Predicting blast-induced liquefaction within the New Madrid Seismic Zone

Elvis Ishimwe; Richard A. Coffman; Kyle M. Rollins; Elvis Ishimwe; Richard A. Coffman; Kyle M. Rollins

doi:10.3934/geosci.2020006

AIMS Geosciences

2020, Volume 6, Issue 1: 71-91. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2020006

Previous Article Next Article

Research article Special Issues

Predicting blast-induced liquefaction within the New Madrid Seismic Zone

1.
Field Engineer, GRL Engineers, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2.
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
3.
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Received: 20 February 2019 Accepted: 23 October 2019 Published: 28 February 2020

The Turrell Arkansas Testing Site (TATS) is located in Northeastern Arkansas, United States. The site consists of approximately six meters of overconsolidated clay underlain by loose liquefiable sand deposits. Numerous traditional (rotary-wash boring with sample collection) and advanced (seismic piezocone soundings) geotechnical investigations have been performed at this site. A controlled-blasting testing program was also performed at the TATS to determine the blasting layout (the appropriate amount of explosive charges, the detonation delays, and the charge spacing), and to verify induced liquefaction of the soil deposit at a testing site located within the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The results obtained from the installed transducers and the pre- and postblast cone penetration tests (CPT) are discussed. Although, the CPT were performed when the excess porewater pressures were dissipated, a review of CPT profiles after blasting showed no evidence of increase of cone tip resistance and sleeve friction. Due to the small amount of explosive charge weight that was used, the excess porewater pressure ratio values only increased above the unity at the depth of 11.30 m. A review of the existing empirical models used to predict blast-induced porewater pressure responses and liquefaction is presented. A new empirical model that accounts for the in-situ soil properties, to estimate the excess pore pressure ratio, was developed and is presented herein.
- charge weight,
- blasting,
- empirical models,
- liquefaction,
- excess porewater pressure ratio,
- peak compressive strain,
- peak particle velocit
Citation: Elvis Ishimwe, Richard A. Coffman, Kyle M. Rollins. Predicting blast-induced liquefaction within the New Madrid Seismic Zone[J]. AIMS Geosciences, 2020, 6(1): 71-91. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2020006

Related Papers:

Abstract

The Turrell Arkansas Testing Site (TATS) is located in Northeastern Arkansas, United States. The site consists of approximately six meters of overconsolidated clay underlain by loose liquefiable sand deposits. Numerous traditional (rotary-wash boring with sample collection) and advanced (seismic piezocone soundings) geotechnical investigations have been performed at this site. A controlled-blasting testing program was also performed at the TATS to determine the blasting layout (the appropriate amount of explosive charges, the detonation delays, and the charge spacing), and to verify induced liquefaction of the soil deposit at a testing site located within the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The results obtained from the installed transducers and the pre- and postblast cone penetration tests (CPT) are discussed. Although, the CPT were performed when the excess porewater pressures were dissipated, a review of CPT profiles after blasting showed no evidence of increase of cone tip resistance and sleeve friction. Due to the small amount of explosive charge weight that was used, the excess porewater pressure ratio values only increased above the unity at the depth of 11.30 m. A review of the existing empirical models used to predict blast-induced porewater pressure responses and liquefaction is presented. A new empirical model that accounts for the in-situ soil properties, to estimate the excess pore pressure ratio, was developed and is presented herein.

