MPo)
(b) (b)
Fig. 26. Undrained behaviour of loose samples of Fig. 27. Undrained behaviour of medium loose sample of
Toyoura sand Toyoura sand

tors have adopted the definition of the steady stress, as above, is governed by the void ratio and
state by considering this intermediate stage where confining stress at the time of consolidation, and
the minimum strength is encountered. It would be it could occur only in loose samples sheared from
necessary, therefore, to reconsider quantitatively large initial confining stresses. Thus, it is possible
the characteristic feature of this state of minimum to distinguish between two classes of initial state
strength. The state of minimum strength coincides of consolidation where the temporary drop in
with what is termed the point of phase transform- shear stress could or could not occur in the
ation, although it has been defined (Ishihara et samples on subsequent application of shear stress.
al., 1975) to imply a temporary state of transition Fig. 30 shows the e-p’ diagram, plotting all the
from contractive to dilative behaviour of sand in test results differentiating between the above two
a broader sense, whether or not it involves a tem- behaviours for the Toyoura sand prepared by
porary drop in shear stress. What is at issue now moist placement. A line of demarcation can be
is the particular case of phase transformation drawn through the data points separating the
where a temporary drop in shear stress takes initial conditions with and without the occurrence
place over a limited range of shear strains, as of minimum strength in the subsequent stage of
exemplified by the test data shown in Fig. 29. undrained loading. Such a boundary line is
Such a case was termed ‘the quasi-steady state’ by shown in Fig. 30, and is called the initial dividing
Alarcon-Guzman, Leonards & Chameau (1988) line (IDL). This line is not a curve projected on
and Been et al. (1991), as opposed to the conven- the e-p’ plane, but lies on this plane, as does the
tionally defined steady state which is reached at isotropic consolidation line (ICL).
larger shear strains. When a sample is sheared from an initial state
The term quasi-steady state (QSS) is used here of stress located above the IDL in the e-p‘
to signify the state of minimum shear stress as diagram, the sample exhibits a temporary drop in
already indicated. It has been recognized from a shear stress over a certain range of shear strains
number of laboratory tests that occurrence or but gains strength on further straining. If this
non-occurrence of the temporary drop in shear minimum shear stress is to be taken as the
residual strength used in stability analyses, it is
necessary to establish a rule to specify this condi-
tion. This can be done by locating a stress point
in the p’-q diagram where the QSS or minimum
strength occurs, such as the points P and Q in
Fig. 29(a) and (b). If the effective confining stress
at this stage is plotted on the e-p’ diagram, points
such as P and Q in Fig. 29(c) are obtained. A
number of points of the QSS were obtained in
this manner from a majority of test data with
varying void ratios. The outcome of such data
compilation on Toyoura sand is displayed in Fig.
31, which shows some scatter in the data points.
tv #I/l ,,,,I,,,, 1 This scatter is expected, however, in view of the
OO 10 20 30
QSS being defined as a special case of the state of
phase transformation. In general, the state of
phase transformation changes depending on the
I 1 magnitude of initial confining stress, therefore the
QSS cannot be precisely defined. However, the
state of phase transformation is least affected by
the initial confining stress if the sample is sheared
from the initial state above the IDL. Thus, it
would be possible to draw a line representing an
average condition of the QSS in the e-p’ diagram
as shown in Fig. 31 and to use it as a convenient
reference line to facilitate evaluation of the
minimum residual strength. The average line is
called the QSS line (QSSL).
The steady state at large strains was deter-
mined similarly by locating a point in the stress
Mean pr~nc~pai stress , P’=(o;: 2Ujl/3 (MPo)
path such as R in Fig. 29. The SSL established
Fig. 28. Undrained behaviour of dense sample of from the same data set is shown in Fig. 32, which
Toyoura sand includes an additional set of data obtained by

372 K. ISHIHARA
0.40- I ’ 1 , / , 1 1 / , 1 ,
(b)
0.3 5
;; 0.30-
6 cL2op
I/
CT
. o-15-
I I
, .
0.60
Effective conf,nlng stress > p=(G;+203)/3 (MPa)
0.96-
Steady state Line
/ / 1 I I I
0 010 0.20 0.30 0.40 050 0.60
Effective cont,n,ng stress , p’=@~‘+2d)/3 (MPa)
Fig. 29. Determination of the quasi-steady state (QSS)

Toyoura sand
0.70
II /IN I
0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0 5.0
Effective confining stress, p’:(S’+ZU<)/3, (MPa) Effective conflnmg stress, p’=(C&‘+2@/3, (MPa)
Fig. 30. IDL for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand: Fig. 32. SSL of Toyoura sand
solid circles indicate that the QSS was observed with the
minimum strength; open circles denote conditions
without such a decrease in shear stress
STATE INDEX
The outcome of the series of tests described
above indicates that the behaviour of sand in the
tests from below the IDL. There is less scatter in range of small to medium strains cannot be speci-
the data points to determine the SSL. The steady fied by the use of density alone, and the initial
state in undrained loading, as above, was shown confining stress at the time of consolidation
to be coincident with the steady state attained in should be regarded as playing an equally impor-
the drained application of shear stress (Verdugo, tant role. The importance of the combined influ-
1992). The QSSL and SSL established above are ence of the density and confining stress on the
shown in Fig. 33, together with the ICL and the sand behaviour was indicated by Roscoe & Poo-
IDL. The QSSL and SSL do not actually lie on rooshasb (1963) in conjunction with the planning
the e-p’ plane, but are projected on that plane; of model tests reproducing the prototype behav-
the IDL and ICL lie on the e-p’ plane. As in Fig. iour in the laboratory. It was pointed out that the
33, the QSSL always lies below the SSL in the difference between the current void ratio and the
e-p’ diagram, but they become closer as the initial void ratio at the steady state corresponding to a
confining stress becomes smaller and eventually given initial confining stress is a key factor influ-
coincident. The QSSL becomes significant only encing the behaviour of sand. This factor was
when shear stress application is started from the taken up later by Been & Jefferies (1985) as the
initial state of void ratio located above the IDL state parameter $ and used to characterize
in the e-p’ diagram. When the loading is started uniquely various responses of different sands such
from the initial state below the IDL, the QSSL as peak strength and cone penetration resistance
has no practical significance and the residual (Been, Crooks, Backer & Jefferies, 1986; Been,
strength should be evaluated based on the SSL. Jefferies, Crooks & Rothenburg, 1987).
1.10 I,’
1
0.95.
0.90-
ad
2 0.85-
2
-0 D
2 o.so- 0 +ura sand

’ 0.70
ICL
0.75-
0.60 -----------_________ AZ____
L /#I 1
0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5
Effective conflning stress, p’=(g’+2Ojj)/3, (MPa) Effective conflmng stress, p’=(9’.20$3, (MPa)
Fig. 31. QSSL for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand Fig. 33. Characteristic lines of Toyoura sand in e-log p’
diagram

374 K. ISHIHARA
of fro’ = 0.1-1.0 MPa, as illustrated by points a, b

Toyouro sand and c in the e-p’ diagram shown in Fig. 34. The
results of the tests are shown in Fig. 35: the devi-
ator stress passes over a peak and eventually
drops to zero when the sample is deformed
greatly to an axial strain of 5%-12%. Thus, with
the void ratio e = 0.93, the Toyoura sand is
shown to exhibit zero residual strength when
sheared undrained in triaxial compression. Most
other tests on looser samples with void ratios in
I
0
,
1.0
, , 2.0
,_
excess of 0.93 have indicated zero strength at the
steady state or QSS. Thus, 0.93 is considered to
Effective confinlng stress, p’:(q’+20;‘)/3. (MPa) be the minimum value of void ratio at which the
residual strength becomes equal to zero for
Fig. 34. Initial states of moist-placed samples showing Toyoura sand. This void ratio is referred to below
zero or near-zero residual strength
as the threshold void ratio, denoted by e,. It is
apparent that the residual strength becomes equal
to zero when the effective stress at the steady
According to the definition of the state param- state is zero. Therefore, the value of e, can be
eter, the behaviour of sands is postulated to be determined easily by extrapolation of the SSL or
similar if the difference between the void ratio at QSSL towards the zero point of effective confin-
the current confining stress and at the steady ing stress.
state is identical. However, scrutiny of test data Another set of test data in which the void ratio
has shown that this assumption is not always was slightly varied downwards from the threshold
tenable. It is generally observed that with increas- value is shown in Fig. 36. In this test series, the
ing void ratio the behaviour of sand becomes initial confining stress was maintained at a con-
more sensitive to a small variation in void ratio. stant value of (rO’= 1.0 MPa, as shown by points c,
Therefore, while + is useful for quantifying the d and e in the e-p’ diagram in Fig. 34. Fig. 36
behaviour of medium to dense sand under rela- shows that the residual strength of Toyoura sand
tively high confining stress, its use becomes less becomes non-zero when the sample is prepared to
tenable as the confining stress becomes smaller void ratios below the threshold value of e, =
and the void ratio larger. In an effort to find an 0.93. Other series of tests conducted under differ-
alternative index parameter, multiple series of tri- ent confining stresses have all yielded data of
axial compression tests were conducted on similar context, confirming that the void ratio
samples of Toyoura sand prepared by moist e, = 0.93 is a threshold value differentiating the
placement. One set of tests was performed on conditions of zero and non-zero residual strength
samples of void ratio 0.93 with confining stresses for the moist-placed sample of Toyoura sand,
0.5 -
;
: 0.4 - e = 0.933
CX=l-OMPa
6
I K-
6
II
cr
Fig. 35. Behaviour of moist-placed samples showing zero residual strength

e = 0.906-0.933
Dr=12-19%
0
0 5 10 15 20
Axial 5tKX” , Et (%)
Fig. 36. Behaviour of moist-placed samples showing zero and near-zero residual
index
irrespective of the confining stress. This is valid, state is realized with a moderate axial strain
however, only when the initial confining stress is of 5%-20%. Thus, if it is necessary to capture
smaller than a certain value corresponding to the essence of sand behaviour in the medium
point D in Fig. 34, which is the intersection of the strain range, use of the QSS as a reference
e = e, line with the isotropic consolidation line of state is preferred.
the sample prepared to its loosest possible state. (4 If the steady state is chosen as the second
In the case of Toyoura sand, this critical confin- frame of reference, together with the state of
ing stress p,,’ is read off Fig. 34 as pEr’= 1.5 MPa. threshold void ratio as defined above, the
Therefore, in most practical cases where much sand behaviour in the medium strain range
smaller effective confining stress is of concern, it may not be properly represented in the pro-
would be reasonable for clean sands to assume a posed property index, because both frames of
constant value of e,. For a confining stress reference reflect the sand response at large
greater than this critical value, the residual strains. This shortcoming becomes crucial if
strength is determined by the remaining effective the determination of minimum strength in the
confining stress when the sand is brought to the medium strain levels is of major importance
QSS. In such a case the value of e, is the void in a practical application.
ratio on the ICL, and the residual strength appar-
ently becomes non-zero. The state of threshold For the reasons given, the QSS is adopted as
void ratio as defined above is used below as one the second frame of reference, and a property
of the reference states against which a property index called the state index I, is defined as
index is defined to specify the sand behaviour.
Another such frame of reference would be the e, - e
steady state, the QSS or the state on the IDL. In I, = - (14)
choosing the second frame of reference, the fol- e. - es
lowing points may need to be considered.
where e, is the void ratio at the QSS for a given
confining stress. The definition of the state index
(a) The steady state can be determined uniquely is illustrated in Fig. 37. The frame of reference for
as a function of void ratio and effective con- I, = 0 is a threshold void ratio line for confining
fining stress, permitting the SSL to be estab- stresses less than p,,‘. Therefore, for a state of sand
lished fairly precisely from a limited number deposition represented by point A, the state index
of test data. In contrast, there is potentially is defined as illustrated on the left-hand side of
some scatter in the test data for determining Fig. 37. For initial confining stress in excess of
the QSSL, therefore a larger body of test data P er’, the ICL should be taken as the frame of ref-
is required. erence, with I, = 0. Thus, for a state of sand indi-
(b) The steady state is produced in sand when it cated by point A’, the definition of the state index
is deformed greatly to an axial strain of the is as illustrated on the right-hand side of Fig. 37.
order of 20%-30%) whereas the quasi-steady Some special values or ranges of values of I, have

376 K. ISHIHARA
0- 06 PC:
I
00’ Effective
conflnlng
stress
Fig. 37. Definition of state index IS
physical implications, as follows steady state is eventually reached. Selected test

data for I, = 0.29 are displayed in Fig. 41, which
I, < 0 zero residual strength shows that the strength at the QSS is lower than
I, = 0 zero residual strength for an that of the ultimate steady state. The sand
initial confining stress less than response for the condition I, = 0 is seen in the
P _‘, or non-zero residual test data shown in Fig. 35. As noted, the residual
strength for an initial confining strength becomes equal to zero in the samples
stress greater than p,,’ with threshold void ratio e, = 0.93.
I, = O-O.72 occurrence of the QSS, with
minimum shear stress coupled
with moderately large strains
1.10 (a) Toyoura sand
I, 2 0.72 occurrence of the steady state
IS’
at large strains 1.00.
0.931
The value 0.72 is a specific I, value for Toyoura 09op
sand deposited by the moist-placement method,
at which the state index represents a condition of o.so-
IDL where a temporary fall in shear stress can or
0.70.
cannot occur. The state index is defined from the
viewpoint that the sand exhibits similar charac- om- _T_
teristics in its stress-strain relation and pore
water pressure response. In order to confirm these
points, several sets of test results on samples with
L- 0.4 0.8
E,,ect,ve
1.2 1.6
conf,n,ng
2.0 2.4
stres.s,
2.8
P’ (MPol
3.2 3.6 4.0
I
identical state indices were assembled, as shown

in the e-p’ and e-log p’ diagrams in Fig. 38. It is
apparent from equation (14) that the lines of t “’ I 7 ‘1
equal I, value for Toyoura sand extend outwards
from the point P in Fig. 38, where the effective
confining stress is zero and the void ratio is 0.93.
Selected results of tests for the case of I, = 1.95
are shown in Fig. 39: the letters a, b and c denote
the initial states of the samples indicated by the
same letters in Fig. 38. Fig. 39 shows that the
stress-strain curves and effective stress paths have \
approximately the same shape, confirming the Is=195
0.60. ICL for
similarity of sand response if samples are pre- ~~
densest ~state
pared so as to have the same value of I,. The test I I
0.0 2 0.0 5 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 20 5.0
data for I, = 0.68 are shown in Fig. 40, and also Effectwe contlnlng stress, P’ (MPo)
indicate this similarity. In all cases, the shear Fig. 38. A family of curves with equal I, value in e-p’
stress tends to drop slightly once with the onset and e-log p’ diagrams: circles indicate the I, value for
of phase transformation, then increase until the each set of tests

It is worth noting in passing that the mobilized

2
angle of interparticle friction at the QSS or at the 4 2.5 c (a)
state of phase transformation can be determined

uniquely as being 4, = 31” or M = 6 sin c$,/
(3 - sin 4,) = 1.24, as indicated in Figs 39-41.
This value is the same as the angle of internal
friction at the steady state as determined from
equation ( 13). u;: 0.5MPa
Returning to the characteristic undrained e ~0883
e zo911 1s: 0.68
behaviour of the sand as quantified by the state ;; 0.5- Is= 0.70
index I,, it should be remembered that the state & / i
index is defined meaningfully only when the D o-x, j j ’ r si, t ” ’ ” 1 1 j ’
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
method of sample preparation is specified or the Anal strain , EI (%I
mode of sand deposition is known, because the
frames of reference such as the void ratio at zero
strength and the QSSL change significantly
according to the fabric of the sand. In other
words, the frames of reference adopted above are
inherent in the fabric of the sand formed during
its deposition. None the less, the state index
defined above does have a meaning, in that it can
provide a rationale for interpretation of the
physical behaviour of loosely deposited sand from
a unified point of view. Its importance may also
be recognized where sand deposits are to be pro-
vided for model tests in the laboratory in confor-
mity with a scaling rule stipulating the Effective conflnmg stress, p’:(q’+20;)/3 (MPa)
behavioural similarity of a model to a prototype.
Fig. 40. Behaviour of Toyoura sand with Z, zz 068
1/‘,“1”“1”“1,“‘1”“1”“,,
6
B q= l.oMPo
- 6.0
/
(al
e: 0.725-0.878
b
U;: 0.1 MPa
e = 0.878
Is- 1.93
0.
1 1 1 ’
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Awal stroln , E, (‘10
) Axial stmn , b (‘10 )
/“““““““I
------I
Toyoura sand
e= 0.725. 0.878
[:jkf , / ,,\ ,I
IS: 1.93 1.98
10 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2x 2.8 3.2
Effectwe confInIng stress, p’z(U,‘.2&‘)/3 (MPa) Effective conftnlng stress, p’:(D,‘+2U;,/3 (MPa)
Fig. 39. Behaviour of Toyoura sand with Zs z l-97 Fig. 41. Behaviour of Toyoura sand with Zs z O-30

