Soil Liquefaction 101: Triggering, Consequences and Mitigation
One of the leading causes of damage during earthquakes is soil liquefaction. It can have devastating consequences on critical infrastructure such as dams, ports and other lifelines. This course will serve as an introduction to the phenomenon of soil liquefaction, as well as details on simplified and advanced methods of analyses. Specifically, this phenomenon will be presented, as well as empirical and mechanistic methods to determine soil liquefaction triggering and post-liquefaction strength loss and its consequences for a range of materials (gravels, sands and silty soils). Laboratory and field testing to collect data that helps determine liquefaction triggering and post-liquefaction soil behavior (e.g. strength loss, dilation and hardening)
Topics
- 1. To introduce the phenomenon of soil liquefaction and develop an understanding of the factors contributing to soil liquefaction susceptibility. 2. To familiarize students with laboratory and field tests that can be used to determine liquefaction vulnerability. 3. To teach students about available simplified and advanced methods for conducting liquefaction triggering analyses. 4. To introduce concepts of post-liquefaction soil response and teach students methods for estimating post-liquefaction strength and settlement potential. 5. To discuss state of the art methods for advanced dynamic numerical modeling of pore pressure generation during seismic shaking 6. To introduce mitigation techniques for soil liquefaction.
- 1. Given certain soil characteristics such as grain size distribution, and plasticity, determine whether the soil is susceptible to soil liquefaction. 2. Given intensity of shaking, soil characteristics and results from field tests, determine whether the soil will liquefy (deterministic approach), or the probability that the soil will liquefy (probabilistic approach). 3. Interpretation of laboratory data from cyclic loading tests on liquefiable soils. 4. Given shaking intensity, soil characteristics/properties, determine what the post-liquefaction and/or volumetric strain potential is. 5. Given soil characteristics and type of affected infrastructure, select appropriate mitigation measures.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Prerequisites & course information
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Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027