Shaking table test on underwater slope failure induced by liquefaction

Abstract

Sand liquefaction is a process in which the excess pore water pressure of saturated sand soils increases and the effective stress of saturated sand decreases under the action of vibration, resulting in the transition of sand soils from the solid state to the liquid state. In this paper, an underwater sand slope model containing the upper sand slope and the bottom non-liquefied clay layer was designed. The whole process of large deformation of flow liquefaction from the solid state to the liquid state was reproduced by the shaking table test and recorded by the high-definition particle image velocimetry (PIV) equipment. Four main influencing factors: the acceleration amplitude of the shaking table, the frequency of the shaking table, the relative density of the sand slope, and the slope ratio of height and width of the sand slope, were considered. During the test, the dynamic response characteristics of acceleration and excess pore water pressure (EPWP) within the underwater sand slope model were monitored and analyzed in the whole deformation process to reveal the mechanism of the sand liquefaction process and the law of development and provide data support for subsequent research.

Keywords

• Shaking table test
• PIV analysis
• Liquefaction
• Excess pore water pressure
• Effective stress ratio