Harnessing Numerical Tools to Study the Limitations of CPTs for Characterizing Complex Soil Stratigraphies for Liquefaction Assessment

Kaleigh M. Yost, Alba Yerro, Russell A. Green, Eileen Martin

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper describes the use of the Material Point Method (MPM) to simulate cone penetrometer testing (CPT) in complex soil profiles. CPT-based liquefaction evaluation procedures have been shown to be inaccurate in highly interlayered soil stratigraphies. One contributing factor to this inaccuracy is that CPT measurements at discrete depths reflect the properties of all soils that fall within a zone of influence around the cone tip, not just the properties of the soil at a particular depth. Consequently, the CPT loses resolution in soil profiles with many thin, interbedded soil layers (multiple thin-layer effects) and provides inaccurate input data to liquefaction analyses. While several procedures have been proposed to correct for multiple thin-layer effects, they tend to decrease in efficacy as the thickness of soil layers decreases. Results from the MPM analyses detailed in this paper highlight limitations of (1) the CPT in characterizing complex soil stratigraphies and (2) procedures proposed to correct for multiple thin-layer effects in CPT data.

Original languageEnglish (US)
StatePublished - 2022
Event12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, NCEE 2022 - Salt Lake City, United States
Duration: Jun 27 2022Jul 1 2022

Conference

Conference12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, NCEE 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySalt Lake City
Period6/27/227/1/22

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Geology
  • Earth-Surface Processes

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