378 K. ISHIHARA
$24-
c
s 4
VI
! ( ) , , , 1, ,
01 0.2 o-3 04 05 06 07 08 09
State Index / Is
Fig. 42. Characteristics of undrained behaviour of loose Fig. 43. Axial strain at the QSS plotted against the state
sand index
STATE INDEX AND OTHER SAND Fig. 42. Normalization of the residual strength to
PROPERTIES the initial isotropic confining stress Q,,’ gives
The state index has been proposed mainly from
a perspective of its aptness to represent the (16)
behavioural similarity of sands over a small to
moderate range of shear strains by properly inte- where pc’ is used instead of cro’ when referring to
grating the combined effects of void ratio and the point in the stress path. It has been customary
confining stress. Its suitability is amply demon- when dealing with clayey soils to define the peak
strated by the test results shown in Figs 39-41. strength S, as
However, while the behavioural similarity is gov-
erned by the state index, the scale of the stress- s, = qpP (17)
strain and the stress path depends mainly on the
This definition is also used below. The issue of the
initial confining stress in the range of shear
peak strength has been discussed in the context of
strains where the concept of the state index is
collapse surface by Sladen, D’Hollander & Krahn
applicable. Thus, if stresses are normalized to the
initial confining stress p,’ or be’, some stresses at (1985) and Alarcon-Guzman et aI. (1988). Based
on the compilation of numerous test data, Sladen
key points such as peak stress and minimum
et al. (1985) showed that, by normalizing the devi-
stress in the stress-strain diagram are expected to
ator stress q and effective confining stress p’ with
be correlated with the state index.
respect to the confining stress ps’ at the QSS, all
Figure 42 shows schematically the stresses at
the stress paths of contractive samples can be
key points in the stress-strain and stress path of a
arranged in such a way that the peak points tend
sand subjected to undrained shear. It is of interest
to lie on a straight line in this normalized stress
to examine the range of shear strains at which the
space. This straight line was called the collapse
QSS occurs. Fig. 43 plots the axial strain of the
moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand at the
QSS against the state index I,. The QSS occurs
at an axial strain increasing from about 4% to
20% with decreasing I,.
It has been customary (Castro, 1987; Marcu-
son, Hynes & Franklin, 1990; De Alba, Seed,
Petamal & Seed, 1988) to define the residual 5-
strength S,, as
(15a)
M = 6 sin 6.
(15b)
3 - sin 4,
10 12
where q, and p,’ indicate the deviator stress

’ and the effective mean principal stress Fig. 44. Stress path of contractive samples normalized to
~,‘~?e~‘)/3 at the QSS respectively, as shown in the effective confining stress at the QSS

line, and shown to be established uniquely in the

normalized stress path irrespective of the void Toyourosand
ratio and initial confining stress. Test data were ( Moist placement 1
similarly processed for some of the samples of
Toyoura sand with an equal void ratio of 0.908;
the outcome is shown in Fig. 44, where the peak
points lie on a straight line emerging from a
single point corresponding to the QSS or phase
transformation. In the normalized p’-q space, the
position of the collapse point tends to move
upwards with increasing confining stress along
the collapse line. If the collapse line in Fig. 44 is
shown as a birds-eye view in a three-dimensional
p’-q-e space, it looks like the schematic diagram
in Fig. 45. The collapse line shown in Fig. 45 per- Fig. 46. Data arrangements for determination of a col-
tains to a particular void ratio. If the void ratio is lapse surface for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand
changed, another collapse line needs to be estab-
lished. Thus, there are potentially an infinite
straight line in Fig. 46 is expressed as
number of collapse lines, which form a surface
emerging from the QSSL. Such a surface is called
the collapse surface by Sladen et al. (1985). With (18)
decreasing void ratio the starting points of the
collapse line tend to move upwards, but the col- On division of both sides by pc’ and use of the
lapse lines themselves have a unique slope, as relation q, = Mp,’
shown in Fig. 45. Therefore, if all the collapse
lines lying on the collapse surface are normalized
to the corresponding effective confining stress ps’ (19)
at the QSS, they are expected to converge to a
single line in the normalized stress space. Hence, To examine the characteristics of the ratio pP’/pc’,
all the test data on Toyoura sand exhibiting con- the value of effective confining stress at the peak
tractive behaviour were assembled, and the peak stress pP’ was read from all the experimental data
deviator stress qP and the corresponding confin- on Toyoura sand with contractive behaviour and
ing stress pP’ were read off and plotted in the nor- plotted against the initially applied confining
malized p’-q space displayed in Fig. 46, which stress pc’ as shown in Fig. 47: irrespective of the
shows that the data points obtained for various void ratio and initial confining stress, a unique
void ratios and initial confining stresses lie relationship
approximately on a straight line with a slope
pP’/pc’ = 0.61
M, = 0.55. This slope is also indicated in a three-
dimensional representation in Fig. 45. The exists approximately between these two confining
stresses. Another important parameter necessary
to qualify equation (19) is the ratio p,‘/p,’ of the
,“,,,a, effect,ve conf,n,ng stress , Pk CMPa)
Fig. 47. Effective confining stress at peak shear stress

Fig. 45. Collapse line-sin e-p’-q space plotted against initial confining stress

380 K. ISHIHARA
satisfied for Toyoura sand within the range of

Toyoura
sand initial confining stress less than 1.0 MPa.
It is apparent that when the initial state ratio
decreases, the sample becomes less and less con-
tractive. Therefore, there is a minimum value of rC
at which the sample ceases to be contractive. This
threshold value is obtained when the state index
takes a value of 0.72, corresponding to the IDL
shown in Fig. 30.
Introduction of this value to equation (21) gives
r, = 2.2. Sladen et al. (1985) made comprehensive
I studies of the limiting value of r,, and showed
0' 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
State Index , Is
that if the value of rc is less than 2.0 there is no
potential for loss of strength in saturated sand.
Fig. 48. Initial state ratio plotted against the state index
Thus, the threshold value of r, = 2.2, obtained for
for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand
Toyoura sand is considered to coincide with the
value obtained for other sands. Substitution of
equation (17) and pc’ = uo’ on the left-hand side
effective confining stress at the initial state and at
and M = 1.24, M, = 0.55, p,,‘/pc’= 0.61 and
the QSS. This is called the initial state ratio r,,
rF = 1,6/l, on the right-hand side reduces equa-
and is a parameter of prime importance for char-
tion (19) to a simple relation
acterization of the undrained behaviour of sand.
From scrutiny of the experimental data, r, was S,bo’ = 0.17 + 0.221,
found to correlate with the state index I,. Fig. 48
plots the data obtained in this context from the This indicates that the normalized peak strength,
tests on moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand. which is equivalent to the undrained strength
The initial state ratio tends to decrease with ratio of clays, increases as the state index of the
increasing state index, approximately according sand increases. While equation (22) has been
to derived from the straight-line relation of the col-
lapse line in the normalized p’-q space, it is also
PC’ 1.6 possible to read the values of peak strength
rC=,=- directly from the test data and plot them against
PS Is
the state index at which individual tests were con-
Equation (21) can be defined meaningfully and ducted. Such plots are shown by individual data
used effectively only in the range of the initial points in Fig. 50. Equation (22) is superimposed
confining stress where rE takes a constant value. in Fig. 50, and shows a reasonably good agree-
This implies that if an I, = constant line and ment with the data obtained directly from the
QSSL are represented on an e-log p’ diagram, the tests. In Fig. 50, the plot is limited to the range of
horizontal distance between the two lines should state indices smaller than 0.72, i.e. the range
be constant, as shown schematically in Fig. 49. where Toyoura sand exhibits contractive behav-
These two lines need not be straight lines on the iour. It is also of interest to note that the normal-
e-log p’ diagram. With reference to the test data ized undrained peak strength of Toyoura sand
shown in Fig. 38(b), it seems that equation (21) is takes about the same value as the similarly
“t
I;ncmstont
--?y-
BSSL,/ ’
1 * L.
1 o-2 1 o-1 1.0 10 0 0.1 0.2 a3 0.4 05 06 07 08 09
log P’ (Mpal State index , le
Fig. 49. Conditions for a curved QSL to be parallel to Fig. SO. Normalized peak strength as a function of state
the consolidation curve index for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand

directly from the tests. Equation (24) represents

the test results reasonably accurately.
EFFECTS OF FABRICS ON QUASI-STEADY

STATE AND STEADY STATE
The behaviour of Toyoura sand is discussed in
detail above for the loose state of packing in
which void ratios are sufficiently high to exhibit
contractive response. To produce the loose state
of deposition, all the samples tested were pre-
pared by moist placement. It was shown that the
possible range of void ratios produced in the
Fig. 51. Normalized residual strength as a function of sample becomes narrower if it is prepared by dry
state index for moist-placed samples of Toyoura sand deposition. When water sedimentation was used,
samples were found to be still denser, even when
prepared at the loosest possible state and never to
defined strength obtained for most clays in the exhibit contractive behaviour. These differences in
literature (Ladd, Foott, Ishihara, Schlosser & the void ratio range appear to arise from the dif-
Poulos, 1977). ferences in the initial fabric of the samples pre-
Returning to the issue of the residual strength pared by the various methods. Thus, it would be
represented by equation (16), it is now possible to reasonable to assume that the effect of initial
express it as a function of the initial state ratio r, . fabric is manifested most notably in the form of
By introduction of equation (21) and $, = 31”, void ratio attainable in the sample during its
equation (16) is reduced to deposition.
In order to investigate the effects of initial
fabric on deformation behaviour, samples of
Fig. 51 shows this relation as a straight line, Toyoura sand prepared at their loosest possible
together with the data obtained directly from state by dry deposition were subjected undrained
experiments. The correlation as derived above to monotonic loads under strain-controlled con-
based on the initial state ratio concept shows rea- ditions. The outcome of the tests is shown in Fig.
sonably good agreement with the test results. By 53, where the shape of the stress-strain curves
elimination of I, between equations (22) and (23), and the stress paths is almost the same. Because
the relation of the normalized peak strength and of the similarity of the behaviour, all the test
normalized residual strength samples can be deemed to have been in a condi-
tion taking an identical value of the state index I,
defined by equation (14). Since all the samples
3 I-- 0.17 + 0.66 3
CO
were in the loosest state attainable by dry deposi-
tion, it is considered appropriate to assign I, = 0
is obtained for the moist-placed samples of to this condition by definition. It is important
Toyoura sand. This relation is shown in Fig. 52 in Fig. 53(b) that the angle of phase transform-
by a straight line, with individual data obtained ation characterizing the QSS takes a value of
4, = 31”, which is equal to the value obtained
from the moist-placed samples as indicated in
Toyoura
sand
Figs 39-41. Thus, the angle of phase transform-
ation is independent of the method of sample
preparation. The QSSL projected on to the e-log
plane is shown in Fig. 53(c), together with the
ICL. The value of I, = 1.0 assigned to the QSS
by definition is indicated in Fig. 53(c). As men-
tioned above, the state index is a parameter
inherent in each fabric of sand deposition, hence
curves with an identical I, value in the e-log p’
5 ,l 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
diagram are different if the sand is deposited in
different environments.
Normalized rwdual strength , SusAX To demonstrate the pronounced influence of
Fig. 52. Relation of normalized peak strength and nor- the initial fabric, the ICL and QSSL in Fig. 53(c)
malized residual strength for moist-placed samples of are shown again in Fig. 54, with the ICL and
Toyoura sand QSSL obtained from samples by moist place-

382 K. ISHIHARA
I I 1
taken from the e-log p’ diagram in Fig. 53(c) and
Toyouro sand 1 replotted in Fig. 55, together with steady-state
(DrydeposItIon)
data points obtained from samples prepared by
moist placement. Fig. 55 shows clearly that the
ultimate steady states attained by samples pre-
pared by the two methods coincide. Thus, it can
be concluded that the condition at the steady
state of a sand is uniquely determined irrespective
of the initial fabric created by different methods
of sample preparation.
The main points of this section can be sum-
marized as follows.
Axial strain, E, (%I
(a) The angle of phase transformation specifying
the mobilized shear stress at the QSS is deter-
1
mined uniquely, independently of the initial
2
2 1.0. (b) Toyouro sand fabric created by different methods of sample
( Drydepositwn) preparation.
b” (b) The effects of initial fabric formed by different
6 0.8
methods of sand deposition are most notably
o- manifested in the ICL and the QSSL in which
_ 0.6.
the sand is deforming over a strain range of
5%-20%. If the sand is greatly deformed to a
strain of more than 20% in reaching a steady
state, the initial fabric is erased completely
and the condition specifying the steady state
can be established irrespective of the method
Effective confining stress. p’=(U,‘+2&‘)/3 (MPa)
by which the sample is prepared.
I
0.92 1 ’ 7 / 7 I’ ’
o,g, (cl Toyouro sand NORMALIZED RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF
(Dry deposit Ion 1 . SSL from mast- SAND
I
0.90 The ICL and QSSL of the dry-deposited
w 0.89
samples shown in Fig. 53(c) have the same char-
_
acteristic pattern as shown in Fig, 49, therefore
B 0.88 the initial state ratio rc defined by equation (21)
z assumes a constant value irrespective of the void
m 0.87
0 ratio or initial confining stress. For samples pre-
’ 0.86
I pared by dry deposition the value of r’c is read
0.85 \ from Fig. 53 as about 2.0, which is generally the
t
0.84~ 4 8 J’lll’ I I minimum value for any sand to exhibit margin-
0.02 0.1 0 2 1.0
ally contractive behaviour, as discussed above.
Effectwe conftnlng stress, $z(@+ZU;)/3, (MPa)
Therefore, for the samples prepared by the dry
Fig. 53. Behaviour of samples of Toyoura sand prepared deposition, the state index I, = 0 represents the
by the method of dry deposition condition of the IDL at the same time as it indi-
cates the ICL. Any state of denser samples pre-
pared by dry deposition with increased tapping
ment. It is apparent that both the ICL and the energy is shown to be dilative, and gives rise to
QSSL are located in the lower part of the e-log p’ an I, value greater than zero. In other words, by
diagram for the dry-deposited samples and in dry deposition a sample is prepared so that it is
the area of high void ratio for the moist-placed on the verge of becoming dilative even in its
samples. Thus, the initial fabric created by differ- loosest possible state.
ent methods of sample deposition can have a pro- With the values r, = 2.0 and 4, = 31” thus
found influence on the QSS as well as on the known, it is possible to evaluate the normalized
isotropic consolidation characteristics of sand. residual strength based on the general expression
To examine whether or not the behaviour in in equation (16) as S,Ja,’ = 0.27. It is of interest
the greatly deformed state of sand is influenced by to compare this value with the corresponding
the initial fabric, the points of ultimate steady normalized residual strength obtained from
state obtained from dry-deposited samples are samples prepared by moist placement. For the

I /
096
0.94
Toyouro sand
0.95
I-- Toyouro sand
” 0.85-
z
L
T 0.80-
2
0.75 -
0.82 QSSL(MP)J\ jlDL(MP)
0.80
I I I ,,,c / / t III I I ,I,,
0.02 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0 5 002 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0
Effective confining stress, $:(&2G$3, (MPa) Effective confining stress, d:(C+20$/3, (MPa)
Fig. 54. Comparison of IDL and QSL for samples of Fig. 55. SSL establisbed by tbe two kinds of sample pre-
Toyoura sand prepared by the methods of moist place- pared by different methods
ment and dry deposition
methods but having about the same value of rc z

latter case, the state index separating contractive 2.0 are shown in Fig. 56. The two samples were
and dilative behaviour was shown to be I, = 0.72, consolidated to an identical initial confining
as indicated in Fig. 38, and the corresponding stress of uo’ = 0.3 MPa, but at different void
value of initial state ratio is rc = 2.2, as calculated ratios because of the different sample preparation
from equation (21). Substitution of the threshold methods. Fig. 56(a) and (b) demonstrates that the
value of I, = 0.72 into equation (23) gives the stress-strain curve and stress path show roughly
normalized residual strength as S&,, = 0.24. the same shape until the samples are deformed to
This value can be regarded as approximately the QSS past the peak point, but with further
equal to the normalized residual strength as increase in axial strain the behaviour tends to
obtained above for samples prepared by the dry- deviate considerably, eventually reaching a steady
deposition method. This observation appears to state specified by the void ratio of each sample.
indicate that, whether the sample is prepared by This may be interpreted more broadly as being
means of dry deposition or moist placement, the valid for the behaviour of samples prepared by
normalized residual strength takes an approx- other methods. Thus, if the loading is such that
imately identical value if the initial state ratio r, the initial state ratio is held at a constant value,
is maintained at a constant value. This is also and the angle of phase transformation is con-
shown by the structure of equation (16). While firmed not to change, the normalized residual and
this equation is broadly applicable, the condition peak strength is determined uniquely irrespective
rC = 2.0 is seldom encountered in two kinds of of the initial fabrics produced by different
sample prepared by different methods. For methods of sample preparation. The main points
Toyoura sand, the condition r, = 2.0 is produced of this section can be summarized as follows.
easily in the sample prepared by moist placement,
but is encountered in the dry-deposited sample
only when it is prepared in its loosest possible (4 If the ratio of the initial confining stress and
state. the effective confining stress at the QSS is the
The same factors as discussed above apply same, i.e., if the value of initial state ratio is
when the fabric-independence of the normalized identical for two samples prepared by differ-
peak strength is examined for the samples pre- ent methods, then the normalized peak and
pared by the two methods. For the moist-placed residual strength is not affected by the differ-
samples with I, = 0.72 or rC = 2.2, the normal- ence in the initial fabric formed by different
ized peak strength is evaluated as S&r, = 0.33 methods of sample preparation.
from equation (22). The normalized peak strength (4 In the case of Toyoura sand, the initial state
for the dry-deposited samples can be read directly ratio r, = 2.0 is obtained only for the loosest
from the test data in Fig. 53 as being S&r,’ = possible samples prepared by dry deposition.
0.30 on average. Thus, provided the samples are Approximately the same value, rE = 2.2, is
prepared so as to have the same value of rer the obtained for the samples with I, = 0.72 pre-
peak strength ratio takes a unique value irrespec- pared by moist placement. Thus, the samples
tive of the fabric. prepared by these methods were shown to
To illustrate the uniqueness of the normalized have about the same normalized residual
residual strength mentioned above, the results of strength &$a, = 0.2440.27 and normalized
tests on two samples prepared by different peak strength S&r,’ = 0.30-0.33.

