UNDRAINED SHEAR-STRENGTH FOR LIQUEFACTION FLOW FAILURE ANALYSIS

An important factor in evaluating the stability of hydraulic fills aga inst flow sliding is the undrained steady-state strength mobilized in the field. This paper proposes an empirical relationship between three factors: the undrained strength back-calculated from fills that faile d by flow sliding, equivalent clean sand normalized blow-count values, and soil-specific parameters from steady-state laboratory testing. It is shown that S-uo, which is a reference value of steady-state streng th at maximum void ratio, is an important soil parameter. The proposed method offers an explanation for the performance of many artificial s and islands in the Beaufort Sea, indicates the extreme sensitivity of S-uo to soil type and the usefulness of S-uo for assessing the potenti al strength loss of soils for use in safety assessments of existing hy draulic fills.