LAUSR

Abstract It has been known that the liquefaction resistance of a particular sandy soil is influenced by not only its density, but also the soil fabric. Thus, it is evident that a laboratory test that utilizes an in-situ high quality sample is necessary to investigate the effects of density and soil fabric on the liquefaction resistance. However, the fabric of sandy soil samples retrieved via conventional, and inaptly named, “undisturbed” sampling techniques is prone to disturbance during sampling and the process of sample preparation in the laboratory. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to solve this problem. In order to investigate the respective effects of density and soil fabric on the liquefaction resistance of sandy soil, a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests and Vs measurements were performed, and then the results were compared to, and analysed against, previously reported results. The results indicate that, when the soil particles show no signs of any bonding effect (cementation effect and/or plasticity), the Vs-CRR trends of the examined soils are consistently similar regardless of soil type, density, fines content and confining pressure. Thus, based on the experimental and analytical findings, a method is proposed to evaluate in-situ liquefaction resistance as based on the in-situ and laboratory-measured shear wave velocities.