384 K. ISHIHARA
(a) ioyouro
sand
(0$-4.3MPa)
u 01’
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
I 0.002 0.005 0.01 0.02
Groin
0.05
size
0.1
(mm1
0.2 0.5 1.0
Anal stroln, E I (% I
Fig. 57. Grain size distribution curves of silty sands
laboratory. In view of the many instances of

actual flow failure that have occurred in silty
sand or sandy silt deposits during earthquakes,
the potential for flow failure is considered to be
e=0.870.Is~o much higher for a dirty sand than for a clean
:--d
: 0.4 e=0.896. Isa65 Dry depositlon sand. To investigate the deleterious effects of fines
: Moist placement
VI on the deformation behaviour, a series of
L
:: 0.2 undrained triaxial tests were performed on a silty
0 sand and a sandy silt. Two methods of sample
x *
fzio1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
preparation
sedimentation
(the dry-deposition and
techniques) were employed to form
water-
Effectwe confinmg stress, p’=Q’+2W/3 (MPa)

specimens for the triaxial testing. The method of
moist placement was not used for siltier materials
because of the complexity of forming consistently
0.92t ’ c “I 1 “““’ 1
good samples. The results of the tests and their
implications for practical usage are described
below.
The silty sand tested was obtained from an
alluvial deposit at Tia Juana, Venezuela. The gra-
dation curve of this soil is shown in Fig. 57. The
L
specific gravity is 2.68; the soil is non-plastic. The

x 0B7 maximum and minimum void ratios determined
’ 0.86. rc = 2.0
e=o.870,ls=O
by JSSMFE method are 1.099 and 0.620 respec-
0.85. Dry depos,t,on ,’ tively.
0.84L c c j ’
In the first series of tests using the method of
002 0.1 0.2 1.0 dry deposition, the specimens formed with the
Effective confining stress, p’:(9’+2U$3, (MPa)
highest possible void ratio were consolidated to
Fig. 56. Comparison of behaviour of two samples with various effective confining stresses. The consoli-
equal value of initial state ratio but prepared by different dation curve obtained in this test series is denoted
by ICL (DD) in Fig. 58. Undrained shear stress
application was started from the state of the
samples lying on this ICL. The individual states
QSS OF SILTY SANDS of the samples tested are indicated by open
The behaviour of clean sands as represented by squares. The stress-strain relations and stress
Toyoura sand is discussed in detail above. In paths obtained from this test series are shown in
reality, however, sand deposits usually contain Fig. 59; the ultimate steady state is reached at a
some tines consisting of non- to low-plastic silts stage where the shear strains grew to values as
or clays. With some fines, the sand is generally high as 30%. Individual states of the samples at
deposited with high void ratios and tends to be the QSSL and SSL are indicated by closed and
contractive, whatever the method of deposition. half-closed squares respectively in Fig. 58.
Accordingly, by any ofthe means of sample prep- Samples formed with the highest possible void
aration described above, samples with highly con- ratio by the water-sedimentation method were
tractive behaviour can be formed in the treated similarly in a second series of tests. The

at the QSS and steady state are indicated by

closed and half-closed triangles respectively in
Fig. 58.
A sandy silt material obtained from an alluvial
deposit at Lagunillas, Venezuela was tested simi-
larly: samples were prepared by dry deposition
and water sedimentation. The gradation curve is
shown in Fig. 57; the specific gravity and plasti-
city index are 2.68 and 4.0 respectively. The
maximum and minimum void ratios nominally
determined by the JSSMFE method are 1.389
and 0.766 respectively. The consolidation curves
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.L
Effective confimng stress, p’=(U,~2a,‘)/3 (MP4 for the samples prepared by the two methods to
their highest possible void ratios are shown in
Fig. 58. S!SL and QSL for samples of Tia Juana silty
Fig. 61. The stress-strain relations and stress
sand
paths obtained for the samples of Lagunillas
sandy silt are not presented in this Paper. The
ICL obtained for the water-sedimented samples is QSS and steady state obtained in this series of
shown in Fig. 58 by open triangles and labelled tests are indicated in Fig. 61 by the same symbols
ICL (WS). The stress-strain curves and stress and notations as used in Fig. 58 for Tia Juana
paths obtained in this test series are shown in Fig. silty sands. The conditions of individual samples
60; clearly, the QSS is produced at low levels of at the QSS and steady state show that, unlike the
shear stress over the range of strains l%-7%, case of Tia Juana soil, the QSSL almost coincides
whereas the ultimate steady state is encountered with the SSL for Lagunillas sandy silt.
at larger shear stresses in the shear strain range
exceeding 25%. Conditions of individual samples
t’ “‘I ” ” I’ “‘I ” ” ““““‘I
Axial strata, El (“/.I

Oll”“““‘~.“““‘.‘.“‘l,‘.l
0 5 20 25
(a)
Axloll”Stral”, ‘2, (%)
t ” ” ” ”
t ” ” ” ” ‘1
_:I_(b) [pfjgiy] ~,,,
y--&
L 1
9 0.3
e=O.BLO_
g
wo2
2
/ e=OBLB
0L 0.1 / 0.872 e=0858
0.t90 0 01 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
J’ Effective confining stress, p’=(0i’+Zaj’)h (MPo)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 (b)
Effective confIning stress, p’=(Ui’+20??/3 (MPo)
Fig. 60. Undrained behaviour of samples of Tia Juana
Fig. 59. Undrained behaviour of samples of Tia Juana silty sand prepared by the method of water sedimenta-
silty sand prepared by the method of dry deposition tion.

386 K. ISHIHARA
Accordingly, as is apparent from the stress paths

in Figs 59 and 60, the samples formed by dry
deposition were driven to the steady state by gen-
erating so great a pore water pressure that the
remaining confining stress at the ultimate steady
state was smaller than the initial value of confin-
ing stress. In contrast, a moderate generation of
pore water pressure was sufficient to take the water-
sedimented samples to the QSS, therefore the ulti-
mate steady state is attained with the effective
confining stress in excess of its initial value at the
ts 1 time of consolidation. This tendency is more
0 0. I 0.2 0.3 0.4
Effective confmng stress, p’=(o;‘.ZW’)/3 (MPa) notable in the sandy silt from Lagunillas than in
Fig. 61. SSL and QSSL for samples of Lagunillas sandy the silty sand from Tia Juana. The QSS and
silt steady state of dry-deposited samples tend to
coincide for the sandy silt from Lagunillas. Other
tests on several silts or sandy silts have also
The test data compiled in Figs. 58 and 61 indi- shown the tendency of QSS and steady state to
cate several features of interest regarding the become coincident, particularly when the sample
effects of fabrics created by different methods of is prepared by dry deposition.
sample preparation. First, the two methods of
sample preparation employed in the present test
scheme produce distinctly different ICLs. A fabric RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF
with much higher void ratios was formed by dry FINES-CONTAINING SAND
deposition than by water sedimentation under the The outcome of the tests shown in Figs 59 and
same consolidation pressure. Accordingly, the 60 indicate that for the silty sand there is a QSS
QSSL is also distinctly different for the groups of over the range of shear strain between 3% and
samples prepared by the two methods. However, lo%, where a moderately large deformation can
the two groups of samples are shown almost to develop while the magnitude of deviator stress
yield a single line for the steady state. It can thus remains at the lowest level. If soils in field depos-
be concluded that the QSS is profoundly influ- its are brought to such a state as a result of
enced by the fabrics formed by different modes of seismic load application, an intolerable amount of
sand deposition, represented by the different ICLs lateral displacements will occur, causing serious
inherent in each method of sample preparation, damage to embankments or structures lying on
whereas the ultimate steady state is established such deposits. Therefore, the strength of the soils
uniquely for a given sand independently of the mobilized at the QSS has important implications
mode of sand deposition. The non-uniqueness of for engineering practice. This strength, called the
the QSS is to be expected, considering that the residual strength, can be estimated fairly easily for
state of the sand being deformed in the moderate fines-containing sands, based on the following
strain range preserves its inherent fabric structure, rationale.
formed during the deposition process. When the If the test data in Figs 58 and 61 are replotted
sand is greatly deformed, the remnants of the ini- as void ratio against logarithm of confining stress,
tially formed fabric structure are completely the condition of initial isotropic consolidation
erased, and hence the ultimate steady state is and the QSS can be represented approximately
unaffected by the mode of sand deposition. This by two straight lines. The ICL and QSSL thus
conclusion agrees precisely with that derived obtained for Tia Juana sand and Lagunillas
above for Toyoura sand. For reference, an ICL sandy silt are shown in Figs 62 and 63.
produced by the moist-placement method is also It is pointed out above that the initial state
shown in Figs 58 and 61. This method produces ratio rc = p,‘/p,’ plays a decisive role in determin-
another type of highly porous fabric structure in ing the normalized residual strength of sand
the same silty sand. Thus, in general, moist place- based on equation (16). The value of I, should
ment could probably create the highest level remain constant over the range of effective confin-
porous structure: the intermediate and lowest- ing stress in question. Returning to the test data
level porous fabrics are produced in the labor- plotted in Figs 62 and 63, it is evident that, for
atory sample by means of dry deposition and both Tia Juana silty sand and Lagunillas sandy
water sedimentation respectively. silt, the slope of the QSSL is parallel to that of
It is also of interest that, in the initial fabric, the the ICL for each set of the test data obtained
void ratio formed by dry deposition is higher using two methods of sample preparation. Thus,
than that formed by water sedimentation. there are reasons to apply the concept of the

r7
Lagunlllos
sandy SI It
0.95- 0.95
i
a
OYO-
d
3
D
2 0.85-
OEO-
r1 1
001 0.02 0.05
I
0.1 0.2 05
tc I j
001 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5
Effectl~e conflnlng stress, P'=(cQ'+~u~)/x (~a)
Effective confining stress, p’=(C<+Zaj’)h (MPa)
Fig. 62. Determination of initial state ratio for Tia Fig. 63. Determination of initial state ratio for Lagu-
Juana silty sand nillas sandy silt
initial state ratio to the above test data also. The approximately by a straight line, as indicated. It
values of I, read directly from Figs 62 and 63 are is apparent that the slope of this straight line
given in Table 1. The angle of phase transform- gives the value of the normalized residual
ation C#J,at the QSS was read from the stress path strength. The value of &s/o,, thus obtained for
plots, and is given in Table 1. Thus, the value of Tia Juana silty sand and Lagunillas sandy silt is
S”S/~O’ was obtained from equation (16) and is seen to coincide with the corresponding value of
also given in Table 1. normalized residual strength given in Table 1,
The minimum value of shear stress can be read which was obtained through the concept of the
directly from the stress-strain curves shown in initial state ratio by use of equation (16).
Figs 59 and 60. This minimum value of the devi- It is of interest to investigate whether or not
ator stress qs at the QSS is used in equation (15) the concept of the collapse surface is applicable
to obtain the residual strength S,,. The values of for sands containing some fines. As shown in Fig.
S,, thus obtained are plotted in Figs 64 and 65 45, the collapse surface is a plane in the e-p’-q
against the confining stress at the time of consoli- space on which peak deviator stresses are
dation. These figures show that the residual encountered for any selected combination of void
strength at the QSS tends to increase in propor- ratio and effective confining stress. With the
tion to the initial confining stress: thus, the rela- concept of collapse surface as formulated by
tion of S,, and oO’ can be represented equation (19), it was possible to derive a corre-
Table 1. Parameters cbaracterizing undrained stress paths of fines-containing sands
Method of
Soil type
T Dry
Tia Juana
silty sand
Water DV
Lagunillas
sandy silt
Water
sample preparation deposition sedimentation deposition sedimentation
4,: degree 30.5 30.5 31 31
I, ( = P,‘/P,‘) 3.6 2.9 6.2 4.0
MI. 0.21 0.06 0.41 0.06

P,‘lP,’ 0.63 0.63 0.62 0.62
0.21 0.21 0.19 o-19
0.146 0.181 0.086 0.134
S&O 0.149 0.172 0.082 0.152

from equation (26)

K. ISHIHARA
Undrolned residual strength, 5,~ (MPo)
c ,
!
I
[Z]
0 ’ I j I I , I , ,:
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

w?;
Fig. 66. Data arrangements for determination of col-

lapse surfaces for Tia Juans silty sand
Tia Juana silty sand are shown in Fig, 66.

Because the line should pass through a point of
Fig. 64. Residual strength plotted against initial confin-
the QSS, a straight line is drawn through the data
ing stress for Tia Juana silty sand points for each of the data sets obtained by differ-
ent sample preparation methods. Fig. 66
demonstrates that the samples prepared by dry
lation between the normalized peak strength and deposition show a larger value of M, than the
residual strength for Toyoura sand, as indicated water-sedimented samples. Thus, the value of M,
by equation (24). tends to change according to the method by
In order to follow the same approach for the which test samples are prepared. In other words,
Tia Juana silty sand and the Lagunillas sandy silt, the structure of the collapse surface depends on
it is necessary to establish two correlations in the fabric of soil deposition. The individual values
addition to those examined above. The first is the of M, shown in Fig. 66 are given together in
relation of the peak deviator stress qP and the Table 1.
corresponding effective confining stress p,,‘, both The second correlation to be examined is the
normalized to the effective confining stress p.‘, at ratio of the effective confining stress at the peak
the QSS. This is the same kind of data com- point to that at the time of consolidation, pP‘/pc’.
pilation as demonstrated in Fig. 46 for Toyoura Following the same procedure as for Fig. 46,
sand. The test data arranged in this manner for values of pP’ and pc’ read from the test data in
Figs 59 and 60 are plotted in Fig. 67. The ratio
pP’/p,’ takes an approximately constant value irre-
Undra,ned residual strength, Sms (MPo) spective of the fabric of the samples prepared by
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 008 0.10 different methods. The values of pP’/pC’ obtained
b’ ” ” ” ” ‘I
from Fig. 67 are given in Table 1.
Inltml effective conflnlng stress, I$ (MPa)

Fig. 65. Residual strength plotted against initial conlin- Fig. 67. Effective confining stress at peak shear stress
ing stress for Lagunillas sandy silt plotted against initial confming stress

All the necessary correlations having been fabric-dependent constant M,

identified, it is now possible to establish the rela-
tion of the normalized peak strength S,/cr,’ and ?%= 1 - 1.5 M,
0.18
the normalized residual strength &&T~‘, with I7& 1 - 0.82 M,
recourse to the equation of the collapse surface
(equation (19)). By use of the definition of S&r0 2s = 0.16 1 - 1.6 M,
in equation (16), equation (19) is modified to (26’4
00’ 1 - 0.81 M,
S M,P’ i for Tia Juana silty sand and Lagunillas sandy silt
AL=-- AL+-_ (25)
2 P,’ cos 4, respectively. The values of &/(T~ computed from
Qo’
equation (26) are given in Table 1: satisfactory
As mentioned above, the values of pp’/pc’ and agreement is achieved between these values and
4, or M have been shown to be almost indepen- the normalized residual strength obtained directly
dent of the fabric and to take unique values for from equation (16).
The main points of this section can be sum-
the materials tested, whereas the value of M,
depends on the fabric formed by different marized as follows.
methods of sample preparation. Thus, the rela- (4 For the samples prepared at their highest pos-
tion established in equation (25) may have to be sible void ratio by dry deposition and water
regarded as generally fabric-dependent, and sedimentation, the strength defined as the
cannot be fixed uniquely for a given material. minimum shear stress at the QSS is clearly
At this stage, it is of interest to examine the smaller than the shear stress attained at the
fabric-dependence of the normalized peak steady state, therefore the shear stress at the
strength. The values of S, = qp/2 read from Figs QSS should be regarded as the residual
59 and 60 are plotted against the initial confining strength to be used for the stability analysis in
stress p,’ in Fig. 68 for the Tia Juana silty sand. practical problems.
All the test data obtained from differently pre- @I For a given material deposited in a specific
pared samples tend to lie on a uniquely deter- manner, the residual strength increases in pro-
mined straight line. From this observation, for the portion to the initial confining stress at the
dry deposition and water sedimentation methods, time of consolidation, therefore the normal-
the normalized peak strength of the Tia Juana ized residual strength defined as the ratio of
soil is determined uniquely irrespective of the these two stresses takes a constant value.
fabric. The values of Sp/c,, = SpIpc’ obtained from (4 The normalized residual strength of a given
the plot of data are shown in Fig. 68 and given in material tends to vary to some extent,
Table 1. The same arrangements of the test data depending on the fabric formed by different
were made for the Lagunillas sandy silt and are modes of deposition. Among the relevant
given in Table 1. factors are two kinds of parameter character-
The value of &,/a,’ determined as above can be izing the normalized residual strength, i.e.
introduced into equation (25), and the normalized fabric-independent constants and fabric-
residual strength can be expressed in terms of the dependent constants. The angle of phase
transformation at the QSS and the ratio of
the effective confining stresses at peak and at
the initial stage pp’/pc’ have been shown to be
a 1 ’ ’ ’ ’ I -I
determined independently of the fabric,
Tia Juano silty sand
whereas the values of M, characterizing the
slope of the collapse surface and the initial
state index r, have been found to vary
depending on the fabric formed by the two
methods of sample preparation.
(4 Through the equation of the collapse surface,
the normalized residual strength can be corre-
lated with the normalized peak strength for
each of the states of deposition having differ-
ent fabrics. For Tia Juana silty sand, and for
the Lagunillas sandy silt, the normalized peak
strength was found to take a constant value
lnltioi effective con;inlng stress, P; IMPa) irrespective of the fabric formed by the two
Fig. 68. Peak deviator stress plotted against initial con- methods of sample preparation. Consequent-
fining stress for Tia Juana silty sand ly, the normalized residual strength can be

