Retesting of liquefaction and nonliquefaction case histories from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
By: , and 

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Abstract

A field investigation was performed to retest liquefaction and nonliquefaction sites from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China. These sites were carefully investigated in 1978 and 1979 by using standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT) equipment; however, the CPT measurements are obsolete because of the now nonstandard cone that was used at the time. In 2007, a modern cone was mobilized to retest 18 selected sites that are particularly important because of the intense ground shaking they sustained despite their high fines content and/or because the site did not liquefy. Of the sites reinvestigated and carefully reprocessed, 13 were considered accurate representative case histories. Two of the sites that were originally investigated for liquefaction have been reinvestigated for cyclic failure of fine-grained soil and removed from consideration for liquefaction triggering. The most important outcome of these field investigations was the collection of more accurate data for three nonliquefaction sites that experienced intense ground shaking. Data for these three case histories is now included in an area of the liquefaction triggering database that was poorly populated and will help constrain the upper bound of future liquefaction triggering curves.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Retesting of liquefaction and nonliquefaction case histories from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake
Series title Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000406
Volume 137
Issue 4
Year Published 2011
Language English
Publisher American Society of Civil Engineers
Description 10 p.
First page 334
Last page 343
Country China
Other Geospatial Tangshan
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