Simulation of soil liquefaction due to earthquake loading

Abstract

Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil are reduced as a result of seismic or other dynamic effects. Liquefaction was the main reason of the huge damages caused by many earthquakes around the world. The modeling of soil behavior is the main step in the process of predicting the soil liquefaction. Currently, a large number of soil models are presented. However, only some of them can simulate this process. One of these models which can be used is model UBC3D-PLM. In this paper, the possibilities of this model are considered by modeling the seismic impact on a building with its different heights on the PLAXIS software package. The real data of Upland earthquake 1990 near Los Angeles city was used. Results of the simulation showed the difference in the behavior of the soil mass under the influence of an earthquake compared with the elastic behavior, as well as the need to use the UBC3D-PLM model to estimate the seismic impact.