390 K. ISHIHARA
expressed as a function of the M, value alone,

which reflects the fabric of the deposition.
ESTIMATE OF RESIDUAL STRENGTH

It is known that the strength of soils liquefied
during earthquakes is not necessarily zero, and
that non-zero strength is mobilized in a sliding
soil mass when it starts to move downslope fol-
lowing an earthquake. Thus, in order to check the
stability of liquefied soil masses in post-
earthquake conditions, a knowledge of the
residual strength is necessary. For clean sands,
the steady state is known to be governed solely Plasticity index, Ip
by the void ratio, and attempts have been made Fig. 69. Normal&d residual strength plotted against
to estimate in situ void ratio by means of undis- plasticity index
turbed sampling (Poulos, Castro & France, 1985).
It has also been pointed out that the undrained
residual strength is so sensitive to minute varia- be assumed that the deposit normally consoli-
tions of the void ratio that it is generally diflicult dated from slurry had a value of K, = 0.5. There-
to estimate the residual strength with reasonable fore, by use of the relation go’ = (1 + 2K,)a,‘/3,
accuracy. On the other hand, Baziar & Dobry the value of CT,,’is estimated to have been 2u,‘/3.
(1991) have pointed out that most in situ soils in Thus, the normalized residual strength can be
alluvial or reclaimed deposits that are exposed to obtained as S,, = 0.033 ue’, as shown in Fig. 69.
potential liquefaction during earthquakes are Similar tests using the vane were conducted by
composed of sands containing lo’??-80% fines, Castro & Troncoso (1989) on samples of slimes
and for this type of soil there is not necessarily a obtained from test pits excavated at three tailings
strong need for accurate determination of the in dam sites in Chile. The test results are given in
situ void ratio. As an alternative approach, Table 2, the original data having been converted
Dobry (1991) developed a special method of to S&T,, by use of the relation CT”’= 1.5 ee’.
sample preparation in which specimens are The Table 2 data were originally plotted by
formed by discontinuous sedimentation under Castro (1991) in the form of Sus/crV’ against the
water, and confirmed that this method permits plasticity index of the tailings used in the tests,
the preparation of specimens having similar void but the same data are shown in the form of
ratios to those encountered in situ. In a joint S&O~ in Fig. 69. The normalized residual
effort to investigate the failure of the Lower San strength obtained in Figs 64 and 65 for the Tia
Fernando (USA) Dam during the 1971 earth- Juana silty sand and the Lagunillas sandy silt is
quake, a series of undrained triaxial test was con- also shown in Fig. 69. The normalized undrained
ducted on samples of sandy silt reconstituted by residual strength tends to decrease with increas-
this method. The test results showed a correlation ing plasticity index of soils. The consolidation
between the residual strength and effective confin- characteristics cannot generally be established
ing stress, expressed as S,, = 0.12 u,,‘. Based on uniquely for sands containing non- to low-
this finding, Dobry (1991) suggested the use of plasticity fines. As is apparently the case with the
such a linear relation instead of in situ measure- soils from Tia Juana and Lagunillas shown in
ments of void ratio to estimate the residual Figs 58 and 61, the consolidation characteristics
strength. The above relation is shown in Fig. 69 are governed to a great extent by the conditions
in terms of Sus/aO’ plotted against the plasticity under which soils are placed and consolidated.
index of the soil. Because of the multiplicity of consolidation
Mine tailings are another kind of silty sand curves inherent in each fabric formed by the
susceptible to liquefaction for which evaluation of
residual strength has an important bearing on
appraisal of the degree of post-earthquake stabil- Table 2. Normalized residual strength of tail-
ity. The vane test was used by Poulos, Robinsky ings materials (Castro & Troncoso, 1989)
& Keller (1985) to investigate this aspect for alu-
minium tailings (Ip = 35) consolidated from
slurry in a box in the laboratory. A small vane 2.0
cm in diameter and 4.0 cm high was rotated suffi-
ciently fast to keep shearing undrained. The test
results showed a correlation, S,, = 0.22 0”‘. It can

various modes of soil deposition, it is indicated surrounding hilltops and transportation of sandy
above that the QSS (probably equivalent to the soils over the paddy field areas on the floors of
steady state obtained by Castro) cannot be deter- surrounding valleys. The borrow materials were
mined uniquely for a given soil. It therefore placed loose about 5-10 m thick without com-
appears reasonable that there is so much scatter paction. Due to a supply of underground water
in the plot of normalized residual strength shown seeping out of the hills, the fill of sands had been
in Fig. 69, particularly for soils of low plasticity saturated, as verified by a relatively high level of
index. the groundwater table. When the main buildings
of the school were constructed, before the earth-
quake, borings were performed at four places
CASE STUDIES OF FLOW FAILURE (A-D in Fig. 70) to investigate site conditions for
During major earthquakes in the recent past, design of the foundations. As shown by the soil
several cases of ground failure due to liquefaction profile data in Fig. 71, the sand was loosely
have been observed. Some of these have been deposited, with a blow count N = 3-9 in the
investigated in detail in order to clarify the cause SPT. Along the fringe of the playground, a small-
of the failure. These cases are examined below in scale slide about 30 m wide and 40 m long took
the light of the characteristic behaviour of sand place (Fig. 70), involving a movement of soil mass
discussed above. of the order of 3 m. A complete failure was pre-
cluded by the buttress action of a relatively hard
crust of surface soil at the toe, but a heave of the
Slide at Chonan Middle School surface soil about 1.0 m high appeared at the toe
On 17 December 1987, an earthquake with of the slide cross-section as shown in Fig. 72; the
M = 6.7 occurred at an epicentre about 50 km east configuration of the slope before and after the
of Chiba city, producing a large tremor felt over failure is also shown. Following the failure, a
a wide area east of Tokyo. Signs of liquefaction series of penetration tests was conducted by use
such as sand boiling, ground fissures and slope of the Swedish static cone device. Test results are
failures were observed at numerous locations over shown in Fig. 72.
the reclaimed lands along the Tokyo Bay and in As is well known, the Swedish cone test con-
recent fills along the lower reaches of rivers. Some sists of the static phase of penetration, which is
cases of liquefaction-associated failure occurred in represented by the weight W,, in kgf, and the
the ground composed of manmade fills over old rotational phase of penetration, conducted while
valley floors. The failure in the playground of a static weight of W,, = 100 kgf is applied. The
Chonan Middle School is a typical example, as number of half-rotations per 1 m penetration is
shown in a detailed plan view (Fig. 70). Filling indicated by Nsw. Experiences in Japan have
was conducted around 1960 by excavation of the shown that, if the penetration is by the static
Fig. 70. Plan view of Chonan Middle School in Chiba, Japan

392 K. ISHIHARA
Iepth Soit Soil N-WlW? and the lateral deformation was limited. The
Cm)
type profile 10 20 30 40 5 sliding surface estimated from the deformed shape
Surface of the slope, with reference to the results of pen-
_ soil etration tests, is shown in Fig. 73 for both pre-
_ very and post-earthquake conditions.
fine :::;;:‘i
sand ,. After the failure, excavation was carried out to
5-
L
::‘,‘d
“=rY
zz.zI. -
3 t_ -5.2 m
a depth of 3 m near the toe for the purpose of
retrofit works. Samples were recovered from the
exposed surface of sandy deposits. Samples of
- fine %
_ sand :‘. silty sand (G, = 2.677) containing 18% fines were
reconstituted by the moist-placement method to
form specimens of about the same dry density as
in situ. The samples were not prepared to their
loosest possible states. Some compaction energy
was applied initially in the formation of samples
in order to obtain the in situ density. The results
of the triaxial compression tests are shown in Fig.
74 as a plot of void ratio against log p’, from
which the ratio of the confining stress at the ICI
and QSSL is read as being p,‘/p,’ z 6.5. The angle
of internal friction at phase transformation is
I I I I
determined as sin 4,’ = 0.558 (4,’ = 34”). Substi-
tution of these values in equation (16) gives a
Fig. 71. Soil profile at the site of Chonan Middle School
value of normalized residual strength for the silty
sand at Chonan Middle School S&r,’ = 0.088.
Assuming the depth of liquefaction on the sliding
weight only, the materials are clay or silt and surface to have been about 5 m, the effective con-
immune to liquefaction. If the deposit requires fining stress is estimated to be ue’ E 57 tonf/m’.
rotational penetration, the materials are silty The residual strength is then estimated as S,, =
sand or sandy silt; the potential for liquefaction is 0.50 tonf/m’ = 50 kPa.
very high if these sandy soils show a value of Back-analysis was conducted by considering
N,, < 50. In the light of this yardstick, it can be two configurations shown in Fig. 73. The residual
assumed that the loose deposit of sand at the strengths along the sliding plane through slices
central part of the sliding surface developed lique- 2-6 were postulated to be identical, and for the
faction and was put into a QSS. However, topmost slice the angle of internal friction was
because of the presence of the hard surface crust postulated to be 34”. As a result of back-analysis
near the toe, complete slumping was inhibited based on the equilibrium condition, the residual
No.4
riginal
round
Fig. 72. Cross-section of the slide at the site of Chonan Middle School

398 K. ISHIHARA
Fig. 82. Location of bridges in the city area of Niigata
yields the maximum possible N value under the due to the extensive development of liquefaction
condition that the sand exhibits contractive in the sand deposit over the city area of Niigata.
behaviour. Therefore, if rc = 2.0 is introduced The location of the bridges is shown in Fig. 82.
into equation (31), together with the values of eal From a survey using aerial photographs, lateral
and pSl’ chosen for the QSSL at the lowest votd displacements of the order of several metres were
ratio, the resulting N value will be the highest identified by Hamada, Yasuda, Isoyama &
attainable by any state of initial consolidation Emoto (1986) to have taken place towards the
under any depositional environment. river channel in the area of the left bank. There-
fore, the collapse of the bridges may be due to
Case studies offlow slides flow-type displacement occurring in fairly loose
Many reported cases of failure in past earth- deposits of sand near the ground surface. Fig. 83
quakes apparently occurred as a result of the is a side view showing the collapse of a brand-
lateral flow of liquefied soils. Although the new bridge called the Showa Bridge, which com-
laboratory-determined constants are not avail- prised twelve spanned steel girders supported by
able for most of the soils from these sites, it would 13 piers, each consisting of nine steel piles 60 cm
be of value to compile field data and to interpret in diameter. These nine piles connected laterally
them in the light of the flow or non-flow condi- in a row had been embedded to a depth of 16 m
tions as described above. from the river bed. As a consequence of liquefac-
Niigata earthquake. At the time of the Niigata tion, the piers seem to have moved excessively,
earthquake of 16 June 1964, several bridges leading to the fall-off of girder G, in the middle
across the Shinano river suffered notable damage which was supported in free-end conditions on
Left bank
Fig. 83. Fall-otTof the girders in Sbowa Bridge (Takata et al., 1%5)

394 K. ISHIHARA
aI
1120 ^ 0.70.
_o
;;
; 0.60.
0.50 -
r
t*,, I 1111 I 1111 I
0.002 0.01 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0
Effective conflning stress, p’:(oi’+ZcTj)/3 (MPaJ’
Fig. 77. Determination of the initial state ratio r, for the

sandy silt from Lower San Fernando Dam
+ Zone 2
1
a
0 v
8:
1 Geotechnical Engineering Institute
shown in Fig. 77. The SSL is located slightly to
the right of the QSSL, and except at high confin-
ing stresses the QSSL is about the same shape as
(GEI) are
the ICL. Comparison of the two sets of test data

shown in Fig. 77 indicates that the discontin-
uously sedimented RPI samples can have poten-
tially higher void ratios than the GE1 samples
9801 I I I
0 10 20 30 40 50 under a given effective confining stress. This may
Corrected SPT blow count 1 (N, )so be due to the fact that the batch-mixed soil had a
Fig. 76. SPT N values in the downstream shell zone in
wider gradation in grain composition than the
the Lower San Fernando Dam (Marcuson et al., 1990) individual soils comprising the thin layers in the
non-uniform sample.
The ratio of effective confining stresses at the
from this layer was distributed for laboratory ICL and QSSL for a given void ratio is read from
testing among participants in the co-operative Fig. 77 as r, = 5.05 for the RPI tests and rc =
investigation. This mixture, called SF7, was com- 5.15 for the GE1 tests. Substitution of these
posed of approximately equal amounts of silt and values into equation (16), together with the
sand. reported value of 4, = 34”, gives a normalized
Undrained triaxial tests were performed on residual strength S&J,’ = 0.1 lo-O.1 11. Co-
remoulded samples of the mixed soil SF7 in the operative investigations (Castro, Keller &
four laboratories. The remoulded samples were Boynton, 1988; Seed, Seed, Harder & Jong, 1988;
fabricated using two methods. In the first method, Marcuson et al., 1990) showed that the hydraulic
which is the same as the moist placement fill near the base of the upstream shell was the
described above, soil with a water content of weakest zone, and was probably responsible for
3%-4% was placed in four layers in the mould triggering of liquefaction and the consequent flow
and compacted with a tamper to achieve a target slide. The behaviour of the hydraulic fill material
void ratio. In the second method, a sand-silt was considered to be represented best by that of
mixture was sedimented under water in four the batch-mixed silty sand. Fig. 75 shows that the
steps; time was allowed for each step to complete soil column above the weakest zone in the
sedimentation. This method was developed by the upstream shell was submerged under water, and
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in an its height was about 75 ft (23 m). Based on esti-
attempt to reproduce specimens of non-uniform mated submerged unit weight, the effective over-
structure similar to that encountered in situ. burden pressure is obtained approximately as
The results of isotropically consolidated uv’ = 23 x 0.85 = 19.55 tonf/m’. If this value is
undrained tests by the RPI are shown as an e-p’ introduced into the normalized residual strength
plot in Fig. 77. In this series of tests, the QSSL determined as above, the residual strength of soil
had almost the same slope as the ICL. of the upstream shell is evaluated as S,, = 22
Similar tests were performed on samples pre- kPa.
pared by moist placement in three other labor- In the co-operative investigation programme,
atories. All of these tests showed roughly the the in situ void ratio of the soil in the upstream
same tendencies; only the results of tests by the shell at the time of the 1971 earthquake was esti-

mated meticulously to achieve the required accu- into a steady state of deformation following the
racy, and the method proposed by Poulos, Castro onset of liquefaction due to seismic shaking. For
& France (1985) was employed to determine the flow-type failure to occur, it is necessary, there-
residual strength. While there was some scatter in fore, that the sand be sufficiently loose to exhibit
the data, it was concluded that a reasonable contractive behaviour during shear stress applica-
range of the residual strength was S,, = 23-34 tion. Under the usual range of overburden pres-
kPa. Comparison of this value with the residual sures (around 100 kPa), there appears to be an
strength as estimated above indicates that the upper limit in relative density above which there
normalized residual strength estimation can yield is practically no possibility for sand to become
a value that coincides reasonably with that given contractive and hence to be put in a steady state
by the more elaborate in situ void ratio estima- with a reduction in shear resistance. Conversely, if
tion. the sand has a relative density below this limit,
Back-analyses were performed to estimate the the likelihood of its developing the steady-state
average driving shear stress required to induce deformation and hence a flow-type failure is high.
flow failure (Marcuson et al., 1990). For the con- Such a limit can be properly expressed in terms of
figuration before the slide, the average driving any of the density parameters, such as relative
stress along the sliding surface in the liquefied density or state parameters. If these parameters
zone was about 42.5 kPa (850 lbf/ft’). The are correlated with the penetration resistance of
deformed geometry of the embankment shown in sounding tests in the field, such as the SPT or
Fig. 75 was also used to back-calculate the CPT, the limiting condition can be expressed
driving stress at the end of the sliding. The alternatively in terms of a threshold value of the
driving stress was computed as 15-25 kPa by penetration resistance. This aspect of the problem
Seed et cl. (1988). Davis, Castro & Poulos (1988) is addressed below.
concluded that the best estimate of the steady-
state strength was 26 kPa, considering the
dynamics of the slide and various sources of Correlations for the SPT
uncertainty. This, and the outcome of the above For the correlation of the relative density and
discussion, leads to the conclusion that the value the N value of the SPT, a relation of the form of
of steady-state strength determined by way of the equation (9) was suggested by Skempton (1986).
normalized residual strength coincides reasonably This can be rewritten in terms of N, value
with the residual strength obtained by back-
calculation considering the deformed geometry of Nl
the embankment after the slide.
-ccc
(Dr/loo)’ a+b
The main points of the above case studies can
be summarized as follows. The values of a + b obtained from studies by
Skempton (1986) are plotted in Fig. 78 against the
(4 The residual strength of fines-containing mean diameter of sand particles D,,: in situ data
sands is most significantly influenced by the collected recently in Japan are also shown.
initial confining stress. Therefore, if the nor- Laboratory-obtained data are excluded; only in
malized residual strength is defined as the situ data are plotted, with separate symbols for
ratio of these two stresses, it takes a value clean sands and silty sands. The silty sands, which
confined to a relatively narrow range (0.03-
0.18).
(4 The value of normalized residual strength is
governed mainly by the initial state ratio r,,
which in turn is influenced by the fabric of
silty sands formed during deposition.
(4 Therefore, if samples are prepared in the
laboratory to an in situ density while a likely
mode of deposition in the field is simulated,
the normalized residual strength obtained
from tests on such samples is considered to
sand .
provide a basis for a crude estimate of
residual strength in deposits of silty sands.
.
. .
0 1 1 11 / ,111
FLOW AND NON-FLOW CONDITIONS IN 0.05 0.1 0.2 a3 0.4 0.5 1
TERMS OF PENETRATION RESISTANCE Mean partlcle diameter, Dw, (mm)
Flow-type failure has been known to occur in Fig. 78. Nl/(D,/lOO)z = a + b plotted against the mean
loose deposits of sandy soils when they are put particle diameter

396 K. ISHIHARA
contain more than 10% fines, show significantly e

smaller values of a + b, therefore separate curves
are drawn through the two groups of data points.
Threshold void ratio, difSerentiation between eM Moist

