The CANLEX project: summary and conclusions

The Canadian geotechnical engineering community has completed a major colla borative 5 year research project entitled the Canadian Liquefaction Experim ent (CANLEX). The main objective of the project was to study the phenomenon of soil liquefaction, which can occur in saturated sandy soils and is char acterized by a large loss of strength or stiffness resulting in substantial deformations. The intent of this paper is to compare, interpret, and summa rize the large amount of field and laboratory data obtained for six sites i n Western Canada as part of the CANLEX project. The sites are compared in t erms of both flow-liquefaction and cyclic-softening considerations. The pap er presents a number of conclusions drawn from the project as a whole, in t erms of both fundamental and practical significance.