References

[1]	Lyman AKB (1941) Compaction of cohesionless foundation soils by explosives. Trans. ASCE, 67:1330-1348.
[2]	Ivanov PL (1967) Compaction of Noncohesive Soils by Explosions (translated from Russian). National Technical Information Service Report No. TT70-57221. U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA, 211.
[3]	Solymar ZV (1984) Compaction of alluvial sands by deep blasting.Can Geotech J 21:305-321. doi: 10.1139/t84-032
[4]	Handford GT (1988) Densification of an existing dam with explosives. Proc., Hydraulic Fill Structures, ASCE, New York, 750-762.
[5]	La Fosse U, Rosenvinge TV IV (1992) Densification of loose sands by deep blasting. Proc., Grouting, Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics, ASCE, Reston, VA, 954-968.
[6]	Kimmerling RE (1994) Blast Densification for Mitigation of Dynamic Settlement and Liquefaction-Final Report WA-RD 348.1. Washington State Department of Transportation, 135.
[7]	Narin Van Court WA, Mitchell JK (1994) Explosive compaction:Densification of loose, saturated, cohesionless soils by blasting. Geotechnical Engineering Report No. UCB/GT/94-03, 116.
[8]	Raju VR, Gudehus G (1994) Compaction of loose sand deposits using blasting. Proc., 13th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1145-1150.
[9]	Gohl WB, Howie JA, Hawson HH, et al. (1994) Field experience with blast densification. Proc., 5th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA, 4:221-231.
[10]	Gohl WB, Howie JA, Everard J (1996) Use of explosive compaction for dam foundation preparation. Proc., 49th Canadian Geotechnical Conf., Canadian Geotechnical Society, Richmond, BC, Canada, 2:758-793.
[11]	Gohl WB, Tsujino S, Wu G, et al. (1998) Field application of explosive compaction in silty soils and numerical analysis. Proc., Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics III, GSP 75, ASCE, Reston, VA, 654-665.
[12]	Gohl WB, Jefferies MG, Howie JA, et al. (2000) Explosive compaction:Design, implementation and effectiveness. Geotechnique 50:657-665. doi: 10.1680/geot.2000.50.6.657
[13]	Gohl WB, Howie JA, Rea CE (2001) Use of controlled detonation of explosives for liquefaction testing. Proceedings, Fourth Int. Conf. On Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, San Diego, Calf. Paper no. 913.
[14]	Vega-Posada CA (2012) Evaluation of liquefaction susceptibility of clean sands after blast densification. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern Univ., Dept. of Civil Engineering, Evanston, IL, 209.
[15]	Charlie WA (1985) Review of present practices used in predicting the effects of blasting on pore pressure. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. Report GR-85-9, 21.
[16]	Charlie WA, Hubert ME, Schure LA, et al. (1988) Blast induced liquefaction:summary of literature. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Washington D.C., 316.
[17]	Charlie WA, Jacobs PJ, Doehring DO (1992) Blast induced liquefaction of an alluvial sand deposit. Geotech Test J 15:14-23. doi: 10.1520/GTJ10220J
[18]	Figueroa JL, Saada AS, Liang L, et al. (1994) Evaluation of soil liquefaction by energy principles. J Geotech Eng 120:1554-1569. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1994)120:9(1554)
[19]	Ferrito JM (1997) Seismic design criteria for soil liquefaction. Technical Report TR-2077-SHR. Naval Facilities Engineering Center, 87.
[20]	Okamura M, Soga Y (2006) Effects of pore fluid compressibility on liquefaction resistance of partially saturated sand. Soils Found 46:695-700. doi: 10.3208/sandf.46.695
[21]	Charlie WA, Doehring DO (2007) Groundwater table mounding, pore pressure, and liquefaction induced by explosions:energy-distance relations. Rev Geophys 45:1-9. doi: 10.1029/2006RG000205
[22]	Rollins KM, Anderson JKS (2008) Cone penetration resistance variation with time after blast liquefaction testing. Procs. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics-IV, Geotechnical Special Publication 181, ASCE, 10.
[23]	Ashford SA, Rollins KM, Lane JD (2004) Blast-induced liquefaction for full-scale foundation testing. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 130:798-806. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2004)130:8(798)
[24]	Rollins KM (2004) Liquefaction mitigation using vertical composite drains:Full-scale testing. Final Report for Highway IDEA Project 94. Transportation Research Board, 105.
[25]	Rollins KM, Lane JD, Nicholson PG, et al. (2004) Liquefaction hazard assessment using controlled-blasting techniques. Proc. 11th International Conference on Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering, 2:630-637.
[26]	Rollins KM, Strand SR (2006) Downdrag Forces Due to Liquefaction Surrounding a Pile. Proceedings of the 8^th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Paper No. 1646, San Francisco, CA, 18-22.
