Safety Assessment of Antiliquefaction Performance of a Constructed Reservoir Embankment. II: Numerical Assessment

Abstract

This study focuses on the safety assessment of antiliquefaction performance of an embankment of a reservoir, which is an important infrastructure located in Shanghai, China. The performance-based design (PBD) philosophy is introduced for the assessment. In the accompanying paper, the experimental safety assessment using dynamic centrifuge model tests is presented. In this paper, an effective stress-based, fully coupled, hybrid, finite element–finite differences (FE-FD) numerical method is adopted for the numerical safety assessment. The numerical scheme is verified and validated using the dynamic centrifuge model tests reported in the accompanying paper and then applied to assess the safety of the whole embankment subjected to precautionary earthquake. The liquefiable soils are described by a well-calibrated cyclic elastoplastic constitutive model, while a Ramberg–Osgood model is adapted for the other soils. All the parameters used in the simulation are determined based on field data and element tests. The hydrodynamic pressure is also considered in the safety assessment. The seismic performances of the constructed embankment during and after an earthquake are predicted. The safety of antiliquefaction performance of the reservoir embankment is assessed based on the PBD concept.