Dlacement
dilative and contractive behaviour of sand
As shown above, the initial state of a sand, in
terms of whether it will exhibit contractive or
dilative behaviour when subjected to shear, can
be differentiated by use of the IDL. In the case e, Dry
of a clean sand deposited by the method of deposition
moist placement, the QSS with a minimum
strength has been shown to result if the sample is
sheared undrained, starting from an initial state
above the IDL in the e - log p’ diagram as exem-
plified by the data in Fig. 31. It has also been es, water
sedimen-
shown that the state of the moist-placed sample tation
of Toyoura sand on the IDL is represented by the
state index I, = 0.72, and that this is associated I I .
with the initial state ratio r, = 2.2, as estimated Pi=2 P; logP’
Pi
from equation (21). This implies that the ratio of
initial confining stress to confining stress at the Fig. 79. QSSL and IDL for samples with different
QSS is r, = p,‘/p,’ = 2.2 in order for the initial fabrics
state of the moist-placed sample to show margin-
ally contractive behaviour in any subsequent
application of shear stress. It is important to any fabric to exhibit marginally contractive
remember that r E z 2.0 plays an important role in behaviour in the subsequent loading.
differentiation between the contractive and dila- This argument is illustrated in Fig. 79, where
tive behaviour of the moist-placed sample of a samples are assumed always to be contractive,
clean sand. When the sample is prepared by the whatever their method of preparation. Basically,
method of dry deposition, the behaviour is shown a sand could exist with any value of r, in excess of
also to be just on the border between dilative and 2.0 if it were placed sufficiently loosely under any
contractive, with a value of rC = 2.0, as read mode of deposition. The sand becomes more con-
directly from the data in Fig. 56. With the water- tractive with increasing rC, as shown in Fig. 79.
sedimentation method, samples of clean sand This is the basis of the following discussion.
always show dilatant characteristics, therefore no In the empirical correlations of equations (12)
QSSL exists. In summary, it can be concluded and (27), the penetration resistance in the SPT or
that whatever the fabric for clean sands formed CPT is associated with the void ratio by way of
by various modes of deposition, if a deposit the relative density. It has been shown, however,
shows contractive behaviour in subsequent that the void ratio at which the QSS occurs under
loading, the deposit should be subjected to an a given initial confining stress is influenced by the
initial confining stress at least twice as great as fabric created during sample deposition, as exem-
the confining stress at the QSS. This is what is plified by the test data shown in Figs 56, 62 and
meant more generally by the ‘magic number’ 63 and shown in Fig. 79. This means that there
rC = 2.0. are multiple values of void ratio for one desig-
In the case of silty sands or sandy silts, all the nated set of initial confining stress p,’ and confin-
samples prepared by dry deposition and water ing stress pS’ at which the QSS occurs.
sedimentation exhibited contractive behaviour Accordingly, if these void ratios are expressed in
with r, > 2.0, as shown in Figs 62 and 63. terms of the penetration resistance, multiple
However, if the sample had been formed to a values of N, or qCl will be obtained correspond-
denser state by the application of more tapping ing to one QSS, and a question arises as to which
energy in the sample preparation process, it penetration resistance should be chosen as a
would have been possible to produce samples threshold value to differentiate between contrac-
exhibiting marginally contractive behaviour with tive and dilative behaviour of a sand deposit in
r, = 2.0. It can thus be concluded that for both the field. Under the circumstances as above,
clean sands and silty sands the condition r, = 2.0 where the laboratory-determined void ratio on
needs to be satisfied in order for a sample with reconstituted samples is to be utilized for estima-

terms of the relative density as

D, 1
100 emar - emin
x emax
-
[
es1 + 4 lofh0 ~
( >IP'
r,PSl’
(30)
Substitution of equation (30) into equation (9)

allows the ICL to be expressed in terms of the N
value of the SPT
I I I I I . N = (n + be,‘)
P;, 2p;, P; ‘c Pi, ’ ‘c Ps’
PC log P’
1
q
emax - es1 + 4 log (2~V’/3psl‘rJ ’

Fig. 80. Location and expressions of ICL and IDL rela- X (31)
tive to QSSL [ e max - emin
where p’ is replaced by p,’ = CT,,’ and cr,,’ is rewrit-
ten in terms of cr,’ through the relation crO’=
tion of the threshold penetration resistance, it 20,‘/3. The implication of equation (31) is shown
would be most legitimate to choose the QSSL in Figs 81(a) and 81(c). If a loosely prepared
occurring at the lowest void ratio. In Fig. 79, this sample with, say, rc = 5.0 is consolidated from C,
can be achieved by choosing the QSSL obtained to A, in Fig. 81(a), the corresponding N value
from samples prepared by water sedimentation, increases from point C, to A, in Fig. 81(c) with
for example. This choice will lead to the most increasing effective confining stress. If a sample is
conservative estimate of in situ conditions of prepared to exhibit marginally contractive behav-
sandy soils in terms of the occurrence or non- iour with r, = 2.0, the consolidation process from
occurrence of flow-type failure due to shaking C, to A, in Fig. 81(a) produces a corresponding
during an earthquake. increase in N value, as indicated in Fig. 81(c). It is
The test results shown in Fig. 53(c) indicate important to remember that the curve for rc = 2.0
that a curved line best represents the QSS in the corresponding to the IDL in the e-log p’ diagram
e-log p’ diagram. However, the QSS can also be
represented approximately by a straight line
(a) 1
e = e,, - 4 l%,, (P’lPsl’) (28)
r, : I!2
PS’
where e,, and psi’ are arbitrarily chosen sets of rc = 5.0

void ratio and effective confining stress on the r, = 3.0
QSSL to fix its location in the e-log p’ diagram,
rc=2.0 (IDL)
and 1, denotes the slope of the line, as shown in
Fig. 80. 0 IIll, 1
ps=O.2 0.33 05 p;=l.O KSC Log P’
If a set of values of e,, and psi’ is chosen for a
QSSL with the lowest void ratio, equation (28)
gives an expression for the QSSL that is associ-
ated with the most conservative estimate of the
penetration resistance in in situ sounding tests.
All discussion below refers to the QSSL as
defined above.
As shown in Figs 25 and 79, samples can be
prepared at various initial void ratios, producing
several ICLs. The location of these ICLs relative
to the QSSL is represented by rc, as shown in
Fig. 80, because that ICL is parallel to the QSSL.
Thus, with reference to equation (28), an ICL
with a given value of I, is expressed as
e = e,, - 4 log,, Wlr,psl’) (29)
Substitution of equation (29) into the definition of Fig. 81. Illustration for establishing the relation between
relative density allows ICL to be expressed in the nomalized residual strength and NI value of the SPT

398 K. ISHIHARA
Fig. 82. Location of bridges in the city area of Niigata
yields the maximum possible N value under the due to the extensive development of liquefaction
condition that the sand exhibits contractive in the sand deposit over the city area of Niigata.
behaviour. Therefore, if rc = 2.0 is introduced The location of the bridges is shown in Fig. 82.
into equation (31), together with the values of eal From a survey using aerial photographs, lateral
and pSl’ chosen for the QSSL at the lowest votd displacements of the order of several metres were
ratio, the resulting N value will be the highest identified by Hamada, Yasuda, Isoyama &
attainable by any state of initial consolidation Emoto (1986) to have taken place towards the
under any depositional environment. river channel in the area of the left bank. There-
fore, the collapse of the bridges may be due to
Case studies offlow slides flow-type displacement occurring in fairly loose
Many reported cases of failure in past earth- deposits of sand near the ground surface. Fig. 83
quakes apparently occurred as a result of the is a side view showing the collapse of a brand-
lateral flow of liquefied soils. Although the new bridge called the Showa Bridge, which com-
laboratory-determined constants are not avail- prised twelve spanned steel girders supported by
able for most of the soils from these sites, it would 13 piers, each consisting of nine steel piles 60 cm
be of value to compile field data and to interpret in diameter. These nine piles connected laterally
them in the light of the flow or non-flow condi- in a row had been embedded to a depth of 16 m
tions as described above. from the river bed. As a consequence of liquefac-
Niigata earthquake. At the time of the Niigata tion, the piers seem to have moved excessively,
earthquake of 16 June 1964, several bridges leading to the fall-off of girder G, in the middle
across the Shinano river suffered notable damage which was supported in free-end conditions on
Left bank
Fig. 83. Fall-otTof the girders in Sbowa Bridge (Takata et al., 1%5)

both sides, as shown in Fig. 83. It is likely that medium to coarse sand exist to a depth of about
the fall-off then propagated successively to the 10 m from the river bed, with an N value of 4-8.
neighbouring girders towards the left bank. Each At the time of retrofit works, one of the steel piles
girder was fixed at one end but free to move at in pier P, was pulled out of the ground for
the other, except for girder G,. Soil exploration detailed study. The deformation of this pile is
was conducted at four locations; the results of shown in Fig. 85: the pile was excessively bent at
two are shown in Fig. 84. Loose deposits of a depth of 10 m from the river bed, leading to a
lateral displacement of 93 cm at the level of the
bridge girder. There was ample evidence of the
lateral movement of the ground observed near
Soil SOll N-value I” SPT
type proilk? IO , 20 30 LO 5( the abutment on the left bank, such as the out-
spread of river shore protection through a dis-
tance of 3 m. In view of all these observations,
taken together, it was considered reasonable
(Takata, Tada, Yoshida & Kuribayashi, 1965) to
assume that a large lateral movement had
occurred towards the river in the liquefied sand
extending to a depth of about 10 m from the river
bed. The approximate location of the postulated
sliding plane is shown in Fig. 83. The N value of
the SPT in these liquefied deposits was read off
from the boring data in Fig. 84 and is plotted in
Fig. 86, which also plots the SPT data similarly
obtained from the site of Yachiyo Bridge (see Fig.
82), where lateral spread was apparently observed
in the liquefied deposit at the time of the 1964
Niigata earthquake.
Nihonkai-Chubu earthquake. An earthquake of
M = I.7 occurred on 26 May 1983 with its epi-
centre in the Japan Sea, as indicated in Fig. 87.
Damage to embankment dams, harbours and
Left bank ‘30 Right bank

iy’m -
Pile a the most downstream portlon

of the row I” the pier PA.
(b) Fig. 85. Steel pipe pile bent as a result of lateral move-
Fig. 84. Soil profiles at the site of Showa Bridge (Takata ment of liquefied sands at Showa Bridge site (Takata et
er IIf_ l%s) al., l%s)

400 K. ISHIHARA
N-value in SPT
0 5 10 15
\ I’ 1 11 I” ‘I
0 30km
Clean sand I
I
Niigota
0 Showo bridge
. Yochlyo 9
_Aklta
a Gomvoko bridae
o Aklta oort
Chibo sand
a=33.b=37
Fig. 87. Location of Akita Port and Gomyoko Bridge,

devastated by the 1983 Nihonkai-Chubu earthquake
Fig. 86. Laboratory-determined threshold conditions for Bridge across a canal (Fig. 87). At the time of the
three clean sands converted to the SPT N value compared
1983 earthquake, the fills on both sides of the
with in situ data from sites of liquefaction-induced flow
failure
approach slumped completely, leaving the bridge
itself undamaged. The soil profiles obtained after
the earthquake (Iwasaki, Arakawa, Kawashima,
bridges occurred due to liquefaction of the Matsumoto & Hasegawa, 1985) are shown in Fig.
ground in a widespread area along the west coast 88: the loose deposit of clean fine sands imme-
of the northern part of the Japanese island. Since diately below the fills, having an N value of about
much of the liquefaction-induced damage was 4, is considered to have developed liquefaction.
accompanied by complete spreading or slumping Also, the reinforced concrete piles supporting the
of the fill, it is considered to have taken place as a girders had been driven to a diluvial deposit of
result of flow-type deformation in underlying dense sand with an N value of the order of 20,
sand deposits. and hence did not liquefy. The N value of 4 in the
In the west of the Hachiro-gata manmade liquefied fill is plotted in Fig. 86 against the effec-
farmland, there is a small bridge called Gomyoko tive overburden pressure.
Boring
---135,--l
No I3
5
-
IO
6
;;I5
&
w20
25
30
m
Fig. 88. Soil profiles and cross-section of Gomyoko Bridge

/TIE rod N-value in SPT

0 5 10 15
I I I I , I I I I / I I / I ,,
Backfilled -- -
Chonon school
Fig. 89. Anchored bulkheads of the damaged quay wall

and soil profiles at Ohama No. 2 wharf in Akita Port
(Tsucbida et ol., 1985)
The breakage of quay walls at Akita Port

seems to be another example of the damage
resulting from the flow-type failure of loosely Fig. 90. Laboratorydetermined threshold conditions for
three silty sands converted to the SPT N value compared
backfilled clean sand due to liquefaction
with in situ data from sites of liquefaction-induced flow
(Tsuchida, Noda, Inatori, Uwabe, Iai, Ohneda & failure
Toyota, 1985). Fig 89 shows a cross-section of the
damaged quay wall where anchored bulkheads
were broken with sheet piles tilting forward due responsible for triggering liquefaction and the
to increased lateral pressure. The revetment face consequent flow slide. The N value obtained in
line bulged outwards to a maximum of 3 m, these deposits is shown in Fig. 90.
accompanied by settlement of the apron and
cut-off of the tie bar. As shown in Fig. 89, the soil
investigation after the quake revealed that the Relation ofjield performance and the QSS-based
coarse sand had been back-filled sufficiently prediction
loosely with an N value of 4-8, to cause liquefac- Although laboratory test data are not available
tion and consequent large lateral deformation. on the QSS for the sands from the sites men-
The N value of the backfilled sand behind the tioned above, it is of interest to compare the N
wall was read off and is plotted with other data in values from these sites with those predicted from
Fig. 86. the laboratory-determined QSS on other typical
There are many earth-filled dams constructed sands. In derivation of the N value based on the
for irrigation purposes in the affected area, most laboratory tests, it is important to recall the
of which were constructed by placing earthfills to effects of sample preparation on the behaviour of
a height of 5-10 m on shallow valleys along the reconstituted samples. For the reasons given, the
rim of rice fields in the alluvial plain. One of these QSS and IDL related with the lowest void ratio
embankments, 5.4 m high (Kansuke), suffered col- are used here for selection of the threshold N
lapse with a maximum crest settlement of 1.8 m. value. The comparison is made separately for
From the failure mode, it is inferred that the loose clean sands and silty sands.
deposits of silty sands underlying the dam body The laboratory-determined constants to quan-
might have developed liquefaction, with conse- tify the QSS of clean sands were obtained from
quent occurrence of a steady-state deformation. samples of three typical sands prepared by the
The N value of 2-5 obtained at these depths is dry-deposition method; the results are given in
plotted against depth in Fig. 90. Three other Table 3. The constants for silty sands were
similar dams sustained great damage due to obtained from the water-sedimentation method
liquefaction-induced flow slide. In situ investiga- for Tia Juana silty sand, but by dry deposition for
tions by means of the SPT and the recovery of the silty sands from Chiba, Japan and Dagupan,
undisturbed samples were also conducted in these the Philippines (see Fig. 57). The constants for the
sites of dam failure. It was discovered that silty last two soils were adjusted so that they corre-
sands containing about 20% of fines were spond to those from samples prepared by water

402 K. ISHIHARA
Table 3. Constants for clean sands by the method of dry a bounding curve for clean sands. Curves of
similar nature but for silty sands containing more
than 10% fines are shown in Fig. 90, where the
Constants Toyoura Chiba Kiyosu curve for Dagupan soil can be taken as a repre-
Fines content F,: % 0 3 0 sentative bounding curve.
Grain size D,,: mm 0.17 0.17 0.31 In Figs 86 and 90 the bounding curve chosen for
e mar 0.977 1.271 1.206 silty sands is located only slightly to the left,
emin 0.597 0.839 0.745 giving nearly the same threshold curve as that
es1
* 0.876 1.095 1.015 adopted for clean sands. Generally speaking, the
4 0.022 0.085 0.050 values of a and b are significantly smaller for
a 33 33 33 dirty sands than for clean sands, as shown in Fig.
b 37 37 37 78; however, the relative density at which QSS
M 1.24 1.37 1.20
occurs is notably larger for dirty sands than for
9, 30” 34” 30
N, value 4 7 9 clean sands. These differences tend to act as
mutually compensating factors, to make the
* Void ratio at the QSS for P,,’ = 1 kgf/cm’. threshold N values practically equal for clean
sands and dirty sands. The two boundary curves
giving the maximum possible N value for sandy
sedimentation, and are given in Table 4. By intro- soils are hence taken from Figs 86 and 90 and
duction of these constants into equation (31), the shown in Fig. 91 as a zone; this zone can be
threshold N value is obtained separately for clean deemed as a boundary differentiating between con-
sands and silty sands as a function of effective ditions in terms of N value in which flow-type
overburden pressure uV’, and is shown in Figs 86 failure can or cannot occur. The zoned boundary
and 90. The curves in these figures indicate the can be used for clean sands as well as for silty
highest N value with r’c = 2.0 for each of the clean sands, but with fines content of no more than
sands and silty sands used in the present study. 30%.
Thus, each curve has the same meaning as the A similar boundary curve was suggested by
C,-A, curve shown in Fig. 81(c). The values of a Sladen & Hewitt (1989) in terms of q, value in the
and b for the curves in Figs 86 and 90 were esti- CPT on the basis of in situ investigations of
mated from Fig. 78 based on the mean diameter manmade islands in the Canadian Beaufort Sea
D,, of individual sands. that have or have not experienced flow slide. The
Because of the marked difference in the relative outcome of this study is shown in Fig. 92. In the
density of individual sands at which the QSS absence of actual data on sites of earthquake-
occurs, the curves in Fig. 86 separating conditions
of flow and non-flow for clean sands are diverse.
However, the laboratory-based threshold N value
is more or less in the same range as the field N
value obtained directly from actual sites of appar-
ent flow failure. With these two sources of data Sand with
taken together, it may be considered appropriate fines content
Less than 30%
to choose a curve giving the maximum N value as
Table 4. Constants for silty sands by the method of

water sedimentation
Constants Tia Juana Chiba Dagupan

Fines content F,: % 12 18 15
Grain size D,,: mm 0.16 0.15 0.18
emar 1.099 1.307 1.454
emin 0.620 0.685 0.600
es1* 0.820 0.940 0.835
1, 0.075 0.09 0.18
; 15
10 12
8 12
8
M 1.22 1.37 1.25

& 30.5” 34” 31”
N, value 6.5 6 8
Fig. 91. Proposed boundary in SPT N value differentiat-
* Void ratio at the QSS for psl’ = 1 kgf/cm’. ing conditions of flow and non-flow

qc-value by CPT (MPa) qc-value in CPT (MPa)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
I r I I I q I ’ I
Liquefaction J 3 No
\ hquefaction
\
\
\
\
Fig. 92. Boundary in CPT 4, value between flow and

