CPT-Based Evaluation of Liquefaction Potential Accounting for Soil Spatial Variability at Multiple Scales

Abstract

Understanding and assessing the spatial extent of liquefaction requires that the spatial dependence of soil properties to be taken into account. In this work, a cone penetration test (CPT)-based approach for the evaluation of liquefaction potential is presented where the soil spatial variability is explicitly considered through internally-consistent probabilistic models developed at multiple scales. The novelty of the proposed work comes from the integration of the classical empirically-developed liquefaction criteria with tools in geostatistics and novel multiscale random-field models. A unique feature of the proposed work is its ability to refine and obtain higher resolution random fields for soil properties in critical areas, such as those adjacent to important infrastructure or in areas with detailed small-scale field data. An illustrative example assessing the liquefaction potential at various shaking levels in the Marina District of San Francisco is used to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method.