Study to explore the use of Quality Factor of Body Waves (S waves) as a tool to investigate the soil liquefaction potential
G Handayani1 and A F Hariawan1

1Laboratory of Earth Physics Bandung Institute of Technology

Abstract

Abstract.
Liquefaction events occur in deposits of saturated loose sand. Due to the incompressible nature of water, the pore water pressure rises dramatically. Built-up pressure pushes sand particles so that the effective stress between particles becomes zero. Or in other words, these sand particles do not touch each other in the water. So these sand particles are now ^swimming^ in water. These sand deposits behave like water, can flow, and do not have shear strength like normal soil. Not having shear strength means that this soil does not have the carrying capacity of the regular soil against loads above the ground such as buildings etc. This research investigates the possibility of using the Q (quality) factor of seismic waves to estimate the potential liquefaction of soil deposits. We employ Ottawa sand in the laboratory and apply various vibrations using small shaking tables. The results promise of possibilities of using the Q (quality) factor to estimate potential liquefaction.

Keywords: Liquefaction soils shaking table Q factor S waves

Topic: Earth and Planetary Sciences