Soil liquefaction occurs when cohesionless, water-saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness under applied stress, most often the shaking of an earthquake, so that material ordinarily solid behaves like a liquid. It is most likely in loose sandy or non-plastic silty soils, and is a major cause of ground failure and structural damage during large earthquakes. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
TimescaleOccurs rapidly, within seconds during earthquake shaking, as loose sand grains decrease in volume and pore water pressure rises; the resulting loss of shear strength can persist for minutes to hours until pore pressure dissipates. 1 Driving ForceEarthquake shaking, which raises pore-water pressure in loose, saturated, cohesionless soil until the grains lose contact and the soil behaves as a liquid. 1 Resulting FeatureCauses structures founded on liquefied ground to sink, tilt or float, and can trigger lateral spreading of the ground surface on gentle slopes. 1 SignificanceSoil liquefaction was a major cause of structural damage in earthquakes such as the 1964 Niigata and 2011 Christchurch events, and its hazard is now routinely assessed before construction. 1 Timescale
Timescale (category)Instantaneous / Seconds 1 Timescale (category) Driving Force
Driving Force (category) Connections
Associated With
Faulting, Processes Seismic shaking generated along faults is the most common trigger of soil liquefaction.
In Discipline
Sources
1. Soil Liquefaction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTechnical definitions
Liquefaction is more likely to occur in sandy or non-plastic silty soils but may in rare cases occur in gravels and clays.
Article text
During wave loading, usually cyclic undrained loading, e.g. seismic loading, loose sands tend to decrease in volume, which produces an increase in their pore water pressures and consequently a decrease in shear strength, i.e. reduction in effective stress.
Introduction
material that is ordinarily a solid behaves like a liquid, a sudden physical change termed thixotropy
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.