[27]	Rollins KM, Hollenbaugh JE (2015) Liquefaction induced negative skin friction from blast-induced liquefaction tests with Auger-cast Piles. 6^th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Christchurch, New Zealand.
[28]	Charlie WA, Doehring DO, Veyera GE, et al. (1988) Blast induced liquefaction of soils:laboratory and field tests. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Washington D.C., 184.
[29]	Youd TL, Idriss IM (2001) Liquefaction resistance of soils:Summary report from the 1996 NCEER and 1998 NCEER/NSF workshops on evaluation of liquefaction resistance of soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 127:817-833. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2001)127:10(817)
[30]	Ashford SA, Rollins KM (2002) TILT:Treasure Island Liquefaction Test:Final Report. Report SSRP-2001/17, Department of Structural Engineering, University of California, San Diego.
[31]	Seed RB, Cetin KO, Moss RES, et al. (2003) Recent advances in soil liquefaction engineering and seismic site response evaluation:Unified and consistent framework. Proceedings:Fourth International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics and Symposium in Honor of Professor W.D. Liam Finn, San Diego.
[32]	Al-Qasimi EMA, Charlie WA, Woeller DJ (2005) Canadian liquefaction experiment (CANLEX):Blast-induced ground motion and pore pressure experiments. Geotech Test J 28:9-21.
[33]	Bray JD, Sancio RB (2006) Assessment of the liquefaction susceptibility of fine-grained soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 132:1165-1177. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2006)132:9(1165)
[34]	Kramer SL (2008) Evaluation of liquefaction hazards in Washington State. Final Research Report, Agreement T2695, Task 66, Liquefaction Phase III. Washington State Transportation Commission.
[35]	Kummeneje O, Eide O (1961) Investigation of loose sand deposits by blasting. Proc., 5th ICSMFE, ISSMFE, London, 491-497.
[36]	Studer J, Kok L (1980) Blast-induced excess porewater pressure and liquefaction experience and application. International Symposium on Soils under Cyclic and Transient Loading, Swansea, UK, 581-593.
[37]	Veyera GE (1985) Transient porewater pressure response and liquefaction in a saturated sand. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Civil Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
[38]	Hubert ME (1986) Shock loading of water saturated Eniwetok coral sand. M. S. thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Co, 145-154.
[39]	Eller JM (2011) Predicting pore pressure in in-situ liquefaction studied using controlled blasting. Master's Thesis, Oregon State University.
[40]	Charlie WA, Bretz TE, Schure (White) LA, Doehring DO (2013) Blast-induced pore pressure and liquefaction of saturated sand. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 139:1308-1389. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000846
[41]	Kumar R, Choudhury D, Bhargava K (2014) Prediction of blast-induced vibration parameters for soil sites. Int J Geomech 14:04014007. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000355
[42]	Lyakhov GM (1961) Shock Waves in the Ground and the Dilution of Water Saturated Sand. Zhrunal Prikladnoy Mekhanik Technicheskoy Fiziki, Moscow, 38-46.
[43]	Jacobs PJ (1988) Blast-induced liquefaction of an alluvial sand deposit. M.S. Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, Colorado State University.
[44]	Rollins KM, Ashford SA, Lane JD (2001) Full-scale lateral load testing of deep foundations using blast induced liquefaction. Proc., 4^th int. conf. on Recent Advances in Goetechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, Univ. of Missouri-Rolla, MO, 1-3.
[45]	Larson-Robl KM (2016) Pore pressure measurement instrumentation response to blasting. M.S. Thesis, Mining Engineering, University of Kentucky.
[46]	Drake JL, Little CD (1983) Ground shock from penetrating conventional weapons. Proc., Interaction of Non-Nuclear Munitions with Structures, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, 1-6.
[47]	Wu J, Seed RB, Pestana JM (2003) Liquefaction triggering and post liquefaction deformations of Monterey 0:30 sand underunidirectional cyclic simple shear shear loading. Geotechnical Engineering Research Report No. UCB/GE-2003/01. University of California, Berkeley, California.
[48]	Leong EC, Anand S, Cheong HK, et al. (2007) Reexamination of peak stress and scaled distance due to ground shock. Int J Impact Eng 34:1487-1499. doi: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2006.10.009
[49]	Puchkov SV (1962) Correlation between the velocity of seismic oscillations of particles and phenomenon of particles and liquefaction phenomenon of water-saturated sand (in Russian). Prob Eng Seismol 6:92-94.