J
150
I 1 / I I L.l
1
non-flow obtained from sites in the Canadian Beaufort
Fig. 93. Compiled boundaries in CPT q, value separating
Sea @laden & Hewitt, 1989)
flow and non-flow
induced flow failure investigated by the CPT, it soils through the accurate measurement of void
might be difficult to make a precise comparison, ratio of sands in the field deposit, Seed (1987)
but if the bounding curve in Fig. 91 is converted attempted to establish a relation between the SPT
to a curve in terms of q, value, this would provide N value and residual strength assessed from
an interesting comparison. The N value can be back-analysis of many cases of liquefaction-
converted to q, value by use of the linear relation induced failure. Back-analyses of failure were also
proposed by Robertson & Campanella (1985), but made by Ishihara, Yasuda & Yoshida (1990) and
data compiled by Ohya et al. (1985) from deposits integrated into a chart that plotted back-
of liquefied sites in Japan indicate that the q,/N calculated residual strength against the q, value
ratio tends to increase with decreasing N value, of the CPT. It would thus be of value to examine
and takes a value of the order of 0.5-0.7 for an N the physical implications of these relations, and to
value of about 10. With reference to these results, provide a correct interpretation in the context of
the N value corresponding to a median line in the the steady-state concept discussed above. First,
zoned boundary in Fig. 91 was converted to a the residual strength as defined in equation (15) is
boundary in terms of q, value, as shown in Fig. a function of the effective confining stress p,’ at
93. The bounding line suggested by Sladen & the QSS. Therefore, the residual strength value
Hewitt (1989) is taken from Fig. 92 with a modifi- can be interpreted as representing the effective
cation of u,’ = 1.50,’ and also shown in Fig. 93. confining stress ps’ at which the QSS is attained.
Superimposed on -Fig. 43 is the boundary zone On the other hand, it has been customary to
obtained by Robertson, Woeller & Finn (1992) as associate the penetration resistance of the SPT or
a summary of several proposed curves in the CPT with the relative density. Since the relative
same context. Fig. 93 shows that the boundary density is alternatively expressed by the void
obtained from the N value through the above ratio, the relation of the residual strength and the
conversion coincides roughly with the zone sug- penetration resistance is considered in turn to be
gested by Robertson et al. (1992), and is also essentially the same as that of the effective confin-
located in proximity to the boundary proposed ing stress and void ratio at which the QSS defor-
by Sladen & Hewitt (1989). mation takes place in the sand. In establishing
such a correlation, the QSS with the lowest void
ratio is used, for reasons given above. Since the N
CORRELATIONS OF RESIDUAL STRENGTH value for such a condition is discussed thoroughly
AND PENETRATION RESISTANCE above, what is needed at this stage is the determi-
In view of the difficulty in determining the nation of the residual strength S,,. This can be
residual or steady-state strength of once-liquefied achieved directly by the procedure shown in Fig.

404 K. ISHIHARA
81. The N 1 value corresponding to the penetra- data from various sands are needed in order to
tion resistance at (T,’ = 1 kgf/cm2 (~98 kPa) can develop a conclusive argument, it may be relevant
be determined by locating points such as A,, A,, at present to consider the curve for Kiyosu sand
A, in Fig. 81(c). Since the value of the initial state as a bounding curve setting a lower boundary for
ratio r, is known, the normalized residual the normalized residual strength of any kind of
strength SUs/uO’ can be obtained readily from sand at a given N, value. Fig. 94 shows the data
equation (16). The residual strength normalized of Stark & Mesri (1992), who compiled many case
to cv’ is then obtained by use of the relation study data in the form of &s/o, against N 1 value
ffo-’ - 20,‘/3. The plot of SUs/~v’ thus obtained for correlation. The value of (N,),, on the x-axis is
each r’c value is shown in Fig. 81(b) as a function transformed into an N, value. Fig. 94 shows that
of the SPT N, value. This is the desired relation. the case study data points lie within the zone
It is not the residual strength itself but the nor- above the boundary line established above,
malized residual strength S,JU~’ that is made to except for the six data obtained from cases of
correlate with the N 1 value on a physically sound failure in North America. To encompass all the
basis within the QSS concept. This is consistent case study data, an alternative boundary may
with the idea of data arrangement of Stark & have to be established, as indicated by a broken
Mesri (1992). It should be noted that, because the line in Fig. 94. However, it appears judicious at
lowest value of rc for a sand to be contractive is present to choose the bounding curve based on
2.0, there is always a maximum value of the nor- Kiyosu sand behaviour as a practically applicable
malized residual strength (point B, in Fig. 81(b)). boundary line.
The correlation as above was established for Ishihara, Verdugo & Acacia (1991) conducted
each of the three typical sands whose QSS-related case studies by assembling records of earthquake-
constants are given in Table 3. The constants caused failures in embankments, tailings dams
were first introduced in equation (31), along with and river dykes. The outcome of these studies is
0” ’ = 1.0 kgf/cm2, and the N, value was calcu- shown in Fig. 95 in terms of the normalized
lated as a function of the rc value. Then from residual strength plotted against the CPT qcl
equation (16), the S,,/o,,’ value was obtained for value. The qc, value originally obtained from silty
each rc value. The correlations thus established sand deposits has been converted to a value
are shown in Fig. 94: the relation varies markedly applicable to clean sands, based on the correction
according to the characteristics of individual indicated in Fig. 11. Fig. 95 also shows the pos-
sands. However, the scatter is consistent with the sible boundary curves obtained by converting the
wide variation of the corresponding N value Kiyosu sand-based lower bound in Fig. 94
shown in Fig. 86. In Fig. 94, the maximum value through the empirical correlation qe,/N 1 = 0.4
of S,Jo/o,’ is approximately the same in the three and 0.5: even with the relation qcl = 0.4N,, the
sands considered. This is more generally true, suggested boundary line is sufficiently low to
because of the almost invariable nature of the encompass all the data from the case studies of
angle of interparticle friction among various failures. Thus, the line qcl = 0,41N, is taken as
sands that play a decisive role in determining the the lower bound enclosing all the data points per-
maximum value of SUs/uv‘ with r, = 2.0, as is taining to silty sands case-studied in terms of qcl
apparent from equation (16). While more test value. The boundary lines suggested in Figs 94
0 5 10 15
Clean sand- equivalent NN-value I” SPT
Ciean sand-equivalent qcr-value sn CPT (MPa)
Fig. 94. Relation of normalized residual strength and Fig. 95. Relation of normal&d residual strength and
SPT N, value based on laboratory-determined QSSL CPT qcl value based on laboratorydetermined QSSL
compared with data from back-analyses of actual failure compared with data from back-analyses of actual failure
cases cases

and 95 are not based on widely confirmed data, laboratory tests tends to vary significantly
and may need to be modified pending the collec- because of the difference in the fabric of sand
tion of more data from both the laboratory and samples reconstituted by different methods.
the field. However, with reference to the test data of Toki
et al. (1986) giving the smallest cyclic strength, the
line passing through this point can be taken as
INTERPRETATION OF LABORATORY TESTS the lowest boundary, below which the cyclic
TO ASSESS IN SITU STRENGTH strength could never occur for any kind of sand
Laboratory testing of reconstituted samples is with any fabric. The cyclic strength obtained
recognized above as a useful tool for derivation of through testing of high-quality undisturbed
the most conservative estimate of the residual samples or based on the field performances of in
strength of in situ sands. A similar argument can situ sand deposits takes a far larger value than
be developed as to the cyclic strength controlling this bounding value (Fig. 96). It may thus be con-
the triggering of liquefaction. The relation of the cluded that any effort to determine the cyclic
cyclic strength and N 1 value summarized in Fig. 7 strength for reconstituted samples in the labor-
is reproduced in Fig. 96 in the form of a belt zone atory is important for the estimation of the lowest
where most of the proposed correlations cluster value of cyclic strength that could occur for a
together. Also shown in Fig. 96 are the points given sand in the field.
derived from the results of collaborative tests con- The above evaluation of the laboratory-
ducted by Silver et al. (1976) and Toki et al. determined cyclic strength as compared to the in
(1986). The cyclic stress ratio required to cause situ true value uses the same line of reasoning as
5% DA strain in 20 cycles of load application was developed previously for the residual strength of
read from the test data shown in Figs 3 and 4 and sand. The lower boundary line established pre-
plotted on the y-axis of Fig. 96. The correspond- viously for the residual strength based on the
ing N, value was computed by an empirical laboratory test on Kiyosu sand (Fig. 94) is shown
formula, N, = 70 (O,/lOO)‘, based on the relative in Fig. 96 for comparison. This laboratory-based
density used in the tests. Since the materials used lower bound line is to be regarded as encompass-
were apparently clean sands, the value of ing two sources of case study data, i.e. data com-
a + b = 70 was chosen from Fig. 78 in order to piled by Stark & Mesri (1992) in terms of the N,
evaluate the N, value by use of equation (27). value and data arranged by Ishihara (1990) in
This choice leads to a relation D, = 12JN, which terms of the qcl value. As seen in Figs 94 and 95,
differs from that in equation (10). it is difficult with the current state of the art to
The test data of Mulilis et al. (1977) in Fig. 2 establish a unique correlation for the field value
were processed in the same manner, and are of residual strength as a function of N, value.
shown in fig. 96. The test data compiled in Fig. 96 Thus, what might be regarded as an in situ curve
indicate that the cyclic strength obtained in the is not shown inFig. 96. -
10 20 30
NI-value ( + 0.83(N1)60)
Fig. 96. Interpretation of laboratory test-based correlations of cyclic strength

and residual strength compared with correlations based on field performance

406 K. ISHIHARA
In terms of engineering practice, the signifi-

0.5
cance of the lower bound curve is much greater
(a)
for the residual strength than for the cyclic
strength. Fig. 96 shows that if a target value is
required for strength in a design, this can be $“.4
attained by a soil stabilization technique more 2
0.3
easily for the residual strength with a smaller N, b
value than for the cyclic strength with larger N i
$0.2
values. Thus, while the precise evaluation of cyclic
;
strength is greatly needed for the cost-effective lower bound
assessment of the triggering condition of liquefac- cs 0.1
tion specified by a relatively large SPT N, value,
it is permissible to evaluate the onset of post- 0
; ,y-, ,ti , , , , , , , , , ,
10 20 + NI-value
seismic flow failure conservatively on the basis of
a required N, value estimated from the lower 0
bound relation, which generally takes a suflicient-
ly small value to be implemented in the design Upper limit of
N-value for
practice.
ONSET CONDITIONS FOR LIQUEFACTION

->
AND CONSEQUENT FLOW b
The condition for flow failure to be caused or IO< Upper llmlt ~.
not caused is established above in terms of SPT 1
or CPT penetration resistance. It is of interest to
re-examine this condition from a broader per-
spective in the light of another well known type 15c
of criterion, which is related to the onset of lique-
Fig. 97. Upper limit boundaries for separating flow and
faction.
non-flow, and liquefaction and non-liquefaction
The SPT correlations summarized in Fig. 96
for cyclic strength and residual strength are
shown in Fig. 97(a), where an upper bound exists
for each of the two kinds of strength. For the sponding threshold line for the N value is given
residual strength, the upper bound is almost by the curve C-C’ in Fig. 98(b). This threshold
invariably set by way of equation (16) with r, = curve is basically considered to move between the
2.0, leading to a maximum Sus/eV’ value of about two extreme limits, i.e. E-E’ and A-A’, depending
0.18. The maximum possible N, value corre- on the magnitude of the driving stress.
sponding to this residual strength has been found The same argument can be developed for the
to be about 9 for clean sands. Thus, point A is cyclic strength to establish a threshold N value
fixed in Fig. 97(a). With respect to the cyclic specifying the onset condition for liquefaction or
strength, there is no rational basis on which the cyclic softening, which is shown to vary signifi-
upper limit is fixed. However, without knowing cantly depending on the magnitude of cyclic
the maximum cyclic strength, it may be possible stress induced by a seismic shaking. Suppose a
to set an N, value of 30 as the upper limit beyond soil deposit is subjected to seismic shaking of an
which liquefaction or cyclic softening will never intensity specified by the y co-ordinate of point D
occur. The two upper limits of N, value, one for in Fig. 98(a): the sand deposit must be strong
residual strength and the other for cyclic strength, enough to have an N, value given by the x co-
are alternatively represented by the correspondng ordinate of point D in order not to develop lique-
points A and B in the Fig. 97(b), in which the N faction. Therefore, the threshold N value
value is plotted against the effective overburden corresponding to this seismic shaking is given by
pressure fry’. curve D-D’ in Fig. 98(b). Such a threshold N
The threshold N value differentiating condi- value is considered to vary to the left of the upper
tions of flow and non-flow cannot be set up limit indicated by the line B-B.
uniquely without taking account of the magni- The magnitude of seismically induced cyclic
tude of gravity-induced driving stress causing a stress ratio is expressed as a function of peak
soil mass to deform in a tlow mode as shown in acceleration as given by equation (7). Therefore,
Fig. 98. Thus, suppose a soil mass under a sloping the N, value sufficiently great to mobilize the
ground is subjected to a driving stress ratio rep- cyclic strength to be balanced against this exter-
resented by the point C in Fig. 98(a). The corre- nally induced cyclic stress ratio can be deter-

N-value in SPT
Ground water table

1
10 20 d NI-value
0 10 20 --) N-value
1 / I 1 / I I 1 1 I ‘I
Fig. 99. Two boundary curves in SPT N value identifying
three classes of sand deposit with different levels of
damage due to liquefaction
threshold, the deposit is identified as not only sus-

ceptible to the triggering of liquefaction, but also
in potential danger of flow slide. If the deposit is
Fig. 98. Boundary curves for gravity-induced driving
medium loose with an N value between the two
force and intensity of seismic shaking
threshold lines, the likelihood will be high for the
deposit to be subjected to the onset of liquefac-
mined directly from a chart such as that shown in tion, but free from the potential threat of flow
Fig. 98(a), or by use of the empirical correlation slide. More specifically, the condition of a sand
of equation (2). The N value obtained in this way deposit can be classified into three categories in
using equation (2) for a peak acceleration of accordance with different levels of vulnerability to
amax= 0.2 g (20% of gravity acceleration) is liquefaction-induced ground damage, i.e. catastro-
plotted in Fig. 99 against the overburden pressure phic destruction by flow slide, moderate damage
0,‘. Fig. 99 also shows the zoned boundary curve by liquefaction and little or no damage. This
from Fig. 91, which is identical to the upper limit concept of subdivision of the extent of damage
boundary line A-A shown in Fig. 98(b). Gener- offers a rationale of engineering importance for
ally speaking, this flow-related upper limit may be the implementation of a design policy for soil
used for practical purposes without considering improvements in potentially liquefiable sand
the driving stress in order to determine whether deposits. For an important structure to rest on it,
or not a given sand deposit has the potential to the sand deposit must be improved so as to have
be exposed to the danger of flow slide. The sufficient density never to be susceptible to lique-
boundary in N value associated with the trigger- faction. For sand deposits underlying less impor-
ing of liquefaction needs to be set up in compli- tant and more readily repairable structures, the
ance with the magnitude of acceleration specified target for improvement may be set with good
for design or prediction purposes. Fig. 99 shows reason to the lower threshold N value based on
that the threshold N value differentiating between the flow/non-flow condition.
onset and non-onset of liquefaction is generally
large as compared to the bounding values
separating conditions that cause or do not cause CONCLUDING REMARKS
flow-type failure. One of the major concerns in the early develop-
The implications of the two boundary curves in ment of soil mechanics, apparently, was associ-
Fig. 99 can be stated as follows. If a sand deposit ated with settlements and stability of ground
is loose, with an N value below the flow-related composed of cohesive soils. Thus, clay has been

