Liquefaction Resistance of Saturated Sand

The fundamental aspects of soil behaviour during cyclic loading are illustrated using laboratory cyclic triaxial test results, and the current practice for determining the liquefaction resistance of soils from laboratory triaxial tests is described. The physical properties pertinent to dynamic characterisation of soils are introduced and correlated with each other. Starting from the simple binary packing model of soil particles, the novel concept of skeleton void ratio is introduced to capture the overall characteristics of liquefaction resistance and initial shear modulus of soils. The relations between liquefaction resistance and initial shear modulus of soils are then illustrated with respect to the reference cyclic strain.