Liquefaction Resistance Evaluation of Pleistocene-Age South Carolina Coastal Plain Sands with the Cone Penetrometer Test

Abstract

Three Pleistocene-age sand deposits from 100,000 to 1.2 million years old in the South Carolina Coastal Plain were characterized with the cone penetrometer test and samples were tested in a cyclic triaxial system to determine their cyclic resistance to earthquake-induced liquefaction. The current empirical methods used for evaluation of the cyclic resistance of the soils to liquefaction are limited due to their dependence on young, Holocene-age soil deposits less than 10,000 years old. The results of this work show that the cyclic resistance ratio of the Pleistocene-age deposits is greater than that of the Holocene-age deposits using two readily available methods of analysis and considering the adjustment for fines content. The cyclic resistance ratios derived from laboratory cyclic triaxial tests that have been adjusted for field conditions and with the cone penetrometer test data indicate that the cyclic resistance ratios for the Pleistocene soils exceed the Holocene clean sand base liquefaction curves using both methods. The cyclic resistance ratios of the Holocene clean sand base curve are exceeded over a range from 0.6% to 43.3% and one of the methods indicates an age-related progression of the cyclic resistance ratio.