408 K. ISHlHARA
studied comprehensively, and a great edifice of gain a better understanding of the behaviour of
wisdom appears to have been established on this clean sand, particularly when deposited sufficient-
topic, as evidenced by the subjects chosen by pre- ly loosely to exhibit contractive behaviour.
vious Rankine Lecturers. In contrast, cohesionless In the course of this testing programme, it has
soils have long been recognized as stable and free become evident that the fabric in the sand formed
from major distress such as failure or intolerable during its deposition has a significant influence
settlements. This view is true, however, only on the behaviour in subsequent undrained
under long-term sustained loading conditions. If loading. It was shown, however, that the degree
the loading is dynamic, and is characterized by of fabric-dependence changes significantly with
rapidity and repetitiveness of application, the the level of shear strains to which the sand is
situations are reversed. While cohesive soils deformed. When the sand is deformed largely to a
exhibit more resistance to deformation or failure shear strain in excess of about 20% to reach the
under short-term dynamic loading conditions, the steady state, the effects of fabric disappear and
resistance of cohesionless soils tends to decrease the behaviour is determined only by the void
under dynamic loading such as that experienced ratio irrespective of initial confining stress. When
during earthquakes, particularly when they are the shear strain is moderately large, between a
saturated. The sudden loss of strength in short- few per cent and 20%, producing the QSS with a
term loading is characteristic of loosely deposited minimum strength, the fabric-dependency is sig-
cohesionless soils, and has been called liquefac- nificant. In this range of shear strain, another
tion in the broad sense of the word. important parameter is the initial confining stress
Historically, attention was first drawn to the to which the sand has been consolidated. Thus if
clarification of the mechanism and factors influ- the behaviour of sand is described in terms of the
encing the triggering of liquefaction. In the first shear stress normalized to the initial confining
part of this Paper, the major consequences of stress, the effects of the fabric formed during the
these endeavours by many workers were intro- deposition of sand can be mitigated. Based on
duced, with emphasis on simple and practical this observation, some correlations were estab-
assessment of the likelihood of liquefaction lished between the peak strength and residual
occurrence by means of in situ soundings such as strength for both clean sands and silty sands.
the SPT and CPT. Existing test data were assembled from the liter-
Evaluation of liquefaction has a wide range of ature and compiled in the context of the normal-
application. First, whether or not a given deposit ized residual strength. To validate the usefulness
will develop liquefaction in a future earthquake is of this concept, case studies were made for two
assessed. The results of this assessment influence failures caused by the recent large earthquakes.
the implementation of soil improvement or other The basic concept propounded throughout this
mitigating measures in sandy deposits. Second, Paper is that it is not the residual strength itself
evaluation of liquefaction potential becomes but the normalized residual strength that plays an
necessary in conjunction with assessment of essential role in quantifying the minimum
hazard levels caused by earthquakes. The strength of sandy soils on a sound physical back-
outcome is expressed in the form of microzoning ground.
maps which provide useful information for the In the last part of this Paper, an attempt is
implementation of hazard-mitigation policies at made to interpret the cyclic strength and residual
town, city or regional level. The third area of strength in the general framework of their rela-
application is in the assessment of settlements of tion to the N, value of the SPT, and to integrate
sandy grounds resulting from liquefaction: this the two criteria, i.e. the criterion for flow or non-
has important implications for the integrity of flow and the condition for liquefaction or non-
lifelines commonly buried at shallow depths liquefaction, into a unified perspective. They are
where the deleterious effects of liquefaction are expressed on a single chart which can distinguish
most notably manifested. Since this aspect has between the types of performance of sandy
been recognized recently, it is dealt with in some grounds during earthquakes. Although the test
detail in this Paper, with reference to case his- data in support of the proposed criteria are still
tories. scanty, the Author hopes that the content of this
The second part of this Paper deals mainly Paper will be of some help in advancing the
with flow-type deformation which occurs as a current state of understanding of sand behaviour
consequence of liquefaction. This aspect of the in relation to liquefaction.
problem has recently been recognized to be of I would like to mention the link between Pro-
prime importance in the assessment of the post- fessor Rankine and the Department of Civil
seismic stability of once-liquefied sandy deposits. Engineering, University of Tokyo. The story
In view of this a laboratory testing programme dates back to the end of the 19th century when,
has been instituted at the University of Tokyo to after the Meiji revolution in 1868, an unprece-

dented change was under way in Japan from a inferred to have designated Dyer as a candidate
medieval to a modern structure of society. The for the post of Principal sometime in October or
newly established Japanese government dis- November 1872. At this time Professor Rankine
patched a large mission to European countries was probably already in bed because of illness.
with the aim of establishing links for the importa- After submitting the recommendation, he died on
tion of modern civilization and for technology 24 December 1872, probably without hearing the
transfer. One of the important tasks assigned to news of Dr Dyer having been accepted as Prin-
the mission was to look for some distinguished cipal. The late Professor T. Mogami, who wrote
engineering scientists or educators and invite several essays on Rankine and his association with
them to Japan to help establish a new engineering Japan, has gone so far as to say that if Rankine
college in Tokyo. In this regard, a request was had died a few months earlier, the educational
submitted to the British authorities via Mr H. M. system in Japanese universities might have taken
Matheson (1821-98) who was then developing a very different form.
commercial activities in the Far East. Mr Mathe- With all this in mind, I feel doubly honoured to
son discussed this matter with his good friend, be asked to deliver this lecture and also to find
Professor Lewis Gordon, the retired predecessor myself in a position at a university so profoundly
of Professor Rankine at the University of influenced by Professor Rankine.
Glasgow. Professor Gordon in turn spoke to the
incumbent professor, Rankine. In response to
this, Rankine recommended his top student,
Henry Dyer (184881918), who seemed greatly ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
interested in taking up the post of Principal in the This Paper is an outgrowth of the efforts by
newly established engineering college. Dyer’s former and present graduate students who under-
application was accepted, and he set off on the took research on sands with me at the Depart-
long sea journey to Tokyo in April 1873 from ment of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo.
Southampton, accompanied by eight others. The Their incessant endeavour to produce new test
proposal for the calendar of the engineering data and their stimulating discussions are the
college was drafted during this voyage and was basis of this Paper. I am particularly indebted to
accepted by the Japanese authority without Dr R. Verdugo, currently Associate Professor at
modification: it became the basis of engineering the University of La Serena, Chile, and Mr M.
education in Japan. Yoshimine, Research Associate of the University
In addition to acting as Principal, Dyer taught of Tokyo, who strove mightly to collaborate with
classes in civil engineering and mechanical engin- me in preparing the draft. Overall assistance from
eering using several manuals written by Rankine graduate students, M. Cubrinovski and S. Zlato-
as textbooks. It is said that more than 20 copies Vic, and my colleague, K. Sugo, has also been
of each of the manuals were brought to the essential in helping me to complete the draft and
library of the college. Thus, the approach to is acknowledged with many thanks.
teaching of civil engineering courses at the Uni- Dr C. Scawthorn of EQE, San Francisco
versity of Tokyo has its origin in Rankine’s kindly offered the information on the damage of
manuals. Having accomplished this most impor- recent earthquakes, and Professor K. Tokimatsu
tant mission with great success, Dyer returned to of Tokyo Institute of Technology generously pro-
his homeland, Scotland, in 1882. The college of vided some photographs of ground subsidence in
engineering he established was merged in 1888 the Philippines. Professor Y. Yoshimi made very
into the University of Tokyo, which was still in useful comments on SPT sounding. CPT sound-
its infancy under the supervision of the Ministry ing data in the Marina District were made avail-
of Education in the new government. The Uni- able by the courtesy of Professor T. O’Rourke of
versity once changed its name to the Imperial Cornell University. The Author owes a debt of
University of Tokyo, but resumed the original gratitude to the above persons for their co-
name after the Second World War. operation and warm support. Grateful appre-
In the community of education specialists in ciation is also due to Professors S. Yasuda of
Japan, Dr H. Dyer is now cited as a founder of Kyushu Institute of Technology, I. Towhata of
engineering education in Japanese universities. University of Tokyo and M. Hamada of Tokai
Given that his pioneering work played a decisive University for their kind co-operation in provid-
role in the expansion of engineering education ing the information presented in this report. The
and in the social recognition of the engineeering manuscript was carefully reviewed by Professor
profession, his achievement can be considered as F. Tatsuoka and Mr J. Rabone, University of
the starting point from which the present state of Tokyo, and by Dr K. Mori, Kiso-jiban Consul-
industrial prosperity has emerged in Japan. tants, with many useful comments and sugges-
From historical records, Rankine can be tions. The encouragement of Professor M.

410 K. ISHIHARA
Fukuoka and thoughtful stimulation of Professor be decided on for the individual sand used for the test.
L. D. W. Finn, University of British Columbia, Generally speaking, if the tamping energy is small, the
have been supportive of the continued effort of sample is placed so loose that the volume contraction
on subsequent saturation becomes unduly large and
preparing this manuscript. The assistance and
consequent reduction in sample diameter tends to
warm support of the above individuals are
create vertical wrinkles in the membrane. As a rule of
acknowledged with many thanks and great thumb, it is recommended that the tamping energy be
appreciation. adjusted so that the volume contraction on saturation
Lastly, I would like to express my sincere grati- would be about 5% for preparation of the loosest speci-
tude to the British Geotechnical Society for invit- men by this method. If a denser sample is to be pre-
ing me to deliver this lecture, The advice and pared, a larger amount of energy needs to be applied,
encouragement by Professor C. Clayton on behalf for example by increasing the number of tampings
of the BGS are acknowledged with deep thanks. during compaction at each stage of the lift. After the
sample is enclosed by the membrane with the top cap, a
vacuum of IO-20 kPa is applied and the mould is dis-
APPENDIX 1. METHODS OF SAMPLE
mantled. Carbon dioxide gas is percolated through the
PREPARATION
sample, which is then flushed with de-aired water.
During this saturation process, volume reduction takes
Three kinds of procedure are widely used for the
place due to collapse of the initial structure of the
preparation of samples of sand for laboratory testing.
sample. The void ratio measured after the saturation
The basic requirements for all the methods are firstly to
under the vacuum pressure is taken as the initial void
obtain homogeneous samples with uniform distribution
ratio of the sample. Consolidation is then performed to
of void ratio, and secondly to be able to prepare
a desired confining stress. By this procedure, a state of
samples of the lowest possible density, to cover a wide
sand with any combination of void ratio and confining
range of density in samples reconstituted by an identical
stress can be produced by the use of a varying amount
method. Different methods of sample reconstitution
of compacting energy during tamping, as shown in Fig.
have been known to create different fabrics, thereby
25. One of the advantages of this method is its versatil-
yielding different responses to load application.
ity, permitting any sample to be prepared within a wide
range of void ratio. The sample can therefore be very
loose and highly contractive or dilative in subsequent
Moist placement method (wet tamping)
loading, depending on the void ratio at the time of
Five or six equal preweighed oven-dried portions of
sample preparation.
sand are mixed with de-aired water at a water content
of about 5%. A membrane is stretched taut to the inside
face of a split mould which is attached to the base ped- Dry deposition method
estal of the test apparatus. Each portion of the slightly Oven-dry sand is filled in a cone-shaped slender
moist sand is strewn by hand to a predetermined height funnel with a nozzle about 12 mm in diameter, as
in five to six lifts, as shown in Fig. 100. At each stage of shown in Fig. 100. This funnel is the same as that used
the lifts, tamping is applied lightly with a small flat- for determining the maximum void ratio of sand based
bottom tamper. Because of capillary effects between on the JSSMFE method. The sand is spread in the
particles, the moist sand can be placed at a very loose forming mould with zero height of fall at a constant
structure well in excess of the maximum void ratio of speed until the mould becomes filled with the dry sand.
the dry sand, which is determined by the procedures Tapping energy is applied by hitting the side of the
stipulated in the ASTM or JSSMFE standard test mould to obtain a desired density. After the sample is
method. An optimum amount of energy for preparation encased in the membrane with the top cap, a vacuum of
of the loose initial structure of the sample is a matter to lo-20 kPa is applied and carbon dioxide gas percolated
Moist placement Dry deposItion Water sedlmentatlon

(Wet tamplng)
Fig. 100. Methods of sample preparation

through the sample, which is then flushed with de-aired NOTATION

water, making it saturated. Full saturation is checked a, A, b, B constants
by ensuring attainment of a B value greater than 0.98 %ax peak horizontal acceleration on ground
by means of back pressure application. Any state of a surface
sample can be produced by this method, as shown in CN correction factor
Fig. 25, by adjusting the tapping energy during the CPT cone penetration test
process of sample preparation. The sample is generally D, relative density
denser than that prepared by the moist placement D mean particle diameter
method. Even if it is prepared in its loosest state D’A” double amplitude
without any tapping, the sample may be only slightly DD dry deposition
contractive in its behaviour in the subsequent applica- e void ratio
tion of shear stress. Therefore, this method is not ade- emin minimum void ratio
quate for the preparation of samples with highly c, void ratio at the QSS
contractive characteristics. This method differs from co threshold void ratio
what is generally called air pluviation, in which dry F, fines content
sand is discharged vertically in air from a small nozzle F, factor of safety
into the mould (Mulilis ef al., 1977; Tatsuoka et al., gravitational acceleration
1986). The air-pluviation method is known to produce P plasticity index
samples that are always dilative, and has not been used r” state index
in the present study. ICi isotropic consolidation line
IDL initial dividing line
M magnitude of earthquake
M, ratio of q and p’ at the steady state
Water sedimentation method N blow count
Sand is mixed with de-aired water and put in a funnel N,, number of half-rotations per 1 m penetra-
with a plastic tube attached to the end. The mixture of tion (Swedish cone test)
sand and water is poured through the plastic tube, in effective confining stress
four layers, into the sample forming mould at zero critical confining stress
height of fall at a constant speed, so that the surface of peak confining stress
water is always coincident with that of the sand sedi- effective mean principal stress at the QSS
ment. This procedure is shown in Fig. 100. In another deviator stress
procedure, dry sand is poured through a l-2 mm dia. CPT tip resistance
nozzle from just above water surface and allowed to peak deviator stress
sediment through a height ot 2-3 cm under water. In deviator stress at the QSS
both these procedures the sand is deposited contin- quasi-steady state
uously under water without causing appreciable segre- quasi-steady-state line
gation of the material. If a denser sample is to be initial state ratio
prepared, compacting energy is applied by hitting the stress reduction coefficient
side of the mould stepwise during the process of sample 4d2
placement. residual strength
In a special method developed by Dobry (1991), a standard penetration test
predetermined amount of sand is dumped into water steady-state line
and some length of time (30 min-24 h) is allowed to weight (Swedish cone test)
elapse until the material has completely settled, giving water sedimentation
coarse-grained material sediments at the bottom, depth of soil column
grading upwards to fines. On top of this layer, an equal maximum shear strain
amount of the same soil is poured and allowed to sedi- unit weight of soil
ment under water as before. This stepwise deposition is volumetric strain during reconsolidation
repeated four or five times to construct a complete test slope of e-log p plot
sample. This apparently discontinuous sample is some- single amplitude of cyclic axial stress
times considered to represent best the behaviour of in total vertical stress
situ deposits of silty sands with stratified structure. If a effective overburden pressure
denser specimen is to be prepared, the side of the initial confining stress
sample forming mould is hit with a hammer as many maximum shear stress
times as desired. angle of phase transformation at the QSS
In all the above procedures, after the placement in the angle of interparticle friction at the steady
mould the top cap is mounted and carbon dioxide gas is state
circulated through the sample. While vacuum is applied, state parameter
the split mould is dismantled. Any state of a sample in
terms of void ratio and confining stress can be created
by water pluviation, as shown in Fig. 25. The contin- REFERENCES
uous sample prepared by the first method tends to Alarcon-Guzman, A., Leonards, G. A. & Chameau, J. L.
possess a lower void ratio; it is practically impossible to (1988). Undrained monotonic and cyclic strength of
produce samples with contractive characteristics by this sands. .I. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Cio. Engrs
method. 114, GTlO, 1089-1109.

412 K. ISHIHARA
Baziar, M. H. & Dobry, R. (1991). Liquefaction ground Ishihara, K. (1985). Stability of natural deposits during
deformation predicted from laboratory tests. Proc. earthquakes. Proc. 11th Int. Co@ Soil Mech., San
2nd Int. Conf. on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Francisco, 1, 321-376.
Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, St Louis, Ishihara, K. (1990). Evaluation of liquefaction potential
1,451-458. and consequent deformations in sand fills. Pro-
Been, K., Crooks, J. H. A., Backer, D. E. & Jefferies, M. ceedings of the seismic workshop on the port of Los
G. (1986). The cone penetration test in sands: Part 1, Angeles.
State parameter interpretation. Geotechnique 36, No. Ishihara, K. & Koseki, J. (1989). Discussion on Cyclic
2,239-249. shear strength of fines-containing sands. Earthquake
Been, K. & Jefferies, M. G. (1985). A state parameter for georechnical engineering, Proc. 12th Inr. Co@ Soil
sands. Gbotechnique 35, No. 2,99-l 12. Mech., Rio de Janeiro, 101-106.
Been, K., Jefferies, M. G., Crooks, J. H. A. & Rothen- Ishihara, K., Sodekawa, M. & Tanaka, Y. (1978). Effects
burg, L. (1987). The cone penetration test in sands: of overconsolidation on liquefaction characteristics
Part 2, General influence of state. Ghotechnique 37, of sands containing fines. Dynamic geotechnical
No. 3,285-299. testing, STP 654, pp. 246-264. Philadelphia: Amer-
Been, K., Jefferies, M. G. & Hachey, J. (1991). The criti- ican Society for Testing and Materials.
cal state of sands. Gtotechnique 41, No. 3, 365-381. Ishihara, K., Tatsuoka, F. & Yasuda, S. (1975).
Castro, G. (1975) Liquefaction and cyclic mobility of Undrained deformation and liquefaction of sand
saturated sands. J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. under cyclic stresses. Soils Fdns 15, No. 1, 29-44.
Engrs 101, GT6,551-569. Ishihara, K., Verdugo, R. & Acacia, A. A. (1991). Char-
.
Castro. G. (1987). On the behaviour of soils during acterization of cyclic behaviour of sand and post-
earthquakes-Liquefaction. Soil dynamics and lique- seismic stability analyses. Proc. 9th Asian Reg. Conf:
faction, pp. 169-204. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Soil Mech. 2,45-67.
Castro, G. (1991). Determination of in-situ undrained Ishihara, K., Yasuda, S. & Yoshida, Y. (1990).
steady state strength of sandy soils and seismic sta- Liquefaction-induced flow failure of embankments
bility of tailings dams. Proc. 9th Panam. Conf: Soil and residual strength of silty sands. Soils Fdns 30,
Mech., Chile, 11 l-l 13. No. 3,69-80.
Castro, G., Keller, T. D. & Boynton, S. S. (1988). Re- Ishihara, K. & Yoshimine, M. (1991). Evaluation of
evaluation of the Lower San Fernando Dam: an inves- settlements in sand deposits following lique-
tigation of the February 9, 1971 slide. Contract faction during earthquakes. Soils Fdns 32, No. 1,
Report D-89-2, Vols 1 and 2, US Army Engineer 173-188.
Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS. Iwasaki, T., Arakawa, T., Kawashima, K., Matsumoto,
Castro, G. & Poulos, S. J. (1977). Factors affecting H. & Hasegawa, K. (1985). Damage to road bridges.
liquefaction and cyclic mobility, J. Geotech. Engng Report of damage investigation for the 1983
Div. Am. Sot. Ciu. Engrs 103, GT6, 501-516. Nihonkai-Chubu Earthquake, No. 165, Public
Castro, G. & Troncoso, J. (1989). Effects of 1985 Works Research Institute (in Japanese).
Chilean earthquake on three tailing dams. Proc. 5th Iwasaki, T., Tatsuoka, F., Tokida, K. & Yasuda, S.
Chilean Congr. Seismicity & Earthquake Engng, (1978). A practical method for assessing soil liquefac-
35-59. tion potential based on case studies at various sites
Davis, A. P., Castro, G. & Poulos, S. J. (1988). Strengths in Japan. Proc. 2nd Int. Co@ microzonation for Safer
backfigured from liquefaction case histories. Proc. construct. res. & application 2, 885-896.
2nd Int. Co@ Case Histories in Geotech. Engng, St Jamiolkowski, M., Ladd, C. C., Germaine, J. T. & Lan-
Louis, 1693-1701. cellotta, R. (1985). New developments in field and
De Alba, P. A., Seed, H. B., Retamal, E. & Seed, R. B. laboratory testing of soils. Proc. 9th Int. Conf: Soil
(1988). Analysis of dam failures in 1985 Chilean Mech., San Francisco 1,57-153.
earthquake. J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu. Kokusho, T., Yoshida, Y. & Esashi, Y. (1983). Evalu-
Engrs 114, GT12,1414-1434. ation of seismic stability of dense sand layer (part
Dobry, R. (1991). Soil properties and earthquake 2kEvaluation method by standard penetration
ground response. Proc. 10th Eur. Co@ Soil Mech., test. Report 383026, Electric Power Central
Florence 4. Research Institute (in Japanese).
Finn, W. D. L. (1981). Liquefaction potential: develop- Konrad, J. M. (1990a). Minimum undrained strength of
ments since 1976. Proc. 1st Int. Conf: Recent Adv. two sands: J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu.
Geotech. Earthquake Engng Soil Dyn., St. Louis 2, Engrs 116, GT6,932-947.
655-681. Konrad, J. M. (1990b). Minimum undrained strength
Georgiannou, V. N., Hight, D. W. & Burland, J. B. versus steady-state strength of sands. J. Geotech.
(1991). Behaviour of clayey sands under undrained Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu. Engrs 116, GT6,948-963.
cyclic triaxial loading. Gbotechnique 41, No. 3, 383- Ladd, R. S. (1974). Specimen preparation and liquefac-
393. tion of sands. J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu.
Hamada, M., Yasuda, S., Isoyama, R. & Emoto, K. Engrs 100, GTlO, 1180-1184.
(1986). Observation of permanent ground displace- Ladd, C. C., Foott, R., Ishihara, K., Schlosser, F. &
ments induced by soil liquefaction. Proc. Jap. Sot. Poulos, H. G. (1977). Stressdeformation and
Civ. Engrs 336,111-6,21 l-220. strength characteristics. Proc. 9th fnt. Conf: Soil
Hanzawa, H. (1980). Undrained strength and stability Mech., Tokyo, 2,421-494.
analysis for a quick sand. Soils Fdns 20, No. 2, Lee, K. L. & Albeisa, A. (1974). Earthquake induced set-
17-29. tlements in saturated sands. J. Geotech. Engng Div.

Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 100, GT4,387-406. Schofield, A. N. & Wroth, C. P. (1968). Critical state soil
Marcuson, III, W. F., Hynes, M. E. & Franklin, A. G. mechanics. London: McGraw-Hill.
(1990). Evaluation and use of residual strength in Seed, H. B. (1979). Soil liquefaction and cyclic mobility
seismic safety analysis of embankments. Earthquake evaluation for level ground during earthquakes. J.
Spectra 6, No. 3,529-572. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 105, GT2,
Meyerhof, G. G. (1957). Discussion on Session I. Proc. 201-255.
4th Int. Co@ Soil Mech., 3, 10, 110. Seed, H. B. (1983). Earthquake resistant design of earth
Mogami, T. & Kubo, K. (1953). The behaviour of soil dams. Proceedings of Symposium on Seismic Design
during vibration. Proc. 3rd Int. Conf Soil Mech., 1, of Embankments and Caverns, 1, 41-64. New York:
152-153. American Society of Civil Engineers.
Mohamad, R. & Dobry, R. (1986). Undrained monot- Seed, H. B. (1987). Design problems in soil liquefaction.
onic and cyclic triaxial strength of sand. J. Geotech. J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 113,
Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 112, GTlO, 941-958. GT8,827-845.
Mulilis, J. P., Seed, H. B., Chan, C. K., Mitchell, J. K. & Seed, H. B. & De Alba, P. (1986). Use of SPT and CPT
Arulanandan, K. (1977). Effects of sample prep- tests for evaluating the liquefaction resistance of
aration on sand liquefaction. J. Geotech. Engng Div. sands. Use of In-Situ Tests in Geotechnical Engineer-
Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 103, GT2,91-108. ing, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 6, pp.
Nagase, H. (1985). Behaviour of sand in multi-directional 281-302. New York: American Society of Civil
irregular loading. University of Tokyo, PhD disser- Engineers.
tation (in Japanese). Seed, H. B. & Idriss, I. M. (1971). Simplified procedures
Nagase, H. & Ishihara, K. (1988). Liquefaction-induced for evaluating soil liquefaction potential. J. Soil
compaction and settlement of sand during earth- Mech. Fdn Engng Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 97, SM9,
quake. Soils Fdns 28, No. 14,66-76. 1249-1273.
Ohya, S., Iwasaki, T. & Wakamatsu, M. (1985). Compa- Seed, H. B., Idriss, I. M. & Arango, I. (1983). Evaluation
rative study of various penetration tests on ground of liquefaction potential using field performance
that underwent liquefaction during the 1983 data. J. Geotech. Emma Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Enars 109.
Nihonkai-Chubu and 1964 Niigata Earthquakes. GT3,458-482. ” -
Proceedings of US-Japan Joint Workshop on In-situ Seed, H. B. & Lee, K. L. (1966). Liquefaction of saturat-
Testing Methods for Evaluation of Soil Liquefaction ed sands during cyclic loading. J. Soil Mech Fdn
Susceptibility, San Francisco, 56-88. Engng Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 92, SM6, 105-134.
O’Rourke, T. D., Gowdy, T. E., Stewart, H. E. & Pease, Seed, H. B., Lee, K. L., Idriss, I. M. & Makdisi, F. I.
J. W. (1991). Lifeline and geotechnical aspects of the (1975). The slides in the San Fernando Dams during
1989 Loma Prieta Earthauake. Proc. 2nd Int. Conf: the earthquake of February 9, 1971. J. Geotech.
Recent Adv. Geotech. Earthquake Engng, St Louis !2, Emma Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Enqrs 101. GT7.651-689.
1601-1612. Seed, II.-B., Makdisi, F. I. & be Alda, P. (1978). Per-
O’Rourke, T. D., Pease, J. W. & Stewart, H. E. (1992). formance of earth dams during earthquakes. J.
Lijizline performance and ground deformation during Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 104, GT7,
the earthquake. US Geological Survey Professional 967-994.
Paper 1551-F. Seed, H. B., Seed, R. B., Harder, L. F. & Jong, H. L.
Pillai, V. S. (1991). Liquefaction analysis of sands: some (1988). Re-evaluation of the slide in the Lower San
interpretation of Seed’s K, (sloping ground) and K, Fernando Dam in the earthquake of February 9,197l.
(depth) correction factors using steady state concept. Report EERC-88/04, University of California,
Proc. 2nd Int. Conf: Recent Adv. Geotech. Earthquake Berkeley.
Engng, St. Louis 2, 579-587. Seed, R. B. & Harder, L. F. (1990). SPT-based analysis
Poulos, S. J., Castro, G. & France, J. W. (1985). Lique- of cyclic pore pressure generation and undrained
faction evaluation procedure. J. Geotech. Engng Div. residual strength. Proceedings of Memorial Sympo-
Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 111, GT6,772-792. sium of H. B. Seed. 2,351-376.
Poulos, S. J., Robinsky, E.I. & Keller, T. 0. (1985). Shibata, T. (1981). Relations between N-value and lique-
Liquefaction resistance of thickened tailings. J. faction potential of sand deposits. Proc. 16th An.
Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 111, GT12, Conven. Jap. Sot. Soil Mech., 621-624 (in Japanese).
1380-1394. Shibata, T. & Teparaska, W. (1988). Evaluation of
Robertson, P. K. & Campanella, R. G. (1985). Liquefac- liquefaction potentials of soils using cone penetra-
tion potential of sands using the CPT. J. Geotech. tion tests. Soils Fdns 28, No. 2,49-60.
Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 111, GT3,384-403. Silver, M. L., Chan, C. K., Ladd, R. S., Lee, K. L., Tie-
Robertson, P. K., Woeller, D. J. & Finn, W. D. L. demann, D. A., Townsend, F. C., Valera, J. E. &
(1992). Seismic cone penetration test for evaluating Wilson, J. H. (1976). Cyclic triaxial strength of stan-
liquefaction potential under cyclic loading. Can. dard test sand. J. Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ.
Geotech. J. 29, No. 3,686-695. Engrs 102, GT5,511-523.
Rollins, K. M. & Seed, H. B. (1990). Influence of build- Skempton, A. W. (1986). Standard penetration test pro-
ings on potential liquefaction damage. J. Geotech. cedures and the effects in sands of overburden pres-
Engng Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 116, GT2,165-185. sure, relative density, particle size, aging and
Roscoe, K. H. & Poorooshasb, H. B. (1963). A funda- overconsolidation. Gkotechnique 36, No. 3,425-447.
mental principle of similarity in model tests for earth Sladen, J. A., D’Hollander, R. D. & Krahn, J. (1985).
pressure problems. Proc. 2nd Asian Reg. Conf. Soil The liquefaction of sands, a collapse surface
Mech., Tokyo, 1,134-140. approach. Can. Geotech. J., 22,564-578.

414 K. ISHIHARA
Sladen, J. A. & Hewitt, K. J. (1989). Influence of place- Yoshimi, Y., Tokimatsu, K., Kaneko, 0. & Makihara,
ment method on the in-situ density of hydraulic Y. (1984). Undrained cyclic shear strength of a
sand fills. Can. Geotech. J., 26, 453-466. Niigata sand. Soils Fdns 24, No. 4, 131-145.
Stark, T. D. & Mesri, G. (1992). Undrained shear
strength of liquefied sands for stability analysis. J.
Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu. Engrs 118, GTll, VOTE OF THANKS
1727-1747.
Takata, T., Tada, Y., Toshida, I. & Kuribayashi, E. PROFESSOR P. R. VAUGHAN, Imperial
(1965). Damage to bridges in Niigata Earthquake. College of Science, Technology and Medicine
Report No. 125-5, Public Works Research Institute
The 33rd Rankine Lecture is the 16th to be
(in Japanese).
Tatsuoka, F., Iwasaki, T., Tokida, K., Yasuda, S., given by an overseas lecturer. The British Geo-
Hirose, M., Imai, T. & Kon-no, M. (1980). Standard technical Society has been very fortunate in
penetration tests and soil liquefaction potential having been able to lure so many distinguished
evaluation. Soils Fdns, 20, No. 4,95-l 11. foreign lecturers to share their knowledge on
Tatsuoka, F., Ochi, K., Fujii, S. & Okamoto, M. (1986). these occasions. This is the third Rankine Lecture
Cyclic undrained triaxial and torsional shear on earthquakes.
strength of sands for different sample preparation The planet on which we live provides the most
methods. Soils Fdns 26, No. 3,23-41.
benign environment in the solar system and, I
Tatsuoka, F., Sasaki, T. & Yamada, S. (1984). Settle-
ments in saturated sand induced by cyclic undrained
understand, for some way beyond. Most of the
simple shear. Proc. 8th Wld Con& Earthquake Engng, time, it is a friendly place in which to live.
San Francisco 3,95-102. However, it is not always friendly. Occasionally it
Tatsuoka, F., Zhou, S., Sato, T. & Shibuya, S. (1990). bites, and we are subject to the extreme events of
Evaluation method of liquefaction potential and its storm, flood, volcanic eruption and earthquake.
application. Report on seismic hazards on the ground Part of our business is to learn how to live with
in urban areas. Ministry of Education of Japan (in these events when they happen. The force of
Japanese). gravity keeps us on our friendly planet. We know
Terzaghi, K. & Peck, R. B. (1948). Soil mechanics in
about it and deal with it all the time. Dynamic
engineering practice. 2nd edn, p. 108. Chichester:
Wiley. forces are something else.
Toki, S., Tatsuoka, F., Miura, S., Yoshimi, Y., Yasuda, The study of ground response to earthquakes
S. & Makihara, Y. (1986). Cyclic undrained triaxial in the modern context roughly spans the period
strength of sand by a cooperative test program. Soils since the first Rankine Lecture. It also spans the
Fdns 26, No. 3, 117-128. professional career of our lecturer. We seem to
Tokimatsu, K., Midorikawa, S., Tamura, S., Kuway- have learned why earthquakes occur and where,
ama, S. & Abe, A. (1991). Preliminary report on the although, so far, not when. We have greatly
geotechnical aspects of the Philippine earthquake of improved the ability to analyse and understand
July 16, 1990. Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Recent Adv.
the dynamic behaviour of structures, and the
Geotech. Earthquake Engng 2, 1693-1700.
Tokimatsu, K. & Seed, H. B. (1987). Evaluation of set-
forces to which they are subjected.
tlements in sands due to earthquake shaking. J. The steel and concrete of structures keep con-
Geotech. Engng Div. Am. Sot. Ciu. Engrs 113, GT8, stant habits before, during and after dynamic
861-878. excitation. However, not so the soils on which
Tokimatsu, K. & Yoshimi, Y. (1983). Empirical corre- structures sit. They may change their habits and
lation of soil liquefaction based on SPT N-value and do nasty and unexpected things. We need to
fines content. Soils Fdns 23, No. 4, 56-74. understand this behaviour if we are to learn to
Tsuchida, H., Noda, S., Inatori, T., Uwabe, T., Iai, S., live with and through earthquakes, and this prob-
Ohneda, H. & Toyota, S. (1985). Damage to port
ably presents the greatest challenge to the geo-
structures by the 1983 Nipponkai-Chubu Earthquake.
technical engineer. The soil is the weak link
Technical note 511. Tokyo: Port and Harbour
Research Institute (in Japanese). between our planet and our structures. It is also
Vaid, Y. P., Chung, E. K. F. & Keurbis, R. H. (1990). the weak link in our understanding. Professor
Stress path and steady state. Can. Geotech. J. 21, Ishihara has addressed this problem relentlessly
No. 1, l-7. throughout his career. In so doing he has faced
Verdugo, R. L. (1992). Characterization of sandy soil the problems of how to simulate the real in situ
behaviour under large deformation. University of behaviour of soils in the laboratory and of how to
Tokyo, PhD dissertation. formulate these properties in analysis. In earth-
Yoshimi, Y., Richart, F. E., Prakash, S., Balkan, D. D.
quake studies, however, things are further compli-
& Ilyichev, V. A. (1977). Soil dynamics and its appli-
cated by complex dynamic loading, and
cation to foundation engineering. Proc. 9th Int.
Conz Soil Mech. 2,605-6X handicapped by the fact that, while one may see,
Yoshimi, Y., Tokimatsu, K. & Hosaka, Y. (1989). Evalu- occasionally, the consequences of earthquake
ation of liquefaction resistance of clean sands based loading in the field, one cannot observe this
on high-quality undisturbed samples. Soils Fdns 29, behaviour as it happens. Progress in knowledge
No. 1, 93-104. in this area is due greatly to Professor Ishihara,

and to the rigour with which he has sought con- the 19th century have surely been repaid many
sistency between experiment, theory and field times over in the 20th. It is pleasant to think of
observation. this lecture as a continuation of these links, which
In a recent conversation about what previous we hope will continue.
Rankine lecturers had done, how many had While listening to this lecture, I did wonder
reviewed particular topics and synthesized know- whether to claim that this was the evening when
ledge, and how some had presented new work, the earth moved for us, but I will not. It is,
Professor Ishihara said that he had thought of however, the evening when we have learned much
doing the former, but this would have prevented about how the earth moves.
him from working with his research students, and On behalf of the British Geotechnical Society
so he chose the latter. This choice is not a suprise and the British geotechnical community, I thank
to those who know Professor Ishihara and his Professor Ishihara for sharing his work with us,
work. It is in a distinguished tradition. He has and for undertaking the extra burden of pre-
given us much to digest. paring and giving such a clear presentation in
Early on there were links between British and English. We look forward to reading the paper,
Japanese engineering. Our forefathers seem to and Professor Ishihara’s future work in this chal-
have been extraordinarily good teachers. Any lenging subject. I ask the audience to support my
small technological debts incurred by Japan in vote of thanks by acclamation.

Ishihara - Liquefaction and Flow Failure During Earthquake

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Ishihara - Liquefaction and Flow Failure During Earthquake

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Ishihara,K. (1993). Gdotechnique 43, No.

Liquefaction and flow failure

INTRODUCTION ‘spontaneous liquefaction’ was coined by Ter-

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 1. Flow chart of the problems associated with liquefaction

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 2. Effects of sample preparation on cyclic shear strength of sand

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 3. Results of the co-operative tests in the USA on 02 1

Fig. 4. Results of the co-operative tests in Japan on

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Moist placement and dry deposition are intro-

CYCLIC RESISTANCE OF IN SITU DEPOSITS

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

One method to accomplish this is to take

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

for 0.04 mm < D,, < 0.6 mm (2a)

where ~~~is the amplitude of average shear stress

Normolized cone reslstonce,qcl(MF’a)

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 10. Increment AN, value as a function of fines

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

mined. If the plasticity index of the fines is

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

SPT N-value D% (mm)

Fig. 13. Example of liquefaction analysis

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

stress ratio tends to increase with increasing

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Dr= 16JN, (10)

D, = -A + B log (qc/ Jo”‘) (11)

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 17. Subsurface conditions and locations of CPT soundings at the

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 18. Example of calculation of the ground settlement

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

emerged here and there in the vicinity of the

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

0 0.01 002 0.06 0.1

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Steady state Line

Fig. 29. Determination of the quasi-steady state (QSS)

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

2 o.so- 0 +ura sand

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

of fro’ = 0.1-1.0 MPa, as illustrated by points a, b

Fig. 35. Behaviour of moist-placed samples showing zero residual strength

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Fig. 37. Definition of state index IS

physical implications, as follows steady state is eventually reached. Selected test

identical state indices were assembled, as shown

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

It is worth noting in passing that the mobilized

state of phase transformation can be determined

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

where q, and p,’ indicate the deviator stress

Downloaded by [] on [28/05/18]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

line, and shown to be established uniquely in the

,“,,,a, effect,ve conf,n,ng stress , Pk CMPa)