Liquefaction Manifestation During Kraljevo 2010 Earthquake

Abstract eng:
Moderate earthquake with M=5.4 trembled central part of Serbia on November 3, 2010 at 01:56:55 (local time). The epicenter of the quake was near the city of Kraljevo, 120 km south of Belgrade on the Balkan Peninsula. Apart from structural damages this earthquake had developed interesting geological manifestations. Manifestation of soil liquefaction was observed in the epicentral area, at sites near small villages of Sirca and Oplanici. Typical liquefaction features like: ground cracks, sand boils, ejected sand in wells were reported after the earthquake by the Seismological Survey of Serbia (2010). Most of these manifestations appeared in the agriculture area in the vicinity of West Morava River. Kraljevo 2010 earthquake is one of the rare case histories where soil liquefaction took place under magnitude smaller than six, M<5.5. However, soil liquefaction during Kraljevo 2010 earthquake didn’t developed any damages to buildings but its occurrence has risen attention among engineering and scientific community since there are very limited documented case histories of liquefaction in this part of South East Europe. Comprehensive laboratory investigation has been performed on soil samples collected from three sites where liquefaction was observed. A series of cyclic simple shear and cyclic triaxial tests on soils collected from sites which exhibited liquefaction during the Kraljevo 2010 earthquake were used to investigate the key features of liquefaction. The CSR was parameter which was varied during the tests in order to evaluate the dependence of liquefaction resistance curves on level of the seismic exposure. The terrain where samples were collected belongs to quaternary alluvial river deposits from West Morava valley. Such quaternary alluvial deposits are typical for many river valleys in the region and wider on the Balkan Peninsula. Geological conditions and grain size distribution curves are in favor for triggering the liquefaction of the sandy soils layering the river terraces next to West Morava River. The results showed that the number of cycles less than 10, NL<10 are necessary to trigger liquefaction for CSR > 0.125. This study emphasis the importance of liquefaction studies on larger scale for this part of South Eastern Europe in order to developed zoning maps where liquefaction risk can be clearly indicate. It will be contribution toward safer urban development and efficient earthquake preparedness of these regions.

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