Quantifying the variation of hydraulic conductivity during seismic liquefaction
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
MA, Shengjie
Kontoe, Stavroula
Taborda, David
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Hydraulic conductivity plays a significant role in the evolution of liquefaction phenomena induced by seismic loading, influencing the pore water pressure buildup and dissipation, as well as the associated settlement during and after liquefaction. Experimental evidence indicates that hydraulic conductivity varies significantly during and after seismic excitation. However, most previous studies have focused on experimentally capturing soil hydraulic conductivity variations during the post-shaking phase, primarily based on the results at the stage of excess pore water pressure dissipation and consolidation of sand particles after liquefaction. This paper aims to quantify the variation of hydraulic conductivity during liquefaction, covering both the co-seismic and post-shaking phases. Adopting a fully coupled solid-fluid formulation (u–p), a new back-analysis methodology is introduced which allows the direct estimation of the hydraulic conductivity of a soil deposit during liquefaction based on centrifuge data or field measurements. Data from eight well-documented free-field dynamic centrifuge tests are then analysed, revealing key characteristics of the variation of hydraulic conductivity during liquefaction. The results show that hydraulic conductivity increases rapidly at the onset of seismic shaking but gradually decreases despite high pore pressures persisting. The depicted trends are explained using the Kozeny-Carman equation, which highlights the combined effects of seismic shaking-induced agitation, liquefaction, and solidification on soil hydraulic conductivity during the co-seismic and post-shaking phases.
Date Issued
2025-10-01
Date Acceptance
2025-05-10
Citation
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 2025, 197
ISSN
0267-7261
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
Volume
197
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.soildyn.2025.109518
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
109518
Date Publish Online
2025-06-02