EXAMINING THE INITIATION MECHANISMS OF STATIC AND DYNAMIC LIQUEFACTION USING THREE DIMENSIONAL DEM SIMULATIONS

Abstract eng:
Static and dynamic liquefaction may produce different levels of damages on the infrastructures and various numbers of casualties. Understanding the associated initiation mechanisms therefore is very important for geotechnical engineers to predict and manage the relevant hazards. In this study, a series of DEM simulations of undrained triaxial compression tests and a cyclic undrained triaxial test are carried out to examine the initiation mechanisms from a micromechanical perspective. The simulation results demonstrate a continuous decrease in the mean of contact normal forces and a continuous increase in the associated COV as the shear strain increases during undrained compression of a loose sample. Such kind of evolution trend found in the contact force distribution was not observed in the simulations of undrained compression tests on medium dense to dense sand samples. However, the same behavior can be detected in the cyclic undrained triaxial tests on a dense sample, i.e., a continuous decrease in the mean of contact normal forces and a continuous increase in the associated COV. Hence, such an evolution tendency of contact force distributions can serve as a basis to explain the initiation mechanisms of the static and dynamic liquefaction from a micromechanical point of view.

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