LARGE SIZE SAMPLE TEST IN FIELD FOR STUDY OF LIQUEFACTION OF SANDS

Abstract

It has been observed in many earthquake that foundation soil consisting of saturated sands behaves like a fluid. The associated phenomenon has been known as Liquefaction. Liquefaction of saturated sand has often been the main cause of the catastrophic damage to structure resulting in loss of life and property. The observations during earthquakes suggests that extra safety taken in design of superstructure is not of any help in the event of liquefaction of foundation soil due to earthquake. Therefore, it is extremely essential to investigate the site for the possibility of liquefaction during an expected earthquake and take suitable measures to avoid the disaster. Different authors have investigated this problem and different methods of test and the test equipments are used. However, no uniform agreement todate has been achieved. The following methods have been reported for determining the possibility of liquefaction during an earthquake. (a) The method based on the tests data obtained either from Dynamic Triaxia3 Tests or from Simple Shear Tests on small sample. (b) Probabilistic methods and Method based on Past Experience.