[50]	Studer J, Kok L, Trense RW (1978) Soil liquefaction field test-Meppen Proving Ground 1978 free field response, paper presented at 6th International Symposium on Military Applications of Blast Simulation, Fr. Minist. of Def., Cahors, France.
[51]	Obermeyer JR (1980) Monitoring Uranium Tailings Dams During Blasting Program. Symposium on Uranium Mill Tailings Management, Colorado State University, 513-527.
[52]	Long JH, Ries ER, Michalopoulos AP (1981) Potential for Liquefaction Due to Construction Blasting. Proceedings International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Dynamics, University of Missouri-Rolla, 191-194.
[53]	Fragaszy RJ, Voss ME, Schmidt RM, et al. (1983) Laboratory and Centrifuge Modeling of Blast-induced Liquefaction. 8th International Symposium on Military Application of Blast Simulation, Spiez, Switzerland, III.5-1-III.5-20.
[54]	Allen BM, Drellack Jr SL, Townsend MJ (1997) Surface effects of underground explosions, Rep. DOE/NV/11718-122, Nev. Oper. Off., U.S. Dep. of Energy, Las Vegas, 140. Available from:http://www.osti.gov.
[55]	Walthan T (2001) The explosion crater at Fauld. Mercian Geol 15:123-125.
[56]	Pathirage KS (2000) Critical assessment of the CANLEX blast experiment to facilitate a development of an in-situ liquefaction methodology using explosives. M.S. thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Colombia.
[57]	Dowding CH, Hryciw RD (1986) A laboratory study of blast densification of saturated sand. J Geotech Eng 112:187-199. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1986)112:2(187)
[58]	Gandhi SR, Dey AK, Selvam S (1999) Densification of pond ash by blasting. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 125:889-899. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1999)125:10(889)
[59]	Liao T, Mayne PW (2005) Cone penetrometer measurements during Mississippi embayment seismic excitation experiment. Earthquake Eng Soil Dyn 133:1-12.
[60]	Camp WM, Mayne PW, Rollins KM (2008) Cone penetration testing before, during, and after blast-induced liquefaction. ASCE, Sacramento, CA, 10.
[61]	Narsilio GA, Santamarina JC, Hebeler T, et al. (2009) Blast densification:Multi-instrumented case history. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 135:723-734. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000023
[62]	Finno RJ, Gallant AP, Sabatini PJ (2016) Evaluating ground improvement after blast densification:Performance at the Oakridge landfill. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 142:04015054. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001365
[63]	Schmertmann JH (1987) Discussion of "time-dependent strength gain in freshly deposited or densified sand". J Geotech Eng 113:173-175. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1987)113:2(173)
[64]	Mesri G, Feng TW, Benak JM (1990) Postdensification penetration resistance of clean sands. J Geotech Eng 116:1095-1115. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1990)116:7(1095)
[65]	Gallant AP, Finno RJ (2016) Stress Redistribution after Blast Densification. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 142:04015054. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001365
[66]	Kulhawy FH, Mayne PW (1990) Manual on estimating soil properties for foundation design. Electric Power Research Institute, EL-6800 Research Project 1493-6 Final Rep., 2-24, 2-33.
[67]	Robertson PK, Cabal KL (2012) Guide to Cone Penetration Testing for Geotechnical Engineering. Prepared for Gregg Drilling & Testing Inc., 5th Edition, 130.
[68]	Robertson PK, Wride CE (1998) Evaluating cyclic liquefaction potential using the cone penetration test. Can Geotech J 35:442-459. doi: 10.1139/t98-017
[69]	Race ML, Coffman RA (2013) Effect of uncertainty in site characterization on the prediction of liquefaction potential for bridge embankments in the Mississippi Embayment. ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 231, Proc. Geo-Congress 2013:Stability and Performance of Slopes and Embankments III, San Diego, California, March, 888-897.
[70]	Idriss IM, Boulanger RW (2008) Soil Liquefaction during Earthquakes. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute MNO-12, 235.
[71]	Rollins KM, Lane JD, Dibb E, et al. (2005) Pore pressure measurement in blast-induced liquefaction experiments. Transportation Research Record 1936, Soil Mechanics 2005, TRB, Washington D.C., 210-220.
[72]	Strand SR (2008) Liquefaction mitigation using vertical composite drains and liquefaction induced downdrag on piles:implications for deep foundation design. PhD Thesis, Brigham Young University.
[73]	Wentz FJ, van Ballegooy S, Rollins KM, et al. (2015) Large scale testing of shallow ground improvements using blast-induced liquefaction. 6^th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Reader Comments

Your name:*

Email:*
© 2020 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)